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Educational Management

Notes made adoption of some form of planning unavoidable. UNESCO and the World Bank become early
promoters of a functional educational planning mechanism as a condition or external assistance.
The advancement of theory of planning, has enriched its practice, After the Second World War the
principles and methods of educational development and planning first development in the Soviet
Union were adopted by the Socialist States of Central Europe before many of them were ‘rediscovered”
later in the West.
Today, educational planning is an absolute requirement. The complexities of modern technology is
society have given rise to the need for planning in education. Increasing populations, man-power
needs, ecology, decreasing natural resources and haphazard applications of scientific developments
require educational planning. To meet these problems, educational planning becomes a necessity
and planning competence becomes mandatory. It is unavoidable for bringing about a desirable
change in the educational organizations for promoting the organizational health- its effectiveness
and functional efficiency.
Educational planning is a process utilized by a administrator while performing the role of a leader,
decision-maker, change-agent and so on. It is a basic management task. It is a means of achieving
higher levels of effectiveness. Its uniqueness lies in its future-orientation or anticipation mode.

7.2 Nature of Educational Planning

The following viewpoints have been utilized by the experts to understand and explain the meaning
and nature of planning.
(1) Forecasting : Educational planning is describing or defining or determining events, conditions
and needs of some future point in time. It implies forecasting or projections of important factors
in education such as number and types of students and expansion of facilities needed for them.
(2) Interpretation : Educational planning should also call for interpretation of future’s data and its
translation into competencies or operational capabilities demanded to maintain effectiveness
under the conditions anticipated.
(3) Goals and Objectives : Educational planning is a means of generating relevant present and
future goals and objectives for the organization.
(4) Decision-Making : Educational planning is the preparation or pre-courses in the decision-
making process. It is to help determine the optimal decision or choice rendered. While educational
administration is mostly decision-making, planning in education is only the other side of it.
(5) Operations Optimization : Educational planning is operations optimization or performance
improvement. It is for the enhancement of existing conditions rather than for those that exist in
the uncertain future. It is to guide the actions of the operations. It must result into standard
operating procedures, operations manuals, administrative guidelines or system and policies.
(6) Problem Prevention : Educational planning is a kind of contingency anticipation or problem-
prevention. It should minimize the magnitude of an educational problem likely to be encountered
at some future point in time. It should spell out the procedures to be followed if some crises or
contingencies arise.
(7) Management Change : Educational planning is a part of organization renewal. MBO, PERT
and various other forecasting techniques are part of the process of educational planning. It
provides a mechanism, a model or a tool for achieving specific objectives of an organization.
(8) Complexity Resolution : Educational planning is complexity resolution, a process for
coordination and control. It is interpreted as a means of coping with complexity or co-rdination
of facets of such projects. Planning has been defined by Dror as “the process of preparing a set
of decisions for action in the future directed at achieving goals by optimal means.” It relates to
decision-making. Knezevich defines it as a “set of formal and rational activities that seek to

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