Elaborate on the Types and Approaches of Educational Planning.
Course: Educational Leadership and Management
Course Code 8605
Level: B.Ed Solved Assignment
ANSWER
Approaches to Education Planning
Educational planning till
recently has been undertaken as a separate exercise having no substantial links
with planning in other socio-economic sectors. The first linkages took place in a financial context since it was found necessary to reconcile expenditure on
education with outlays in other sectors. Educationists found themselves forced
to demonstrate that education was not only a consumption commodity rather it
has presented an investment or pre-investment which is vital for economic
development. The economists on their part began to take interest in education
and conducted basic studies on the economic role of education. Such studies
attempted to quantify the contributions of educated manpower to increases in
national incomes and productivity.
The first indication of a link between education
and the economy was a result of attempts to match training facilities to the
forecasts of manpower requirements of various sectors of the economy. Later, more
comprehensive approaches were evolved to adopt education to general
development. Education plans were thought out and prepared in conjunction with
other planning activities. Some of the most familiar approaches are briefly
described. Planners have developed formal methodologies for planning. The three
most common methodologies are
(i)
The Social Demand Approach:
(ii)
The Manpower Requirements Approach; and
(iii)
The Rate of Returns Approach.
i) The
Social Demand Methodology
This aims at planning education
to meet the demands of the society for education. It views education as
something good in itself and required by every individual. If this methodology
is adopted, educational institutions and facilities will be located wherever they are needed. Societies where this approach
is used are mostly; those which aim at social equality or culture or the spread
of an ideology; and those (especially political leaders) who have respect for
public demands. The Social Demand Approach requires a rational method of
location and distribution of educational facilities so that they will respect
the population distribution (by numbers, age, sex, geographical densities,
etc.). Thus this methodology emphasizes equitable distribution mostly by
universalization of some levels of education. The problem with this methodology
is that it easily gives rise to over-expansion, poor facilities, irrelevant
curricula and consequently poor quality (falling standards).
ii) The Manpower
Requirement Methodology
This approach focuses on the
objective of using education to produce the required manpower for
development. This approach adopts several methods to forecast or project the
numbers, types, levels and distribution of manpower so that educational plans,
content and programmes should focus on those identified manpower needs. Some of
the methods used include
(a) The Employers’ Opinion Method
(by which employers furnish data on their manpower needs for the future, as these
figures are used to project the manpower requirements by levels, skills, etc.)
(b) the Incremental Labour Output Ratio (ILOR)
Method, by this method a fixed relationship is assumed to exist between the
increment of a certain category of labour (e.g., or Middle Level) and the
growth of output of an economic sector or national income,
(c) The International Comparison
Method: which involves using data or equations based on other developed and
developing countries to forecast the manpower requirements in another country
by processes of Analogy, or the Harbison’s Rule of Thumb (e.g. that an increase
of 1% in normal output should be accompanied by an increase of 2% in the
Senior, and 3% in the International Manpower):
(d) the Density Ratio Method (an estimation
of stable ratios between different categories of manpower).
iii) The
Rate of Returns Methodology
This method attempts to determine
the private and public costs of education of various types and various levels
with the projected benefits or returns (using cost-benefit analysis) to such
education. This methodology takes the view that education is essentially an
investment, which like other investments should be capable of yielding some
profits over time, after discounting or adjusting for unemployment, wastage
ability variables, and labour force participation. The problem with this
methodology is that most of the effects or benefits of education (e.g. changes
in values, attitudes and other ‘spill-over effects) are not amenable to precise
computation.
In most of the developing
countries, the tendency has been to
adopt different methods at different times and for different levels depending
on the imperative needs of society. Thus many such countries may be said to be
using a synthetic approach (which implies a methodology that takes a bit of each
of the above methodologies. For example, Primary and Middle School Education.
iv) Unit
Costs
Average, total, unit costs, etc.
v) Equality
and Disparity Issues
Access to Educational System by
age, sex, geographical distribution, spatial dispersal, etc.
vi)
Organizational Structures
Communication flows along with the distribution of power, authority and functions.
vii)
Demographic Factors
Age, sex, geographical
distribution, population dynamics, migrations.
viii)
Political Factors
Political commitments, policy and
administrative support.
ix)
External Efficiency:
Relevance, responsiveness
x)
Occupational Needs
Present and future which should
be according to various levels of education and different sectors of the economy.
Types of Educational Planning
1.
Imperative or Centralized Planning
The planning which is done at the
federal level or by the central body like the planning commission of the government
is called imperative planning. The targets and resources for the completion of
plans are allocated by the federal government. The implementers are the provincial
authority.
2. Indicative
Planning or Local Level Planning
This type of planning is done at
the local level or at the grassroots level of the society. Local people
determine priorities. They prepare projects with the help of experts.
Funds are allocated for the completion
of local projects by the government. Pakistan has started this type of planning
with the help of district Nazims of the concerned areas.
3. Sect
Oral Planning
In this type of planning, projects
are prepared by each sector separately. Funds are allocated to the secretary of
the department for the implementation of the projects. Here at a time all the departments/Ministries
are busy completing the developmental activities. There is a lesser
cooperation among the departments. Every department determines its own
priorities. The developmental works are scattered all over the country. This
type of planning covers all areas of the country. The pace of development is
slow in this type of planning.
4.
Integrated Planning
In this type of planning a pilot
area is selected for development. All the departments concentrate on the
development of that specific area. They prepare projects according to the needs
of the area. All the projects have approved funds with are provided at the same time to all the agencies responsible for
implementation. In this way, the development of that area is ensured with all
the facilities. However, there is a weakness in this type of planning, the
needy areas are ignored and their turn comes after a long time
