Search more articles

School Administration and Management


Meaning Administration

Administration is derived from Latin word ministiare which mean to serve, so administration mean to serve. In broad view it mean to support the people in an organisation to help them to achieve there goals. In other words it is the art of managing organisation resources and provides support to those who needed to achieve the aims and objective of organisation.
Today we have different types of administration in different filed. All differ from filed to field. Every organisation have their own way of administration to reach their goals by supporting there professional staff and to communicate the line agencies.

Types of administration
Democratic administration
Authoritative administration
Laissez-faire administration


Democratic administration
The Process is based on consultation with staff, sharing the responsibilities
Good Environment.

Authoritative administration
The administrator act like dictator
Imposed His rules
Create fear in Staff

Laissez-faire administration
The Administrator Depend on others
No Interest in school activities
No Control over staff


Educational Administration

Educational Administration is a discipline within the study of education that examines the administrative theory and practice of education in general and educational institutions and educators in particular. The field ideally distinguishes itself from administration and management through its adherence to guiding principles of educational philosophy.

In educational administration the aim of the organisation is to organise the administration at different level of organisation to help the staff to achieve their aims which lead to the goal of organisation to facilitate the educational institutions to provide better education.

          The concept of educational administration may not be totally different from what we are familiar with in the concept of administration. Education at different levels has its objectives, the most important of the objectives that cut across all the levels of education is teaching and learning. It is the function of the school to produce educated and enlightened human beings who would be able to contribute positively to the development of the society. This formed the opinion of Olaniyi (2000) who describes school as a social institution which does not exist in a vacuum. He said further that a school is a micro-community, existing within a macro community to mould the habits, interest, attitudes and feelings of children and transmit from one generation to another. The school also comprises certain personnel i.e. teaching and non-teaching staff as well as the students. These human resources in the school work with some materials, such as instructional materials, equipment, and financial resources in order to achieve the objectives of the school.

          Administration is very useful for the realization of the school’s objectives indeed, the success of the school system depends largely on the administration of the school it handled.
          The teachers, students, non-teaching staff and resources must be efficiently arranged, monitored and controlled, so that they would work harmoniously according to plan (educational plan). Even the National Policy on Education emphasizes the success of the entire educational system on proper planning, efficient administration and adequate funding. School administration is the process by which principles, methods and practices of administration are applied in educational institutions to establish, maintain and develop such institutions in line with the goals of the institutions. Akinwumi & Jayeoba (2004) define school administration as the scientific organization of human and material resources and programs available for education and using them systematically and meticulously to achieve educational goals.

          Basically, educational administration implies the arrangement of the human and material resources and program available for education and carefully using them systematically for the achievement of educational objectives.
Thus educational administrator, whether in the ministry of education, the schools board, or in a school is essentially the organizer, the implementer of plans, policies and program meant for achieving specific educational objectives. The educational administrator may contribute, one way or the other, in planning, policy–making and program designing, yet his major role rests with the effective and efficient implementation of such plans, policies and program for the benefit of education. Viewed from this angle, educational administration is concerned with organization and implementation – it may be categorized under broad areas of:

    Planning and Policy Implementation

          Although such a categorization is essentially arbitrary and broad and these aspects of management are closely tied, inseparable and inductive, it is possible to separate the functions of administration from that of planning and policy–making in education. For example the administrator is concerned with formulating general plans and policies for education.

Functions of School Administrators
Obemeata (1984) referred to a school head as an administrator who is responsible for running a school and also responsible for policy decisions, and determining the direction and objectives of the school. The function of a school head, according to Obemeata, is more than mere controlling the staff of the school, its finances and curriculum; it also includes the management of resources towards the achievement of educational goal. Fadipe (1990) however, highlighted the major functions of the school head as: interpretation of policy, execution of instructional programs and the selection, induction and retention of personnel, and in Cranston (2002), the duties of the school administrators include: the demonstration of a variety of management and leadership abilities and, making complex decisions in collaboration with other staff in the school.

The function of the school administrators could be summarized as follows:

  • production and management of resources (human and materials) needed to support organizations and its program
  • supervision of instructional activities in the school system
  • obtaining and training personnel
  • providing leadership for curriculum
  • maintaining peaceful co-existence between the school, the community and the external agencies
  • influencing staff behaviour
  • discerning and influencing the development of goals and policies
  • evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency or otherwise of the school
  • initiating work activities
  • grouping the tasks into activities
  • defining the task to be done
  • taking remedial action if the objectives are not being met
  • Supplying incentives to stimulate productivity.

Basic principles of school administration
1. Priority of Objectives
2. Co-ordination of Authority and responsibility
3. Adaptation of the responsibility to a person
4. Recognition of the Human Psychological Factors
5. Relativity of Values
Supervision
Supervision
Definition of Supervision:
1. Oversee activity:  to watch over an activity or task being carried out by somebody and ensure that it is performed correctly. (MS Encarta)
Oversee people: to be in charge of a group of people engaged in an activity or task and keep order or ensure that they perform it correctly. (MS Encarta)
A successful school is the indication of a good leader, a leader who supervises the school like delicate flower
Good education is result of good supervision upon the side of a good supervisor
School need a team to look after the teaching learning process and suggest measure for further improvement. This support team provides better environment……
And necessary tools for teaching learning process.
Why the need of supervision in school it is also an important question. Curriculum, discipline, school plant, teacher student behavior etc
Education planning
The supervisor should select and set targets for the whole year day by day for him self and teachers, what to teach and when to teach a complete annual planner.
Discipline
Discipline in school is the most important factor in the process of supervision of school which is full of students and teachers
Community
The supervisor will involve the community in the supervision process of the school
Continuing staff development
Arrange classes for staff development purpose and arrange visits to model schools for developing their teaching skills
Opportunities for staff
Create Opportunities for the staff and give them the opportunity to get further education. Help them with their education process.
Seminars
Arrange seminars in school for teacher and students from time to time
Provision of materials
Availability of materials to teachers for teaching learning process, e.g. books, news papers, audio visual aids. Keep the library up to date
Development of leadership in other
Develop the skills of teachers and transform them to better leaders
Authority
For better supervision of the school, the head need to give some authority to teachers and involve them in the supervision of school
Reward and punishment
For better supervision the supervisor should always had stick in one hand and reward in other
Record
Record keeping is the essential part of supervision

Featured post

How to Write Effective Literature Review

A literature review is an essential component of any research project or academic paper. It involves identifying, evaluating, and summarizin...