Concept and Definitions of Administration | Levels of Administration

QUESTION 

Explain the concept and level of administration

Course: School Administration and Supervision

Course code 8616

Level: B.Ed Solved Assignment 

ANSWER   

Concept and Definitions of Administration.

The word ‘administration’ originated from the Latin word ‘minister’  which means, ‘service rendered to others for their welfare’. Whereas in modern literature administration refers to the act or process of administering, especially the management of a government or large institution.

Educational administration is basically a part of administration and refers to a range of professionals from supervisors, program administrators, and principals to deans. department heads, and chief academic officers-  as well as organizations form to administer school functions.

Educational administration illustrates the administrative theory and practice of education in general and educational institutions and educators in particular activities. Basically, the administration is a process of systematically arranging and coordinating the human and material resources available to any organization for the main purpose of achieving the stipulated goals of that organization. When applied to the school system, the process is referred to as Educational Administration or School Administration.

Administration is a term used to refer more to Government business. Administration occurs in every organization. The basic aim of administration is the need to get things done for defined objectives to be accomplished. Educational administration is bringing men and materials together for effective and functional teaching and learning in the school. The focus of educational administration is the enhancement of teaching and learning. Educational administration is a process through which the school administrators arrange and coordinate the resources available to education, to achieve the goals of the educational system.

Dictionary of Education by Good defines educational administration as “All those techniques and procedures employed in operating the educational organization by established policies is defined as administration.” rayson Kefauver has observed in The Forty Fifth Year Book of as, “Educational administration approaches statesmanship when there are clearly formulated long term policies and objectives, and when day-to-day activities and problems are dealt with under the guidance of the perspective given by such long - term policies .” According to the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE) “Educational Administration is a social statesmanship which guides educational activities, plans, programs mid facilities, and provides leadership in a long-term but broad social perspective.” Educational Administration has been defined by R. Mort as, “ the influencing of one group of human beings, the pupils, to grow towards defined objectives, utilizing a second group of human beings, the teachers, as agents; and operating in a setting of a third group of public, variously concerned both with objectives and with means used to achieve them.

Russell T. Gregg, in an article on Administration in the Encyclopedia of Educational Research, writes, “Educational Administration is the process of utilizing expropriate materials in such a way as to promote effectively the development of human qualities. It is concerned not only with the development of children and youth but also with the growth of adults and particularly with the growth of school personnel.” According to Samuel Mathai, “Educational Administration presumably means the combined operation of a large number of persons whereby the whole fabric of education in the country is maintained in good working condition. An administration is a person who has a part to play in running an institution. He is a responsible servant whose duties may include both giving orders and carrying out orders.”

The International Encyclopedia of Higher Education (1988) edited by Asa S. Knowles and other reads “Educational Administration, in general, is concerned with the management of state and local school systems and with local school attendance units. Identified with the executive branch of government, educational administration is treated usually as a field of study in itself and not as a part of public administration. A more sophisticated definition of educational administration is, “A social process concerned with creating, maintaining, stimulating, controlling and unifying, formally and informally organized human and material energy within a unified system designed to accomplish predetermined (educational) objectives.

The Encyclopedia of Education (1971) by IEEC. Deighton States, “Educational Administration is concerned with the overall direction and support of the schools. It includes the immediate leadership of the school principal and the specialized skills of the business manager, curriculum coordinator, and other staff specialists, all under the general supervision of the superintendent. The concept of administration as a profession evolved with the expansion of educational enterprise during the late nineteenth century.”

“Administration is justified only to the extent that it contributes to the capacity of the organization to fulfill its primary mission. In the field of education, the administration is justified only as it contributes to the capacity of the school to help children and youth to grow toward responsible boyhood

Levels of Administration

Here, it is important to identify the task areas and levels of the educational administrator.

There are five main levels:

1.  The Curriculum/Instructional Functions:

Since the ultimate goal of educational administration has been teaching and learning, curriculum development and program management constitute an important area. The educational administrator ensures that instruction is directed to the requirements of examination bodies such as different examination boards. He is the academic change facilitator. He is the academic change agent. He should, therefore, change the curriculum as and when necessary to serve the needs and reflect the aspirations of society. Work scheduling is an important function of the school administrator as an instructional manager and supervisor. He ensures that allocation of staff to their correct disciplines and equally supervises to ensure that their teaching contents are in line with the current and relevant syllabus and that such context gets to the right students.

2.  The Staff Personnel Functions:

The education administrator is the first among equals. He is the leader of the organization as he has staff under him to manage as his subordinates. He cannot make or manage the organization alone. He has to harness the potential of his staff to his great advantage. He should place the necessary structures and allow his colleagues to participate in the organizational governance, especially as it affects their expertise and welfare. Under a good organizational climate, discipline, and harmony naturally emerge.

3.  Student Personnel Functions:

  The educational administrator also has the responsibility to manage the students put under his care effectively. The students are in their formative years. The administrator should have the grasp, full knowledge, and understanding of the various stages of students’ development and their relevant needs. This is done by providing relevant structures and programs capable of directing and shaping their academic and moral values. Students have advanced from passive on-lookers to active participants in issues and programs that affect them, especially with the formation of student-union governments and other such bodies existing in educational institutions today. Students should participate in decision-making and governance, especially in decisions that affect their well-being. Extra-curricular activities as well as adequate health services, moral and civic orientations, discipline, and adequate interpersonal relations should be maintained.

4.  The administrator has to be quite

knowledgeable in finance management as this is one of his most crucial functions. He has to start with budgeting by properly articulating the cash inflow and outflow in the system. The prudent education administrator creates alternative strategies for cash inflow. The education administrator distributes the available resources among the competing needs in his organization preferentially. His financial management has to be apt and his accounting and financial reports must be straight. The educational administrator is responsible for the procurement and maintenance of educational plants and facilities. His procurement and maintenance of these infrastructures have to be correctly planned and programmed. He determines the level of their usage or wastage.

The education administrator endeavors to promote school community relations through the participation of the school in community activities and projects, and community participation in some aspects of school life. The P.T.A. and other stakeholders in the school should join hands with the administrator to formulate policies and reach major decisions as the situation demands. Once the community is in harmony with the school organization, some measure of success is guaranteed. The educational administrator must be constantly alert to the objectivity with which the community perceives its school and must interpret this into special implications. The education consumer is the public and to a large extent determines what goes on in the school organization. Therefore, the education administrator identifies what the education consumer wants from education and provides them accordingly.

5.  The School Community Relations Functions:

The community is the next-of-kin of the school organization and requires a joint responsibility of the administrator and the community. Although the school serves the community, it is the function or duty of this administrator to make the first move toward a positive relationship with the community. The educational enterprise is an open system. A social organization thrives on effective interrelationships within it and with its relevant public.

Related Topics

Supervising Teaching and Learning

Supervising School Environment

Developing Accounting and Auditing Systems

 Synergistic Supervision improves the performance of Students and Teachers

Theory and Function of Supervision, Monitoring and Evaluation

Different Approaches to Supervision 

Financial Audits and Academic Audits

School Heads’and Academic Head’s Responsibilities

Concept and Levels of Administration 

Central bodies of Educational Administrate

Difference between the Administrative structure of public, government and private schools

Areas of Educational Administration 

School Heads and Responsibilities as a School Admin

Define Administration and School Administration and different levels of Administration