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Administrative support for educational reform

Administrative support for


educational reform

Final report of an IIEP/ROEA Seminar


held at Bangkok
21-25 February 1977

by Raymond F . Lyons

International Institute for Educational Planning


Composition and make-up by П Е Р
7-9, rue Eugène-Delacroix, 75016 Paris
August 1977

© Unesco 1977
CONTENTS

Preface '

Statements by M r . Raja Roy Singh, Director, R O E A and


M r . Hans N . Weiler, Director, H E P at the inaugural
session on 21 February 1977 8

Analysis of national experience regarding administrative


support for educational reform 14

S u m m a r y of introduction made by M r . H . N . Weiler to his paper


on "the planning and administration of educational reform" 23

The contribution of an inspectorate to educational reform. S u m m a r y


of introductory statements by M r . M . W . Pritchard and M r . R . F . Lyons 26

Deliberations of the Working Groups on problems of planning

educational reforms: communication and supply and training of personnel 30

Statement by M r . J. Oxenham, Rapporteur for Working Group A 31

Statement by M r . G . Carrón, Rapporteur for Working Group В 34

Statement on the rôle of research in support of educational reform


by M r . J. Oxenham, Rapporteur for Working Group A 49
Statement on the rôle of research in support of educational reform

by M r . G . Carrón, Rapporteur for Working Group В 51

Concluding contributions 56

Appendices A - G

Summary Table (Appendix A ) 60

Administration of Education in the Asian Region


by the Unesco Regional Office of Education in Asia (Appendix B ) 63
The planning and administration of educational reform
by M r . Hans N . Weiler, Director, H E P (Appendix C) 73

The contribution of an inspectorate to educational reform

by Messrs. Raymond F . Lyons and Mervyn W . Pritchard (Appendix D ) 88

Report of Working Group A (Appendix E ) 98

Report of Working Group В (Appendix F ) 107


List of participants (Appendix G) 114
PREFACE

This seminar arose from the Institute's own study of the primary school inspectorate which like
the seminar itself was partly financed by the Overseas Development Ministry of the United Kingdom
and the Canadian International Development Agency. F r o m this initial work, it became clear that
the issues of reform and administration should be seen within the broader generic perspective
of the relationship between administration and pedagogical reality. There seemed to be a need
in this connection to clarify, through a process of airing the queries and doubts of practical admin-
istrators, the notion of educational planning in relation to the problems of educational reform and
change. In particular, it seemed desirable to focus attention on the communications and decision-
making aspects of reform, and the conditions, constraints and limitations on the ways in which
Ministries can use planning in order to put strategies for change into practice. The -Institute
also hoped, through this interchange with high level officials, to derive important insights into
priority needs in further research and training on the relationship between educational planning
and administration in the context of educational reform.

The seminar, organized by the H E P in co-operation with the Unesco Regional Office
for Education in Asia, was held in Bangkok from 21 to 25 February 1977. It was attended by 1 I
senior officials of Ministries of Education in Asian countries, staff m e m b e r s of the H E P and
the Bangkok office, as well as observers. The countries represented were the following:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand.

The report of the seminar contains a synopsis of the statements made by the partici-
pants concerning the achievements and the problems of the educational reform process in their
countries. It also includes the presentation and discussion of prepared papers as well as work-
ing group reports on problems of planning, communication, supply, training and research in
support of reform. It is our hope that these proceedings of what proved to be a very lively and
stimulating meeting will be of interest to all those who are seeking to improve and modernise
their administration so that it is able to manage educational reform.

R. R. Singh, Director H . N . Weiler, Director


Unesco Regional Office for Education in Asia International Institute for Educational
Bangkok Planning
Paris

7
S T A T E M E N T B Y M R . RAJA R O Y SINGH, DIRECTOR, R O E A
A T T H E INAUGURAL SESSION O N 21 F E B R U A R Y 1977

It is an honour and privilege for m e to extend you a most cordial welcome on behalf of the
Unesco Regional Office for Education in Asia and on m y personal behalf. May I offer special
welcomes to our distinguished participants and express m y gratitude to them for being with us
for this seminar, despite their heavy management preoccupations with affairs at home. I sin-
cerely hope that you will find the deliberations of the seminar fruitful and your stay in Bangkok
agreeable in every way. W e in the Regional Office deeply value this opportunity which has
brought together such a unique wealth of experiences from the sharing of which, I assure you,
our own services to the countries will benefit greatly.

I a m grateful to the H E P and to M r . Weiler and his colleagues who are present with
us for their good thought in convening this seminar in the Asian region. This is the first
regional activity that the IIEP has undertaken in the Asian region; we attach to it special
significance and hope that it will set other activities in train. I extend you a w a r m welcome
on behalf of all m y colleagues in this Regional Office and place such facilities as we have at
the disposal of the seminar.
The theme of the seminar is of immediate interest to the countries in this region.
Educational reforms in the sense of designed and systematic efforts to bring about large-scale
changes in education have been with us for over three decades, in one form or another. M y
estimate is that every country has had on average three cycles of educational reform » and
some countries have adopted the strategy of continuous reform. There have been shortfalls,
and in certain types of educational reforms quite large shortfalls, in performance. Such
shortfalls have drawn attention to possible weaknesses in the administration of reforms. But
there have also been substantial gains, not the least of these gains have been precisely in the
area of administrative support.
For example, two or three decades ago, the administrative structure for education
was quite simple, consisting of control, supervision and support services in relation to
educational institutions. The business of education was carried out in the educational
institutions and any changes or reforms meant changing or re-orienting the institutions.
Typically there would be a central department of education for overall policy making and
control; an inspectorate to supervise and guide the educational institutions; a series of teacher

8
Statement by M r . Raja Roy Singh, Director, R O E A

training institutions to train educational personnel, notably teachers; and the schools. Every
educational reform, whether fully or only partially implemented, has brought about changes in
the educational administrative structure. The cumulative effects of these changes are to be
seen in the present administration, a marked characteristic of which is a diversified array of
institutional structures; at the central level, curriculum development centres, in some countries
research and development centres, equipment centres, educational facilities centres, instructional
materials production centres, educational planning divisions, non-formal education programmes,
some kind of co-ordinating district or provincial education offices, the field offices of special
programmes such as non-formal education or adult education, geographical localization of
teacher-training institutions and now in some countries a marked trend towards creating at
intermediate level also specialized centres as extensions of national curriculum development
centres or R & D centres. This increasingly diversified structure is intermeshed with other
bodies and organizations which now carry much greater weight in education than before; for
instance, bodies of local government, the general development offices of the government,
field offices of other Ministries such as agriculture, co-operatives, etc., and not least, the
private organizations which control and finance the "private sector's" educational institutions.

At the ground level too the scene is changing. Schools of various types and at different
levels remain of course the m o r e visible instruments of education, and the major preoccupation
of administration. But clearly they are no longer the exclusive focus as before. More and m o r e ,
the community outside the school is entering into this focus. It underlies the national concerns
for relating education to national development. It expresses itself in programmes of non-formal
education, of adult education and literacy, of integrating education "with work experience and
in the attempts to engage the research capabilities of universities and institutions of higher
learning in problems relevant to national development. I personally believe that in the immediate
years ahead the most far-reaching changes in the administration of education will emerge at the
ground level and at the intermediate level. The degree to which administrative capacity is e m -
powered and developed at these levels will determine the effectiveness of administrative support
to educational reforms in the coming years.
The point I should like to m a k e from the foregoing is that administration of education-
al reform and the reform of educational administration cannot perhaps be separated except by
taking both administration and educational reform out of the context of the live conditions in
which they operate. They affect each other too closely, negatively or positively. O n the
positive side, an educational reform is a challenge which in evoking a response activates changes
in an administration which otherwise by its very nature must seek the lowest c o m m o n deno-
minator of stability. O n the negative side, an educational reform which is only intended to
undo what a previous educational reform m a y have initiated, creates instabilities and disconti-
nuities of a magnitude such as to m a k e administration impossible. Similarly, administration
affects reform positively or negatively. Positively it will m a k e the intended goals of the reform
an integral part of the day-to-day business of education, raising it to a higher level of stability.
A reform is no longer a traumatic experience; by becoming part of the system and raising
that system, it has empowered the system for the next reform. Negatively, an administration

9
Administrative support for educational reform

which is unprepared to handle a reform, changes the reform into what it can handle. Here the
array of administrative procedures comes in handy-but handiest of all are the academic slogans.
H o w many attempts towards equality of educational opportunities or evolving new configurations
of learning, for example from work experiences, have not been tamed into innocuousness by
the slogan of quality of education! Not that the concept of quality is not of fundamental import-
ance; it is, but as a slogan it is pathogenic of confused thinking and action.
M r . Weiler's paper for the seminar ("The planning and administration of educational
reform") has most perceptively identified the major issues around which many educational re-
forms are organized. I believe that the major issues he has identified apply equally to the re-
forms in the Asian region. The methods used for formulating reform measures have varied from
one country to another as also the time lags when a major issue became manifest in one country
or another. In many countries educational reforms are formulated by high-powered commissions
or councils set up for the purpose; in others, reform measures are embodied in the five-year
plans; and in a few countries major educational reform measures are announced and decreed
at high political level.
By and large, what might be called the first generation of educational reforms (and in
most countries they took place in the decade of the 1950s) was concerned, broadly speaking, with
the extension of replication of the existing systems, more particularly with institutions. In
countries which were formerly under colonial domination, the first generation reforms also
tried to rectify some of the distorting features of the then education systems; for example, the
place and status of the national language, distribution of educational facilities in the rural areas,
etc. Administrative support for the first generation of reforms was called upon to deal with
problems which were, except for their larger scale of operation, within the existing patterns
of administrative experience. Measured quantitatively, the implementation of these first
generation reforms showed up well. The educational planning procedures were a reflection
of these reforms and were preoccupied with quantitative projections of the various inputs for
the expansion of an existing system - cost, number of teachers, number of supervisors, levels
of training and manpower output.

The second generation of reforms (mostly^ occurring in the 1960s) was faced with the
problem of imbalances within the education system in different levels and types of education and
m o r e importantly with the content of education. The content of education was seen mainly in
terms of a better organization of knowledge; the favourite phrases being "modernization",
"up-to-dateness";, etc Foreign models were heavily influential. Administrative support for
the second generation of reforms was a m u c h m o r e complex undertaking. It did not call so
m u c h for new administrative behaviour patterns as for a larger body of knowledge. The es-
tablishment of new specialized institutions, to which I referred earlier, was really a response
to the need for widening the professionalized knowledge base.
The current reforms are distinguished from the preceding ones by the new social di-
mensions in which the tasks of education are seen. They are reflected in concerns such as
equality of educational opportunities built on a m a s s base; questions of relevance to and

10
Statement by M r . Hans N . Weiler, Director, H E P

authenticity of national goals and aims; social commitment; distributive justice, notably educ-
ation of the deprived populations; development of indigenous methods, content and technologies.
Clearly issues of this nature cannot be dealt with on the basis of administrative experiences of
the past. N e w capacities have to be generated, and this is undoubtedly a major challenge to
the familiar and the known.
Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the length of m y footnotes. They only express
perplexities, and I a m confident that the seminar's deliberations will help to charter some of
these issues.

S T A T E M E N T BY M R . HANS N . WEILER, DIRECTOR, H E P


A T T H E INAUGURAL SESSION O N 21 F E B R U A R Y 1977

It is a very special privilege to be able to welcome you to this international seminar on


"Administrative support for educational reform". I a m most grateful for the response which
our invitation to this seminar has met with and the high level of experience and responsibility
which the participants around this table represent. I realize how busy you all are, and I
appreciate all the more not only your taking a week out of your busy schedule, but also your
taking the time and care to prepare such a remarkable set of written contributions on the ex-
perience of your country in the field of administering educational reform.
This is the first seminar of its kind which the International Institute for Educational
Planning has organized jointly with Unesco's Regional Office for Education in Asia. This joint
venture is another expression of how m u c h importance the ÏIEP attaches to the rôle of the
Regional Offices of Unesco in the field of educational planning and administration and especially
to the fact that they are links between the concerns and problems of national authorities and the
research and training programmes of the Institute at the international level. I appreciate the
Regional Office's assistance in organizing and conducting this seminar and its contribution in
the form of an overview paper which you have before you.
Permit m e to elaborate for a m o m e n t on the background of this seminar. Just a few
months ago, Unesco held its 19th General Conference in Nairobi where one of the most significant
items on the agenda was the approval of Unesco's First M e d i u m - T e r m Plan (1977-1982). In this
M e d i u m - T e r m Plan, two objectives were addressed specifically to the problems of educational
planning and administration, and the General Conference approved a special emphasis on the
need for considering these objectives within the context of educational reform.
The work of the H E P has concerned itself for some time already with some of these
new dimensions of educational planning, which result from a m o r e immediate preoccupation of
national authorities with the reform and renewal of education. W e have tried to seek ways in
which planning can be placed at the service of innovation, redistribution and reform, instead
of merely expanding the status quo. The Institute's research project on the primary school
inspectorate is a case in point where, in studying one of the more "classical" aspects of educ-
ational administration, the Institute has given^particular emphasis to the potential of the
inspectorate as a support service for educational innovation and reform. On-going research

11
Administrative support for educational reform

projects of the H E P which are particularly oriented to educational reform include our work in
the area of regional disparities and on the relationship between education and work.
For the Asian region, there is already an impressive and distinguished history of work
done under the auspices of the Regional Office in the area of administration and innovation. I
a m thinking here of such things as the important 1974 publication of the Regional Office on this
topic and of the pioneering work of the Asian P r o g r a m m e of Educational Innovation for Development
(APEID). Looking towards the future, the Conference of Asian Ministers of Education scheduled
to be held in 1978 will undoubtedly become a major step in the efforts of this region to cope with
the problems of educational reform, and it is m y hope that this seminar will be able to make a
contribution to the preparation of this important Conference.
The main objective of this seminar is to provide a forum and an opportunity for the
exchange of experience in a particularly critical area of educational policy and planning. I a m
sure that, in addition to this overall objective, the participants in the seminar will have their
own objectives and ideas on how best to use this opportunity for weighing and analysing approaches
to the tasks they are facing in their countries, for sharing their experience and for inviting
comments on it and for reviewing critically, I hope, with benefit, the experience of other countries.
I was very interested to note a statement in the paper contributed to this seminar by Sri Lanka
expressing regret over the "lack of exposure to new ideas and innovations taking place in
many countries". I do hope that this seminar will provide for such exposure in as open and
fruitful a manner as possible.

F r o m the point of view of the H E P , the seminar provides an important opportunity to


learn. Over the years, the Institute has conducted a series of important research projects in
Asia, including work on such problems as the financing of education, the location of schools,
the development of higher education, educational evaluation and, with specific reference to this
seminar, the primary school inspectorate. What we now feel to be particularly important is
the need to m a p directions for future research in close co-operation with individual countries
in the region, and we look to this seminar as an important source of information and advice as
to the specific needs for new knowledge and understanding that could be generated out of further
research work in this area.
Similarly, the Institute's training activities in educational planning and administration
stand to gain a great deal from a better understanding of the training needs of the countries in
this region in the sense that the Institute's various training programmes, its Annual Training
P r o g r a m m e as well as its shorter, intensive courses can m o r e adequately take into account
the personnel development needs of M e m b e r States.

In the broadest sense, it is m y hope that this seminar will help to develop a framework
of analysis that will allow those of you in positions of administrative responsibilities to under-
stand better and thus to cope better with the dynamics of reform and the administrative prere-
quisites for its success. I can already assure you that a great deal of effort will go into the
preparation of the report of this seminar in order to capture the full range of views which I
expect from such an experienced group of participants and to ensure that others inside and
outside the Asian region benefit from it.

12
Statement by M r . Hans N . Weiler, Director, H E P

Indeed, I a m particularly pleased that it has been possible to launch this seminar within
the Asian region because there is also a good and special reason why we have chosen to hold a
seminar on this particular topic in Asia. Even though efforts at educational reform are becoming
more and more numerous and vigorous in many parts of the world, I have been struck by the
particular richness of reform efforts in Asia. Furthermore, I have observed with particular
interest the wide range of administrative arrangements which Asian countries have developed
in order to sustain educational innovation and reform. I look forward to the benefit which I a m
sure we will all derive from sharing the experience of these arrangements.
Various kinds of input are at our disposal for this seminar. First and most important
of all is the experience represented around this table of which the papers prepared by you,
the participants, provide a most interesting and stimulating reftection. I would hope that we can
draw further on these experiences in our plenary and group discussions.
In addition, we have thought that the experience of the IIEP's comparative study
on the primary school inspectorate would provide another useful contribution to the deliberations
of this seminar. This study, which tried to ask what the functions of a "classical" branch of
educational administration would be in times of change and reform has yielded a number of
insights about which we will hear more in the course of our discussions. Similarly, I look
forward to having the benefit of the experience of the Regional Office in the area of educational
administration and reform.
I admit that it was rather presumptuous on m y part to think that I would be able to
provide an introductory paper to as complex a topic as the one we are facing. If I decided to
try m y hand at such a paper anyway, it was with the aim of indicating, in m o r e general terms,
what I see to be the scope of the problem w e are dealing with and of suggesting some of the
issues we face in reviewing our administrative experiences and structures from the point of
view of whether and if so, how they would facilitate the task of educational reform.
W e are fortunate in having not only a distinguished and experienced group of participants
in this seminar, but also the assistance of some distinguished scholars and practitioners in
education, Messrs. Mervyn Pritchard and John Oxenham, as well as m y colleagues from the
staff of the Regional Office and the IIEP, Messrs. Lyons, Gurugé' and Carrón.
Finally, it is m y pleasure to acknowledge the financial assistance which the Ministry
of Overseas Development of the United Kingdom has provided not only for this seminar, but
also for the Institute's research on the primary school inspectorate. The O D M ' s support is
one of the many contributions which M e m b e r States are generous enough to m a k e to the
International Institute for Educational Planning in response to the resolutions of the General
Conference.
M r . Chairman, distinguished colleagues, I look forward with great pleasure and
expectation to the discussions of the next few days.

13
Analysis of national experience regarding administrative support
for educational reform

In organizing the seminar, the Director of the H E P had written to each Minister of Education
in the participating countries, asking that they should provide an account of their countries'
experience in planning and implementing educational reforms. The Director of the H E P re-
quested that, in formulating their replies, the Ministries should react to five questions :
1. What had been the main efforts of reform in their countries in recent years and
what had been the main problems of administrative support for those efforts?
2. What improvements in structure, communication and personnel seemed desirable
in regard to the formulation of educational policy?
3. To what extent and in what ways those responsible for planning and programming
had succeeded in solving the following supply problems:

- Training and re-training of teachers?


- Production of the required quantity of books for the new programmes?
- Supply of materials and visual aids?
- Improving the supply of classroom space?
4. In what ways might the contribution of the inspectorate, other specialized person-
nel and school heads to the support of reform be improved?
5. What are the priority needs for research and training, as seen by national author-
ities, on the relationship between educational planning and administration in the
context of educational reform?
Ten out of twelve countries invited to the seminar prepared statements in response to the re-
quest made by the Director of the H E P . The following is an analysis of the statements and of
the discussion at the seminar.

1. Reform efforts

Reports by the participants indicated that, reform had consisted of efforts to adapt national
educational systems to the needs of the population. A s the Director of the Unesco Regional Office

14
Analysis of national experience regarding administrative
support for educational reform

for Education in Asia had -observed in his opening remarks, many lessons could be learned from
the longer term trends of educational reform in Asian countries. The reports in the main refer-
red to the countries' recent efforts. They did not seek to examine the successes and failures of
past reforms or the real situation of education from which needs for reform must stem. Reform
was shown to proceed from the work of a Committee or Commission set up by the Ministry of
Education to consider future needs for education^ in terms of societal objectives, clientèles,
purposes, content and organization. Reform was, necessarily, partial and in most cases
sectional rather than fundamental and comprehensive, in that it did not form a part of measures
to achieve integrated economic and social reform but was confined to the education sector.

Replies are summarised in Appendix A . Statements m a d e by the participants show that


in recent years the main emphasis of reform have been put on the equalisation of educational
opportunity and the modernisation of education in order to make it m o r e relevant to the social
and economic needs of society. Governments had sought to introduce universal free primary
education and to extend it by including a number of years of secondary education. Measures
such as automatic promotion, free provision of textbooks and materials, intensified training
and re-training of teachers, school building and scholarship support had been taken to favour
the education of children of rural areas and the shanty town areas of the cities. In all countries
the authorities had sought to modernise the curriculum. Education had been made; more c o m -
prehensive, in order to bring it closer to the world of work, with the introduction of vocation-
al and practical subjects in the primary and secondary curricula and the provision of greater
opportunities for attendance at vocational and technical schools. Increased emphasis had been
given to the learning of science, mathematics, civics or to health and physical education.
National languages were to play a larger part in the school system than previously.

As a corollary to the modernisation of the curriculum, countries had sought to provide


greater support, for the teaching service in order that new,activity based, methods should be
generalised. This support included libraries, use of radio and television, teacher advisory
centres, improved methods for the evaluation of learning achievement, handbooks, guides and
in-service training for teachers, and measures to inform parents about the new curriculum.
In their replies participants m a d e some reference to the links between school and out«
of-school education as an extension of the concept of modernisation of education for life. In
one country, India, it was mentioned that the authorities were putting greater emphasis on non-
formal education for two groups of young people aged 11 to 14 and 15-25 respectively, in order
to encourage farmers' functional literacy and adult education. In other countries, recommend-
ations had been made regarding the provision of compulsory or voluntary non-formal education.
It would seem that, in general, the organisation of non-formal education and theipart of the
educational authorities in its provision, were referred to less clearly than was the case for
formal education; and in this connection it was felt that there was inadequate co-ordination
between education and other sectors.

15
Administrative support for educational reform

2. Administrative support for reform

Participants indicated the variety and the complexity of the organizations responsible for formul-
ating and implementing educational reforms. A s regards the formulation of reform, three main
types of organization were mentioned. First, the authoritative special Commission or Committee
established by the Head of State in order to chart a desirable national policy for education, e. g.
Afghanistan, Nepal. This body is outside the Ministry of Education, which has the responsibil-
ity for implementing policy decided at the highest level. Second, advisory bodies within the
Ministry of Education e. g. Indonesia, Japan, supported by a national research structure, which
have the duty of advising the Minister of Education on policy, but which are administratively
separate from the planning function. Third, the Educational Planning and Research Division
of the Ministry of Education, e. g. Malaysia, formally approves the recommendations of a
Central Curriculum Committee and provides the advice and technical analysis on which the
Minister can m a k e policy choices. Participants indicated what in essence amounted to a typology
in respect of commnication and consultation for preparing reform. This ranged from a solidly
structured system of reference to research and reform organizations, professional educational
experience and public opinion in the most economically developed country, as a basis for ad-
vising the Minister to a relatively small advisory committee in countries with smaller resources
whose communications were necessarily m o r e restricted. The statements prepared the way
for the subsequent seminar discussion about the nature of communication within and outside
the educational system as part of the formulation of reform.
The essential point about implementation of reforms, which was mentioned by all
speakers from developing countries within the region was that their educational systems were
suffering from a performance gap between policy formulation and implementation. They saw
this gap as originating in a lack of adequate communication between those engaged in planning
at the national level and those responsible for plan implementation, that is to say, carrying out
the project components of the various programmes involved in the plans, at the provincial or
state level. They observed that decisions had been taken and plans adopted without there being
an adequate flow of information which could show decision makers what the needs were and
what were the real possibilities of meeting those needs. At the same time, the flow of inform-
ation and instructions from the central ministry to the districts and institutions took place
through several channels; the flow was complex, cumbersome and hierarchy bound. Conse-
quently they concluded that special attention should be given, through personal contacts, con-
trols and training, to ensuring that personnel throughout the educational system were commit-
ted to their work and knew how to do it and that the present impediments to getting things done
efficiently should be studied as a prelude to their being removed.

Participants referred to decentralisation as an element which might strengthen ad-


ministrative support for reform in terms which showed that delegation of central authority was
limited, in principle, to ways of increasing operational efficiency. It did not extend to the
devolution of decision making from national to sub-national authorities on specific vital matters
concerning educational policy and finance. But it was also pointed out that a change in the

16
Analysis of national experience regarding administrative
support for educational reform

attitudes and competence of officials was essential if reform was to be implemented. They
should not only respond to situations of crisis; they should become m o r e preoccupied with
action and less with procedures; they should talk to and work with people outside education;
they should become m o r e skilled through training of various kinds. Participants pointed to
measures which their countries had taken to strengthen project planning and to ensure that
the "grass roots", that is, their population,, their institutions and districts, played a more positive,
relevant and useful role in national planning of education. They did not say that their emphasis
on the need for planning at the sub-national level meant that the national role in planning should
be reduced, rather there was evidence that in some cases, the national role had been reinforced.
Notable examples of this trend were given by the representatives of India and Indonesia. In
the former country as part of the adoption of a uniform pattern of school education in all the
States of the country, school education has ceased to be solely a State responsibility and has
been m a d e the joint responsibility of the Central and State Governments. This change was
intended to promote co-ordination and uniformity in the implementation of educational policies
in the country. It was stated that the authorities seek actively to encourage educational plan-
ning at the district and institutional levels, "but at the same time demands for larger funds
have to be avoided". In Indonesia, the Bureau of Planning working at the national level has
had direct contact with planning units at the provincial level since the administrative reform of
1975. These units, in turn, work with the newly established district and sub-district level
offices of education (before 1975 offices only existed down to provincial level). Through these
contacts the Bureau of Planning, the Department of Finance and the Inspectorate of the national
Ministry of Education together play an important role in managing 500 projects for educational
development which were currently being implemented in Indonesia.

Participants referred to actions which were needed, or had been decided, in order
to make planning at the state (or provincial) level a clearer reflection of needs in those areas
and a more useful instrument for the evaluation of the progress of implementation within those
areas. The representative of Malaysia mentioned five functions which offices to be responsible
for planning at the state level should perform in co-ordination with the Educational Planning
and Research Division and other divisions of the Ministry of Education. They were:
(i) To prepare and submit plans for physical expansion of educational institutions
and facilities;
(ii) T o evaluate the progress and results of the plans and submit periodical reports
to the national secretariat of the educational planning committee;
(iii) T o maintain close supervision of educational projects;
(iv) T o maintain systematically the necessary up-to-date educational statistics;
(v) T o work in close co-operation with the district organisers and supervisors.
Participants1 contributions showed that adequate project planning, the establishment and
achievement of feasible targets, lay at the heart of the problem of administrative support for
reform. T o achieve this, some participants urged that at the central level close co-ordination
should occur in reform administration between the various operating divisions (e. g. the
Curriculum Development Centre or Division, the TeachersTraining Division, the Planning

17
Administrative support for educational reform

Division, etc. ). It was also said that this should be accompanied by vertical and horizontal
co-ordination as concerned the sub-national levels. For example, the representative of Pakistan
said that the decisive factor in the implementation of educational reforms in his country was to
ensure better planning and co-ordination between offices of educational planning, finance and
project management at the provincial level. It was necessary to m a k e adequate arrangements
to plan and distribute school building, to co-ordinate the efforts of the offices of education, works,
finance and financial control, to forestall and solve troubles and bottlenecks with contractors,
and delays due to rising costs and evaluate the progress of projects more efficiently. The re-
presentative of Pakistan mentioned that difficulties in doing these things were partly attributable
to shortage of trained personnel and partly for other reasons, including the nature of structural
factors.

3.. Problems of supply

Statements made by the participants showed that countries had made considerable progress in
organizational as well as in quantitative and qualitative terms in tackling the problems of supply
associated with the implementation of reform. But they also said that administrative structures
had become so complex, with the constant addition of new bodies and functions that it was still
very hard to deal with supply efficiently. They stated that specific shortages and difficulties
still existed with regard to the availability of trained teachers and that it was necessary to take
measures on two fronts; improving the arrangements for ensuring that all teachers had received
basic training, and conducting a re-training programme of the requisite magnitude to enable
teachers to understand and accept new matters and methods involved in reform. As regards
books, participants noted that the supply of new books required for the changed learning process
in the schools was not always sufficient, particularly in rural areas, and that authorities had
not always given sufficient attention to the establishment of libraries for pupils and teachers.
Participants made two main comments on the supply of equipment, visual aids and materials.
Great difficulty was being met in some countries in the use of science equipment since many
teachers did not feel confident to take it out of the cupboard. Visual aids and materials were in
short supply and were not always designed, and added to by teachers, in the sense of helping
the child understand the realities of life and change around it. Much attention was necessary in
connection with the standardisation of building in relation to function, and to repair and mainten-
ance of school buildings and the Unesco Regional Office for Education in Asia had provided valuable
advice on this problem. Comments on how the planning and implementation of supply were being
approached by participating countries were as follows.

(a) Training and re-training of teachers

Participants drew attention to the need to monitor the specific effects which variations in
curriculum and in enrolment arrangements would have on requirements of teaching and to plan
programme responsibilities in good time, as between the different directorates and curriculum
development bodies, to meet requirements for teacher training. A m o n g the various measures

18
Analysis of national experience regarding administrative
support for educational reform

which participants felt to be important in connection with the planning of pre-service training
of teachers were:
- Utilisation n o r m s (i. e . teacher/pupil ratios, w o r k i n g a r r a n g e m e n t s ) for teachers
should b e studied;
- A r r a n g e m e n t s for the certification of teachers and the accrediting of teacher train-
ing institutions should b e r e v i e w e d ;
- Planning of the respective capacity of university faculties, and other teacher train-
ing centres in t e r m s of n u m b e r s and specialised subject a r e a s , e . g. science,
m a t h e m a t i c s , national languages and English;
- Planning of the training of teacher trainers in regard to curriculum changes.
A s regards in-service training, it w a s noted that Ministries of Education had planned in-service
courses on a large scale but that m u c h m o r e still had to be done. N e w forms of mobilising
available people, heads, inspectors, staff of teacher training centres, officials, were needed
since p r o g r a m m e s had proved insufficient. A m o n g problems cited by participants were short-
ages of m o n e y and the sheer n u m b e r of teachers to be re-trained, the doubtful efficiency of
short in-service courses in changing teachers' attitudes, concepts, approaches and methods,
the need for follow-up activities, the problems of disadvantaged areas, the fact that non-specialist
teachers often have to be re-trained in several subject areas at practically the s a m e time and
the difficulties of co-ordinating the work of the various institutions which could m a k e a useful
contribution to in-service training of teachers. It was felt that the implementation of curriculum
reform p r o g r a m m e s could not be effective unless efforts to solve the problems were m a d e on
a nation-wide scale.

(b) Books for reform p r o g r a m m e s


Participants discussed various national and State boards which had been set up in order to sup-
ply low price books necessary for the education p r o g r a m m e s in the national languages or in
foreign languages. T h e question of school libraries was not reviewed, but most participants
referred to arrangements by which textbooks were being supplied in their countries to children
whose parents could not afford to buy them. In Nepal, for example, the Janak Education Materials
Centre had been set up, with its o w n printing press to produce and distribute school level
textbooks and m e a s u r e s had been taken to ensure that children in the most needy areas received
school books and materials without charge. In Malaysia a Textbook Bureau had been set up
by the Ministry of Education to ensure that the production, distribution and evaluation of text-
books w a s adequately carried out.

(c) Supply of materials and visual aids

Participants drew a distinction between activities being undertaken at the central level to in-
crease the supply of equipment and materials and efforts at sub°national levels to provide sup-
port for teachers in their use and to add to the supply through local initiatives. M a n y examples
were given of innovations which Ministries of Education had undertaken in order to support

19
Administrative support for educational reform

the manufacture of teaching materials within the country or to import them. These included
the establishment of materials supply units „ information banks on educational technology, pre-
paration of basic scripts for films, radio and television as well as the production of multi-purpose
kits for the teaching of science subjects. An example was given by India of the experimental
use of a satellite for transmitting programmes in four languages for primary school children
and adults living in 2,400 remote villages.
F r o m a planning point of view, participants pointed out a number of functions which had
to be carried out in order to improve the supply of materials and visual aids. These included:
- The classification of requirements, including materials that should be provided by
the Ministry of Education or constructed by the teachers;
- Construction of prototype models and blueprints of apparatus which might be cons-
tructed locally and the institution of central tendering procedures in order to ensure
that the national supply if such apparatus was adequate;
- Assessment of needs, and allocation of responsibilities and liaison arrangements for
the production and use of educational television, radio programmes, films, video-tapes,
slides, charts and of the appropriate equipment in each school or institution;
- Organisation of materials supply for science teaching;
- P r o g r a m m e planning for familiarising teachers and other personnel in the use, and
production to some extent, of supporting materials and visual aids by means of
in-service courses, teachers' handbooks, guides and appropriate regulations (e. g.
teachers' liability in respect of breakages) to encourage teachers to use new teach-
ing materials.

(d) Improving the supply of classroom space

Participants mentioned that both the expansion of enrolment and the diversification of curricula
had created difficulties as regards classroom space and national authorities had not yet succeed-
ed in solving them. Participants said that a number of temporary expedients had been adopted
such as the introduction of shift systems, sharing of classes and schools, but that nothing
approaching realistic projections of classroom requirements, taking into account pedagogical
needs, i. e. different teaching/learning strategies involved in new curriculum programmes, had
been attempted. There had not been sufficient project planning related to assessments of re-
quired buildings. Participants said that besides more adequate planning, solutions to the pro-
blem of improving the supply of classroom space might include the use of low cost designs, for
school building as well as new methods of financing, such as interest free "revolving funds" and
increased community responsibility for buildings and repairs.

4. Contribution of the inspectorate and other specialised personnel

Participants drew attention to the fact that the staffing of administration as it affects the schools,
and in the first place district administration, has not kept pace with a staggering expansion in
educational services. Participants saw that the professional function as distinct from the

20
Analysis of national experience regarding administrative
support for educational r e f o r m

administrative function, within supervision, or in s o m e cases inspection, had b e c o m e even m o r e


n e c e s s a r y as a consequence of r e f o r m . Professional support and guidance to the practising
teachers had not b e e n achieved by changing the n a m e of the professionals responsible for p r o -
viding it, f r o m inspectors to supervisors. It w a s n e c e s s a r y that authorities should r e m e d y the
existing lack of personnel with professional c o m p e t e n c e and self-confidence w h o could fulfill
"the challenging responsibility of providing professional guidance".
Participants stressed that, as regards curriculum r e f o r m , it w a s important to involve
the Inspectorate in the entire formulation, evaluation and implementation p r o c e s a A s regards
formulation, it w a s suggested that apart f r o m individual school reports, the Inspectorate should
on the basis of its unique position as a direct link b e t w e e n H e a d q u a r t e r s and the i m p l e m e n t o r s
of policies and r e f o r m s in the schools, p r o d u c e consolidated reports touching on c o m m o n p r o b l e m
areas in education without having to m e n t i o n individual schools. Such reports would b e useful
for those charged with the task of formulating and planning r e f o r m s , in that they would provide
an e l e m e n t of s y s t e m s o u n d n e s s and feasibility to what m i g h t otherwise b e an unduly arbitrary
formulation f r o m the centre.

A s regards m a s s implementation and evaluation of curriculum r e f o r m s , there w e r e


m a n y p r o b l e m s at the school level which the Inspectorate m i g h t , according to the represent-
ative of M a l a y s i a , play an important, c h a n g e agent rôle in solving. Staff r e q u i r e m e n t s should
b e reviewed so that inspectors could adequately evaluate c l a s s r o o m level implementation of the
n e w p r o g r a m m e s , particularly in multilingual situations, publicise successful p e r f o r m a n c e ,
provide feedback to the Ministry of Education, supervise, advise and guide teachers and head
teachers; conduct in-service courses, s e m i n a r s and w o r k s h o p s at the local level and b e a channel
of c o m m u n i c a t i o n b e t w e e n the school and the c o m m u n i t y . It w a s pointed out that school h e a d s ,
staff of teacher-training centres, m e m b e r s of examinations divisions and bodies, and Ministry
officials should also b e fully involved in the p r o c e s s of curriculum r e f o r m , including the i m -
plementation aspects.

5. Priority n e e d s for r e s e a r c h and training on the relationship b e t w e e n


educational planning and administration in the context of r e f o r m

T h e representative of Sri L a n k a had noted in his statement that the "oppressive silence" of
research w o r k e r s and scholars on the implementation of educational plans w a s a n indication of
either the legitimacy of such studies or the difficulty of getting into an area of political d i m e n s i o n s .
H e had underlined in this connection the current belief that planning consisted of the preparation
of d o c u m e n t s rather than of p r o g r a m m e s of action "with and through people w h o are necessarily
culture b o u n d " .
Other participants e m p h a s i s e d the i m p o r t a n c e of r e s e a r c h on implementation of r e f o r m .
T h e y identified five priorities for r e s e a r c h :
(1) Strategies for m a s s implementation of n e w centrally planned curriculum p r o g r a m -
mes, with special reference to disadvantaged areas;
(2) Evaluation of the effectiveness of efforts of educational r e f o r m and of the p r o c e s s

21
Administrative support for educational r e f o r m

of curriculum d e v e l o p m e n t in achieving national educational a i m s and objectives;


(3) D e s i g n and production of l o w cost prototype equipment and teaching aids;
(4) I m p r o v e d utilisation of physical plant and h u m a n resources in m e e t i n g local require-
m e n t s arising out of the r e f o r m ;
(5) Results of r e f o r m in t e r m s of student a c h i e v e m e n t in different provinces of a
country and m e a s u r e s to i m p r o v e it.
With regard to training, participants expressed the v i e w that countries should systematically
plan and i m p l e m e n t p r o g r a m m e s for i m p r o v i n g the c o m p e t e n c e of those responsible for the
planning, professional content and m a n a g e m e n t of r e f o r m . Participants m e n t i o n e d personnel
responsible for curriculum and quantitative planning, inspectors, executive officers, clerical
staff a n d , as h a s b e e n discussed a b o v e , teachers and heads of institutions as categories of
people e m p l o y e d in the educational s y s t e m w h o needed to undertake systematic in-service
training in o r d e r to p e r f o r m their duties better. T e a c h i n g personnel and planning a n d
administrative personnel should to s o m e extent b e trained together in o r d e r to learn about
e a c h others p r o b l e m s and fields of c o m p e t e n c e . It w a s suggested that the real solution to the
p r o b l e m of planning in-service training as part of reform implementation lay in organising
intensive training c o u r s e s for the personnel m e n t i o n e d at district level ; all those w o r k i n g
should also b e learning.

22
S u m m a r y of introduction made by M r . H . N . Weiler to his paper on
"the planning and administration of educational reform"

M r . Weiler, in his presentation, referred to specific points raised by participants in their


analyses of national experience regarding administrative support for educational reform. H e
began by formulating the thesis that administrators were by definition persons who sought to
assure continuity, cohesion and consistency in the public service and who were m o r e inclined
towards maintaining the status quo than towards initiating, supporting and sustaining education-
al reform. Hence it was interesting to study how administrators, possessing these rather
static and rigid proclivities accommodated themselves to reform. M r . Weiler mentioned a
second and open proposition, namely, that there was some value in examining the distinction
between the reform of educational administration and the administration of educational reform,
even though' during the seminar the participants would undoubtedly focus on the latter topic.
M r . Weiler then referred to the discussion, in his paper, of educational reform in
the context of social change and his view that any reform of significant proportions was inter-
related with the political, economic and social environment of the educational system, in the
sense that, as delegates had pointed out, political power, economic wealth and social status
exerted an appreciable influence on the direction, the shape and the success or failure of
educational reform. A m o n g major reform issues, which indicated the close linkage between
education and social change, M r . Weiler had discussed the policy issues involved in creating
greater equality in access to educational opportunity. He had m a d e the point that as long as
society, in allocating occupational income and status benefits, maintained differentiation on
the basis of race, religion, family status, etc., efforts to provide for greater equality in access
to and success in education were likely to remain ineffective,,
M r . Weiler also discussed what he saw as a second major reform issue, namely, the
extent to which the content of education in a given country reflects the specific national conditions,
traditions and needs of the country rather than influences of colonial origin. Referring to a
third reform issue, M r . Weiler had mentioned the relationship between education and the eco-
nomic system. In the past this linkage had been understood, rather exclusively, in terms, of
manpower needs and projections. H e was arguing for a more comprehensive conception of the
relationship between education and the world of work so as better to understand the conditions
to which school graduates are exposed in the world of work and derive from that understanding

23
Administrative support for educational reform

a clearer view of the needs for planning changes in the educational system. Finally M r . Weiler
had raised a number of questions about the need to place the reform of education in the context
of integrated strategies for rural development.
The second main theme of M r . Weiler's paper was the administration of education-
al reform and, in particular, the need to look at the process of policy formulation, planning,
implementation and evaluation as a coherent and integrated whole. H e argued that within the
administration the relationships between the units responsible for each part of the process
should become more permeable in a structural and procedural sense. Dealing with the con-
tribution of administration to the reform process, M r . Weiler stressed the importance for
reform-oriented educational administrations to undertake a substantial research effort direct-
ed towards the diagnosis of the possibilities of reform in the light of economic, political and
social constraints and the formulation of potentially successful reform strategies. It had been
evident from the country statements that countries were preoccupied with these tasks.
M r . Weiler indicated a number of reform issues in educational administration which
merited study, including in the first place the question of decentralization or déconcentration .
The discussion had indicated that countries were preoccupied with the problem of efficiency
and in this connection had taken measures to ensure that tasks were planned and carried out
at sub-national level. At the same time, the problem of relationships between national and
sub-national levels was complex and certain national policy prerogatives had not only been
maintained but in some cases had apparently been strengthened.
M r . Weiler said that the second issue in educational administration was that of parti-
cipation. Within the administration, this could be studied in an inter-sectoral, intra-admin-
istrative way in a horizontal and a vertical sense. The participation of teachers, students
parents and communities in the reform process might also be studied. M r . Weiler concluded
his remarks on reform-related problems in educational administration by underlining the need
for a change in attitudes within the administration. It would not be possible to sustain a process
of educational reform, involving initiative or creativity, administratively if the dominant at-
titude on the part of administrators was one of hierarchical control and conformism which neces-
sarily is not conducive to initiative and creativity. In his paper, M r . Weiler had dealt with the
political and economic advantages of experimentation as a reform strategy; experimentation
would be difficult unless administrators were prepared to undertake it.
Towards the end of the paper the author had dealt with the issue of evaluation. It
was necessary to ask whether the rather exclusive preoccupation with the assessment of
cognitive achievement had not precluded evaluation of other important educational objectives
in the countries participating in the seminar. More attention might be given to the formative
evaluation of reform, rather than the summative reform which concludes it. In this notion of
an "on-going", formative evaluation which is a prelude to remedial on-going assistance in the
reform process the inspectorate might find a new identity which is conducive to and congenial
with the notion of assistance to educational reform.

Finally, M r . Weiler referred to his remarks on the kind of tasks which administration

24
S u m m a r y of introduction

might face within the framework of reform and the diagnostic, prescriptive and communicative

skills which administrators should develop in order to perform them. Experience of participants

had shown that a considerable innovating effort was needed in order to provide the requisite

in-service training for planners, administrators and teachers.

Comments on the statement by M r . Weiler

It was observed that administrative support for the educational reforms launched in
participating countries had generally been inadequate. One reason for inadequate sup­
port was that participation by line staff, inspectors, supervisors, district administrators,
as well as by parents and students, in the formulation and implementation of reform
decisions had been insufficient. Another reason lay in the fact that national authorities
had not taken steps to increase the numbers of staff, particularly at the district level,
who would be responsible for administering the reform. Nor had sufficient measures
for briefing and in-service training of personnel, as distinct from attendance at what
might be described as "hot air" sessions, been undertaken. Л further reason concern­
ed the lack of sober forecasting as regards the cost of implementing the reform and
the necessary measures to organise financial support for it. Moreover, sufficient
care had not always been taken with regard to the introduction or extension of new types
of education in a given country, irrespective as to whether this new education was re­
levant to technology, the cost aspects and to employment needs linked with the level
and type of economic development of the country. Speakers endorsed the plea which
had been made for new types of formative project evaluation; financial audits were not
enough since they could only show whether money had been spent according to budget
appropriations or not. What was needed was qualitative feedback, provided perhaps
by the inspectorate, to show whether schools and teachers were really doing what they
were expected to do.

25
The Contribution of an Inspectorate to Educational Reform. Summary
of Introductory Statements by M r . M . W . Pritchard and M r . R . F . Lyons

M r . Pritchard spoke of the specific functions of the inspector. H e said that the question of
nomenclature had caused some concern; should one call oneself an inspector, an organiser,
an advisor or a supervisor? It was important that the specific functional meaning, as distinct
from playing with words, should be made clear.
After observing that the duties of an inspector varied according to the way policy and
executive responsibilities were divided as between central and local education authorities, and the
the changes in work in the classroom associated with reform, M r . Pritchard examined suces-
sively five functional roles of the inspectorate; namely, communication, management or ad-
ministration,, evaluation or assessment, advice or support and innovation.
Communication was not so much a rôle as a thread which permeated the whole of an
inspector's functions and work. The inspectorate must in some sense absorb and pass on
information, intelligence and evaluation if it is to do its job correctly. In a metaphorical
sense the inspectorate is the eyes, ears and mouth of the Ministry of Education. It apprises
administrative authority about progress, handicaps and problems. It informs the schools and
teachers about policies. It interprets those policies and ensures that the message gets through.
It undertakes a pollinating function in the sense of disseminating ideas which have been gathered
from experience in m a n y schools.
The second rôle of the inspectorate was that of management or administration, of
being involved in routine administrative tasks. To some extent these functions, including
promotion, transfer and disciplining of teachers, investigating or arbitrating complaints and
disputes, collecting statistics, and so on, were necessary. But could not managerial tasks
be carried out to a greater extent by other people so that the inspectorate might perform its
professional tasks m o r e fully?
The third aspect of an inspector's work was that of the professional evaluation of the
state of the schools. This lies at the heart of his functions in that he must be competent to
evaluate the state of education honestly and accurately, assess the way in which policies are
carried out, note strengths and weaknesses and communicate his evaluation to the authorities,
the teachers and the heads of schools. The inspector must learn the skill of evaluating the
work of the school, and consolidated reports by the inspectors on particular problems, based

26
The contribution of an Inspectorate to educational reform
- summary of introductory statements

on this evaluation skill could be of immense value as an element in the Ministry's formulation

of policy.
M r . Pritchard stressed the fact that, as regards support and guidance, the work of
the inspector was effective if he enjoyed a good professional relationship with the head of the
school, could communicate advice and ideas to him, and if the head was professionally speak-
ing the captain of his ship. Much attention should be given to the role of the head of a school
in carrying out educational reform since the inspector in the last analysis was only a visitor.
It was also important to identify strong and capable teachers and local officials since they too
could do much to support reform.

Finally, M r . Pritchard mentioned the roles that the inspectorate could play in the in-
itiation of educational reform, in the formulation as well as the implementation of education-
al policies, in the actual working out of the principles on which the curriculum is based and in
the planning and implementation of in-service training. In order to play these roles, the ins-
pectorate should keep abreast of educational thinking and research, its work should be well
planned in the light of needs. It should co-operate with other change agents within the education-
al service. It should be given sufficient transport and other resources to undertake its visits
to the schools on a sufficient scale.

M r . Lyons said that it seemed important that national authorities should undertake
discrepancy analysis between the functions which the inspectorate was supposed to be under-
taking at the national and sub-national, particularly district, levels and what it was in fact
doing. M r . Pritchard had outlined five functions which it had been found that inspectors were
performing in the countries included in the H E P study of primary school inspection. These
functions included a professional and advisory function as well as administrative functions. It
was necessary to look closely at the functional distribution of the time available to administrat-
ive staff silice personnel, including inspectors, were likely to be involved in a prior way in regul-
atory administration and this might m e a n , subject to staff being limited, that time spent on in-
novating professional activities would be limited.

In terms of time, priority at the district level would be given to the administration
of the law on education, to administrative matters as concerns the functioning of the system,
i. e. finance, supply of various kinds, pupil, teacher, school administration, relations
with communities, investigation of complaints. But reform implied that the inspectors
would be required to devote more time to their professional functions in a situation
where the volume of administrative tasks would certainly grow also. Underqualified teachers
required help if they were to teach science adequately, a more vocational emphasis in the
curriculum meant that teachers would require additional support. Model schools, competitions
und now activities to equip teachers in respect of the reform, would mean that inspectors would
be obliged to increase the scope of their work. If formal and non-formal education, as part of
reform in rural areas, was to become more closely linked with other types of development ac-
tivities, production, health, nutrition., etc. , it seemed likely that the inspectorate would be
called upon to act professionally as an agent for change. It was not always certain that the
inspectors possessed the qualifications, experience and attitudes to play the professional role
implied by educational reforms.

27
Administrative support for educational reform

As regards functions of the inspectorate at the national level, it seemed important that
two-way communication between the inspectors in the field and the Ministry should be reinforced
in order to provide guidance to the government on educational policy; consolidated reports by the
inspectorate could, in principle, be of great value, although not much evidence of this process
was available in the region. It was also necessary that the national authorities should make
use of the monitoring of reform implementation by the inspectorate as a guide to their decision-
making.
As regards recruitment and training, it would seem that inspectors could not inspire
and teach the heads and teachers how to introduce new programmes into the schools unless
they knew themselves. It was therefore important that the inspectors, who should have much
experience and authority, should be involved in the formulation of change and thoroughly pre-
pared for their professional rôle. The H E P study had shown that much thought needed to be
given to methods whereby countries might select inspectors on an adequate competitive basis
and provide them with the training which was needed to enable them to lead the reform process
in the schools and communities.

Comments on the contribution of the inspectorate to educational reform


The discussion was focussed on the functional definition of the inspectorate
and its contribution to reform in Asia. T w o opposing views were expressed.
The first was that educational reform in Asia had taken many forms; social,
political, structural, pedagogical, i.e. content and methods, and that
different types of administrative support were involved in each case. No
clear definition of the functions of the inspectorate was possible since
different meanings were attached to the activities of that body in each
country. Moreover, the idea that the inspector was a professional advisor
who assessed, found defects in the teaching/learning process and helped
to correct them was completely out. All administrators should inspect
schools and their jobs should be interchangeable with those of heads of
schools. Everybody should be the eyes and ears of the Ministry. Nobody
wanted the Ministry to keep a watchdog as if it had proprietary rights over
the nation.
Problems should be approached from the standpoint of the system analysis
of management operations. According to this view, every function had four
levels of supervision and actions. These were, policy-making, executive
control of implementation, supervisory operations and then the operation
itself. Since the proper span of supervision was one supervisor to five
operators, it was incongruous to suppose that one inspector could super-
vise the operations of 130 or more teachers. Other means of supervision
than inspection were needed, including sample checking, meetings,
provision of materials.

28
The contribution of an Inspectorate to educational reform
- s u m m a r y of introductory statements

The second view was that it had been proved necessary that Ministries
of Education should exercise some control and monitoring function as
regards the implementation of decisions about education and„ in principle,
the inspectorate was necessary in order to provide professional evaluation
and guidance in the schools» It was perhaps inappropriate to compare
inspectors to factory foremen as regards their supervisory functions
since the heads of institutions should supervise and lead the schools
professionally and administratively. Inspectors undertook visits and
various types of inspection in order to evaluate and assist the schools
within the limits of the legal constraints implied by the ownership and
control of the schools. They should have the time and competence to
undertake these tasks adequately and to support and train the teacher in a
number of way s. Support did not m e a n eyeball to eyeball confrontation, it
meant that the inspector should win the respect of the staff of the school
for his constructive proposals based on evaluation. But it was also
important that at the top level, officers should use and analyse the reports
of inspectors or groups of inspectors in order to contribute to the
improvement of the relevance and effectiveness of educational policy»

29
Deliberations of the Working Groups on problems
of planning educational reforms: communication
and supply and training of personnel

The participants agreed to form two Working Groups as follows.


Their reports are included in the Appendixes E and F to this report.
Group A Group В
M r . Narciso Albarracin M r . Haji Ahmad Salleh, Malaysia
the Philippines (Chairman) (Chairman)
M r . A . Ghufour Baher, M r . N . L. Bennett, Unesco
Afghanistan M r . D . G. Berstecher, ROEA
Mrs. Anwara Begum, Bangladesh M r . A . Espinoza, Unicef
M r . Jusuf Enoch, Indonesia M r . R. F. Lyons, H E P
M r . Han Cheng Fong, Singapore M r . M . M . Mathur, India
M r . A . W . P. Gurugé, ROEA M r . Sinjo Okuda, Japan
M r . M . W . Pritchard, HEP M r . Suradej Visessurakarn, Thailand
M r . W . M . Zaki, Unesco M r . Iswar Prasad Upadhye, Nepal
M r . J. Oxenham, H E P Mr. Sikandar Hayat Jamal, Pakistan
(Rapporteur) M r . G . Carrón, IIEP
(Rapporteur)

The terms of reference for both Working Groups were:


Problems and issues for administration in the light of reform, i. e.
(i) Planning educational reforms: problems of experimentation,
implementation and evaluation,
(ii) Communication and supply as key problems in implementation of
educational reforms,
(iii) Training of personnel for the administrative support of
educational reform.

30
Statement by M r . J. Oxenham, Rapporteur for Working Group A

M r . Oxenham, said that his Group had realized that the type of administrative support or adapta-
tion required for educational reform, depended firstly on the source of the demand for improve-
ments or changes, and secondly on the subject of the reform. One could therefore draw up two
matrices: one showing different types of reform classified by the impulses which generated them,
and a second classifying the reform by impact on the educational system, that is, whether it
had pedagogical implications or merely involved administrative changes.

The Group had then reviewed national experiences and had found that on the whole the
major sources of ideas for reform, were the socio-political and economic systems and that the
education sector's rôle tended to be internal, namely, improving the learning process and methods.
Shifts in educational policy might come from presidential or royal commissions set up in res-
ponse to general public dissatisfaction with the education system, during the process of which
ideas would be aired, compromises and trade-offs m a d e , until eventually a programme of re-
form would take shape, to which the Ministry of Education would have to respond. Apart from
such major or comprehensive reforms which happen perhaps only every 5 to 10 years, sudden
ad hoc demands cropped up. For instance, the President might demand that the Ministry of
Education should deal urgently with a new problem, or people, having travelled abroad, might
bring back ideas they wanted to try out locally and press the Ministry of Education into exper-
imenting with them. The Ministry on the whole, then, seemed to be passive but willing to listen
and respond to other people. Most participants did not find their Ministries slow when called
upon to undertake some course of action.
M r . Oxenham reported that similarly to the part played by the Ministry of Education
in reform, the roles of research and experiment also seemed to be marginal. A s yet most
research institutes and projects were not sufficiently established and expected to exert any
initiating influence on educational policy. Further, it appeared that other research in sociology
or economics, which might have educational implications, did not easily filter into the thinking
of Ministries of Education, and if it did so, it was only after an appreciable time lag.
When reforms were recommended or recognised as being necessary, most Ministries
of Education encountered three basic obstacles in planning and implementing them: lack of time

31
Administrative support for educational reform

to plan the reform properly, lack of financial and material resources and lack of adequately
trained personnel. A n example of the need to work out the consequences and possible problems
of a reform was the introduction of automatic promotion to reduce desertion and drop-out. Such
a measure had easily foreseeable effects in that school enrolments would rise and hence more
teachers would be needed at higher grades in the primary school system. But it has been found
that with automatic promotion, a larger percentage of children were getting to the end of the
primary cycle without having achieved an adequate degree of literacy, numeracy or social skills,
so that instead of a problem of drop-out, one had another less obvious problem to solve. A
new programme had to be organised with some urgency. Ministries found that they were con-
stantly under pressure to get changes through and did not have enough time to apply the best prin-
ciples of planning to the implementation process.
Likewise, they were not given enough financial resources to carry out all the reforms
demanded and were expected to cope with the budgetary resources which had already been ap-
proved. Material resources could not easily be mobilised and brought to bear at the right time;
network analysis or P E R T programming might be necessary to do this properly. If the reform
was new, or it was in an area that had not previously been within the sphere of competence of
the Ministry, then Ministry personnel might not be prepared for it and would have to undergo
crash programmes in order to deal with it. Thus, due to all the above factors, some reforms
had in fact taken 20 to 30 years to reach full fruition.
In addition to the introduction of rather sudden changes or reforms, there had also
been the need for gradual improvement of established practice; reform was not something that
could be implemented and then forgotten. The initial stages were never perfect and therefore
a gradual process of maturation and polishing had to be allowed for.
The impression derived from the Working Group's discussion was that most reforms
put into effect had eventually token root and blossomed, but that one type had seemed to be
generally unsuccessful, namely, attempts to vocationalise the curriculum. Indonesia, for
instance, had been obliged to convert its vocational-technical schools into general schools, at
the same time introducing a vocational-technical element into the curricula. Here there seem-
ed to have been a mismatch between the ideas of the reformer and those of the clients, employers,
and the general employment situation. Without any real systematic investigation of where the
precise mismatches lay, policies had to be changed and this highlighted in an interesting way
the marginal role played by research and systematic evaluation in educational reform. Par-
ticipants in the Working Group admitted that despite the fact that the need for communication,
training and constant re-training was acknowledged in order to ensure the fertilization of ideas
and progress, nevertheless within the Ministry and beyond it, communication was often blocked
or just did not take place at all. Similarly, the needs for training were seldom met because of
financial and material constraints. Evidently if communication from the Ministry as to what
should be done was difficult, it was even m o r e difficult to draw information from the field. The
old pattern of top-down flow of information seems to dominate and the accepted ideal of draw-
ing guidance from the learners themselves for policies and reform had not yet been able to
take root.

32
Statement by the Rapporteur for Working Group A

It seemed that in the matter of training, pre-service training of teachers was fairly
fully, even if imperfectly, catered for, but many of the educational systems in the region still
had unqualified teachers who needed up-grading and retraining. Participants %&d also recog-
nised the gap which existed in the training of educational administrators and supervisors,
namely, those officials who should be giving professional support to teachers. Such personnel
tended to be appointed and given only an informal or cursory induction.
These discussions formed the general background to the thinking of the Working Group,
which had then considered how the process of reform could be improved; whether the Ministry
could itself keep abreast of thinking in society and so move away from the situation where it
merely responded to demands from outside, and in fact could be prepared to move when the
public called for reform. The Group felt that in order to reach such an ideal situation, the
whole function of educational research would have to be transformed: research institutes
would have to keep much more closely in touch with social developments, that is, changes in
public opinion, culture and norms. With the present levels of staffing and finance, this would
not be easily attainable but it represented one way in which the Ministry could be a more active
agent. If the Ministry were somewhat ahead of demand for reform, had collected information
and made evaluations, etc. , then it would have m o r e time to consider the various options avail-
able and reforms would be less, in the sense of merely opportunistic, reactions to urgent de-
mands. If the Ministry felt that public opinion was going to be some time in coming to a head,
then experiments for change could be conducted.
A s to communication, M r . Oxenham reported that it was not just a question of collect-
ing and disseminating information but of getting it discussed and incorporated into thinking in
order to generate a renewing type of mentality in the education system as a whole. A s regards
the research functions of the Ministry, parts could be better mobilised in relation to policy
needs but the actual mechanisms would have to be decided by each particular country. There
had been a feeling that though some resources were overloaded, in other ways, some were
underutilised.
The Working Group had ended its discussions by drawing up a list of questions which
should be asked if planning and management were to be improved.

33
Statement by M r . G . Carrón, Rapporteur for Working Group В

M r . Carrón said that the report, which is reproduced in Appendix F , represented a choice of
the most interesting issues by the participants in the Group. It covered the strategy of educa-
tional reform, problems of communications and supply and training of personnel for the
administrative support of educational reform.

Referring to the definition of reform, M r . Carrón said that the concept of reform was
normally associated with the notion of improvement. It was felt that this might not be a very
appropriate way of defining reform since the notion of improvement itself was a very relative
one. The criteria for the assessment of improvement really depended very much on the dif-
ferent groups one was referring to. What was improvement for teachers might be felt as no
improvement for pupils for instance. All depended on the objectives taken as a point of refer-
ence. For instance, improvements in the quality of education by, let us say, introducing
new equipment in some urban areas only might not be an improvement when one looked at the
objective of equal distribution of supplies of education in the country as a whole. It was felt
that we could not go very far with this traditional definition of reform and that in the context
of the seminar when we spoke about administrative support we should take reform in its widest
possible sense so as to include all systematic efforts m a d e by governments to adapt their educ-
ation systems to the needs of the population. It was pointed out that in many countries, the
major preoccupation was to expand the educational system rather than to reform it. Demand
for education being very great, governments had to respond to this demand and in doing this,
they were obliged to adapt their educational systems. A distinction was then made between
four different types of reform in the Asian region:

1. The improvement type of reform (the most c o m m o n type one found where one expanded a
system and tried to improve it gradually in order to get it adapted better to the needs of
the population).
2. A problem-oriented reform (starting from a concrete problem and trying to adapt the sys-
tem in order to solve the problem). A n example given was reform of education in Thailand.
3. Fundamental reform (one could say revolutionary reform or reform of the relationship
between education and society and here the case of China was quoted as constituting an
example of fundamental reform).
Statement by the Rapporteur for Working Group В

4. Future-oriented reform, where a fundamental change in the relationship between the education­
al system and society was not foreseen but there was an attempt to look ahead to, say, the
year 2000 to see how changes should be made in the education system in order to get the
type of society desired for the future (the case of Japan was quoted as being an example of
a country with this type of future-oriented reform).
M r . Carrón then referred to the relationship between reform strategy and national goal setting.
It was true that national goal setting for educational reform and development was a political
responsibility in the first instance, and also that the goals set determined to a very large extent
the strategy one had to follow. Since implementing the strategy was the major task of adminis- v.

tration, the conclusion could be drawn that the administration does not have anything to do
with selection and definition of goals. The job of the administration starts where the job of the
politician ends, namely, putting goals into practice.
It was felt that this view m a y be an oversimplification because in most systems the
distinction between politicians and administrators is not all that sharp. Many statements of
politicians are drafted by administrators. It was also observed that even if there was a clear
distinction between politicians and administrators, the administration still had a very important
responsibility as far as goal setting was concerned. It was said that the role of the administration
was really to give the politician the right information about the system, to state whether reforms
were at all possible, viable, realistic in a given context. In order to perform the function of
informing the policy-maker, the administration should do two things. The first was research,
because continuous research work was necessary in order to get the right idea,about the
system functioned and hov/ it could be improved. Second, the administration should create a
favourable climate for ideas for reform coming up within the system.

Dealing with the strategy for educational reform, the Group had limited itself to one
particular aspect, namely, the role of research in the strategy for educational reform. Here
again this did not at all imply that the group considered this aspect as being m o r e important
than some other aspects of the strategy like experimentation, and evaluation. The role of re-
search was generally recognised as of vital importance for the reform process. However, in
the Asian region as in many other regions, research work in education faced very serious
problems. Not only was there a general shortage of education research workers, but research
that was carried out in universities and research institutions was a consequence of those insti-
tutions fixing their priorities and research topics according to their own needs. These needs
were very often nothing more than the needs of Ph. D . students who had to prepare doctorates,
and the academic disciplines determined the subject much m o r e than the problems in the educ-
ational system and more than the tasks that faced policy-makers. The general impression was
that undue research was done in universities that was not very relevant to policy-making.
Addressing itself to the problem of how research could be made m o r e relevant to policy
making, the Group had discussed what kind of research was needed. First of all„ it faced
the problem of definition. What was understood by research? One could give two extreme de-
finitions - the narrow one being that research was an original, creative piece of study on a
specific problem or aspect of a given area; the broadest definition was that research was included

35
Administrative support for educational reform

in every systematic effort to i m p r o v e our information b a s e , in a given area. It w a s felt that


for purposes of policy-making, w e should m o v e to the broadest definition, and include every
systematic effort to i m p r o v e the information b a s e . Different types of research could be included
in this broadest definition, and four types of research w e r e identified but there m a y b e others.
(1) Surveying of the s y s t e m of education; this w a s mainly a descriptive activity but
it w a s a very essential o n e .
(2) Task-oriented r e s e a r c h . Others m a y call it problem-oriented research, since
it analyses specific p r o b l e m s .
(3) Experimental testing. This is linked to research that is undertaken in the reform
context.
(4) Evaluation research». W h e n action h a s been taken, this involves an a s s e s s m e n t
of what h a s been achieved.
It w a s felt that there w a s a lack and an urgent need for task-oriented and evaluation
research. Only b y developing these types of research, could w e satisfy two important conditions
for m a k i n g research useful for p o l i c y m a k i n g , the first that research should b e relevant and
p r o b l e m oriented o r immediately linked to policy or r e f o r m , and the second that it should be
properly timed because m u c h research w o r k w a s done at the w r o n g m o m e n t , not w h e n it w a s
really needed, or the length of time involved w a s inappropriate.
Mr. C a r r ó n said that the question as to h o w research could b e m a d e m o r e relevant
and useful involved consideration of what w a s already done in the region with this a i m in m i n d .
A m i n i m u m solution that w a s e m p l o y e d in s o m e countries, for instance, in M a l a y s i a , h a d been
not to allow any research w o r k to b e carried out in the schools without previous approval by
the Ministry of Education. E v e r y g o v e r n m e n t should take at least this m e a s u r e a s a m i n i m u m .
But this w a s , of course, a negative a p p r o a c h . O n e could exclude s o m e research projects
which w e r e not useful or relevant but one could not p r o m o t e others that w e r e useful. It had also
been suggested in this respect that perhaps a useful i m p r o v e m e n t could b e to publish together
with plans and r e f o r m proposals, a list of research priorities relevant to the plan or reform
that w a s to b e i m p l e m e n t e d . Other countries had gone m u c h further in order to m a k e research
m o r e relevant. T h e y had created special bodies for research in co-operation with the Ministry
of Education. T h e relative a u t o n o m y of such an institute w a s discussed. If it w a s completely
integrated in the Ministry, it might b e c o m e capable of undertaking only what w a s called " d o m e s t i c -
ated research". It w a s felt that research should by definition h a v e a critical rôle.
It w a s therefore thought that the creation of a s e m i - a u t o n o m o u s body constituted an
interesting strategy which could be useful for at least t w o reasons. T h e first w a s that it would
b e c o m e possible to p r o m o t e relevant research for p o l i c y - m a k e r s by undertaking and financing
task-oriented research projects. It should be understood that this body should not necessarily
carry out the research itself but that at least it should orient the research of outside institutions
and individuals b y providing finance for it. T h e second m a j o r advantage w a s that such a s e m i -
a u t o n o m o u s research body could help to m a k e research results m o r e useful. It w a s felt that
one of the m a j o r p r o b l e m s w a s that research results often n e v e r reached policy m a k e r s

36
Statement by the Rapporteur for Working Group В

and that even if they reached their desks.most of the time they were never read, because
administrators were very busy people and research reports tend to be lengthy and often use a
jargon which is incomprehensible to the layman. For this reason, one of the important functions
of such a body should be to provide policy »makers with short abstracts and consolidated reports
from all relevant research work at the moment they were needed.
Turning to problems of communication and supply, M r . Carrón said that the Group
had dealt with two different types of communication - vertical and horizontal; vertical being
from the top to the local level and horizontal being between different departments in the Minis-
try or education offices and other ministries or departments outside the sector of education.
On vertical communication, it was pointed out at the beginning of the discussions that
the solutions m a y be difficult but the problem was very clear, namely, that in most countries
the communication process was a one way downward process. In a situation of reform, this
communication procedure was very harmful because reforms were intended to get closer to
the needs of the people and when there was no real feedback from the grassroots level, it was
difficult to orient reform to real needs.
When discussing communication, it was thought useful to distinguish between the
monitoring aspect and the criticial feedback aspect. The monitoring aspect was the traditional
way of trying to get information from below in order to monitor the system. But the trouble
was that in most countries, this information was purely of a statistical nature. It was felt
that statistics were only a poor reflection of reality, particularly since they were often not
reliable. So it was felt that the most important improvement would be to get more information
of a qualitative nature from the grassroots level so that authorities would have a clear picture
of what was really going on in the schools. This supposed that non-official channels, that is
channels which allow information to come from the public, as well as official channels for in-
formation coming from administrators, should be used in a combined way and that there should
be contact points established between those two channels of communication at different levels of
the administration. It was also pointed out that the inspectorate could play a very important
rôle in this respect precisely as a means of contact between the base and the top. It was i m -
portant that countries should try to use these channels and get these contact points growing so
as to bring information to the top level.
But it was also pointed out that for all types of communication between the top and
the various levels to the base, it was necessary to bear in mind more sophisticated channels,
for instance, two-way communication by radio with remote areas which could be an important
source of qualitative feedback on problems that schools were facing in remote areas.
The second aspect of communication, critical feedback, was concerned with the
opinions of people. Critical feedback has been neglected in the past, because for various
reasons administrators had been reluctant to organise this kind of communication. T w o tra-
ditional ways of opinion gathering were discussed. The first most c o m m o n one was opinion
gathering through committees or representatives of the community, at district, provincial or
national levels. Representatives were brought together and asked their opinions about relevant
parts of the system. This method was certainly useful but it was not always clear

37
Administrative support for educational reform

who these people really represented, since generally they belonged to the local élite and did
not necessarily represent the needs of the people.
The äecond channel or technique used was the individual questionnaire. This method
meant that people were asked implicitly or explicitly to express personal, critical views on
hierarchical superiors. This might not be a well-adapted approach for regions where people
were not used to expressing their individual critical views vis-a-vis the policy-makers, govern-
ment and authority in general. It was suggested that perhaps a third channel could be developed
which would prove more effective, namely, to seek critical feedback on the basis of organised
groups. Only when organised groups started discussing problems could real critical feedback
be obtained. These groups should be m a d e up from the different categories of people concerned
with the educational process; pupils, parents, teachers, local communities and local adminis-
trators. But such organised critical feedback required an atmosphere of confidence and absence
of restraint and it was felt that Ministries could stimulate the development of the necessary
climate for such confidence.
Referring to horizontal communication, M r . Carrón said that both intra and inter -
sectorial co-ordination should be developed and strengthened. A s far as inter-sectorial co-
ordination at the local level was concerned, a major obstacle could reside in the fact that most
of the educational systems were still highly centralised. Co-ordinating efforts at the local level
meant co-ordinating the work of the ministries of Education, Housing, Works, etc. , but ever}'
administrator was over-dependent on instructions coming from above rather than trying to co-
ordinate efforts with people at the local level. So perhaps an essential prerequisite was to en-
sure first decentralisation of the activities of the different administrations involved.
Turning to the problem of supply, M r . Carrón said that three points had been discus-
sed: local resource mobilisation, the problem of production and distribution of textbooks,
materials and equipment, and the distribution of persone!.
Local resource mobilisation for educational supply was one of the elements that was
very often used in development and/or reform strategy since it helped alleviate the burden of
the central educational budget and was often a first step to bringing local communities closer
to the schools and to making them really concerned about the educational service. A disad-
vantage was, however, mentioned, namely, that this procedure was not always conducive to more
educational equality. This was one of those innovations that could be considered an improvement
or not,depending on the circumstances. It might sometimes have an adverse effect since the
poorest areas were precisly those which could contribute less and which were already at a
disadvantage as compared with richer areas.

In general, the success of a strategy of mobilisation of local resources depended on


attitudes and traditions of local communities. But government policy could determine the
attitudes of the local community to a large extent. If conditions under which local communities
should contribute to school building were not clearly defined, the normal reaction of local
people would be to wait for equipment coming from the higher authority. It had been pointed
out that one of the important things to do was to define a clear and uniform strategy, at least
for areas with similar living conditions. The second very important variable in determining

38
Statement by the Rapporteur for Working Group В

the success of mobilisation strategy was that the traditions of local communities should be taken
into consideration and that it should be consistent with the cultural values and the behavioural
patterns of the local communities that were being aimed at. In areas, for instance, where there
had been a tradition of collective temple building, it might be useful to establish a link between
school building and temple building so that strategies were linked in the framework of existing
conditions. Since very little was known about the different ways in which countries managed in
this respect, it was suggested that comparative research should be carried out in order to get
m o r e information from decision-makers.

Turning to the production and distribution of textbooks and teaching materials,


M r . Carrón said that the Group's discussion showed that this problem was one of the most
important for implementing educational reforms successfully. T w o different questions were
discussed: should production of books be centralised or decentralised? And should distribution
be public or private? The problem of decentralised or centralised production had been seen in
different ways according to the size and circumstances of the country. In large countries where
there was a variety of linguistic and cultural groups, it seemed that decentralisation was
necessary in order to get local people to participate in the design and preparation of textbooks
and materials. But even in these countries, it was felt that standardisation was a very impor-
portant thing and that it, together with production to obtain economies of scale, should mainly
be the responsibility of the central office.
The problem of distribution seemed to be serious in almost all countries. It had been
said that governments were often ill-equipped to perform this task because of the very import-
ant transport and storage facilities involved, the specialised personnel requirements and the
fact that distribution normally took place only once a year. Ministries were reluctant to
assemble resources and personnel for this periodic requirement. On the other hand, if au-
thorities sought to add this function to the existing workload of different staff in the admini-
stration, including teachers, the people quite naturally did not always perform this additional
task very willingly. In view of these problems, the question had been raised as to whether
it might not be better to use the private distribution network of book and paper shops, to hire
them to distribute free textbooks and materials. A s far as m o r e sophisticated equipment
was concerned, one important remark was m a d e . Very often this equipment arrived in the
different, schools but was never utilised, either because teachers were not able to use it or
because there was no maintenance service. In this particular case, maintenance services
and proper training of teachers to use these materials had been thought essential.
As far as distribution of personnel was concerned, M r . Carrón said that in most
countries a very severe imbalance had been noted in the distribution of administrative per-
sonnel as between national and sub-national levels. Such personnel were concentrated in the
cities while numbers were less than adequate in remote areas. This fact was considered in
relation to the introduction of reform because the central level very naturally had a tendency
to devolve tasks to the lower levels. Given that there already was this imbalance between
personnel, this tendency made the situation worse. The same problem existed in respect

39
Administrative support for educational reform

of teaching staff. It had been found that the most qualified teachers were in the cities and the
worst in rural areas. Concentration of human resources in urban areas was considered one of
the most basic problems in providing administrative support for educational reform since it
was really at the root of many of the problems which had been mentioned. The traditional in-
centives many countries used to attract personnel to remote areas were not always very effi-
cient and it was necessary to think about m o r e global and radical changes in this respect.
A s regards training of personnel, M r . Carrón mentioned that the Group had touched
upon three important issues: change of attitudes, training and personnel management strate-
gies and problems of teacher training. A s regards training and change of attitudes, the Group
had noted that during the last 15 years many countries had made tremendous efforts to provide
in-service training for different categories of administrative and teaching personnel. One
could not avoid the impression that there had been a certain imbalance between the results ob-
tained and the expectations that prevailed when these programmes had been introduced. Per-
haps one reason for this discrepancy lay in the fact that reform is not only a question of tech-
nical skills and knowledge but more a question of new attitudes. These programmes had been
too often exclusively oriented towards the acquisition of new knowledge and skills and not enough
towards changing attitudes. Of course, to change attitudes would need m u c h more than just
training and implied changing the procedures and structures of the administration itself. The
Group thought that change of attitudes should become an important objective of training
programmes.

The second issue which had been discussed was training and personnel management
strategies. It had been felt that training should be seen in a much broader perspective and that
unless teachers and administrators could identify certain of their personal interests, such as
career prospects, promotion and so forth in training programmes, they would not be very eager
to undertake them. There should be a system of incentives and this, depended very much on the
global strategy for personnel management. On the other hand, when training had been provided
for m e m b e r s of the administration, it had happened too often that they had never used the know-
ledge or skills they had acquired, because on their return they had been promoted to another post
where they could not apply the new knowledge acquired.

A global frame of personnel management should be kept in mind and all elements con-
sidered, including the system of performance assessment, reporting, selection and promotion
procedures, basic pay structure and general working conditions of administrative personnel.
A s regards the practical lessons to be drawn concerning the training of teachers for
reform, the first lesson concerned the need to establish close links between pre-service and
in-service training of teachers. It had been suggested that elements should be injected into
pre-service training so that teachers would acquire the right attitudes towards innovation and
re-training and that they should already be prepared to be re-trained when they got their jobs.
The second lesson had been that training should be a recurrent process, it should not be one
single effort and then forgotten. Different follow-up approaches were discussed, including
inspectorate guidance, special radio programmes and regular meetings. It had been felt that

40
Statement by the Rapporteur for Working Group В

the organisation of the training programmes should be based on the multiplier method. This
meant that since authorities could never reach all the teachers, they must set up a strategy in
which they trained some teachers and those teachers trained others. This approach not only
had the advantage that it was possible to teach larger portions of the teaching staff but also that
it might create a mobilisation effort which in itself was very important.
A further point had been that the training effort should become an integral part of the
reform process; this meant that it was not a question of first defining the reform and then start­
ing training, but that training people should be involved in the reform from the beginning. Thus
training could be a way of participation for the teaching staff in the definition of curriculum reform.
Finally M r . Carrón reported that the training effort should be of a global character.
Curriculum development was, for instance, not only a problem of training teachers, it was also
a matter of training the administrators at different levels, even the finance staff. The teacher
should feel understood by his administration and he should be able to apply the new skills and
new attitudes he had acquired with its full support.

Discussion of the Working Group Reports

Participants directed their comments to three issues which had arisen from the reports. First,
they spoke of relationships or lack of them, as between policy makers in Ministries of Education
and research bodies. Second, they discussed the reasons why there was a gap between reform
objectives and implementation, the extent planning personnel were reponsible for this discre-
pancy and they commented on some specific problème of resource supply. Finally, they re-
viewed the progress of training of personnel for reform in the Asian region.

Administrators and Researchers


Throughout the discussion, it was clear that the partcipants felt that there was a gap.
as regards objectives and outlook, between high administrators in Ministries of Education and
researchers. Whereas the former wanted and needed problem oriented research, the latter did
not regard such enquiries as prestigious or indeed as research. Hardly any research mentioned
in the last directory of educational research in Asia, which had been published by the Unesco*
Office for Education in Asia seven years previously, had any relevance to educational reform.
Moreover, the training which personnel had received abroad and the attitudes which they had
assimilated, made it hard for them to carry out problem-oriented research adapted to Asian
conditions.

In particular, when researchers undertook their studies, they did not have in mind
answers to questions such as, for w h o m and for what levels of persons are we doing this re-
search? For policy-makers, officials, teachers or teacher educators or for other academics
in universities? For what purposes are we doing the research and what policies do we hope to
affect by it? In other words, researchers did not seek to predetermine the usefulness of re-
search in terms of national policy objectives. Policy -makers, for their part, did not m a k e de-
cisions on the basis of detailed research nor, with some exceptions, did Ministries undertake
or sponsor research findings. They were forced by political, economic and social factors,

41
Administrative support for educational reform

including student revolts, to make reforms, administrators were obliged to implement them as
best they could,, Ministries tended to regard research as a sacred cow, which could not on any
account be shot or even made use of. Research had contributed no special insight into reform
and was not geared to it. Ministries did not require research into the type and direction of re-
form but into the details and processes of implementation. Participants were also cautious about
defining relevance of experimentation to reform. Those undertaking experiments in structure or
curriculum needed up to fifteen years before they could conclude on what needed to be done.
Participants were sceptical about experimentation on a pilot basis. They argued that if the
authorities did not like a scheme, they would try it out on a pilot basis, and after three or four
years the experiment would be out of sight and nobody would remember it. One participant
affirmed that no pilot experiment had ever succeeded in any country in leading anywhere. But
it was suggested that another way of approaching experimentation would be in the sense of par-
tially implementing something, which had been decided by the national authorities, in one par-
ticular place in a country and at one particular time. This would mean starting the "snowball"
of implementation going through a strategy of built-in experimentation or partial implementation,
followed by adjustment, improvement and progressive generalisation. However^ it was thought
by one participant to be difficult to apply this principle to the reform of the curriculuir since,
it was argued, it would be difficult for a group of children who had studied with the use of the
new curriculum to compete for entry into the next level of education with children who are still
part of the old overall educational pattern. This proposition, which was not discussed, seemed
to point out the need for change in the examination system in order to accommodate the intro-
duction of a new curriculum.

The gap between reform objectives and implementation


Participants considered the problem of why some reforms had failed either complet-
tely or partly, success being measured by the extent to ,which the government's objectives
(see review of experience and problems) had been accomplished quantitatively within the tempor-
al and spatial limits which had been laid down or, in some cases, accomplished qualitatively
as shown by an evaluation of their external effectiveness.
Participants mentioned lack of time, financial and material resources and adequately
trained personnel as well as conservative attitudes and opposition of teachers as factors which
had tended to nullify reform. Action had often been taken too hastily and administrators had
not been ready for the reform which had been imposed from above. These facts led partici-
pants to ask why it was that the constraints and difficulties involved in implementing reform
over a defined period had not been pointed out at the time the reform strategies were being
framed. W a s it not the duty of administrators and, particularly, planners to bring out a rea-
listic picture, given policy directions, of what the country was capable of and what was pos-
sible? W a s it not the task of the administrative support services to work out reasonable
strategies and provide alternatives for those strategies? Participants felt that planners were
often not strong enough to bring their point of view before the political executive of the Ministry
or the chief executive of the country. Planners tended to be conservative, to get carried along
with whatever was suggested to them and hence were likely to end up with a failure of their plans.

42
Statement by the Rapporteur for Working Group В

Participants observed that plans were frequently vague and nebulous and that adminis­
trators found it difficult to put reality into them. This situation could be improved if high admin-
strators believed that it was necessary to anticipate changes and prepare for reform. In order
to do this, the Ministry should have its own feelers with regard to social, political and economic
changes to c o m e . The Ministry should make use of the not inconsiderable sources of futuristic
thinking within the educational system in order to generate a relevant outlook as far as strategy
was concerned.
The discussion showed that many participants were disturbed by the fact that the tech­
nical contribution being made by planning to the formulation and implementation of reform was
from representing "an eyeball to eyeball confrontation with reality". The distributed report
of Working Group A (see Section 5. "Educational Planning" in Appendix E) had included the
sentence "from the stage when educational planning was concerned with allocation and efficient
use of resources and attendant problems of quantitative expansion supply of facilities, it has
broadened its scope and become deeply involved in the process of reform, change and innovation."
It was argued that this sentence conveyed the impression that planning had moved on to other
things after having coped successfully with the efficient allocation of resources and that it had
become really deeply concerned in the reform process. Neither affirmation corresponded to
reality in most of the countries represented. Planning needed to be improved in several res­
pects. First, authorities at the centre needed to make known the criteria by which district
and provincial authorities were to assess needs for different resources required for the reform,
and needed to be able to calculate and propose the aggregate cost of the reform to the govern­
ment, its phasing and territorial distribution, as a consequence of their assessments. Second,
as regards the programming of different activities, teacher-training, re-training and support,
supply of different kinds of resources and personnel, it was necessary that high officials should
ensure through control and delegation of tasks, however difficult that might be, that the projects
involved in the different programmes, not just the "broad needs" were planned and implemented.

Third, as regards the control of implementation, it would seem that Ministries were
faced with the need to improve communications within the system, as between the central and
sub-national levels so that they might monitor the progress and problems of programme i m ­
plementation and take timely corrective action where and when necessary. Planning personnel
should assist Ministries to forestall avoidable misfortune, or react to financial or political
contingencies which tended to disrupt or suspend the implementation of reform by providing
some degree of operational flexibility. In this connection, it might prove a salutary exercise
in each country to compare the efficiency of planning, in respects mentioned above, in the public
and private sectors respectively.
Participants observed that in some countries, plans did not take account of national
capability to implement reforms. They were a statement, couched in general terms, of what
the government wanted to achieve and not of what the government could achieve. These state­
ments of the platonic, non-realistic, nature of planning for reform, were reinforced by refer­
ence to political instability and budgetary constraints. Participants stressed that budget ap­
propriations for education depended on legislation, and though in principle it was accepted

43
Administrative support for educational reform

that a requirement for good planning was that resources should be identified, the fact that
government changes were frequent, meant that legislation could not provide a sufficiently
steady, reliable and assured increase in resources. Moreover, economic fluctuations meant
that a five year or longer projection of expenditures on education was subject to uncertainty.

In addition, a participant noted that budget bureau or Ministries of Finance did not
always understand what the financial needs for reform were, budget allocations were linear
in the sense that they operated in terms of straight line extrapolations of what had been allocat-
ed in the previous year. If, for example, the budgetary authorities had provided no in-service
training for teachers in the preceding 15 years, they would find it difficult suddenly to agree to
spend several millions of dollars a year for that purpose. This was an argument for increased
involvement of financial administrators in the planning of reform.

It was felt by some participants that the time for reform should be grasped in the sense
that the political conditions, once favourable, should be seized even though the financial and
resource pre-requisites might not be judged sufficient. Participants displayed two, perhaps
irreconcilable schools of thought, one was that planners should aim at eyeball to eyeball realism
in respect of what the country was capable of doing, the other was that the country was capable
of undertaking what it thought it was capable of doing. The major resource in education was in
human beings and while planning could help us undertake certain things which were marginal
to education, such as school buildings, the budget and the rest, it could not help achieve the
unplannable things which human enthusiasm and creativity could achieve. Thus, if there
was a discrepancy between plans and achievement, it might be because human motivation,
which was decisive, needed to be approached in an organisational way that was different from
normal administrative and planning practice. The success of a reform might depend on the
willingness , and initiative of local people to contribute in various ways, of teachers and admin-
istrators to serve in remote areas, of scientific and technical personnel to help instruct/local
people,, These requirements for success implied new approaches to planning which took account
of human needs and motivations and embodied new measures to break obstacles to reform. If,
as one participant mentioned,, the windows of classrooms are nailed shut because funds to repair
them are unavailable, local people might repair them if they felt that it was their business to
do so0
While educational planning could and should do certain things to inform national
authorities and assist them in implementing decisions about reform, it would be a mistake to ex-
pect too much of it. The human element in education could never be completely planned and
rather than extend educational planning into each and every corner of the complex process that
was called education, it was a matter of promoting and provoking arrangements which could
liberate human initiative and creativity.

It was also necessary to bear in mind that any educational plan was only as good as
the knowledge or research base on which it was built. Educational planning might be understood
primarily as an effort to process and interpret knowledge about the relationship between edu-
cation, the economy and society and doubts were expressed as to the extent to which countries
had succeeded in tying it effectively with research. There was unfortunately an absence of a
Statement by the Rapporteur for Working Group В

systematic and valid process of information gathering on which to base projections and a lack
of willingness to experiment. Many educational planners were prime promotors of the status
quo and were unwilling to depart from an existing form of reference in planning the things which
can be planned.
In discussing the effectiveness of planning efforts, it was mentioned that it was desir­
able to measure the achievement of the educational process, that is, the outcome of the learn­
ing process. A s M r . Weiler had pointed out in his initial paper, it was necessary to assess
the effect of being exposed to a particular education and experience. It was difficult to indicate
exact measurements, particularly of social integration, but a number of measurements could
be designed and were desirable in order to evaluate the actual outcome of the educational process.
A broader look was required at the effects of educational programmes on the children that were
being exposed to them.

Progress of training of personnel for reform


When the participants turned to the subject of training, it was observed that training for
educational planners and administrators existed at the international level, with the H E P courses in
Paris, at the multinational (regional) level with correspondence courses and seminars, and also at
the national level, but these did not cater specifically for educational reform,, Some programmes
touched on the subject but did not put adequate emphasis either on educational reform or management«,
It was felt particularly important that administrators should be given this type of orientation training.
Unesco should take the lead and provide a stimulus to national programmes in this domain by setting
up regional training courses in planning and management of reform»
Participants pointed out that within countries, there were several kinds of training insti­
tutions for administrative; for technical and for professional educational personnel, which included
curriculum development centres for various subjects (Science was one of those mentioned) and
pedagogical pre- and in-service training institutes. In Malaysia, the curriculum centres were
attached to teacher training colleges.

In some countries, training activities were very widespread - in the Philippines, for
example, it was mentioned that the only people who do not receive training were the Ministers
and the President, and even Ministers were requested by the President to continue their train­
ing so as to be prepared for new situations. The most senior government executives had all
been trained at the Development Academy. Apart from universities and colleges, there were
also in-service training institutions such as those organised by the Civil Service Commission
which gave courses in the s u m m e r vacations. Courses existed at the regional,provincial and
district levels, as well as at the national level, but if a certain type of training was not avail­
able in the Philippines, people were encouraged to go to Europe or USA to receive it.

In Malaysia, apart from staff training colleges at the national level, educational re­
source centres were being set up in the regions where it was proposed that teachers should
come and discuss new ideas and innovations. The Centres would serve to disseminate inform­
ation and provide a locus for the intermingling of opinions of elementary and secondary school

45
Administrative support for educational reform

teachers, administrators and other personnel. They would also provide libraries for visual
aids, tape recorders or other equipment which would be loaned out to teachers in the schools.
Participants expressed concern as to how to make training effective. They suggested
that staff should, in the first place, be eager to undergo training, and that, after training, they
should put their new knowledge and skills into practice. It had been found that training, to be
effective, must be a prerequisite for promotion and a certificate of attendance at training
centres should be awarded. If course participants had been selected föra certain job or pro-
fession, it was possible that during the training period, they might change their attitudes and
methods of working. In the Philippines, attendance at a seminar and course entitled the person
concerned to a number of units which would count towards promotion. Similarly, people ob-
taining masters degrees and doctorates were also allocated credit units. In Nepal, an incentive
to undergo teacher training was provided by a two-tier salary scale - one for trained and the
other for untrained teachers.
The problem of the duration and timing of training courses was discussed. It was
thought that short courses could not normally ensure orientation. But Ministries of Education
could not afford to release m a n y teachers or administrators for as long as a year. One suggestion
was that training should therefore be given on a modular basis, teachers working for credits
as in an external university degree. One country had already tried out a six months' corres-
pondence course followed by a six weeks' workshop during vacations. Courses had to be held as
far as possible in the long school vacation, so that children were not left without teachers and
university personnel could easily be engaged for short periods. Teachers were sometimes
asked to give up some of their vacation time for training.
M r . Weiler, commenting on the need to orient training of educational planners and
administrators to reform, said that while it was relatively easy to train people in a c o m m o n set
of forecasting techniques, it was much more difficult to find c o m m o n denominators for training
which could cover a number of different aspects of reform. Nonetheless, changes had recently
been introduced in the H E P programme, so as to improve those analytical capabilities which were
seen as indispensable to the management of reform. Much more emphasis was now being
placed on understanding the factors which influenced the feasibility of reform and possible stra-
tegies for implementing it. In addition, research training, in the sense of being able to assess
the quality, validity and reliability of information was a very important element in any training
programme.
There was also a need to include reform orientation in the training of teachers, since
most reforms require the active involvement of teachers, and without their support, the efforts
of educational planners and administrators in reform would remain largely fruitless.
As to the training of high officers in Ministries, the IIEP has had some extremely ins-
tructive experiences in bringing together researchers and senior administrators from the same
country in short seminars - in many instances, this was the first time they had really talked to
each other. The process served to promote understanding of the problems involved in planning
and administration of educational reform. It also reinforced the point already made in the seminar

46
Note for the Working Group Discussions

discussions, that follow-up of training was very important, particularly from the point of view
of trying to train teams whose m e m b e r s should react to and support each other in applying what
had been learned from the training process. It was difficult for an individual who had been ex-
posed to training to implement what he had learned if he returned to work in an environment
where people had not had the same kind of experience. The notion of team training merited a
great deal of importance within planning of recruitment to training programmes.

Role of Research in Support of Educational Reform


Note for the Working Group Discussions

The discussions of the Working Groups and country papers have made it clear that research can
play a useful rôle in the formulation and support of educational reforms. However, there seems
to be a need to specify:
- which types of research might be most useful and most appropriate for the countries
in the Asian region;
- how might the research work to be done best be organised;
- what are the problem areas or topics where research is most needed.

1. Types of research

Here a distinction can be made between more general social science research which m a y be
relevant to education and research specifically directed to educational reform.
Dealing only with the latter type of research, we m a y make a distinction between:
- diagnostic research
- experimental research
- evaluative research

Each of these three types can be employed in either a long or a short time perspective.
Naturally the methods used will depend on the type and the aims of researche
The questions to be asked here might be: what type of research is required for the
purpose at hand? When must we have the answers? What methods of investigation would help
us obtain the most reliable information?

2. The organization of research

Research work can be and is being carried out by various agencies such as the Ministry of E d u -
cation itself, individual universities, specialised national research institutes and universities
and research institutions from abroad. What division of labour might there be between these
various agencies? What arrangements can the Ministry make in order to capitalize optimally
on these different resources?

47
Administrative support for educational reform

3. Problem areas and topics for research

Although precise topics for research will depend upon the priorities of a particular country and
on the type of reforms desired, there m a y well exist some c o m m o n research needs. The fol-
lowing general categories might be utilised:

- problems of learning and learners


- problems of graduates of all levels and kinds
- problems of planning and management
- relationships between the educational system and society at large.

48
Statement on the role of research in support of educational reform

by M r . J. Oxenham. Rapporteur for Working Group A

M r . Oxenham, said that the Group wished to add a fourth type of research to the list given
above, that is, methodological or remedial research. This term was explained by the fact
that after diagnosis, one m a y see either the need for experimental research or, if the methods
and instruments are insufficient for this, one m a y then try to create the necessary new methods
and instruments which will make the work more effective and efficient.

The Group had discussed the extent to which resarch in its various forms was pos-
sible in societies with different degrees of political stability. It had been suggested that so-
cieties with a high degree of political instability might not be able to undertake research at all,
though upon reflection, the Group had agreed that some kind of research should be possible
although the constraints would be greater. Certain forms of investigation could be undertaken
rapidly.

The Group had then looked at the priorities which countries would assign to the three
different types of research. It had been agreed that every country could make use of all of
them, since certain problems needed diagnosis, others which were fairly well known needed
experiment for their solution, while others to which solutions were being tried out, needed
evaluative research.

A s to the actual organisation of research, all the countries represented had various
types of institutions which undertook research, some were within universities or ministries
and some were autonomous. Though the Ministry of Education did, to a varying extent, de-
termine or control the kinds of educational research undertaken by these institutions, it did
not seem to concern itself very much with directing research towards its own problems. How-
ever, in at least one case a research committee had been established within the Ministry of
Education which had tried to identify problems and organise research into them. Mechanisms
did exist for the dissemination of research results within ministries, but the impression was
that they needed to be strengthened and formalised, either by regular study groups or semi-
nars, in order to bring policy makers, administrators and education specialists together so
that they might discuss any new policies which had been indicated as necessary and relevant
by the research.

49
Administrative support for educational reform

The Group had agreed, as regards problem areas, that each country would have its
particular priorities, but that the problem of language learning seemed to preoccupy their minds
since differences of language were particularly troublesome as an educational issue in their
countries. One participant had felt that the whole area of communication and changing the at-
titudes within the Ministry of Education and the system were very important; motivating the
personnel to be more effective than they were at present was felt to be a matter of some urgency.
The suggestion had been m a d e that perhaps the first research topic mentioned by the
Working Group, namely, problems of learning and learners, should be expanded to make it clear
that it included the problems of teachers and teaching, content, methods and materials: if all
the elements were not explicitly mentioned, it might lead to neglect of some of them.
It had also been suggested that instead of the four categories of problem areas, two
categories might be used; one called problems external to the education system with sub-
classifications of politics, economics, socio-cultural factors and so on, and a second called pro-
blems internal to the education system, where the division would be made horizontally in terms
of support and effectiveness and vertically in terms of communication and authority patterns.
The Group had noted a gap between national goals with the kind of citizen a society wished to
form and the actual design of curriculum and of the school system which would educate that
citizen. Indonesia had established one pattern to bridge this gap and Singapore another but
it was considered an area where research could be useful.

50
Statement on the rôle of research in support of educational reform

by M r . G . Carrón, Rapporteur for Working Group В

Before addressing himself to the Agenda of the discussion, M r . Carrón made two preliminary
remarks. The first one was that the group was somewhat uneasy about the use of the term re-
search. It was felt that too often the term is loaded with a highly academic bias while in the
context of the seminar, the term should include any effort to improve the information base
about the educational system. The second remark was that the development of an information
base should be very closely linked with the planning process itself. It was stated that there
exists a very close link between the type of information gathered and planning objectives and
that the planning process itself should provide the basic guidelines for fixing priorities for
research and information.

The first issue discussed by the group concerned research needs. Only two types of
research were discussed: diagnostic research and evaluation research. With regard to diag-
nostic research, a distinction was m a d e between a general information base and ad hoc inform -
ation. In relation to the general information base, it was pointed out that the quantitative data
normally available for planning purposes should be substantially improved and broadened. In
some countries, for instance, the exact data about the qualifications of teachers are not available.
On the qualitative side, the situation was found to be often dramatic. In many cases, planners
did not know what was really going on in the schools in terms of content, methods and results.
Another important set of data found to be frequently lacking was information about the functioning
of the administrative machinery of the educational system itself. It was stated that planning
targets could only become realistic if objective information was available about what the ad-
ministrative machinery was capable of implementing.

As far as ad hoc information was concerned, M r . Carrón pointed out that we should
not immediately start thinking about very fancy research. Commission work such as had been
carried out in Thailand was considered to constitute a very important contribution to improving
the information base for reform purposes. In five months' time a substantial amount of data had
had been collected by mobilizing the existing network of research persons and institutions in the
country. A second way of obtaining ad hoc information was by proper research work on particular
problem areas.

51
Administrative support for educational reform

As far as evaluation research was concerned, here again the point of view of the
group was that the need was less for the sophisticated type of evaluation studies and greater
for general feeback on how the system operates, the results and the shortcomings that one
can find in the system. It was pointed out that the inspector - supervisor, or whatever the
person m a y be called, has a very important role to play in this respect.
Concerning the organization of research, the rapporteur mentioned three points which
had been made by the group. First of all, the group felt that ministries should start by strengh-
ening the research capacity of the educational administration, rather than by bringing in spe-
cialized researchers from outside. In the case of evaluation, for example, it was proposed that
some training in research should be given in the first instance to the people playing the role
of inspectors or supervisors so that they m a y be able to evaluate much better the system which
they have to supervise. The second point was that a ministry should have at its disposal a
special body for commissioning and clearing purposes. This body should make an inventory of
research facilities available in the country, try to orient the research work done by the different
institutions and research persons in function of the country's specific needs. It should c o m -
municate research results to the policy makers and the different departments concerned in the
ministry. A third point made was that, although such special bodies had been created in many
countries in the Asian region, the vertical network for communication was very often lacking.
It was felt essential for research bodies of this type to be based at sub-national levels.

The last issue discussed by the group concerned research priority areas. Four major
areas for study were identified. The first one was about how to involve the local community
much closer in the school system. This could cover different items such as the problem of
resource mobilization at the local level, or the more fundamental issue of stimulating local
people to participate in the organization and functioning of the educational institutions. The second
area was the functioning of the system itself. T w o specific topics were mentioned in this respect.
The first one was the problem of small schools. What do w e do about small schools? H o w do
they really function and, if it is true that they don't function very well, how can we improve
the situation? The second one was the problem of drop-outs. Which categories of youngsters
do drop out? Why do they leave school early and what happens to them once they have left?
The third area for research was about what happens to students once they have completed a
specific level of education. In other words, what are the relationships between the outputs of
the educational system and the world of work? Are the knowledge and attitudes they have
acquired in the school suited for the functions they have to accomplish in the society later on?
The fourth area and perhaps the most complex and difficult one, was the external evaluation
of the educational system. The point was m a d e that m o r e and m o r e money is being invested in
education, many efforts are being made to introduce changes, new structures, free vocational
training, new curricula, etc. without our having a clear idea about the results of such efforts.
H o w do we really assess whether what w e are doing is efficient? The group felt that the tradi-
tional evaluative studies such as cost-benefit or cost-effectiveness analysis are ill-suited
to answer this important question and that there is a need for developing new indicators and new

52
Statement by the Rapporteur for Working Group В

methods in order to be able to explore this whole field of external evaluation more efficiently.
It was pointed out that fundamental research was needed in this respect and this could best be
realized by universities or international research bodies.

Discussion on the rôle of research in support of


educational reform

In the plenary discussion participants considered the relevance of different types of research
to the solution of problems faced by Ministries of Education. A s regards the fourth type of
research, methodological or remedial research^ which had been proposed by Group A , it was
felt by some participants that as it was neither problem nor task oriented it should not really
be included as a specific type of research relevant to educational reform strategy. But it was
argued that the suggested classification was useful in that it referred to a kind of research
which was aimed at the development of methods for the successful implementation of education-
al policy. Research on planning the location of schools (school map) was an example of research
into the methodological implications of a particular strategy for the development of education.

Discussing experimental research, participants noted that it meant experiments direct-


ed towards the solution of problems which had not been solved by diagnostic research, since little
work had been done on the particular operational matters involved. These experiments might be
undertaken as a result of the intuition or ideas of administrators who had encountered specific
problems in their work or because it was thought desirable to test foreign experience in national
conditions. It was suggested that a distinction might be drawn between the pilot testing of new
curricula in schools and other types of experiments following research studies. There was not
much evidence of experimentation of the latter sort and it was thought that it would be useful to
consider to what extent experimentation by the educational system itself was a possibility in
relation to research.
If testing was dominated by educational research workers, with their research outlook,
and administrators or policy makers, were not involved in it, there would subsequently be dif-
ficulties in generalizing experiments. Participants noted that there was a divergence between
the standards and requirements set by researchers, who were not greatly concerned by problems
of generalizing the results of experiments, and those applied by policy makers. Participants
recommended that, from the outset, policy makers should be very much involved in experi-
mentation if it was to be successful when introduced on a large scale. Researchers would nor-
mally be reluctant to draw any conclusions from pilot studies as regards the general applicabi-
lity of experiments whereas policy makers, if seriously interested from the beginning, would
regard experiment as a phase of undertaking the application of decisions on a wide scale. Step
by step generalization of reform could m e a n that experiments would not diverge very far from
the practical problems of large-scale implementation and arrangements for implementing satis-
factory results on a large scale could be put into operation rather quickly. It was observed
that experimentation in the latter sense did not appear to have been carried out in many cases
of reform implementation.

53
Administrative support for educational reform

A n experiment in Indonesia with development schools was described. In these schools


new curricula and teaching methods had been tried out but the results had not been put into
practice in their entirety. It was more a step by step dissemination of findings. The new cur­
riculum after being tested for four years was now being put into general use but experiment
was still going on with teaching methods. In addition, a model system, limited to eight deve­
lopment schools, was being tried out, as well as a test reduction of primary schooling from
six to five years. Costs were always very carefully calculated since even if the results obtain­
ed were good, the cost might be too high for generalization, and might not be approved by
Parliament.

Turning to a discussion of diagnostic and evaluative research, participants thought it


important that national authorities should seek to improve the general information and knowledge
base so that if they so desired their decisions might rest on a firmer foundation. The question
was raised whether there could not be room for a combination of diagnostic and evaluative re­
search at the level of the city or the district as a continuing process. Research capacity should
be built into the administrative system itself. Inspectors were undertaking diagnosis and evalu­
ation in a crude way and should be trained to use m o r e refined methods as part of a more complete
effort of the inspectorate and of the administration to study the functioning of the school
system. At the same time, research in teacher training institutions and faculties of education,
which seemed in general to take directions which did not help the educational reform efforts in
the countries represented at the seminar, might be re-oriented in order to make it more rele­
vant to the analysis of reform and of the problems or tasks involved in it.

It was suggested that more research should be undertaken on how the "sacred cows"
of education, whether imported or indigenous, might be shot down. For example, it was gener —
ally assumed that teaching quality was positively correlated with the number of years of train­
ing which the teacher had received. There appeared to be no limit to the number of years of
training which were regarded as beneficial, whereas some research in Thailand had shown
that the actual number of years of training had no significant effect on pupil achievement. R e ­
search on the use of teaching time and the quality of teaching input as well as attitudinal re­
search among pupils, teachers, administrators and parents, was needed in order to guide
policy makers in this matter.
In a wider sense it seemed necessary to search for indicators of the results of reforms
in the sense implied by Group В when it defined the fourth area of research. This area cannot
be dealt with by using cost benefit analysis and oversimplified measurement approaches did
not provide useful answers. There was a need to search for a diversified range of ways to
measure and assess the external effectiveness of an educational system.
The link between research and training was emphasized. Administrators and ins­
pectors should acquire the ability to evaluate critically the findings of research and studies.
Administrative routines should include the opportunity for inspectors and administrators to
discuss research results and provide critical feedback in connection with them. The standard
procedures of administrative organizations were not necessarily conducive to this. They were

54
Statement by the Rapporteur for Working Group В

usually characterized by the delivery and acceptance of information along hierarchical lines,
rather than criticizing, arguing and opening up different intellectual viewpoints.

As to the locus of research, it was felt that discussion so far had quite rightly con­
centrated on research in the educational system. But the factors which impeded implementation
of educational reforms or plans were also to be found in society. Not enough importance had
been given to the cultural or economic factors. It might be useful to carry out research into
the characteristics and environmental conditions needed for those people who have to carry
out reform. It was pointed out that reformers are very m u c h a product of the surroundings
in which they operate, and there would be limits to comparability since reform stems from
the dynamics of particular situations. S o m e pilot work in this field was being done by the H E P
in a project on training needs for educational planning: people who had been particularly active
in educational reform were identified, the kind of training they had received and career back­
ground were ascertained in order to try to establish what had led them to their present positions.
It was felt that this would make a useful contribution to knowledge since most of the existing lite­
rature on reform, change and innovation had been written in the United States or Europe, and
since reforms were highly culturally biassed, there was a need for appropriately designed
research work in developing countries so as to draw lessons from their particular situations.

55
Concluding contributions

The Rapporteur of the seminar, M r . M . M . Mathur, m a d e an analysis of the content of the


seminar. His observations have been taken into account and set out in greater detail above,

Mr«, Mathur also mentioned some of the points in the discussion which he had noted in the course
of the preceding five days and which he found to be of particular interest in summing up. A s
regards M r . Weiler's paper, he felt that the emphasis on the diagnostic responsibilities of
educational administration in the field of research for reform was most apposite as was the
related discussion of experimentation. He had noted that the questions raised about the eva-
luation of educational reforms had not all been resolved and doubtless much work remained
to be carried out to prepare the necessary indicators. M r . Weiler had rightly insisted on
training needs in the context of educational reform, and the plenary discussions had underlined
the need for new concepts for training, which took into account the real attitudinal and institu-
tional constraints. The paper on the rôle of the inspectorate had prepared a discussion of the
rôle of that group of persons in evaluating the teaching/learning process in the school and in
the broader process of systems monitoring and evaluation. It was clear that if the evaluating
and teacher supportive functions of the inspectorate were recognized as essential, steps had to
be taken to provide adequately trained personnel to perform those activities, within the wider
planning of administrative support at the respective levels aimed at solving operationally the
specific problems raised by the various types of reform.
Turning to the working group discussions, M r . Mathur said that he had been impres-
sed by the extent to which it seemed that administrations were obliged to react in a makeshift
way to outside pressures for reform rather than initiate reform as part of an orderly process.
These external pressures, whether from politicians or students, tended to take the administrators
by surprise and it was never possible for them to wait until all the pre-requsites for success
were assembled before implementing reforms. It would seem to follow that administrators
were of necessity obliged to abandon the concept that reform should always follow the orderly
procedures of research and development, experimentation, pilot studies, diffusion, full-scale
installation and evaluation. On the other hand, they must be prepared to make the best of what-
ever resources that were at their disposal and be ready to promote reform, while perfecting

56
Concluding contributions

it as the implementation progressed. In view of these realities of life, the administration should
seek to prepare itself for whatever tasks might be thrust upon it. It should thus initiate or re-
inforce research, experimentation and evaluation with two fundamental criteria in mind. First,
that diagnostic and evaluative monitoring and experimentation with various modalities, methods,
etc. , should be promoted and continued irrespective of whether a general reform was envisaged
or not; second, that it must be very selective in identifying the kinds of research, experiment-
ation and evaluation that it undertakes or promotes so that available resources and energies were
not frittered away on merely theoretical studies and approaches. Task and problem-oriented
research and experimentation, had therefore to be emphasized as of fundamental importance.

M r . Mathur stressed that this concept of a shot-gun marriage between external politi-
cal and social forces and the administration implied that the latter was obliged to prepare it-
self as best it could for the implementation of reform. The importance of educational adminis-
tration being ready to "seize the m o m e n t " could not be over-emphasized. There were moments
when reforms of very large magnitude could be implemented, just as there were moments when
the mood of a nation might not favour any change. Readiness presupposes a continuous prepared-
ness, with supporting timely and pragmatic research and information. The role of information
as a support for educational reform must be viewed from the widest sense possible and the
mobilisation of mass-media in this process must receive special attention. It was important
to ensure that lines for communicating information were properly serviced and supported to
prevent the usual tendency of information passed both upwards and downwards losing m u c h of
its original substance and effectiveness in the process of "filtration".
It was necessar3r for the purpose of effective implementation to distinguish between
experimentation and pilot projects. The problems of the Hawthorne effect connected with pilot
projects should not be advanced as arguments to prevent problem-oriented experimentation,
because such experimentation was, or at least might become, essentially the beginning of i m -
plementation.
Educational planning should provide continuing adminstrative support for educational
reform. For this purpose, the concepts and practices of educational planning must be appro-
priately modified. It was important that a realistic appraisal of resource availability and the
diagnosis of the situation at the grass roots level should form essential elements of the edu-
cational planning process, It was the role of educational planning and administration to come
face-to-face with the realities and to provide an objective view of what, in terms of resources,
phasing and programmes, the country was capable of doing. It must, of course, be r e m e m b e r -
ed that we should not expect m o r e from educational planning that it could deliver. A note of
caution was sounded with regard to the current trend in widening the scope of educational plan-
ning, bearing in mind that, in some situation, educational planning could tend to be a custodian
of the status quo rather than an initiator of reform.
Some interesting conclusions suggested by the discussions related appropriately to
training« INOI only was training to be regarded as a matter of basic importance, but its adjust-
ment to changing needs must receive the greatest attention of all concerned. Training, whether

57
Administrative support for educational reform

of teachers or administrators should necessarily be reform-oriented. Training must also


m e a n that various types of personnel in the educational reform process, e. g. researchers
and administrators, who should work together, should be trained together. In designing train-
ing, greater emphasis should be given to methods of obtaining, assessing and evaluating in-
formation. It was equally important for making training effective to ensure that selection of
personnel for training, as well as post-training deployment of trainees, were systematic and
purposeful.

M r . Weiler, in summing up his impressions, said he was pleased with the success
that had been achieved in the study of some of the broader questions of the relationships bet-
tween administration and the reform process. He had been much impressed by the necessity
to re-orient the notion of educational planning, towards the problems of education reform and
change within the context of social change. Here again, much had been learned about the need
and the possible ways of making planners m o r e aware both of the conditions and of the cons-
traints involved in placing educational planning at the service of educational reform. It had
become clear that educational plan as our friend from Pakistan had put it, should not be m e r e -
ly documents of our wishes, but should be useful documents about strategies for change.
M r . Weiler had noted the importance which all participants had attached to the issue of a c o m m u -
nication within and outside the framework of administrative organisation, communication not
just in a technical or cybernetics sense but above all, communication very much as a human
quality.

Finally, on the question of research, M r . Weiler observed that it was necessary to


be careful not to place exaggerated hopes in research. The discussions had supported the view
that research rarely leads to reform. Throughout most of human history whenever there was
a confrontation between power and knowledge, at least in the short run, power had usually won.
But that fact had not diminished the important role of research in making those directions which
power had decided as effective and as humane as possible. M r . Weiler said that research could
contribute notably to the implementation of plans and policies for the advancement of the quality
of human life. Both in terms of diagnostics and evaluation, one of the most important tasks
research was to undertake systematic efforts to generate and refresh knowledge about the
educational system, the life system of our schools, so as to be able to detect the signs of weak-
ness and ill-health as well as possibilities for growth.

F r o m the point of view of the work of the H E P , much had been learned with regard to
the development of further research plans in close co-operation with the M e m b e r States of
Unesco, and also about the diffusion of research results by making them available in such a
way that they were comprehensible and useful.

M r . Weiler said that he had, once again been impressed with the important rôle of the
teacher in the process of educational reform. Educational planning had been to some extent
strangely oblivious of the rôle of the teacher in advancing educational systems both quantitatively
and qualitatively. It was necessary to come to terms in educational planning with the role of
the teacher and this could represent an important conclusion for the further work of the H E P .

58
Concluding contributions

M r . R . R . Singh expressed thanks to the Chairman, M r . Suradej Visessurakarn


(Deputy Under-Secretary for Education, Thailand) on behalf of the Unesco Regional Office for
guiding the seminar with such great finesse and to all who had contributed to the meeting and
made it possible. He said that it was appropriate to confess that he had approached this semi-
nar with considerable fear and trembling for two reasons. First, the fact that this was a semi-
nar that brought together administrators - and administrators were a very tough lot singly or
in groups. Asian administrators were particularly tough so it was not certain that they could
be handled at a seminar of such high calibre. Second, this had been his first encounter with
such a distinguished international institute as the IIEP and it had not been certain what its own
approach to the seminar would be. M r . Singh said that his major occupation had been to orga-
nise some fifty to sixty seminars every year. His experience was that there were three kinds
of seminars: the endorsement type where somebody came along with everything ready and just
wanted the seminar to endorse what had been said; the diffusion seminar which was used as a
method of not listening to but diffusing good ideas? and the humming seminar, at the end of which
one felt that it had left the participants with many doubts and questions on their minds. M r .
Singh said that he was most grateful that this seminar had been a humming seminar. It had
created many doubts and queries. H e wished to assure participants, on behalf of the Unesco
Regional Office in Asia, that it was proposed to capitalise to the fullest extent on the experiences,
ideas and questions that, the participants had provided, so that if later participants found letters
waiting on their table requesting further information about something that they had said in the
seminar, they should understand the request as being in pursuance of earnest efforts to clear
up doubts that they had created in the minds of the Regional Office staff with all the questions
that had been raised. In 1978 the Fourth Regional Conference of Ministers of Education and
Economic Planning in the M e m b e r States of Asia would be held and educational re"form happened to
be one of the main themes of that Conference. Participants had provided a very rich source of
questions to be put to the Ministers when they met and therefore the opportunity that this semi-
nar had provided to establish contacts with participants and the IIEP and to draw on their collective
experience would be made good use of in the futuree

59
Appendix A

SUMMARY TABLE

SUMMARY TABLE "Educational reform" undertaken by countries participating


in the I I E P / R O E A seminar on "Administrative support for
educational reforms"

Expansion of existing
educational system Curriculum reform

Afghanistan
1975 - reforms to improve education To modernise curricula, introduce
quantitatively and qualitatively physical training, design and distribute
to cover: primary and secondary educ. new textbooks and teachers' guides,
vocational educ. give seminars on their use; set up
pre- and in-service vocational courses for those who fail
teacher training primary examination.
school building Specific action taken:
materials & equipment 1. Curriculum and textbook project -
8 yv primary education made freo workshops and seminars to teach use of
and compulsory new materials and improved teaching methods
Central administration and control 2. Audio-visual and Science Centre to
Extra-curricular activities distribute equipment to schools and
Literacy programmes conduct seminars
More educational institutions for 3. Teacher training by mobile teams
continuing education

Bangladesh
Primary education to be available to all. 1976 Formation of Curriculum Development
More emphasis to be given to scientific, Committee, Report on primary level m a d e .
technical and vocational education-
Higher education in colleges to be
given priority.
Specific action taken:
1. 1300 Adult Education Centres for
literacy programmes.
2. Development of teacher training.

60
S u m m a r y Table

S u m m a r y Table (continued)

Expansion of existing
educational system Curriculum reform

India
C o m m o n undifferentiated syllabus
introduced in 1968
Covers Grade 1-Х, Science and Maths, are
compulsory, includes work experience
Specific action taken:
S u m m e r training institutes for Science
and Maths teachers

-Indonesia 8 school pilot project for curriculum


development at primary and secondary
Equal opportunity of access, especially
levels
to primary education
Production of textbooks and teachers'
Improvement of quality, relevance and
guides
efficiency of education
These reforms will cover:
school building
recruitment of new teachers
upgrading of teachers for Maths
Science, Social Science and languages
Equipping science laboratories
Upgrading of administrators.
Setting up of libraries.

Japan
1971 Fundamental policies for overall Improvement of standards and education
expansion and improvement of school according to individual needs.
educational (including kindergarten and To cover:
special education) N e w textbooks..
Improved student guidance N e w teaching methods •
Training of teachers •
N e w selection procedures for higher educ.
Links with h o m e and social education.

Malaysia
Introduction of vocational subjects.
1962-77 Emphasis on Science and Maths-
T o give equal educational opportunity Introduction of Malay language as medium
and improve relevance and quality of of instruction.
education. N e w teaching-learning methods.
To cover: N e w textbooks and teachers' guides.
universal free primary education extended Establishment of Curriculum Development
from 6 to 9 years Centre for planning.
automatic promotion each year Setting up of resource centres at sub-
textbook loans and priority to national level.
disadvantaged Seminars for teachers.
m o r e technical and vocational schools
updating of teachers

61
S u m m a r y Table

S u m m a r y Table (continued)

Expansion of existing
educational system Curriculum reform

Nepal
To relate education to development needs
1971
Primary level - aim is literacy
Lower Secondary - introduction of pre-
vocational curriculum
N e w teacher training centres with
mobile teams for remote areas

Singapore
Introduction of bilingual curriculum for
primary schools
Introduction of technical subjects for
secondary curriculum

Sri Lanka

1972-76 Medium T e r m Plan for Curricula changed drastically.


development of education Introduction of pre-vocational studies,
Content of education to reflect what using local skills of community-
is needed for economic growth; N e w courses of study, teachers' guides,
efficiency (reduced drop-out) materials and textbooks in 3 languages.
and equality of access to be Science equipment and laboratories set up-
improved. Large in-service training programme in all
disciplines-

Thailand
1977 N e w Scheme of Education 1978 N e w primary curriculum
Pre-primary education to be expanded
by kindergartens, classes in elemen-
tary schools, child care centres
Compulsory education to be 6 years'
duration (instead of 4 to 7 in
different areas)
Non-formal education to be promoted
(especially agricultural)
Increase in scholarships to promote
educational equality

62
Appendix В

A D M I N I S T R A T I O N O F E D U C A T I O N IN T H E ASIAN R E G I O N
by the Unesco Regional Office of Education in Asia

]. Growing Concern Over Inadequacies


The wide variety in the types of administrative structures in Asian M e m b e r States is obvious.
Equally striking is the evidence of a growing concern that the administrative structures in
education have, by and large, failed to keep pace with the dynamics of changing educational needs.

There are a variety of signals which call attention to the inadequacies of the adminis­
trative structures in their present context - the performance gap between plans and achieve­
ments; the communication gap between policy formulation processes and implementation m a ­
chinery; the apparently restricted capacity to respond to new tasks without a sense of crisis;
and excessive preoccupation with procedures at the expense of task objectives.

The administrative machinery for education in most countries f the region is not of
recent origin. In some, the Department of Ministry of Education was established m o r e than a
hundred years ago, and most can trace their history back to at least four or five decades. In
the main, therefore, the difficulties cannot be attributed to growing pains of a newly establish­
ed system. Rather, they seem to derive more from the fact that these administrative structures
are bound up in a skein carried over from the past.

In Asia, as elsewhere, there were educational institutions long before there was ad­
ministration of education in any organized form. Typically, the first administrative structures
were concerned with the maintenance of a few educational institutions or adding to them gradually
by replication. The administrative tasks were of limited scope and their objectives could be
defined with precision in terms of maintenance and stability functions. Changes, when they
occurred, were by small increments and the administrative organization adjusted to them in­
crementally.

Recent decades have witnessed changes much more profound in character and scope,
deriving from, and in turn affecting, all aspects of individual and societal life - social, cultural,
political and economic. These changes are reflected also in education, defining tasks which
call for new administrative structures. The stresses and strains which in varying degree are
in evidence in different administrative and management systems in the countries of the region
are indicative of whether the organization of education has achieved some 'closeness of fit1 with
the goals and objectives as they are now being conceived for education in a changing world.

63
Administrative support for educationl reform

2. Growth in size

The most striking and obvious feature of educational evolution in all countries in Asia is the
sheer growth in the size of the educational 'enterprise' - numbers of institutions, personnel
facilities, etc. This growth shows two notable characteristics in terms of its implications for
organization. First, it took place within a relatively short period of time - a decade or so; it
did not build up gradually to induce corresponding organizational changes. Second the growth
was of a magnitude to transform quantitative expansion into qualitative change.
The expansion of education has in most countries dispersed educational institutions
and personnel over wide areas geographically, with large diversities in environment and socio-
economic conditions. The lines of communication between the central agency and the institutions
have lengthened manifold. In consequence, a highly compartmentalized central ministry tends
to m a k e decisions in the abstract, removed from field conditions. The needs of the adminis-
trative machine itself begin to pre-empt attention over the requirements of the field. 'Feedback'
from field operations to the central agency tends to weaken. At the field level, the monitoring
of institutional performance which earlier was performed by a cadre of inspectors cannot now
be carried out with any degree of validity when the number of institutions is so large. Examin-
ations to test student performance have assumed the proportions of major operations in which
concerns for "confidentiality" and logistics have overshadowed the primary purpose of assessing
learning outcomes.
The organizational response to the phenomenon of rapid growth in size was, in most
countries, an attempt to enlarge the existing administrative machinery. The administrative
machinery and its procedures which were designed to deal with a small-scale enterprise were
assumed to be suitable for an enterprise growing exponentially. In the 1950s and early 1960s
(when much of the growth in size took place) the emphasis in the countries' plans was on ac-
quiring larger numbers of personnel rather than changes in the administrative structures. Thus
the Regional Meeting of Representatives of Asian M e m b e r States on Primary and Compulsory
Education (Karachi, December 1959 - January 1960) stressed the need to increase the number
of supervisors, etc. The Meeting of Ministers of Education of Asian M e m b e r States held at
Tokyo (April 1962) was also concerned with numerical strength and recommended an increase
in the number of educational administrators and planners.
Quantitative expansion in education cumulates, from one level to another. A n adminis-
trative machinery which has been merely enlarged to deal with increased numbers at one point
in the system soon finds itself facing the problem in a more complex form at another point. A
continuing adminstrative lag thus gets built into the organization.

3 . Growth in complexity

The educational expansion of the 1950s was both cause and effect of a deeper qualitative change
in which socio-economic, political and educational factors intermingled. Essentially, it marked
the beginning of the transition from elitist to m a s s education, from individualist to development

64
Administration of education in the Asian region

education. In spite of the great diversity of the education systems of Asian countries and in the
stages of their development,there is to be found in all of them this irreversible trend towards
m a s s education. It is no longer possible to rest in the belief that the education of a few brought
to a high degree of perfection, is all that is worth striving for. T o the extent that the adminis-
trative structures and procedures continue with this assumption, they relegate themselves to
an outmoded past.
A variety of factors have contributed to the growing complexity of the educational en-
terprise in the developing countries of the region and set the tasks for an organizational res-
ponse. Some of these factors have their origin outside the education systems and derive from
larger forces at work in shaping national policies; others are m o r e specific to education.

4. Development administration

In the last two or three decades, the State has come to assume major responsibility for edu-
cation. This is true even in countries which still have a substantial sector of privately m a n -
aged and controlled educational institutions. The ways in which the State m a y exercise its di-
rectional, managerial and financial functions differ from one country to another, depending
mainly on the political structure, but in all countries the State's rôle is now preponderant.
The State's increasing assumption of responsibility coincided with the emergence of
'developmental planning' in the countries. Development became the announced goal of national
economic and social policies, and planning an instrument for its achievement. Education came
to be looked upon-or at least spoken of - as a factor in socio-economic development, a con-
stituent in a totality. The concept of education for development adds a dimension to education-
al administration which calls for a fundamental transformation of the structures and modalities
that were initially designed for maintenance administration, for stability rather than for coping
with uncertainty and change, for replication of precedents rather than invention. Notably, the
concept has far-reaching implications for the organizational machinery through which education-
al policies and 'strategic planning' for education are evolved.

With the State's increasing rôle in education and the concept of education as develop-
ment, the traditional jurisdictional boundaries of education no longer hold. Education as a
developmental process is found inter-linked with many other activities of the State - with the
activities of the Ministry of Labour or the Ministry of Agriculture as m u c h as with the develop-
ment, of local self-government. The problem of co-ordination and development of linkages
has thus been brought into sharp focus. Indeed* the problem has been so persistent that in
many countries measures for reforming the administration of education have centred very
heavily on redistribution of educational functions among various ministries or on creating
new ministries.

5. Internal shifts

There are also, within the education system, shifts in the traditional internal boundaries.

65
Administrative support for educational reform

Increasingly, departmental structures built on rigid distinctions between primary education,


secondary education, teacher training, vocational education, etc. , have tended to become dys-
functional. First, the planning of education treats the system as a whole in which the compo-
nent parts are so closely interconnected that any change in one component has repercussions
which affect all other components. Experience has shown that shortfalls in the implementation
of educational plans occur at those points which lie on the boundaries of departmental structures.
Second, the concept of development education has disclosed wide new areas of educational en-
deavour which lie outside traditional departmental structures; for example, community invol-
vement in education, the field of non-formal education and training, 'second chance' learning,
or m a s s media in education.
Another factor contributing to complexity of educational organization is the increas-
ingly diverse forms of institutional structures which have emerged in the process of expansion
and development. A major part of educational administration is necessarily concerned with
institutions; institutions are to an educational system what industrial and business enterprisee
are to an economic system. Indeed, the organizational form of an educational institution is
even m o r e intimately derived from its specific purpose and nature: an obvious example is a
university or a research institution. Then, on a different plane but belonging essentially to
the category of institutional diversification, is the sector of privately managed institutions,
each with its own specific organization.
With the leading rôle in education being played by the State, the administration of edu-
cation has inevitably tended to become a derivative of public administration, and the speci-
ficity of institutional needs has in the result been submerged in the uniformity of procedures
and practices characteristic of public administration. Conflicts and tensions are likely to
arise when the needs of institutional growth are not harmonized, through appropriate organiz-
ational structure, with the requirements of public accountability. This is all too apparent in
the administration of universities but is by no means limited to them.

6. Educational development - new directions in Educational Reform

By far the most important factors compelling new administrative and organizational forms have
arisen from the developments within education itself. The simple equation of earlier periods
- education is schooling is teaching - no longer holds. With the expansion of enrolments, the
composition of the student population has changed and represents now a much wider range of
ability, aptitudes, motivations and aspirations. That teaching does not necessarily result in
learning is demostrated vividly in drop-out rates or examination failures; that even successful
passage through the set regime of the school m a y fail to prepare for life is attested by the in-
creasing number of unemployed; that the newly released aspirations are a change factor to
which administrators have to be sensitive is borne out on the tensions between those
who administer education and those for w h o m it is administered.

In response, many developing countries of the region have initiated extensive schemes
for reorganizing the contents and methods of education. They take the form of curriculum

66
Administration of education in the Asian region

development programmes or the establishment of new types of institutions (for example, c o m -


munity schools, comprehensive schools, schools combining studies and work). As new curri-
cula and study programmes are evolved, the question of diffusing them throughout the system
arises, calling not only for training and retraining of teachers in a different way but also for
providing continuing guidance to teachers and channelling their experiences into further develop-
ment efforts«,
These new developments combined with enrolment increases and high population growth
rate have put a heavy strain on resources, and this is bound to grow. In consequence, much
more attention is now being given to evolving less costly methods and means of 'delivering'
education; for example, in the design and construction of school buildings and facilities and
developing indigenous capacity for manufacturing educational equipment. Educational technology,
particularly that of the mass media, is assuming increasing significance.

7. Management problems relating to educational reform

These developments have delineated new problems in the organization of education. First, the
composition of educational personnel is becoming more diversified and multidisciplinary; edu-
cational programmes have to draw upon a much wider range of specialized knowledge and skills.
The hierarchical organization and the earlier methods of recruitment and personnel management
may no longer suffice in this situation. Second, a research and development dimension is emerging
in education as its essential adjunct. Much of the work in curriculum being done in the region is
of this development character. The organizational structures for 'development' institutions and
mechanisms for using their products in educational programmes call for close links, on the one
hand, with the administrative-executive personnel and, on the other hand, with the schools where
the products are to be used. Here again the traditional organization of education m a y not be
flexible enough to meet the requirements of such development programmes, and m a y cause a
gap between 'development' work and educational practices. Finally, if traditional methods and
structures no longer suffice, what does one do next? The answer calls for new attitudes towards
'newness'. For this, there has to be an organizational climate which is receptive to, and pro-
motive of, innovative and organizational skills to evolve and manage new developments. In
order to identify the underlying trends in action taken by different M e m b e r States of Asia in
response to some of these problems, the following paragraphs summarize, in an overview,
some of the main features of the administrative structures as they are found in the countries.

8. Central organization

At the highest level, the formulation of educational policies, in all countries of the region,
irrespective of differences in their constitutional set-up, is a function of the Cabinet, subject
- in legislative matters - to Legislatures (the mode of legislative control varies greatly among
the countries). Ir. countries with a Federal Constitution these policy-formulation and legis-
lative functions are exercised in the main by the State or Provincial authorities (India, Pakistan).

67
Administrative support for educational reform

Policy formulation, however, is not an activity that stands by itself; it is a process


which cristallizes political/idealogical insights, cumulative administrative experience and
professional knowledge. H o w organizational structures are designed to make this
cristallization process possible is important, and some countries of the region have resorted
to diverse organizational forms. For example; Japan has a standing Central Council of Edu-
cation; India has a Central Advisory Board of Education; the Philippines earlier had the National
Board of Education. More often, the countries constitute National Commissions or high-power-
ed councils to make, periodically, an overall assessment of the education system and to recom-
mend reforms. The experience of such councils/commissions would suggest the need for evol-
ving an organization which combines the wide-ranging activities of a commission in sounding
public reactions with an organism of a more permanent character which could on a continuous
basis probe the working of the existing system and study its futuristic lineaments. A move in
this direction seems to be evolving in some countries of the region; for example, in Indonesia
with its National Education Assessment Project and the Office of Educational and Cultural D e -
velopment and Research (BP K ) ; in the Philippines, with its Educational Task Force; in
Malaysia, with its Educational Planning and Research Division (EPRD); in Republic of Korea, in
an institutional form, with its Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI).

With the adoption of development planning expressed in five or four year national plans,
a shift seems to be taking place in the locus of certain policy-making functions in education, to-
wards the central planning agency. A variety of administrative devices are being tried out in
the countries in order to ensure greater coherance between the planning process and the content
of educational programmes. In most countries, educational planning units have been established
in the Ministries of Education; in some countries (for example, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan)
the central planning agency lias in addition a separate education division; in a few countries
(for example, Iran, Thailand) educational planning functions are entrusted to body/ministry
other than the Ministry of Education.

The organizational form of a Ministry of Education varies greatly from one country
to another. T w o opposite trends are in evidence. In some countries, the ministry's scope is
widened to include not only all types of education but also activities closely allied to education,
such as culture, sports or social welfare. In other countries, the educational functions are
dispersed among other ministries or statutory bodies - primary education m a y be the respon-
sibility of the Ministry of Interior or its regional authorities^, (Indonesia, Thailand), or higher
education m a y be placed in a separate ministry (Iran, Thailand).

In an area such as education, there is almost always an inherent problem of how to


harmonize what is necessary administratively and what is deemed desirable professionally.
An organization m a y get so preoccupied with its administrative and political responsibilities
that its rôle of professional leadership m a y get over-shadowed. An interesting trend is e m e r -
ging in a few countries of having specialized bodies or institutions which take over largely the
functions of professional leadership but do not have administrative responsibilities. A few
examples of this type of organization are: the Korean Educational Development Institute

68
Administration of education in the Asian region

(Republic of Korea), the University Grants Commission and the National Council of Education-
al Research and Training (India), the Institute for Research and Planning in Science and E d u -
cation, (Iran) and the National Curriculum Development Centres (Sri Lanka and Malaysia).

9. Centralization and decentralization

The growth in size and complexity of the educational enterprise has compelled a movement to-
wards decentralization in all countries of the region. This has been reinforced by the need to
relate educational institutions and their administration more closely to the communities which
they are designed to serve. Another powerful contributory factor is the growing trend for
'regionalizing' development planning in order to ensure a more equitable distribution of deve-
lopment benefits than have accrued from centralized planning. The term »decentralization1
however covers a variety of organizational forms. On the one hand, there is decentralization
by which certain administrative functions and powers are delegated to field units; on the other
hand, there is decentralization by which the local community or authority becomes responsible
not only for administration but also for planning and determining its educational programmes.
Japan and the Republic of Korea have had long experience of education administered
by autonomous local educational agencies in provinces, prefectures and cities while policy-
making and norm-setting functions are carried out by a central body. Administrative decen-
tralization has also been adopted in Indonesia, Nepal, Iran, Malaysia and Sri Lanka among
others. The general pattern of decentralization is to create regional bodies with considerable
authority to manage education within their jurisdiction. The most recent reorganization is in
the Philippines where it has established 12 regional offices each of which is a counterpart, on
a smaller scale, of the Central Department of Education and culture in Manila. Decentrali-
zation in the form of giving the initiative to the local communities and enterprises to establish,
develop and manage education is reported to be the basic organizational structure in the People's
Republic of China. The movement towards decentralization of educational management is so
pervasive now in the Asian region that cross-country studies of the experiences being generat-
ed in these reorganization schemes will undoubtedly be rewarding.
The trend in decentralization of administration in evidence in many countries is ac-
companied by what appears to be a counter-trend towards centralization. The impetus for this
was given by the procedures of centralized educational planning adopted earlier; it is now streng-
thened by centralized curriculum development and the training of educational personnel. In
countries with a Federal Constitution, this centralizing tendency would be found at the provin-
cial/State level, if not at the federal centre.

10. Supervision

The traditional rôle of 'school inspection' has been rendered inoperative when the number of
schools has increased beyond the capacity of any corps of inspectors to inspect them, and the
school programme itself has become so diversified that no single inspector can cover the whole
range.. Clearly, there are two distinguishable functions to perform: administrative overseeing

69
Administrative support for educational reform

of the schools and professional guidance and help to the school personnel. While the concept
of supervision as professional guidance is well established in theory, it does not appear to have
made m u c h headway in actual practice, beyond a change of title from 'inspector' to 'supervisor'.
One reason for this m a y be that those who have been accustomed to the traditional inspectoral
functions are least willing to surrender them in favour of a professional rôle which does not
have the underpinnings of administrative authority. Short of creating two massive cadres, one
for professional supervision and another for administrative supervision, it is difficult to see a
solution to this problem along traditional lines. In a few countries of the region, a two-cadre
system is already beginning to appear. This solution has to be seen in the context of the grow-
ing financial constraint as well as the needs of educational programmes which are becoming
increasingly more diversified.
There are indications that supervision m a y develop along lines different from the tra-
ditional ones. In countries which have established curriculum development centres, the spe-
cialist personnel are getting involved in providing professional guidance to the schools. In
India, Pakistan and Thailand, attempts have been m a d e to involve the staff of teacher training
institutions in 'extension' activities in the schools. In a few countries, a group of schools in
the same geographical area have been formed into a 'complex' in order to share c o m m o n pro-
fessional experiences. As high level educational institutions (teacher-training institutes, re-
search and development centres, etc. ) become m o r e widely dispersed (rather than congregat-
ing in the metropolitan city) their capabilities for providing academic support to other education-
al institutions would form an important element in the organization of supervision.

11. Personnel development

The problem of personnel development to be treated as a first priority in any reform and re-

organization was pin-pointed in the Working Document of the Third Regional Conference of

Ministers of Education and Those Responsible for Economic Planning in Asia (Singapore,

31 M a y - 7 June 1971). It stated:


"Better organization and methods of work do not provide all.the answers: these are
essential aids but they depend on the quality and skills of the persons who m a n the
organization. A n organization renews itself through the people who m a n it. In
educational administration, as in many other sectors of education, there is an imper-
ative need to recognize that there should not be a single door through which alone
people can come into the organization. The administrative functions in education are
becoming more and more diversified and call for a wider range of competencies and
skills. The manning of the educational administrative organization has therefore to
represent the diversity of skills needed for its management tasks" .
In sharp contrast to what is taking place in the countries in the field of public administration,
educational administration has yet to come to grips with the basic problems of personnel m a -
nagement in a system in which the tasks are becoming increasingly differentiated.

1. Unesco, Growth and change: perspectives of education in Asia. Pari


(Educational Studies and Documents, new series. N o . 7)

70
Administration of education in the A s i a n region

First and foremost, there is need to recognize that m a n a g e m e n t of education h a s n o w


changed in scale and that it requires c a d r e s w h o are selected and professionally trained for
m a n a g e m e n t tasks. This r e q u i r e m e n t can n o longer be m e t by drafting-in civil servants tran-
siently, or capping a long career in c l a s s - r o o m teaching by a n administrative job o n the eve
of retirement. T h e m a n a g e r of education is a d e v e l o p m e n t agent; h e h a s to b e intellectually
resourceful in order to give leadership, and h a v e a n o p e n n e s s of m i n d in order to respond
flexibly to n e w tasks, sensitivity in order to build up and release the springs of initiative in
others, and c o m m i t m e n t to h u m a n values.
T h e cause of m o s t of the difficulties, complications and disappointments in education-
al m a n a g e m e n t s t e m s from unsuitable or inadequately-prepared personnel. T h e re-orientation
of the educational personnel to their wider and m o r e urgent responsibilities of a national - and
universal - nature h a s yet to receive d u e consideration.
T h e r e should b e n o d i s a g r e e m e n t on the fact that a rapidly expanding labour-intensive
operation like education h a s to concentrate o n the d e v e l o p m e n t of a strong m a n a g e m e n t force
to guide it as well as to service it. A point m a d e in relation to the Philippines, and n o doubt
applicable to m u c h of Asia - highlights the fact that the c o m p e t e n c i e s of m o s t educational
administrators are m o r e appropriate for c l a s s r o o m supervision than for supervision of p r o -
g r a m m e s and institutions. T h e supervisory educational administrators, m e a n w h i l e , often
complain that they are s o o v e r w h e l m e d with routine p a p e r w o r k that they h a v e n o t i m e for their
legitimate educational function of observing and supervising field operations.
T h e s e and other similar personnel p r o b l e m s are b e c o m i n g apparent in the field of
educational m a n a g e m e n t . A systematic and sustained effort at solving the p r o b l e m s is needed
IT.)ore than d r a m a t i c one-shot m o v e s . T h e important objectives are:
- T h e evolution of a profession of educational m a n a g e m e n t a n d , as part of this,
- Training and professional growth of educational administrators.
In such an approach, action appears to b e urgently n e e d e d to :
(1) R e - e x a m i n e recruitment and p r o m o t i o n policies to ensure the d e v e l o p m e n t of
competent m a n a g e m e n t services;
(2) Search for talent both within and without the educational administration for people
with ability and to p r o m o t e the professional growth of these people b y giving t h e m
responsibility;
(3) Develop suitable training p r o g r a m m e s and provide for continuing in-service train-
ing; and
(4) E n s u r e the d e p l o y m e n t of staff in priority educational functions to which their
competencies are relevant.
T h e d e v e l o p m e n t of professional m a n a g m e n t service in education would need particularly to
be designed to give c o h e r e n c e to a structure which at present is fragmented as b e t w e e n :
(1) Professional or career 'educators' and general administrators.
(2) ' E d u c a t o r s ' and specialists of supporting services (for e x a m p l e , statisticians,
accountants, architects, engineers), and

71
Administrative support for educational reform

(3) 'Line' administrators, who operate the system and 'staff personnel, who, as
planners, curriculum developers, researchers or advisors, give a development
edge.
Where the distances in status, academic ranking and social prestige between policy-makers
and executive and institutional heads is so great that tradition sc far permits only an 'up-down'
type of communication, such a group can neither develop into a unified profession nor promote
the emergence of a c o m m o n service motive. It is to bridge these distances that the growth of
a profession of educational management is of basic importance for the evolution of standards
as well as self-generated and self-regulated mechanisms for their maintenance.
In the development of management cadres in education, the question of training and
professional growth is crucial. This question has yet to receive systematic attention in the
region. Problems relating to training are of both organization and content. What is required
is not only setting up institutions and staffing them but organizing a continuous process of
in-service training programmes, both on- and off-the-job.
In view of the fact that the teaching service will continue to supply the bulk of the per-
sonnel to educational management (particularly, the heads of schools and supervisory grades)
and also that a teacher within a few years after recruitment assumes some administrative
and planning responsibilities as they relate to the institutional level, the introduction of a m a -
nagement component in the curriculum of teacher training programmes is both useful and de-
sirable. But if left at that, as at present, it will be totally inadequate and even misdirected.
M o r e specialized 'learning-doing' experiences at higher levels are needed, and exposure to a
wide array of management problems in a variety of fields, and not only education. The staff
college structure adapted to educational needs has much to offer but it has not yet been tried
out extensively in the Asian context.
The point to make in concluding this paper is a simple one: nothing will repay national
efforts in education more than to build up professionally qualified, committed people.

72
Appendix С

T H E PLANNING A N D ADMINISTRATION O F E D U C A T I O N A L R E F O R M
by M r . Hans N . Weiler, Director, H E P

Note: This paper aims to provide an introductory overview of some of the issues and
questions involved in the relationship between educational administration and education­
al reform. It should be seen as a set of theses or assertions which will form a possible
agenda for the Seminar's discussions. This introduction has of a necessity a somewhat
abstract quality; it is expected that the presentation of country case studies which is
scheduled for the early part of the Seminar will add a substantial amount of rich and
varied administrative experience to this outline.

1. Introduction

(a) The thesis of the conservative rôle of educational administration


One possible point of departure for looking at the relationship between educational administration
and educational reform is the assertion, not infrequent in the literature on administrative or-
ganization and organizational behaviour, that public administrations, inasmuch as they are al-
most by definition concerned with assuring cohesion, consistency and continuity in the function-
ing of a multitude of public services, are typically oriented m o r e towards maintaining the status
quo_than towards initiating, supporting and sustaining educational reform. On the face of it,
the argument seems to m a k e sense. Historically, the institution of public administration con-
notes a particular sense of responsibility for maintaining the orderly pursuit of the vital
functions of public life in the midst of whatever turbulences m a y be created by the ramifications
of political, economic and social change. Administrations operate by firm and often rather
rigid rules; recruitment into administrative roles is often organised in such a way as to assure
an effective socialization into the behavioural norms of a previous generation of administrators;
promotion and success within administrative structures is often seen to be the result more of
compliance and obedience than of initiative and innovation.
it should be a matter of considerable concern and inquiry whether this image is true
in general and for the area of educational administration in particular. As a first reaction,
it would seem that the assertion about the essentially conservative rôle of public administration
grossly oversimplifies what is in reality a rather substantial variation of administrative

7 3
Administrative support for educational reform

structures traditions and behaviours from one country to another. Obviously, the model of admin-
instrative organisation which a particular country has adopted (often under the influence of colo-
nial domination) has a great deal to do with how administrative units respond to the challenge of
social and educational reforms. The cultural and social background from which administration
are drawn as well as the specific training they undergo in a given country are also likely to
affect their attitude and behaviour with regard to the need and possibilities for reform.
Furthermore, administrations are executive instruments in the sense that they are entrust-
ed with implementing a political will. A great deal will therefore depend on whether and with
what degree of seriousness the political powers of a country are committed to the notion of re-
form in general and specific reform programmes in particular. It is probably true that minis-
terial bureaucracies have a great deal of room to interpret and even modify policy decisions
made at the political level, but even so it is hard to conceive of a situation where a strongly
reform-minded political authority could co-exist for any length of timo with a strongly anti-
reform administration, and vice versa.

(b) The reform of educational administration and the administration


of educational reform
For purposes of clarification, we should perhaps make a distinction between two possible as-
pects of our problem, namely, on the one hand, the problem of the reform of educational ad-
ministration and, on the other hand, the administration of educational reform. Although the
two issues are linked in many ways, they each have their own set of problems. Having to ad-
minister certain educational reforms m a y well require or lead to reforms in the structure and
procedure of educational administration, but such changes m a y well come about also for reasons
having nothing to do with educational reform (such as the need to increase administrative ef-
ficiency, closer control over administrative sub-units, etc. ). Furthermore, administrativo
reforms are rarely limited to one sector, but usually apply to the entire spectrum of public
administration, so that there is little point in talking just about the reform of educational ad-
ministration.

The challenge of "administering educational reform" lies thus at two levels: in one sense,
the task is to initiate, facilitate and sustain educational reform programmes within the bound-
aries and constraints of the existing structural and procedural arrangements of the public ad-
ministration system. In a second sense, we face the further task of trying to initiate such
changes in the existing administrative system as the educational reform programme m a y re-
quire. If this distinction is considered valid, I propose that we concentrate on the issue of
administering educational reform, and that we treat changes and reforms in educational ad-
ministration as a possible requirement or result of the overall educational reform effort.

2. Educational reform as a policy issue


(a) Educational reform and social change
It is hardly necessary to point out that educational reform can never be conceived nor imple-
mented in a vacuum. While relatively minor innovations, such as changes in the architecture

74
The planning and administration of educational reform

of schools or in the daily schedule of classes can perhaps be introduced without reference to any-
broader social context, any reform of more significant proportions is by its very nature embedded
into a complex set of inter-relationships with the political, economic and social environment of
the educational system. Changes in the recruitment, training and conditions of employment of
teachers tend to affect their place in the overall labour market with implications for mobility
job change, etc. ; reforms of the content of education reflect intentionally or unintentionally
changes in a society's idea about its own future; changes in the structure of educational systems
have implications for access, " selection, and occupational mobility and are thus intricately
Jinked with the fabric of social status and aspiration; shifts in the allocation of resources as
between levels of education (e. g. more to primary and basic education and less to higher edu-
cation) relate both to overall social priorities and to employment patterns; etc.

The difficult question in this context is which place in the sequence educational reform occupies.
In other words: if educational reform and processes of social change are so closely inter-related,
doe.s it require prior social change to make educational reform possible, or can educational re-
form be seen as the initiator of social change which would occur in the wake and as a result of
particular educational reforms, or do the two occur concurrently? It will be difficult to answer
this question in general terms; there are likely to be persuasive examples on either side of the
argument. Regardless, however, of what the answer will be for the case of any particular country,
it seems important to maintain that educational reform can meaningfully be conceived only on
the basis and in the context of a rather thorough understanding of either on-going or anticipated
processes of political, economic and social change. Plans for educational reform which are
conceived and implemented without this understanding are doomed to eventual failure no matter
bow technically competent their execution.

it is worth noting in tiiis connection that the changes in the notions and tasks of education itself
which have been articulated in recent years highlight the close interdependence of educational
reform and social change. A case in point is the recommendation made by the International
Commission on the Development of Education for educational reform to move in the direction
of life--long education - a concept which clearly can only be achieved in concert with rather far-
reaching changes in, for example, the organisation of work, systems of recruitment, remuner-
ation and promotion, and in the existing value systems regarding the respective rôles of work,
education and leisure.

b) Major reform issues


liy the way of elaborating furthei on the general point made in the preceding section, it m a y be
useful to take a brief look at some of the issues around which many educational reforms are
organised. I expect that our discussions in the Seminar will contribute a great deal of more
detailed experience on each of these as well as a number of other issues. What is intended here
is merely a brief further illustration of the relationship between educational reform and social change.
1. See Edgar Faure et al., "Learning to be: the world of education today and
tomorrow", Paris, Unesco, 1972.

7 5
Administrative support for educational reform

Perhaps the most significant and far-reaching of all contemporary educational reforms are
motivated by an effort to achieve greater' equality in access to educational opportunities, and
thereby, greater equality in the distribution of people's life chances. The experience with
these efforts has shown, however, that increasing the equality of access to educational oppor-
tunities does not in itself lead to more equal results (as measured by school success, drop-out,
etc. ) and that major differences in the degree to which educational opportunities are utilized
remain. Therefore, a great deal of effort is now also devoted to help under-privileged groups
in a society to succeed in the completion of educational programmes once they have found access
to them (in the form of compensatory learning schemes, programmes of guidance and counsel-
ling, etc. ), or to change the structure and content of educational systems in such a way as to
make it correspond better to the needs of these under-privileged groups.
It is obvious that the success of efforts of this kind can never depend on the educational system
alone, but is dependent upon the degree to which, at the same time, a process of social trans-
formation Lakes place which provides more equal opportunity in employment and social status
for school graduates coming from different socio-economic or regional backgrounds. As long
as the society at large, in allocating occupational, income and status benefits, maintains a
differentiation on the basis of ascriptive criteria such as race, region, family status, etc. ,
all efforts of the educational system to provide for further equality in both access and success
are likely to remain ineffective.
A second major category of educational reforms, and one by no means unrelated to the one
just discussed, has to do with major changes in the content and substance of educational pro-
grammes. T o judge by the statements and conclusions of ministerial and similar conferences
in recent years, there is an over-riding concern in many developing countries (and not only those)
with the need for a substantial reappraisal of the content of the learning process to which chil-
dren and young adults in all kinds of schools are exposed. One of the important criteria for-
tius review process is the degree to which the content of education reflects or can be made to
reflect m o r e appropriately the specific conditions, traditions and needs of the country without
the influence of alien and in many ways irrelevant elements of content of mostly colonial origin.
The increasing concern with curriculum planning as an important part in the overall strategy
of educational reform is a result of this concern, and will undoubtedly loom large in our discus-
sions at this seminar. Here again, however, it seems important to point out the need to con-
ceive of the reform of the content and substance of education within the context of and in relation
to the image which a country has of itself and of its own future. This image, as reflected in the
thoughts and statements of a country's political, intellectual and artistic leaders m a y at times
be difficult to discern and to aggregate into a c o m m o n core of ideas and goals. Nonetheless, it
would seem that one of the most important prerequisites for the success of a major curriculum
reform would be to seek out this image and to translate it into the kinds of educational objec-
tives which could guide the development of a new curriculum.

Planning the future of educational systems has always been strongly influenced by consider-
ations of the probable future development of a country's economic system. Projections of
manpower needs have formed the basis for many educational plans and have introduced an

76
The planning and administration of educational reform

an element of rationality into educational planning even though both the adequacy of many m a n -
power projections and the possibility of matching the output of educational systems with m a n -
power needs is being increasingly questioned. Where educational policy, as is now more and
more the case, is aiming not only at the quantitative expansion of the existing educational sys-
tem, but at its structural and qualitative reform, it would seem necessary for the planner of
educational reform to arrive at a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of the nature
of the work process in which graduates of the future educational system are likely to be involv-
ed. Such an effort will go beyond the conventional estimation of manpower needs by level and
general type of schooling, but will include a much more thorough analysis of both the cognitive
and non-cognitive requirements of performing in different work situations as well as of the
pattern of social relationships prevailing in the world of work. As the world of work and the
demands upon those involved in it are undergoing rapid and substantial change, not least as a
result of the development, transfer and adaptation of technologies, a thorough knowledge of
this change becomes imperative for adequately planning both structural and substantive reforms
of educational systems.
Much of what has been said in the preceding sections assumes a particular importance with
regard to the development problems of rural and particularly poor areas within developing
countries. The effort to address these problems as a matter of absolute priority and to pay
particular attention to the role of education in this process characterizes the policy agenda of
many countries, it is in the context of this problem that the intricate relationship between
educational reform and social change becomes perhaps more visible and acute. No programme
of educational reform in rural areas, no matter how well conceived and implemented, will by
itself provide sufficient leverage to remedy effectively the problems of poverty, health and
nutrition in these areas. A much more integrated and comprehensive strategy of social change
in rural areas is needed and has been adopted by a number of countries, and it will be parti-
cularly instructive to have reports at this seminar on the experience which some Asian countries
have had with the implementation of various schemes of integrated rural development.

(c) The limits of educational reform


The thesis of this part of the paper has been that the distribution of political power, economic
wealth and social status determines largely the success or failure of educational reforms of
all kinds. It is not cynical, but only realistic to state that the holders of power, wealth and
status have a natural interest in maintaining the set of societal - including educational -
arrangements which help maintain their respective positions. If this is so, then programmes
of educational reform m a y in themselves have a rather limited effect as long as this powerful
environment of the educational system remains the same . In this situation, there are only
two strategies possible: The first is to make optimal use of such limited scope of effectiveness
as educational reform m a y have under the existing economic, political and social constraints
1. For an interesting further discussion of this point, see Martin Carnoy and Henry M . Levin,
"The Limits of Educational Reform", N e w York, M c K a y , 1976, (reviewed in N o . 2,
December 1976, of the H E P Bulletin).

77
Administrative support for educational reform

(which requires a rather thorough understanding of the nature of these constraints). Beyond
this, however, lies the second even m o r e challenging task of shaping the external environment
of the educational system in such a way as to make more fundamental educational reforms both
possible and effective. While this second task leads us outside the realm of education and edu-
cational administration, it is with regard to this first task - the conception and implementation
of educational reform under conditions of external constraint - that a more detailed review of the
rôle of educational administration in the initiation and support of educational reforms need to
be undertaken.

3. The administration of educational reform


(a) Policy, planning, administration and evaluation
Before moving on to some more specific issues, it would seem important to review, from the
point of view of the problems of educational reform, the nature of the relationship between po-
licy, planning, administration and evaluation in the field of education. I a m distinguishing
here 'planning' and 'evaluation' from 'administration' proper partly because, in many countries,
they represent sufficiently distinct operations within or even outside the Ministry of Education,
but also in view of the important difference in function between planning and evaluating pro-
g r a m m e s of educational development and reform, on the one hand, and their implementation and
administration, on the other. A s a m o r e encompassing term for the entire process, from policy-
making to evaluation, one m a y choose to speak of the 'management' of educational systems
which m a y have the added advantage of a more dynamic connotation. In any event, I believe
that the re-thinking and consequent restructuring of this relationship could well be the most
important task facing us in the development of future arrangements for the management of
educational systems. While each of these four terms denotes a distinct and specific type of
activity, it is clear that they can only function effectively in a closely integrated manner. In
fact, however, one frequently finds considerable discontinuities and rifts in this overall process
of managing educational systems. A case in point is the relationship between planning and ad-
ministration where the elaborate process of designing educational plans is often cut off from
the activities and experiences of administrative units in implementing such plans. Similarly,
such efforts at evaluating the success of plans as exist are often not geared to providing regular
and systematic feedback into the on-going planning and implementation process.

I a m raising this issue in the context of discussing educational reform because the specific
conditions of implementing programmes of educational reform appear to require a particular
close and integrated relationship between the various components of the overall management
process,, Reforms are rarely transformed from design to reality in one piece and at one time;
the process of designing and implementing them is a complex sequence of trying out different
solutions, assessing the feasibility and effect of alternative reform strategies, etc. In the
course of this process, the implementation mechanisms, plans and even some aspects of policy
m a y have to be modified in the light of accumulating experience. In such a situation, the need
for frequent and even overlapping 'feedback loops' within the overall system of educational
management is even more important than under 'normal' circumstances.

va
The planning and administration of educational reform

Communication and interaction among and within administrative units appears to be key con-
ditions for the success of the particular reform programme and m a y require in many instances
greater structural and procedural permeability among the units which are, respectively, in
charge of policy, planning, administration and evaluation. It seems important that this per-
meability should not be limited to planning, administration and evaluation, but that the accumul-
ating feedback should find its way to the policy-.making level so as to be taken into account for
such adjustments or changes in policy as the experience from the on-going reform process m a y
suggest. In institutional terms, it m a y be that the inspectorate has in this regard a particularly
important role of mediating the results of monitoring the reform process between the implement-
ation and policy-making levels.

(b) Research and reform: the diagnostic responsibilities of


educational administration
H what has been said in an earlier part of this paper about the important external constraints
upon educational reform is true, then one of the most formidable and important roles to be per-
formed in initiating and implementing educational reforms is that of a careful diagnosis of the
existing or emerging political, economic and social conditions and constraints with respect to
a particular reform programme. Without such a diagnostic effort, the political 'space1 within
which a particular reform could be both possible and effective is likely to be over- or, less
likely, under-estimate. It would thus be one of the first questions to be asked about adminis-
trative arrangements for the support of educational reform whethera sufficient capacity, qual-
itatively and quantitatively, for this kind of diagnostic research exists. The nature of such
research would obviously vary according to the conditions in a given country: where a subs-
tantial data base on such things as social stratification, income distribution, influence of in-
terest groups, etc. , is already available, the effort would be more in the form of bringing this
evidence together and analysing and interpreting it from the point of view of a particular reform
programme. Where such information is not or not sufficiently available, it would be necessary
to establish sufficient research capacity within or close to the existing administrative network
lor at least beginning to compile such information. As an example it would seem rather hazardous
to embark on a major programme to overcome regional disparities in education unless one has
reasonably reliable information on why certain groups in a population find it difficult not only to
obtain access to educational opportunities but also to benefit from such opportunities where they
are available.

It should be noted that behind the m o r e technical issues of how to obtain relevant data and
how to assess their reliability and validity lie some more substantial questions of research
and, indeed, development policy. Much as the quality and development of good research has
gained from the international migration of researchers, this migration has to an alarming degree
been monopolized by researchers from industrialized countries. The policy of many develop-
ing countries to develop their own research potential and their own conceptual framework for
research should be seen in close relation with policies for educational reform. Priorities for
reform entail priorities for research, and just as the setting of priorities for educational reform

79
Administrative support for educational reform

is a matter of a country's sovereign policy decision, so should be the decision on what, in the
diagnostic sense described above, is to be subjected to systematic research scrutiny, and who
is to be the researcher.
(c) Reform related issues in educational administration
Even though we have at the outset introduced the distinction between the administration of edu-
cational reform as the main topic of this paper and the reform of educational administration
which constitutes a secondary aspect of the topic, it would seem necessary to review some par-
ticular aspects of administrative organisation to the extent that they have an effect on the plan-
ning and implementation of educational reforms. While there is in principle no one particular
model of administrative organisation which is in and of itself more conducive to educational
reform than another model, it seems clear that certain kinds of administrative arrangements
affect the feasibility and success of educational reforms in different ways and to different de-
grees. A m o n g these aspects, we will briefly review some current issues related to the structure
of administrative arrangementss patterns of administrative procedures and the attitudes of those
involved in the administrative process.
(i) As far as administrative structure is concerned, the one theme which has perhaps c o m -
manded more attention than most others has been that of administrative decentralization or de-
concentration. Even though the meaning of these terms differs widely from one country to
another, there seems to be a general assumption that bureaucratic centralism is not necessarily
the best form of administering complex educational systems, and that a certain differentiation
and decentralization of the administrative apparatus would at least enhance the efficiency with
which the educational system could be run. Whether at the same time decentralization, where
there is normally little or no delegation or power to lower administrative levels, but rather an
intensified presence of the central authority at lower levels, is likely to facilitate educational
reform seems much more doubtful. In order to answer this question, one would need to find out
whether a particular decentralized system of administration, rather than extending the reach
of the central authority, can offer local and regional communities a better opportunity for ex-
pressing their educational needs.
Even in the case of déconcentration, where some real delegation of power does take place,
it still remains to be seen whether the delegation of power to sub-national administrative levels
alone will suffice to facilitate reform in a situation where, albeit at a lower level, the bureau-
cratic and hierarchical nature of administrative structures continues to prevail. Ultimately,
it would seem that the structure of the administrative system as such will have little effect on
the feasibility and the success of educational reform, and that the controversy over decentral-
ization and déconcentration only conceals a more fundamental dispute about the more or less
hierarchical and authoritarian nature of the administrative apparatus in general.
(ii) In this connection, the pattern of administrative procedure and of the ways in which edu-
cational development and reform is planned and implemented assumes a particular importance.
Here, one of the principal mechanisms proposed for improvement is that of participation, even
though we find rather considerable variation across different situations and different countries,

80
The planning and administration of educational reform

ranging from mere formalities of participation to a genuine involvement in decision-making


processes.
Four our purposes, we can distinguish at least between three different types of participation:
- The participation of different services and units within the administrative apparatus (in
both a vertical and a horzontal sense),
- the participation of teachers as agents of implementation, and
- the participation of the 'clients' of the educational system:
students, parents and their communties.
Each of these types of participation poses specific problems and implies more or less funda-
mental changes of the traditional model of bureaucratic administration. The first type, which
refers to intra-administrative participation only is certainly the easiest to achieve and is being
implemented to varying degrees by a number of countries. With regard to reform, this type
of participation certainly improves the coherence of the overall process of planning and imple-
mentation; it assures the pooling of information and administrative resources, it facilitates
the co-operation between administrative units not otherwise related (e. g. planning and inspec-
torate, curriculum development and budget, etc. ) and m a y lead to an earlier identification of
possible areas in the implementation of a particular reform.

Along the horizontal as well as the vertical dimension of this kind of participation, what has
been said earlier about the permeability of the different functions of educational management
is relevant here as well. Whether the inspectorate is capable of developing into the role of a
catalyst of such permeability, of a 'clamping device' spanning and connecting the different ser-
vices and operations involved at different levels, should be an interesting question on which
both another paper for this seminar and the experiences of the participating countries should
have a great deal to contribute.

However effectively these 'participatory' or collaborative arrangements within the adminis-


tration m a y be organised, they do little to overcome the frequent opposition of teachers to edu-
cational reform projects. Whatever the origins and justification of such opposition in any par-
ticular case, it is at least possible that a lack of involving the teaching profession at a sufficient-
ly early stage in the deliberation and planning of educational reforms might lead to a more co-
operative attitude on the part of teachers towards the implementation of such reforms. Depend-
ing on the status and organisation of the teaching profession, introducing this kind of a systema-
tic participation of the teachers in planning educational development and reform m a y require
some rather fundamental changes in the established relationship between administrative
authorities! and the teaching profession.

Certainly, even more fundamental changes in administrative procedures would be required


in order to accommodate wider participation of the actual clients of the educational system in
the process of planning reform. If students, parents and their communities are to have a real
voice in the determination of their learning needs and the development of those educational pro-
g r a m m e s which are designed to satisfy those needs, the model of an administrative process
which operates from the top on down becomes dysfunctional and will require both a rearrange-
ment of administrative roles and a substantial changes in attitudes on the part of those involved.

81
Administrative support for educational reform

Again, one will have to m a k e a distinction between a more 'passive' form of participation where-
by the community is called upon, for example, to contribute local resources to the functioning
of a pre-established educational system, and a form of participation in which the voice of the
community plays a role in the very definition of educational objectives and the development of
strategies for their implementation. Even more than in the case of the participation of the
teaching profession, such an involvement would require substantial re-thinking of our convention-
al assumptions about the role and nature of the administrative process .
(iii) Beyond being concerned with the structure and process of administration, it is thus un-
derstandable that those interested in educational reform devote a great deal of attention to the
need for changing attitudes within the administration. N o matter how much structural and pro-
cedural arrangements are changed, it will be impossible to sustain administratively a process
of educational reform initiative and creativity if the dominant attitude on the part of adminis-
trators is one of control and conformism. It is difficult to expect teachers to be the agents
of educational changes and at the same time to respect the rules of the status quo. The main
question therefore becomes how one can move from a climate of rigidity and restriction to an
atmosphere of flexibility and stimulating confidence. It is often the conflict, within the admi-
nistration, between new structures and old behaviour which is one of the major obstacles on
the way towards innovation and reform in education. H o w to overcome this obstacle has become
one of the most important challenges in the relationship between administration and reform
in education.

It is with regard to this central problem that a new approach to the training and development
of administrative personnel has to be considered in order to cope with the demand of new
structures and processes. Administrative personnel require not only technical skills but also
different orientations towards their tasks, their colleagues and their 'counterparts' in the edu-
cational systems. Elements of communication, of group dynamics, and of problem solving
become important ingredients in the 'competence profile' of this type of administrator. In this
regard some of the techniques of 'organisational development' and training which are used
in some industrial enterprises could well be adapted to the needs of public administrations.

(d) Experimentation as a strategy for educational reform


A m o n g the various strategies for initiating educational reforms, that of experimentation has
come to loom increasingly large in policy-makers' and planners' minds. The very notion of
'trying out' a reform on a small and manageable scale before embarking on a complete change
of the entire system has proved inherently attractive and has been applied in a number of
countries. It will be most instructive to review the experience which countries participating
in the seminar have had in using educational experiments as a first step towards reform. Such
a review would show, among other things, whether the strategy of experimentation does indeed
have the kinds of advantages which are generally attributed to it, and which should be briefly
discussed here:

1. This issue has recently been discussed in a stimulating paper written


by David R . Evans for the H E P Visiting Fellows P r o g r a m m e on "Responsive
educational planning: myth or reality? , Paris, H E P , 1976

82
The planning and administration of educational reform

(i) F r o m a political point of view, educational reform plans rarely enjoy universal and un­
divided support in a country. Sometimes, they tend to threaten the privileges of some groups
of the society, sometimes they are seen as not to improve sufficiently the lot of others; powerful in­
terest or regional groups m a y mobilize resistance against aspects of a reform which they do not
consider to be in their interests and international influences, from textbook companies to donor
agencies, m a y have their own hidden or overt agenda in the matter. Faced with this multitude
(Л potentially dissenting elements in the process of initiating and implementing a reform pro­
g r a m m e in education, the device of the limited experiment extending only to a small part of the
educational system is considered as an effective instrument to defuse a potentially explosive
situation. The small-scale experiment is much less threatening than an all-out change of the
entire system; it gives everybody time and an opportunity to see the proposed changes in reality
and form an opinion of how beneficial or damaging they are likely to be on a larger scale, and
does ihus have a cha.nce to be, for a while at least, a useful instrument of political compromise.
Whether or not this strategy works in every case is an open and important question; it could
well be, and has in fact happened, that, once the experiment is concluded and the full reform is
once again on the agenda, the initial controversy will have acquired even more m o m e n t u m than
it had before.

Ш) One of the big problems with educational reforms is that thejr usually cost money and
require, at least for a certain time, additional resources in order to open new schools, res­
tructure old ones, train or retrain teachers, produce new teaching materials, etc. At the same
time, it is sometimes hard to predict whether in the final analysis the proposed reform will
have the effect it is designed and expected to have. Here again, from a simple cost-benefit
perspective, the experiment would seem to recommend itself as a rather economic way of test­
ing the likely success or failure of particular reforms. Does an improved system of guidance
and counselling result in enhancing the access to and the success in schools for previously
under-represented social groups? Does a new civics curriculum result in a change of attitude
towards the country's national tradition and identity? What effects does lowering the age of school
entry have on the quantity and distribution of student intake? Does a new type of prefabricated
school building serve better the needs of rural schools? - these and many other similar questions
would seem to lend themselves rather well to small-scale experimental try-outs at relatively
low cost.
(iii) This kind of cost-benefit argument leads us already to what is perhaps the most impor­
tant aspect of an experimental strategy in the pursuit of educational reform, namely its use as
a source of relatively solid evidence on the likely effects of a given reform programme. It is
precisely this possibility which develops further what we have said before about the diagnostic
element in the administration of educational reform: carefully observed experimental program­
m e s can become a most important and useful source of insight into the feasibility of certain
reforms under the constraints of the political, economic and social factors discussed earlier
in this paper.
It would be interesting and tempting to engage at this point in a more extensive discussion

83
Administrative support for educational reform

of the methodological issues involved in field experimentation. In order not to carry this scope
and length of this paper too far, however, and because there is a growing and important litera-
ture on the subject , I a m limiting myself to a brief observation. The reality of an educational
system is not and should not be made into a scientific laboratory where all the conditions which
could possibly affect the outcome of an experiment can be neatly and tightly controlled. Even
so, however, it is important to set up the experimental try-out of a reform programme in such
a way that the actual conditions under which the experimental programme takes place are care-
fully observed and recorded so as to allow for the examination of different assumptions about
what m a y cause the observed effects of the experimental programme. In other words: What
is needed and what experience has shown to be quite feasible is to reconcile the scientific prin-
ciples of experimentation with the actual conditions of a living, on-going educational system.

(e) The evaluation of educational reforms


One of the more striking developments in the field of educational policy and administration in
recent years has been the unprecedented pre-occupation with the evaluation of education. One
might speculate whether this concern with evaluating the results of education is one of the re-
sults of a growing uneasiness or uncertainty as to whether education makes a difference, a re-
flection of the somewhat sobering experience that education does not seem to have, after all,
the kind of leverage in bringing about economic development and social justice which was
earlier attributed to it. Whatever the reasons, the question of what effect education has both
on its own products, the students, and on the society at large, and how to ascertain such effects,
continues to be high on the list of concerns of educational administrators. The conceptual and
methodological discussion to which this concern has led is interesting enough and will merit
careful reflection from an international perspective at some point. It will be particularly impor-
tant to ask whether the rather heavy preoccupation of many educational evaluations with the
assessment of cognitive achievement has done justice to the full range of educational objectives
in a wide variety of political and social systems, and whether there are not, by contrast, other
aspects of educational outcomes and effects which, while much less studied, are considered by
many countries to be of equal or greater importance.

The challenge of educational reform adds yet another dimension to this already complex issue
of evaluating education. Does it m a k e sense to speak of 'evaluating' educational reforms when,
almost by definition, appropriate yardsticks and measurements are not yet available? It
would clearly be pointless to evaluate the success of a new educational programme (say, a new
curriculum) by using the criteria which used to be employed to 'evaluate' the outcomes of the
old programme; at the same time, it seems difficult to establish sufficiently detailed evaluation
criteria for a new educational programme before one has had some experience with it.
In spite of all these difficulties, it would seem important, if only from the point of view of
administrative accountability, to monitor the development of educational reforms sufficiently

1. See, for example, Henry W . Riecken and Robert F . Boruch(eds. )


Social experimentation: a method for planning and evaluating social
intervention. N e w York: Academic Press, 1974.

ñá
The planning and administration of educational reform

closely to be able to identify those elements in the reform process which do not appear to function
according to the original plan and to design appropriate adjustments and remedies. It is this
notion of monitoring an on-going process which has been referred to as 'formative evaluation1
(as distinct from 'summative' evaluation' which provides a concluding assessment once the pro-
cess is over). For the specific situation of an educational reform programme, building into
the reform plan a continuous element of monitoring or formative evaluation would seem to be
of the greatest importance as it will make sure that the modalities of the process can be ad-
justed as information on difficulties and accomplishments accumulates. Taking as an example
again the introduction of a new curriculum, the rôle of a formative evaluation element would
be to observe closely, both at experimental and m o r e large-scale stages of the reform, the
difficulties which, for example, teachers encounter in the implementation of the new curricu-
lum and provide from these observations the appropriate feedback for retraining programmes
о I teachers.
It would seem useful in this connection to combine the monitoring and evaluation function in
educational reform with a programme of 'implementation assistance' which would be available
to those in charge of implementing a reform programme (teachers, local administrators, etc. )
for such support, advice, criticism and reinforcement as m a y become necessary. It is here,
in the notion of an 'assistance-cum-evaluation' service, that the inspectorate or similar ser­
vices m a y find a new and, for the success of educational reforms, extremely important rôle.
One further question with regard to the evaluation of educational programmes in general and
of educational reforms in particular should at least be raised. In many developing countries,
evaluation has, for a variety of reasons, become the particular domain of expatriate researchers
and experts. Most of the time, this heavy external presence has been justified on the grounds
of the considerable technical sophistication of modern evaluation methods and the lack of ade-
quately trained national staff, sometimes even on the somewhat dubious grounds of the greater
'objectivity' of the outside evaluator. It will be necessary to review this argument from two
points of view: on the one hand, one will have to ask exactly what kind and degree of technical
sophistication is necessary for the adequate evaluation of educational reform programmes (in the
sense of formative evaluation discussed above), and how such sophistication as appears to be
necessary can be achieved through appropriate training programmes; the substance and methods
for such programmes should reflect a critical review of external concepts and methods of evalu-
ation in the light of the country's own needs. On the other hand, one will have to consider the
price in 'experiential distance' that one has to pay for the technical sophistication of an expa-
triate expert; in a matter that is as closely and intimately tied to national values, tradition
and aspirations as many contemporary educational reforms in developing countries, a deep
understanding of an identification with this context of reform would appear to be at least as
necessary for its evaluation as the possession of certain research skills.

4. Conclusions
In a strict sense, the nature of this paper as a set of disputable assertions requires that con-
clusions should be drawn only after a thorough discussion and in the light of the experience

85
Administrative support for educational reform

which countries participating in the s e m i n a r will contribute to that discussion. A few concluding
observations would s e e m nevertheless to b e in order.
(a) Training n e e d s in the context of educational r e f o r m
A t several points in this p a p e r , reference h a s been m a d e to the capacity of administrative s e r -
vices to cope with the m a n y tasks involved in initiating and sustaining p r o g r a m m e s of education-
al r e f o r m . Clearly, this capacity is qualitatively (and s o m e t i m e s even quantitatively) different
f r o m what is needed to assure the functioning of an o n - g o i n g educational s y s t e m in a n o n - r e f o r m
situation: A s our discussion of the h u m a n and attitudinal e l e m e n t in administrative support for
educational r e f o r m h a s suggested, it takes particular skills and orientations to reconcile the
need for a m i n i m u m of administrative accountability with the need for a climate of initiative
and creativity which is indispensable for the s u c c e s s of educational r e f o r m s .
F e w administrators are trained to p e r f o r m this rather delicate role, even though s o m e p e r -
form it a d m i r a b l y . W h a t s e e m s to b e required, therefore, is a thorough review of what the
need for administrative support of educational r e f o r m s m e a n s in t e r m s of the training and r e -
training of administrative personnel of various kinds. Without p r e - e m p t i n g such a review,
it m a y b e useful to suggest, as a beginning, the following elements of a possible ' c o m p e t e n c e
profile1 of reform-oriented planners and administrators which m a y serve to guide further
training efforts.
(i) Diagnostic skills: the ability to undertake or c o m m i s s i o n and interpret systematic
studies into the political, e c o n o m i c and social conditions of educational r e f o r m , includ-
ing a sense of the important methodological issues involved,
(ii) C o m m u n i c a t i v e skills: the ability to c o m m u n i c a t e effectively across the boundaries of a
given administrative unit, on the basis of understanding m o r e broadly the context of o n e ' s
o w n and related administrative functions.
(Hi) Interactive skills: the ability to initiate and sustain the c o m p l e x and often protracted
p r o c e s s of generating reform ideas, argumentation about p r o s and c o n s , initial experi-
mentation, understanding and coping with resistance to r e f o r m , dealing with r e s o u r c e
constraints, involving other services, teachers and c o m m u n i t i e s in the r e f o r m p r o c e s s ,
etc. , without taking r e c o u r s e to simple administrative fiat p r e m a t u r e l y .
T h e s e and other aspects of the c o m p e t e n c e of reform-oriented administrators will b e in need
of further elaboration and specification. It should already be obvious, h o w e v e r , that training
objectives of this kind will not only affect the content of training p r o g r a m m e s , but also the kind
of learning p r o c e s s that takes place in t h e m .
(b) A n o t h e r w o r d on the conservative rôle of educational administrations
At the beginning of this p a p e r , I reviewed briefly the a r g u m e n t that public administration in
general and educational administration, in particular, h a v e a tendency to maintain the status
quo rather than to support m a j o r r e f o r m s . T h e issue is far from resolved: if anything, the
p a p e r h a s further contributed to the complexity of the matter. W h a t should b e clear, however-,
is that the d y n a m i c s of educational reform require d y n a m i c administrations and administrators
and that, furthermore, the specific d y n a m i c s of a given society m u s t find its reflection

«R
The planning and administration of educational reform

in the kinds of dynamics which the administration contributes to the process of educational reform.
Just as education is to a considerable degree a reflection of the state of the society which sur-
rounds it, so do administrative systems reflect the traditions, powers and values of their coun-
tries. Where these traditions, powers and values are mimical to change, it will be very hard
for any administration to be other than conservative. The reverse, however, is also true.

87
Appendix D

T H E CONTRIBUTION O F A N INSPECTORATE T O
EDUCATIONAL R E F O R M
by Messrs. Raymond F . Lyons and Mervyn W„ Pritchard

INTRODUCTION
1« This paper is concerned with the interaction between an inspectorate, with its organisation,
functions, qualifications structure and staffing, and the process of educational reform. The authors
see an inspectorate as a part of the administration. This evaluation and support function m a y be
rendered virtually non-existent because those who should be performing it are engaged all the time
on other things so that it m a y not be carried out. Whatever the name employed,to describe the per-
sonnel who carry out the evaluation and support function, it will be suggested that this is an
important function and is just as specifically necessary as is. for example, the administrative
function of supplying and controlling resources for the school system. Thus an inspectorate
which is, in functional terms, particularly concerned with the evaluation of the teaching/
learning process and with measures to improve it, can play a vital rôle in the formulation and
implementation of reform or alternatively, if certain conditions which will be discussed are
not satisfied, it can be limited to a bureaucratic and minor rôle.

2. There is no general agreement about the usefulness of an inspectorate. There are some
who think that inspection is only an instrument with which the political and administrative
authorities maintain a "watchdog" or, a step further, an "eyes and ears of the Ministry" contact
with schools, teachers, pupils and the community. There are some who believe that, in addition
to such formal relations, an inspectorate is also an agent of development which, by the quality

of the advice and help it gives to schools and teachers, by dissemination of good ideas and prac-
tices gained from experience of many schools and by its suggestions based on analysis of the
school system, to the national debate on reform can contribute to improve effectiveness of edu-
cation. O n the other hand there are some who feel that, in these days of sweeping educational
change, it is no longer interesting or relevant to talk about inspection, that traditional inspec-
torates have been largely made up of mentally rigid, underqualified and not too competent
people and that it is time that the n a m e was changed to "advisors", or "supervisors" so as to
emphasize the fact that these persons are only auxiliaries to the truly enlightened people, from
universities or special reform bodies, who are the midwives, so to speak, of educational reform.
3. In this paper we have taken "reform" to mean the broad improvement of an educational system,

88
T h e contribution oi an inspectorate to educational reform

or important parts of it, in order that the e c o n o m i c and social needs of society m a y b e m e t .
W e see the questions: w h o decides what these needs are? and h o w are decisions to satisfy
needs m a d e and carried out? as being central to the task of looking at an inspectorate's role,
as part of the administration, in the reform process. If w e consider needs for education in
the sense mentioned above, w e are led to the conclusion that it is normally the political leaders
of countries w h o decide about t h e m , and that strong political will and powerful political rule
are often important factors in ensuring that r e f o r m s are i m p l e m e n t e d and that resistances to
t h e m within the administration are o v e r c o m e . B u t this twin role of political p o w e r does not
solve the p r o b l e m of organising reform, in that it m a y also r e m a i n necessary to judge the r e -
levance of the reform to the needs of the children, and to d o this on the basis of consultation
and study of the real situation of education and of society rather than imposing solutions upon
them. It will be suggested that the inspectorate should in principle be well placed to undertake
such study and report to the top administration about its conclusions. T h e administration,
m o r e than any other body is, normally, deeply involved in the formulation of educational r e f o r m s
and in the p r o g r a m m i n g required to carry t h e m out.
4. T h e preparation and implementation of r e f o r m implies a combination of predominantly p r o -
fessional educational development activities and predominantly administrative/organizational
activities as follows:
(a) B r o a d curriculum aspects (predominantly professional)
including content and educational structure, m e t h o d s , nature of the material facilities to b e
used in the teaching/learning process, the educational/training/personality profile of the various
kinds of personnel w h o are agents in the learning process, the nature and m e t h o d s of the ser-
vices which prepare and re-train the personnel and the m e t h o d s of a s s e s s m e n t of student
achievement.

(b) Educational facilities (both professional and administrative)


quantitative provision, location and distribution of p r e m i s e s , furniture, equipment, b o o k s ,
all f o r m s of learning/teaching aids, including broadcasting of radio/television materials.
(c) Personnel (both professional and administrative).

in t e r m s of provision of n u m b e r s of trained personnel of different types, placement and o r g a -

nisation of re-training support.


(d) Finance (predominantly administrative)
costing and funding the programmes involved in reform.
5. F r o m this s u m m a r y of the main professional and administrative tasks combined in the re-
form process it seems that, in principle, it would be advantageous if at the central and sub-
national levels the respective tasks of the inspectorate and the administrators could be well
defined and that these two wings of the administration should contribute systematically and in

1 Source: Working Group reports from IIEP/Unesco Seminar on " W a y s


indl/feans of Improving the Effectiveness of Educational Administration
within the Context of Educational Reform". Paris: Unesco/IIEP,
December 1976.

89
Administrative support for educational reform

a co-operative way to reform policy making and its implementation. This paper discusses the
problems involved in organizing the contribution of the inspectorate to the reform process. It
refers to:

(i) Policy making and planning at the central level


(ii ) The evaluation and support function of an inspectorate

(c) Policy-making and planning at the central level


6. One might start by seeking to identify the various rôles of an inspectorate and then to examine
these in some depth within the administrative structure in order to see which particular functions
need to be emphasized, if necessary at the expense of other, so that such a body can make an
effective contribution to educational reform and to avoid duplication of personnel as between

the various functions involved in the administrative supervision of education T w o considerations


will need to be borne in mind in proceeding along this path. First, the part to be played by the ins-
pectorate will need to be related to the administrative context within which it works, e. g. to
what degree the educational system is highly centralized (as is the case in many Third World
countries), with direct central government control over curriculum, textbooks, employment
and deployment of teachers, etc. ; and, on the other hand, how far it is decentralized with more
delegation of authority and control to local bodies and to the teachers themselves. The role
and functioning of an inspectorate will vary accordingly. Secondly, educational reform comes
about in response to social, political and economic change, in response to pedagogical and
psychological research and to advances in educational technology. The former tends to influence
the structure of the educational system and in some degree the content of the curriculum; the
latter has more influence on methods of teaching and learning. An inspectorate should be con-
cerned with both aspects.

7. Study of the roles of inspectorates can show whether in their relationship between the ad-
ministrative authorities and the schools, they achieve a satisfactory balance between adminis-
tration and evaluation as part of professional support respectively. T o take the first of these
roles, administration; as suggested above, one must first examine the position and status of
an inspectorate within the total administrative structure, both at the centre (the Ministry of
Education) and at sub-national and local levels. To what extent is it regarded by the heads of
the Ministry, and does it regard itself, as a professional body, with some degree of profession-
al autonomy, concerned primarly with the nature and quality of the education being provided
in the schools? O r is it, in actual fact, merely an arm of the administration, largely concerned
with ensuring that the rules and directives laid down from on high are being observed in the
schools, performing mainly a bureaucratic function and acting largely as a checking agent with
few opportunities for professional innovation? Our experience from the research on primary
inspection we carried out was that the second viewpoint tended to predominate and that the
administrative tasks laid upon the inspectorate occupied the major part of its time and energies.

1. Lyons, R . F . & Pritchard, M . W . , Primary School Inspection:


A Supporting Service for Education , Paris: IIEP, 1976.

90
The contribution of an inspectorate to educational reform

8. A n inspectorate cannot be freed from all administrative tasks, and its managerial functions
are likely to be the greater where there is a weak system of local administration and where the
heads of schools have neither the necessary status nor training which would «nable them to take
greater responsibility for the supervision of their own staff and school. The moral is clear.
But if an inspectorate is to be a real supporting service in times of educational change, its
professional role must be emphasized. And this must start at the top, i. e. in the Ministry.
The relationship between the senior administrators on the one hand and the heads of the ins-
pectorate on the other must be clearly defined, with the latter cast in the rôle of professional
advisers to the former and fully consulted in the formulation of policy. The professional ad-
vice given by the heads of the inspectorate should be based on the 'intelligence' reports and
information provided for them by their subordinate officers in the field on the state of education
in the country and on discernible trends and developments. This presupposes an effective
system of communication within the inspectorate body itself and is conditioned by the structure
of that body. The administrators should know what questions to ask the inspectorate and the
latter should be in a position to supply the answers from their knowledge of the schools. But
ihis will not happen if the inspectorate is forced to place major emphasis on its administrative
role and to be largely preoccupied with routine administration tasks. Moreover, until there is
such a change of emphasis relationships between inspectors and teachers are likely to remain
unsatisfactory.
9. If emphasis is to be placed on the professional contribution to be m a d e by an inspectorate
to educational reform, it should as we have said, be closely involved in the formulation of po-
licy, particularly at headquarters level. T o this end its educational expertise and experience
should be harnessed in the defining of aims and objectives which it is within the capacity of the
system to attain. It should also be enabled, in collaboration with other parties to reform, to
play its part in specifying the "content of new curricula and teaching syllabuses; and, particu-
larly in a centralized system, in giving the needed expert advice in the preparation of textbooks
and learning materials. If the services of an inspectorate are not involved at this originating
level, its value in the implementation of educational reform in the schools is seriously dimi-
nished. In our research it became plain that in several countries the inspectorate played no,
or a very minor part in the preparation of new curricula and the accompanying pedagogical
materials. In consequence, its role in advising and guiding teachers in the implementation of
reforms seemed to be reduced to a mechanical rather than a creative operation, viz, that of
ensuring that the teachers were following the instructions and checking shortcomings; in other
words a policeing operation by the inspectors with little real knowledge of the principles under-
lying the educational practices being advocated and little opportunity for fruitful discussion
with the teachers on what they were doing or trying to do.
10. It would seem that in those cases where an inspectorate plays a minor role in reform,
particularly curriculum reform, it is because the Ministry of Education itself m a y not be suf-
ficiently involved in the thinking and the planning connected with the reform. There are cases
where the responsiblity for the preparation and implementation of curriculum reform has been

91
Administrative support for educational reform

devolved upon a National Education Committee or a National Curriculum Reform Organisation


or a National University Faculty; and the Ministry of Education, with its planning, technical
and administrative divisions, with its contact with the educational system is to a greater or
lesser extent excluded from the thinking and the planning. The advantage of conferring respon-
sibility for reform on a new body outside the Ministry of Education is said to be that it will be
able to introduce new ideas and programmes into education and overcome the conservatism and
obstructionism of civil servants. The disavantage of isolating the Ministry, to some extent,
from the reform process is first that a priori thinking m a y be imposed upon the educational
system without the top administrators making careful previous reference to the inspectors
and administrators within the educational system and, second, that the programme planning
of the different steps required to implement the reform m a y be inadequate because involvement
of the Ministry in the early stages of the reform has been insufficient.
11. In structural terms, it is c o m m o n ground between those who favour devolvement and
those who favour Ministry control of and responsibility for curriculum formulation and i m -
plementation that the Minister of Education in developing countries should exercise ultimate
control over the reform process. It is also generally agreed that the Minister should preside
over a body such as a National Education Council, where wide national participation in the dis-
cussion of educational policy and development issues is normally ensured, and an intra-Ministry
of Education Committee, including representatives of the main divisions and of the regions,
where planning and programming matters are discussed. What is not agreed is how, in terms
of the division of labour of qualified people, the servicing, i. e. preparation and implementation
of the Minister's decisions, should be organised. There is in fact considerable variation in
structure as between Asian countries. Inspection and research m a y be included in an evaluation
devision while other divisions are responsible for technical/professional, administrative and
planning functions. On the other hand an inspectorate m a y have much wider functions, includ-
ing responsibility for professional supervision and some administrative supervision of education.
For purposes of our discussion we assume that the Head of an Inspectorate is responsible for
advising the Minister on educational professional matters and for working with his colleagues
in the Ministry who are responsible for administrative and planning matters. Where, in prac-
tice, others advise the Minister on professional matters it is perhaps important to consider
to what extent their advice is based on communication with and analysis of educational system,
as it is supposed to be if it emanates from the inspectorate.
12. If we look at a programme of curriculum reform we can see that, in principle, there m a y
be advantage in the Head of the Inspectorate having substantial responsibility for coordinating
it, and an inspectorate being deeply involved in its different stages. Since reform begins with
educational aims and objectives, those who should be in closest contact with teachers and pu-
pils should be involved in discussion of the overall design of curricula. As regards the se-
lection and organisation of curriculum content, systematic participation of inspectors and
teachers should ensure that curriculum offerings are as appropriate as possible, both to n a -
tional needs and conditions, and to pedagogical and psychological research and developments

92
The contribution of an inspectorate to educational reform

in subject content. Special attention m a y need to be given by inspectors in co-operation with


other curriculum specialists to the testing of draft curricula and to their revision in the light
of experience. But if an inspectorate plays only a minor role in the preparation of the aims
and content elements in reform, the explanation m a y not only be one of structure, it m a y also
be due to inadequate planning of the work of an inspectorate, weak communications and insuf-
ficient professional skills in the inspectorate itself, particularly as concerns evaluation and
the use of evaluation in the reform process.

( b) The evaluation and support function of the inspectorate


13. If we turn to the implementation of reform, we can see that, at central and sub-national
levels as well as in the schools, the contribution of an inspectorate in regard to programmes
concerning buildings, textbooks, teaching materials and aids, in-service training of teachers
and orientation of heads of institutions can be considerable or negligible. It is a function of
its ability to assess teaching and teaching conditions and materials, in a creative, improve-
ment senwe and to be able to communicate with those responsible for administrative action.
Evaluation is central to an inspector's work. Before he can give profitable advice and guidance
to the schools for which he is responsible, or the authorities who employ him, he must be able to
assess as accurately as possible the teaching and learning situation which he finds; and not
only to diagnose weaknesses but to identify growing points which can be developed. T o do this
he must, as we have said, be free enough from routine administration to be able to spend the
greater part of his time in the classroom, not merely looking at teachers but looking at pro-
blems with teachers. Second, he must know his schools and the capabilities of the teachers
he is supervising. To do this he must remain in one area for a sufficient length of time to
gain this familiarity and not be constantly posted to a different area. Third, and most impor-
tantly, he must himself be, or enabled to be, abreast of ttie educational changes which it is his
responsibility to further-. This is by no means always the case.

14. In the actual process of curriculum development and in other reforms an inspectorate's
rôle in evaluation is most important. It should be in a position to report back accurately to
the Ministry on the way in which,, for example, new approaches in the teaching of science or
mathematics are being followed,to note difficulties and to recommend improvements, if neces-
sary; to assess the success of pilot schemes and to note progress or lack of progress, in
other words, to fulfil its traditional role as the eyes and ears of the Ministry. Facing the
other way, its evaluation of the situation,,it finds, enables it to give relevant advice to the tea-
chers in the schools either individually or collectively through in-service training. Its c o m -
municating role in both directions runs through the whole process of evaluation. Particularly,
but not only, in a time of rapid educational change it will be necessary to reconsider how this
process of evaluation is best carried out -through formal and traditional inspections of indi-
vidual schools- or by ad_ hoc surveys or enquiries conducted in a sample of schools or by a
combination of the two. The strategies of evaluation and inspection which will make the most
effective contribution to educational reform are important matters for the Ministry and heads
of the inspectorate to determine.

93
Administrative support for educational reform

The reporting function as a guide to policy-making and planning


15. The traditional role of inspectorates in m a n y countries has been the inspection of indivi-
dual schools and individual teachers and the writing of confidential reports on them for the
Ministry of Education or for the sub-national authorities. Particularly at a time of rapid edu-
cational change and the introduction of curricular and other reforms, it m a y well be necessary
to reconsider this role and to devise new strategies which will m a k e the optimum use of the
services of inspectors. One such strategy could be using those services, not only for inspect-
ing individual schools, but for carrying out a study and evaluation of the progress of a particular
reform or an assessment of pupil performance in a sample of schools or areas, identifying
c o m m o n problems and different ways in which these problems might be solved. The reports
deriving from such evaluation studies would be directed not so much to the peformance of in-
dividual schools and teachers as to a comprehensive survey of the conditions necessary for the
successful implementation of a reform and the obstacles to be overcome, and as such would
provide valuable feed-back to the Ministry and planning authorities; and with the right kind of
publicity, possibly in the form of a series of publications, could reach a wider audience of the
general public. One thinks, for instance, of enquiries into the implementation of new program-
m e s in the teaching of mathematics or science, or the introduction of vocational courses in
secondary schools, or of measures taken to minimize the drop-out in primary schools. Such
reports could also provide a useful basis for programmes of in-service training, in which the
inspectors could play their part together with teacher-trainers and others. T o harness the
services of an inspectorate in such systematic evaluation and monitoring of reforms would,
it is suggested, lead to greater justification of its role in the education service and at the same
time do much to improve the morale and sense of usefulness of the inspectors themselves who
in many countries tend to work in isolation from one another and from the central authority
and in their own view, and that of others, are largely engaged in carrying out routine adminis-
trative tasks.

16. But the implications of such an extension of the traditional r6le of an inspectorate are
considerable, in terms of the structure and organisation of the body itself, its numbers and,
above all, its quality and training for the job. Structure and organisation are important. At
headquarters level the head of the inspectorate and his chief associates should work in close
association with senior administrators and planners so that they, and thereby their colleagues
in the field, can be responsive to the need for relevant information and advice which can be
used in the formulation and execution of national educational policies. The heads of the ins-
pectorate would be responsible for ensuring that such information and advice were made
readily available to the policy-makers by means of ad hoc enquiries and studies. Further,
it seems essential that the inspectorate body itself should be so organised that it can operate
in teams, where necessary, rather than as a number of individuals each pursuing his duties in
relative isolation; and so that the particular qualifications and expertise of the individual
can be co-ordinated with those of his colleagues. Groups of inspectors with similar qualifi-
cations and interests, for example in science or languages or non-formal education, might

94
The contribution of an inspectorate to educational reform

be constituted as panels or committees, meeting fairly regularly, and charged with carrying
out particular investigations or enquiries on a regional or national basis which would provide
a well-organised 'intelligence service1 to those at headquarters. Lower down the lines, at re-
gional or sub-national level, it would be the responsibility of the regional or area inspector
to plan and co-ordinate the activities of the inspectors within his jurisdiction and to estabish
proper lines of communication both within his area and upwards to headquarters.
17. A second implication of some reorientation of the rôle of an inspectorate is that of numbers *
Finance and the availability of suitable personnel must inevitably impose constraints on expan-
sion. Here structure, quantity and quality are all interlinked. In the process of implementing
reform, it m a y prove advisable to maintain a relatively small but high powered national in-
spectorate charged with the responsibility of directing and co-ordinating enquiries and surveys
needed to monitor particular reforms and to use the services of local inspectors, teacher-
trainers and headmasters for carrying out evaluation exercises, as occasion demands. It is
not suggested that the inspection of individual schools should be discontinued; but it m a y be
necessary to reconsider traditional methods of inspection, to be more selective in deciding
which schools need this particular stimulus and to place more responsibility on the heads of
schools for supervising their own staff.
18. However, the usefulness of an inspectorate in the processes of evaluation and the imple-
mentation of reforms depends largely on the quality of its m e m b e r s and their training for the
tasks they have to perform. Selection for the inspectorate should take into account both profes-
sional qualifications and experience and also the personal qualities, such as, for example,
adaptability and the readiness to consider new ideas and methods, which are essential if the
inspector' is to be a successful agent of change and development. Too often the image of the
inspector is that of an authoritarian figure, enjoying the exercise of power and dogmatic in
his approach rather than that of one who sees his main task as that of giving a professional
lead to the schools, stimulating teachers to new endeavour and disseminating good ideas and
practices which he has encountered in his professional work. It is important, too, to consider
the career structure of the inspectorate. Where it is seen mainly as a stepping stone to higher
administrative posts, carrying higher prestige and emoluments, it is doubtful whether its
influence will be very effective. And, perhaps most important of all, if its role in critical
evaluation and support of educational reforms is to be emphasized, as this paper argues,
there is need for thorough preliminary training, both theoretical and practical, in the tech-
niques of evaluation and assessment and also for regular opportunities, while in service, to
keep abreast of curricular and other educational developments.

Relationship between evaluation and administration


19. As an example of the potential role of an inspectorate in evaluating teaching and schools
and providing an essential element of reality with which the authorities have to come to terms
in introducing new programmes, we m a y take the learning of science subjects at the lower se-
condary level. If the inspectors find that science equipment remains'in cupboards because no

95
Administrative support for educational reform

teacher in schools in rural areas is able to use it in teaching the new science programme, re-
medial measures consisting of various forms of in-service training in which inspectors and
others should participate need to be planned and the arrangements for the pre-service training
of teachers improved. If the new science programme in areas where there is no electricity,
piped water or road, is strong on m a n walking on the moon but weak on more parochial matters
about natural life and how m a n can change it in the area or country concerned, an inspectorate,
which should have been fully consulted in the first place, m a y be able to improve matters. If
the functioning of schools is affected by the drop-out of pupils, the low participation of girl
pupils, shortages of books, visual aids and working materials, bad repair and maintenance of
buildings, and as a consequence the essential material basis for education and reform is weak,
an inspectorate can help obtain action to remedy matters.
20. These considerations have led us to make the point that, as an agent for change, an inspec-
torate should not work in isolation from other agents. W e have suggested that an inspectorate's
role in reform depends a good deal on its advisory/guidance function and that it should operate
closely with those who have reponsibility for the planning and material implementation of the
programmes involved in educational reform. A m o n g these programmes we would mention
teacher training and re-training, library services, book supply, the educational mass media,
the supply of buildings and equipment, and visual aids and materials for education. In each
of these fields an inspectorate, in collaborating with administrative colleagues can provide
valuable advice, if it is operating efficiently, on the content of programmes and "feedback" in
the form of evaluation of their progress and adequacy. Teacher re-training m a y be taken as
an example since it seems that in many countries educational authorities find it difficult to plan
and implement a programme which provides the teachers with a general minimum level of c o m -
petence and understanding of the new learning materials and methods. In collaboration with
staff of teacher training colleges, staff of district, zonal, regional and national offices of M i -
nistries of Education (who are quite numerous in some countries) inspectors can participate
in intensive re-training work mainly at the district level.
21. In this connection it is suggested that particular emphasis should be laid on the training
of the heads of schools to enable them to exercise the better their supervisory, but also their
management, functions in their schools. Too often, and this is true in so-called developed
countries, heads take on responsibility without such training and are not in a position to pro-
vide guidance on pedagogical problems or undertake their administrative and public relations
duties in a fully competent manner.
22. Educational reform is not merely a matter of ordering change from the top. It is also a
question of interaction between innovation and creativity in the teaching profession and the gene-
ral changes in education which m a y be decided and introduced by those with responsibilities
for reform. In the implementation of educational reform inspectors should be able to work
through the heads of schools and selected senior subject teachers who can disseminate new
ideas and practices among their colleagues. Indeed, in the whole strategy of implementing
reform, an inspectorate has what one might call a pollinating function, and to perform this

96
T h e contribution of a n inspectorate to educational r e f o r m

effectively it should be able to identify those teachers likely to lead the w a y in introducing c h a n g e s .
Consideration also might be given to the establishment of teachers' centres, w h i c h , in s o m e
countries, h a v e proved a succesful w a y of spreading n e w ideas and practices.
23. The foregoing sections of this paper have touched on various aspects of an inspectorate's
role and functions in providing a supporting service in times of educational change. The e m -
phasis throughout is on strengthening the professional activities of an inspectorate at the ex-
pense of its administrative and bureaucratic tasks. This emphasis calls into question the
structure of educational administration in many countries at both national and sub-national
levels. It also calls into question the internal structure of an inspector-body itself, how it is
organised and how the different ranks of the hierarchy are articulated, so that a two-way flow
of communication can be effectively carried out, and so that inspectors can work in teams as
well as individually. These considerations are all very relevant to the way in which an ins-
pectorate can make a useful contribution.
24. T h e a b o v e , n o doubt, paints a s o m e w h a t idealized picture. T h e reality, a s found in our
r e s e a r c h into p r i m a r y inspection, w a s s o m e w h a t different. W h a t are the m a i n obstacles to
approaching the ideal? In our experience they can b e s u m m a r i z e d as follows:
(a) T h e inadequate qualifications and training of m a n y inspectors.
(b) Insufficient n u m b e r s of inspectors and far too heavy a load.
(c) Inadequate planning at both national and sub-national levels of inspector activities.
(d) P o o r office facilities and lack of transport.
(e) L a c k of support, b y w a y of libraries and in-service training, to enable inspectors to
keep up.4o-date.
T h e progressive r e m o v a l of these obstacles is an essential prerequisite to m a k i n g an ins-
pectorate an effective agent in r e f o r m of an educational s y s t e m .

97
Appendix E

REPORT OF WORKING GROUP A

1. Introduction
The nature of administrative support required for a particular educational reform depends on
a number of factors. A m o n g them the source of demand or inspiration for reform is of prima-
ry importance. Educational reforms are brought about by external or internal forces. Pro-
blems and challenges as well as pressures which develop in social, political and economic fields
are the main external sources of educational reform. Internally, the pressure (or, more oftenj
the inspiration) for reform comes from insights into pedagogical processes or advances in edu-
cational technology or improvements in management processes. The administrative support
for the internally generated reforms would be of an entirely different dimension from that re-
quired for the externally induced ones.

Similarly, the subject of reform also would determine the character of the administrative
support. According to subject, reforms could be categorized as policy or administrative reforms
with or without pedagogical implications and straightforward pedagogical reforms.

Policy and administrative reforms with no pedagogical implications rarely need administrative
support other than at the central points of operation at the national or state/provincial level.
On the other hand those with pedagogical implications call for administrative support at each
operational level right down to where the actual learning takes place (i. e. classroom, the
laboratory, the workshop, the farm, etc. ).
Pedagogical reforms also have their varying levels of operation. For example: a structural
or curricular change m a y cover the entire nation or a state or province; a reform in methods,
on the other hand, m a y originate in and remain confined to a classroom. Thus according to
source, subject and coverage, a reform has to be examined for the nature of the administrative
support it would require.

The administrative support which an educational reform requires is both organizational and
procedural. A particular reform would call for new organizations in the form of institutions
or administrative units while others would necessitate structural changes in organizations such
as reallocation of functions and authorities, redefinition of work flows and changes in staffing
patterns. Similarly, reforms would call for changes in existing procedures as well as instal-
lation of new procedures. Where the coverage of a reform is m a x i m u m , these procedures

98
Report of Working Group A

m a y even require legislation and involve various echelons of the national political machinery,
including the Chief Executive.
It is with this background in mind that the administrative support to educational reform
should be considered. The experiences of the Asian Region would indicate the complexity of the
process of intermeshing the educational administrative machinery with the educational re-
form process. A brief account of these experiences is, therefore, in order.

2. Review of Experience and Problems


A review of a number of educational reforms showed that there were five major sources of i m -
pulses for improvement, any one or combination of which could produce policy and action.
The major forces seemed to be political, social and economic. Less frequent were problems,
initiated or identified by research of any kind or by needs, for the improved management of an
educational system. Occasionally, ideas originated from the experience of other countries.
The overriding impression seemed to be that the traditional role of a Ministry of Education
was not reformative but rather that of maintaining a pattern with occasional minor improvements.
While there might indeed be persons within a Ministry, who might press for changes, they
usually depended on assistance from the political field to be effective: such assistance might be
obtained through personal connections or, occasionally, by well timed and placed publicity.

The roles of research and experiment tended to be marginal. Research did not initiate re-
form and, when reform was demanded, was seldom utilized even to provide a sounder basis
for it. Similarly, while experimental schools and projects were indeed in evidence, their
outcomes were not usually rigorously evaluated for decisions on whether they should cease or
be m o r e widely adopted.

F r o m the discussions it appeared that most reforms met only three basic obstacles: the
lack of time, the lack of financial and material resources and the lack of adequately trained
personnel. Most Ministries of Education appear to have responded willingly and promptly to
the reforms reviewed. However, supporting the reforms with training and materials so as to
bring them to a satisfactory level of realisation has proved problematic - in some cases, to
an extent where some 20 to 30 years were needed. A general pattern seems to be an initial
concentration of activity in preparation and first steps, followed by a rather longer period óf
progressive perfection. While each m a y be different, most Ministries of Education seem to
have an established pattern for coping with demands for and disseminating reforms, and for
dealing with problems of adjustment.

Only one type of reform seems in most cases to have been somewhat unsuccessful. The
introduction of vocational and technical schools, despite declared shortages of skilled m a n -
power, appears to have been misconceived. Adjustments are being m a d e , but, significantly,
apparently without any research into the reasons for the failure. Nevertheless, there has
been an increasing tendency in the region for Ministries of Education to establish specialist
departments for research and for educational development. In some cases, these have been
part of the planning unit, in others they have functioned separately. None of them can yet

99
Administrative support for educational reform

be said to have reached full activity. Most of the research bureaux have been concerned almost
exclusively with statistics and with problems internal to the schools. As yet there have been
few forays into questions of the linkages with employment, of what school leavers actually do
with their schooling, of the relationship between schooling and social problems. Even so, the
nucleus of a research capacity has been formed and can be assisted to grow.
Relatedly, it appears to be the case that Ministries of Education do not make much or re-
gular use of the research capacities of universities and other institutions, nor do they appear
to take m u c h note of what research is actually done by such agencies.
Similarly, while university professors m a y indeed be utilised for special commissions and
committees on reform, the universities appear to play little role in assisting Ministries of
Education to identify and anticipate emerging needs. The same might be said of the other
sectors of society. The Ministry of Education and its schools tend to function as a kind of
self-sufficient ghetto, shaken out of its self-absorption from time to time by the dissatisfactions
of society.
If there is a need for generating new information and insights, there seems also to be ¡i con-
tinuing need for those insights to be appropriately and effectively disseminated through the edu-
cation profession. The mechanisms for transmitting these insights and for assisting their
incorporation into the behaviour of administrators, supervisors, teachers and learners seem
to be generally weak. The structures and resources for itinerant consultancy and support, for
in-service seminars, conferences or courses, for forms of distance-learning are still suf-
ficient throughout the region, and, where they are found, are often distributed patchily. (This
comment echoes the earlier remark on the difficulties in arranging the universal adoption of
reforms. ) Their insufficiency has from time to time been high-lighted by sudden pressures
for new nation-wide educational programmes, arising from certain social problems.
Conversely, the mechanisms and processes for encouraging, drawing and synthesizing
information and ideas from the learners and instructors also needed strengthening. Л number
of countries mentioned the difficulties in assessing the precise outcomes of classroom teaching
and the factors which explained them. Similar observations would doubtless be true also of
educational programmes outside the school.
While the pre-service training of teachers was universally, if still imperfectly, catered
for, the pre-service training of educational administrators and planners was in general a neg­
lected area. However, staff colleges or some institutions for the in-service training of ad­
ministrators were now widespread - as indeed they needed to be in view of the rapid turnover
in posts. On the other hand, there seemd to be little explicit provision for "training for reform"
there appeared to be no institution or cadre with the special function of evolving approaches to
the problems of assisting people to adjust to and implement reform.
The trainers of trainers of teachers and administrators seemed to be adequately taken care
of through the regional arrangements for international seminars and study visits. Additionally
of course, there were the degree programmes of universities, domestic and international, for
the longer term conceptual training of administrators and planners.

100
Report of Working Group A

3. Process of Educational Reform


As shown in the brief review of Asian experience, there is no uniform process of educational
reform. Just as source, subject and coverage vary, the method of approach to each type or
wave of reform appears to be unique. Yet an emerging pattern is noticeable and its identifi-
cation, even in an embryonic form, is important for the provision of administrative support.
As already stated, the stimulus for educational reform could come in the form of an order
from the Chief Executive of the Country or the Minister of Education or similar authority. Such
a stimulus m a y be a political response to a situation or an agitation and m a y be worded either
as a fiat or a suggestion. In either form, it could be based on somebody's insights, feelings
and hunches and m a y not always be founded on an empirically tested basis. When such stimulus
is received, the educational management machinery has an important task to perform, that is,
(i) to identify the different alternative ways in which the ordered or suggested reform could be
accomplished, (ii) evaluate such alternatives against projected results, constraints and feasi-
bility, (iü) make choices among alternatives and (iv) design the process of installing the select-
ed solution. These are professional functions for which the requisite organizational and proce-
dura] arrangements have to be m a d e .
It is also noted that the stimulus for reform could develop from within education itself. In
this case, it could have two courses of operation. The stimulus generated from within education
could influence the development of pressures in society and these, in turn, could provide an
external stimulus for reform. Once the external stimulus has taken shape, it operates exactly
as one based on a situation or agitation. Here the educational management machinery would
undertake the design of the reform on receipt of the necessary authorization from the appro-
priate authority.
In both these cases, the nature of reform could be ad_ hoc. There could have been a phase
of discussion and consultation (e. g. when a commission or committee is appointed to review
a particular educational problem and recommend remedies). But there is hardly a phase when
the formulation of the idea itself is preceded by a thorough and objective examination of all as-
pects of an issue or a problem.
In contrast to these stimuli, it is observed that educational management machinery itself
generates the stimulus and begins to design and develop the reform measures either with
authority from above (where the anticipated changes are drastic) or within its own areas of
authority (when drastic changes are not envisaged). In the development of this kind of stimulus,
the management machinery would have approached the formulation of the idea professionally.
Whether a reform measure is proposed with or without adequate professional examination,
the essential implementation steps of designing the reform, installing and managing operation-
al steps and evaluating progress are strictly professional responsibilities. It is at this stage
that research and experimentation become indispensable if one is to avoid costly mistakes and
guide the reform smoothly.
Research and experimentation, from this point of view, cover a m u c h broader area than one
often associates with education. The issues subjected to research would cover all the sources
of educational reform - - socio-political, economic, pedagogical, management, etc. The scope

101
Administrative support for educational reform

of research would be vertical and horizontal within the educational system in that it covers all
levels of education as well as its geographical distribution. In addition, such research would
extend on all sides to external factors affecting education and cover all sub-systems of society.
It is research of such an extended scope which could really serve as an aid and ally to
educational reform,,
Just as research is vital to the process of reform, so is the phase of experimentation, which is
essentially a more comprehensive form of applied research. It is experimentation through con-
trol groups or pilot schemes that enable the validity of educational reform measures to be
established.
In the emerging pattern of reform, one sees a growing reliance on on-going as well as perio-
dical evaluation both as a means of correcting deviations from original plans and as a method-
ology of identifying the direction and emphasis of future reform. Evaluation as an input for future
action has assumed a great significance in education as all reforms have to be implemented on
a piecemeal basis while existing systems gradually phase themselves out. In such a process
of piecemeal changes in small doses, the need to tie up the next wave of changes with the re-
sults of the previous one is a practical consideration.
It is clear that a reform process as outlined above demands administrative support to develop,,
maintain and improve the three essential services of research, experimentation and evaluation
on which it depends for success.

4. Information, Communication and Problem-solving


Research, experimentation and evaluation on which the educational reform process depends for
effectiveness need substantial administrative support in the form of organizational and procedural
arrangements for information, communication and problem-solving. Information in the sense
of selected or processed data has proved to be a major problem with regard to the design of
educational reform.

While educational statistics relating to enrolments, teachers and facilities and their distri-
bution m a y be readily available, the kind of information required for pedagogical decision-making
would beconspicious by its absence. The problem is both organizational and procedural. The
kind of data-collecting mechanisms currently in use might be designed for a very different pur-
pose from the diagnostic and evaluative monitoring which the design of reforms require.
Diagnostic and evaluative monitoring of educational operations has to be a continuing activity,
irrespective of whether reforms are envisaged or not. In fact, this monitoring, in itself, has
to be a very important source of internally generated reform. Particularly in cases where re-
forms are induced from outside the educational system, the information which is continuously
collected, processed and kept ready for quick retrieval is found to be a significant asset. Its
main contribution is that it eliminates the dangers of rule-of-thumb decisions which are made
under high-pressure time-bound circumstances when educators are pressurized by external
agencies to design and implement reforms.

The very nature of diagnostic and evaluative monitoring demands very close links with
research and evaluation. Not only should the instruments for data collection and the methodologies

102
Report of Working Group A

of data-processing be designed according to the ultimate uses that are envisaged for such data,
but the nature and quality of data should continually be re-appraised for relevance and useful-
ness. Hence the importance of functionally efficient administrative organizations for research
and evaluation, which would assign due priority to data-collection and information-processing.

An important sideline to this institutional requirement is whether it should be backed up by


a network of personnel, whose task would be to monitor such information on a sample basis
and not only make it available to the decision-makers but also use it for professional advisory
support at the operational points. It is argued that the supervisory personnel of the educational
administrative machinery, who come in direct contact with teachers in their classrooms, are
suitably placed to perform this function satisfactorily. It is also argued that such personnel
have an added advantage that they could also serve as disseminators of this information at the
grassroots level to other teachers in classrooms that they meet.

It is clear that information by itself is only half the problem. A much more serious problem
relates to the communication of information both vertically and horizontally not only expeditious-
ly, but also in a form it can be utilized. Deficiencies in physical facilities for communication
are legion and the urgency for their improvement cannot be over-emphasized.

The social aspects of communication are equally, if not more, important. H u m a n relations
and participatory management demand urgent attention particularly when large-scale adminis-
trative organizations are to be geared to implement educational reforms which involve inter-
action with the public. Communication barriers not only deprive organizations of their function-
al efficiency but also add to problems of resistance to change. All reforms have to grapple
with resistance and much of the resistance is caused by lack of information. Very often it is
not so much the absence of information that is at fault as the defective mechanisms of
communication.

A question which is considered in this connection is the role of the grass -root level supervisor
of the educational system. Just as in the case of information, he has an important part to play
in the communication of information. It is argued that his intervention in facilitating c o m m u -
nication among persons with sharable experiences is even more important for effective i m -
plementation of reform and, more to inspire the kind of educational reform in methods of ins-
truction which take place continuously in a classroom.

Research and experimentation are mechanisms for problem-solving. But all problems do
not necessitate formal arrangements for research or experimentation. While administrative
support for formal arrangements have an advantage of visibility and are likely to be provided,
the informal mechanisms for solving day-to-day problems met by persons at the operational
levels do not receive adequate attention. A major defect in implementing educational reforms
has been the neglect of such problem-solving devices. It robs m a n y a dedicated educator of
his enthusiasm to press through a reform when snags that are encountered are not quickly
solved. Here again, it is argued that the supervisor closest to the scene of operation should
be equipped to handle it.

103
Administrative support for educational reform

When the entire range of educational reforms from the points of view of their source, sub-
ject and coverage is examined, it is quite difficult to envisage a situation in which the intricate
functions of information, communication emd problem-solving would be isolated responsibilities
of any particular institution, administrative unit or staff m e m b e r . They pervade the entire
educational management structure. Gearing the total management structure through organiz-
ational and procedural reforms is therefore a pre-requisite for the design and implementation
of any major educational reform. Such a global operation fall within the process of planned
change which m a y appropriately be dealt with under educational planning.

5. Educational Planning
As an overall strategy of bringing about planned change in education, the changing concepts
and techniques of educational planning deserve special attention. F r o m the stage when edu-
cational planning was concerned with allocation and efficient use of resources and attendant
problems of quantitative expansion and supply of facilities, it has broadened its scope and be-
come deeply involved in the process of reform, change and innovation. The magnitude of edu-
cational reforms emphasizes the indispensability of carefully planning every stage of the change
in order to ensure that a holistic or systems view is taken of the entire process of education
while each part undergoes the planned transformation. It is observed that the educational plan-
ner has become the prime promoter and facilitator of reform and innovation. It is no accident,
therefore, that the functions of research, experimentation and evaluation both as preludes and
as continuing service supports to educational reform are being located in the planning units of
Ministries of Education. It is also significant that a planning process of such an extended scope
is being decentralized to reach local levels.

6. Training support - structures mechanisms


An essential part of reform is, of course, the training of the personnel who are in any way
involved in its conception, design or implementation. A s remarked in the review, training
personnel for the initiation and implementation of educational reform occurs at three levels
- international, national and grassroots. The international level often provides training re-
sources which the individual country cannot provide, as well as affording the opportunity for
high-level personnel from different countries with similar problems to solve to compare ex-
perience and approaches and seek solutions. It also helps to create warning or awareness
of problems experienced now by some countries, but impending in others. At the national
level the opportunity can be taken to retrain those key personnel who will have the responsi-
bility for ensuring the successful implementation of reforms at sub-national or district level.
In other words, the national training will be of a high-level, designed to prepare the principal
missionaries of reform in their particular areas (i. e. retraining the trainers). At the grass-
roots level, the problem is one of disseminating as widely as possible the ideas and practices
specific to the reform to those who m a y be engaged in putting them into practice in different ways
in the schools and other educational institutions and programmes. It is, however, important

104
Report of Working Group A

that in designing courses of training the fullest account should be taken of the impact at the grass-
roots level; and that the experience and capabilities of those engaged at this level should be
carefully assessed and their opinions taken fully into account. It is also essential that the pro-
cess of retraining be evaluated both as it proceeds and in its outcomes in order to ensure that
it attains its objectives.

Clearly the nature of the reform will determine the type of retraining to be undertaken and
the levels at which it should take place. There is, as noted earlier, a difference between those
reforms which have been carefully and maturely calculated in advance and m a y be of a very
long-term nature and those which m a y be more ad hoc in nature and call for more immediate
or emergency implementation.
As noted, many countries already have a firm institutional base for the retraining process,
such as a national staff college or comparable institution. Even so, staff resources m a y oc-
casionally need to be supplemented by particular individual specialists in order to make the
training as comprehensive and relevant as possible. Such institutions for the most part operate
at the national level. At the lower or grass.roots level it will be necessary to mobilize all the
personnel resources available, such as training college staff, the inspectorate and selected
heads of schools. They themselves should of course receive some retraining so that they can
establish a network of seminars, courses as far 'down the line' as possible.
Support for the successful implementation of reforms is certainly in the crucial stages and
perhaps for a considerable time an on-going process. It involves both continuous guidance
and advice to those engaged at the operational level. It should also provide for continuing and
systematic evaluation. W h o are the people to be involved in providing this on-going support?
When a supervisory staff exists it is important that they should be fully briefed by retraining
on the nature of the reforms, how they m a y be put into effect and also in techniques of evaluation.
And there should be clear lines of communication between those working in the field, engaged
in supporting the teaching staff and acquiring information and 'intelligence1 and those at head-
quarters concerned with the direction of reform policy - so that there is a constant 'feedback'.
Also, within the supervisory staff itself there should be full opportunity for those engaged in
this task to confer, to share experiences and to keep abreast of developments. Such personnel
should also be in a position to identify particular institutions and people who could assist in
furthering reforms.
It will be the responsibility of administrators at the centre and at the sub-national levels to
collate information received from field staff on the progress of reforms, to note deficiencies
and to take measures to ensure that these are remedied. Sometimes, of course, it will be
necessary to reconsider policy in the light of the evaluations that have taken place.

7. Questions for Action


From its own experiences, the group acknowledges that recognizing what ought to be is no
assurance that it will be. The realities of the numerous constraints are in the short term
stronger than the ideals of theory. So the fact is that reforms continue to be demanded, devised
and put through hastily,

105
Administrative support for educational reform

- without sufficient, if any research,


- without sufficient thought to unexpected consequences and possible evils,
- with imperfect experiment,
- with too little mobilization of available institutions and personnel,
- with too little incentive, professional, psychic of financial,
- with too little training, on-going support and stimulus,
- without sufficiently systematic evaluation to learn permanently from successes and errors.
On the other hand, it is also a fact that over the past decade or so there have been institution-
al and procedural changes for the better. Although perhaps still too weak for the pressures and
demands put on them, the structures for better planning and management are at least,founded and
functioning. Accordingly, the following questions might be posed for this consideration.
- is there a way in which the educational planning and research organization can go beyond
statistics and look both at the internal workings of educational programmes and at their
relationships with larger- social and economic life? Can it harness the capacities of other
research agencies systematically for the purposes of the policy-makers and educational
planners and managers?
- is there a way in which the educational planning and research organization can mobilize
the existing institutions and personnel of the educational system to provide a flow of in-
formation for synthesis and transmission to the policy-makers, planners and managers?
- is there a way in which the educational managers can ensure that the insights and syntheses
of the educational planning and research organization permeate all appropriate levels of
operation? Are existing institutions and personnel sufficiently utilized for this purpose?
- is there a way in which discussion of the information circulated can be promoted and built
into current forms of support and training, in order to prepare the way for reform?

106
Appendix F

REPORT OF WORKING GROUP В

Before dealing with the three major topics on the agenda namely, the strategy of educational
reform, communication and supply as key problems in the implementation of reforms, and
training of personnel for the administrative support of educational reform, the group addressed
itself to the examination of two main issues. These were (1) definition of reform, and (2) the
relationship between reform strategy and national goal setting.
1. The definition of reform
The concept of reform is very often associated with the notion of improvement. It should,
however, be stated clearly that the notion of improvement is itself a very relative one, since
the criterion for assessment of what constitutes improvement m a y vary very widely according
to different groups concerned and the objectives which are chosen.
When talking about administrative support, reform should be taken in its broadest sense so
as to include all systematic efforts made by governments to adapt their educational systems to
the needs of the population. It was pointed out that in many countries the first preoccupation
of those re.sponsible for education is expansion of the existing system in order to cope with
increasing demand, but that in practically all cases this expansion effort includes different
elements of change and innovation.
A m o n g different types of reform that we have seen developed in the Asian region one can
distinguish between:
- The improvement type of reforms (most c o m m o n type)
- Problem oriented reforms (e. g. Thailand)
- Fundamental reforms (e. g. China)
- Futuristic oriented reforms (e. g. Japan)
All these different types of reform are part of the same movement towards change although
at different levels of depth and with different degrees of complexity.

2. The relationship between reform strategy and national goal setting


The setting of national goals is mainly a political responsibility and determines to a large
extent the strategy that the administration should follow to implement the reform. This does
not imply, however, that the administration should not take part in the selection and definition
of goals. On the contrary, its responsibility can be important in this respect. It is up to the
administration to provide the political decision maker with information through adequate re­
search and data gathering and to create the necessary conditions which favour the emergence
of new ideas within the educational system. The question: "Where do educational reforms
come from? " is a very important one and the administration should do everything possible

107
Administrative support for educational reform

to m a k e sure that the objectives and content of the r e f o r m s correspond to the real n e e d s of the
people.

A. T h e strategy of educational reform


T h e group limited itself to the discussion of the role research c a n play in educational r e f o r m
strategy. This choice does not imply any j u d g m e n t on the priority of this aspect of the strategy
as c o m p a r e d to other aspects such as experimentation and evaluation(eg. issues and questions).
T h e role of research in the educational reform p r o c e s s is of vital i m p o r t a n c e . In the Asian
region, h o w e v e r , research w o r k on education faces serious p r o b l e m s . N o t only is there a
general shortage of research w o r k e r s , but the studies which are being carried out are most
of the time irrelevant to preoccupations of the policy m a k e r s . M o s t of this research w o r k is
carried out in universities, which set their priorities and c h o o s e their topics according to their
o w n needs (most of the time the n e e d s of the students) and give to the whole research exercise
a highly a c a d e m i c character.
Starting from this situation t w o questions m a y b e asked:
(a) W h a t kind of research is n e e d e d ?
In the n a r r o w sense research m a y be defined as an original piece of creative study,
while in its broadest s e n s e it m a y include every systematic effort to develop and i m p r o v e
available information within a particular area. A s far* as edlicational reform is c o n c e r n -
ed research should be understood in its widest sense so as to include:
- Surveying
- T a s k oriented research
- E x p e r i m e n t a l testing
- Evaluation research
In the past too m u c h free wheeling research of a limited nature h a s been carried out by dif-
ferent individuals and institutions. A s distinct from this type of research, there is a lack of
an urgent need for task oriented research on the one hand and evaluation research on the other.
Only by developing these types of r e s e a r c h can w e satisfy t w o important conditions for m a k i n g
research useful for policy m a k i n g . T h e first condition is relevance and the second is p r o p e r
timing.
(b) H o w can r e s e a r c h b e m a d e m o r e relevant and useful?
A m i n i m a l solution used in s o m e countries of the region is not to allow any research w o r k
to be carried out in the schools without the previous approval of the Ministry of Education.
It would be useful if this strategy could be completed by m o r e positive guidelines for ins-
tance in the f o r m of a list of research priorities added to the publication of plans a n d / o r
r e f o r m proposals.
In other countries the general disasppointment with the orientation of research carried
out in universities and specialised institutions has led the g o v e r n m e n t to create its o w n
body for r e s e a r c h in education. W h e r e this is the c a s e , special attention should be given
to the relative a u t o n o m y of this body since complete integration in the Ministry m a y imply

108
Report of Working Group В

a serious threat to the accomplishment of the critical role that every research effort has
to play vis-a-vis the policy-maker. The rôle of such a body then should be twofold:

- M o r e relevant research for policy makers by orienting and financing task oriented

research projects which m a y then well be carried out by outside institutions and in-

dividuals.
- Make research results more useful by providing the policy makers with short abstracts
and consolidated reports at the movement they are needed. Indeed research results
however interesting they m a y be, seldom reach the policy maker because on the one
hand policy makers and top administrators very often do not have time to read lengthy
reports and because on the other hand research results are more and more presented
in sophisticated jargon which constitutes a real barrier to understanding by the layman.

В. Communication and supply as key problems in the implementation of


educational reforms
1. Communication
(a) A s far as vertical communication is concerned, the problem we are facing in most
countries is that the communication process is a one-way, downward, activity. In
a context of reform where we should try to adapt constantly the education provided
to the needs of the users, the development of a two-way communication process re­
presents an essential condition for success.

When discussing the possible channels through which to arrive at such an improved
communication process, it m a y be useful to distinguish between two different aspects
of communication:

- the monitoring aspect


- the critical feedback aspect.
The traditional monitoring aspect of communication can be and should be considerably
improved. In most countries the monitoring of the educational system is mainly based
on national data which are very often a poor or even unreliable indicator of reality.
In order to improve the monitoring process it is essential to gather information of a
more qualitative nature on what is really going on at the grass-roots level. This
supposes that non-official channels (information coming from the public) as well as
official channels (information coming from the administrators) be used in this effort
and that contact points be established between both at different levels of administra­
tive system. The inspectors could play an important rôle in this respect as contact
m e n between the base and the top. But we m a y also start thinking about using more
sophisticated modern technology (radio) in order to develop a faster two-way c o m -
munication process.

The critical feedback which is concerned with the opinions of users, teachers and
local administrators has been very often neglected. For various reasons adminis-
trators m a y be reluctant to organise this kind of communication although it constitutes

109
Administrative support for educational reform

an essential basis l'or a more adequate decision making process. T w o different methods
are normally used to establish a communication process of this nature:
- the traditional opinion gathering through committees of representatives of the c o m ­
munity at district, provincial and national levels. This method can be useful. But
the question to be asked in many cases is to know who the representatives really
represent, which implies that people are used to express views concerning hier­
archical aspects.
- the individual questionnaire technique. This technique does not seem to be very
well adapted to the cultural context of many non western societies.
Critical feedback could most probably be better obtained on the basis of organised
groups made up from the different categories of people concerned with the educational
process: pupils, parents, local communities, teachers and local administrators.
An external condition for the creation of these groups is that there should be a climate
of internal self-confidence and security. Although the Ministry of Education itself
should not organise the groups, it should stimulate the development of such a climate
by all means,
(b) A s far as horizontal communication is concerned, both intra and intersectorial co­
ordination should be developed and strengthened. The development of intersectorial
coordination at the local level m a y well imply a decentralisation of the different ad­
ministrations involved, since in a centralised context local administrators tend to be
overdependent upon decisions concerning their- activities taken at the central level.

С Supply

(a) Local resource mobilisation


Local resource mobilisation for educational supply is one of the elements often
used in a development and/or reform strategy. Apart from the fact that this pro­
cedure m a y alleviate the burden of the central educational budget, it m a y be con­
sidered as a first step to bring the local communities closer to the school and to
make them more concerned about the educational service. It should however be
borne in mind that this procedure is not always conducive to more educational
equality and that under some circumstances it m a y even have the opposite effect.
In general the success of a strategy of mobilisation of local resources depends on
at least two important variables:
- government policy, which determines to a large extent the attitudes of the local
communities. If the conditions under which local initiative is required are not
clearly defined, the policy m a y not work and people m a y go on waiting for the
supply to be provided by the centre. It is important in this respect, that govern­
ments establish a uniform set of rules for areas with similar conditions.

- the traditions of the local communities or inore precisely the way the resource
mobilisation policy fits the cultural values and behavioural patterns of the local
communities. In areas for instance where there is a tradition of collective temple
Report of Working Group В

building it m a y be important to link the schoo] building policy with this tradition.
Since as a matter of fact very little is known about the different ways in which dif­
ferent countries try to match local contributions with central contributions, it would
be very useful if some comparative research work could be done on this issue.

(b) Production and distribution of textbooks and teaching


materials
In most countries, production and distribution of textbooks and teaching materials
has become one of the most important bottlenecks in implementing education re­
form.
T w o different questions were raised in this respect. The first one was about cen­
tralisation or decentralisation of production; the second one was about public or
private distribution.
As far as production is concerned, decentralisation m a y be useful and as a matter
of fact necessary in large countries where linguistic and cultural differences are
very important. Only when production is decentralised does it become possible to
associate local teachers and specialists effectively in the preparation process of
the materials. Nevertheless, the role of the central authority remains important
in so far as standardisation becomes an urgent need particularly in a decentralised
framework.
In most countries distribution is highly deficient partly because of some vested
interests and partly because of the increasing complexity of the whole process.
Very often governments are ill equipped to perform the distribution function (e. g.
lack of transport facilities, lack of storage facilities, lack of personnel). The dis­
tribution function is added to the normal work load of different agents (including
the teacher) at different levels of the administrative structure. The question then
m a y be raised as lo whether il would not be a more efficient procedure to hire the
services of the existing private network of book and paper distribution for free
distribution of textbooks and school materials.
As far as more sophisticated equipment is concerned it is a very c o m m o n phenome­
non that whenever available this equipment is very often not utilised or even
remains unpacked. It is important to mention that unless effective training of
teachers for utilising this equipment is organised and unless proper maintenance
arrangements are provided, the most careful distribution will not yield adequate
results.

(c) Distribution of personnel


There exists in most countries a severe imbalance in the distribution of adminis­
trative personnel as between national and sub-national levels, while on the other
hand the centre has a tendency to devolve an increasing number of problems to
regional and local levels. Where a reform is being introduced this discrepancy
m a y even become more marked.

Ill
Administrative support for educational reform

The same imbalance exists as far as teaching staff is concerned. The most qual-
ified teachers are found in the urban areas.
This concentration of human resources in the centre m a y be considered as one of
the most basic problems in organising adequate administrative support for edu-
cational reform. The traditional incentives which are provided to attract good
teachers and support personnel to the remote areas are not sufficient. To equalise
the existing imbalance m a y well require various measures of a more radical nature.

D. Training of personnel
1. Training and change of attitudes
During the last 15 years a considerable number of in-service training programmes have been
organised for different categories of personnel. Although it is very difficult to assess the exact
effects of these efforts, one cannot avoid the impression that, in general, the results do not
correspond to expectations. One possible! explanation for this relative failure could be that,
these programmes have mainly been aimed towards acquiring new knowledge and technical
skills while in essence the problem of reform is one of changing attitudes. This aspect should I.)o
given much more attention in our training programmes. The final question we should ask in
this respect is how far and under which circumstances training can help to move from a main-
tenance to a development administration.

2. Training and personnel management strategy


Training should be seen as an integral part of a general personnel management strategy. On
the one hand, teachers and administrators m a y not be interested in retraining if the necessary
incentives are not created. On the other hand, retraining m a y remain without effect if a cer-
tain number of conditions are not satisfied which allow for the effective utilization of what has
been learned.
A m o n g the different factors which can have an influence on incentives for and effects of re-
training, we m a y quote: the system of staff assessment and reporting, selection and promotion
procedures, pay structure, general working conditions, etc.
3. Training of teachers for reform: some lessons from practice
F r o m the experience gained from some curriculum reforms carried out in the region, the
following lessons can be drawn:
- Pre-service and in-service training should be closely integrated. Elements should be in-
jected in the pre-service training so that teachers acquire a built in attitude of openness
towards innovation and retraining.

- Retraining should be a recurrent process. One short retraining cycle cannot change years
of practice, it can only be the impetus for further training. This impetus should be sup-
ported by different devices (inspectorate guidance, special radio programmes, regular group
meetings, etc. ).
- The organization of the retraining process should be based on the multiplier method. Those
who have already been trained should be involved in the training of those who have not yet

112
Report of Working Group В

been trained. Apart from the fact that this method allows the effort to reach a much lar­
ger proportion of the teaching staff, it has in itself a mobilizing effect which m a y be
appreciable.
The training effort should be an integral part of the reform process. In this sense it could
be seen as a form of participation in the development itself of the curriculum.
The training effort should have a global character. This means that, in the case of cur­
riculum reform for instance, retraining should not be limited to the teaching staff alone,
but include to various extents all different categories of administrative personnel. If this
is not the case, the teacher m a y not be understood by his own administration.

113
Appendix G

LIST O F P A R T I C I P A N T S

M r . Л . Ghufour Baher Vice President of the Primary Education Department, Ministry ot


Education, Kabul,, Afghanistan
M r s . Anwara Begum Assistant Director, Public Instruction,Ministry of Education,
Bangladesh Secretariat, Dacca, Bangladesh
Mr. M . M . Mathur Director (Planning) Ministry of Education and Social Welfare, Shastri
Bhawan, N e w Delhi, India
M r . Jusuf Enoch Head, Bureau of Planning Department of Education and Culture, Jalan
Sudirman, Senayan, Jakarta Indonesia
M r . Sinjo Okuda Deputy Director General, Elementary and Secondary Education liureau.
Ministry of Education, Tokyo, Japan
M r . Haji A h m a d Salleh Director, Educational Planning and Research, Ministry of Education,
Federal House, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Dr. I. Prasad Upadhye Under-Secretary, Ministry of Education Kaiser Mahal, Kantipath,
Kathmandu, Nepal

M r . Sikandar H . Jamal Education Secretary, Education Department, Quetta, Pakistan

Dr. Narciso Aibarracin Under-Secretary, Department of Education and Culture, Manila. Philippines

Dr. Han Cheng Fong Director, General Administrative and Management Services Branch,
Ministry of Education Kay Siang Road, Singapore
M r . S. Visessurakarn Deputy Under-Secretary for Education Ministry of Education, Bangkok
Thailand

OBSERVERS

M r . A. Espinoza Vocational Training Officer ILO Regional Office for Asia, J lth Floor
United Nations Bldg. , Sala Santitham, Bangkok 2
U . Tun Aung P r o g r a m m e Officer U N I C E F 19 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 2

Dr. Keith Emrich Social Affairs Officer, E S C A P Development Planning Division ESCAT
United Nations Bldg. , Rajadarmnern Avenue, Bangkok 2

114
List of participants

UNESCO-THAILAND

M r . N . L . Bennett Curriculum Development Planner and T e a m Leader'Educational


Material Development Centre Ministry of Education, Bangkok
Thailand

ROEA STAFF M E M B E R S

Mr. Raja Roy Singh Director


M r . A . W . P . Gurugé" Educational Management Adviser

H E P STAFF M E M B E R S

M r . Hans N . Weiler Director


M r . R . F . Lyons Senior Programme Officer
M r , Gabriel Carrón Programme Officer
M r . John Oxenham Consultant
M r . M . W . Pritchard Consultant

115

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