Educational planning and administration encompass the principles, concepts and techniques of educational planning, supervision, administration, management and leadership for fulfilling national goals and meeting local requirements. The twin elements of planning and administration themselves are as old as mankind and cut across all spheres of human endeavor. Indeed, for any enterprise to succeed, structures must be put in place for effective planning, management, control and administration of the enterprise activities. The educational sector is no exception. There can be no gainsaying the fact that educational planning and management has evolved beyond the traditional level and has, more than ever before, become extra-dynamic with its scope now extending beyond formal education frontiers to informal settings. Coupled with the increasing demands and challenges of the twenty-first century, there is need for the establishment of autonomous education planning and administration institute which will tend to prepare and regularly update the knowledge and skills required by professionals to meet the demands of their respective offices and by so doing, ensure effective service delivery
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE & GLOBAL TRENDS IN EDUCATION PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION
The idea for an autonomous international institute for educational planning and administration was first mooted in 1961 at the Conference for Economic Growth and Investment in Education in Washington organized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It had become obvious to educators, economists, national leaders and general planners alike at the time that shortages of competent manpower - which posed great threat and danger to economic growth and development - was the direct consequence of educational inadequacies. It was therefore necessary that, if standards were to be set and maintained, a planning institute should be set up for the educational sector to counter and address this deficiency. Two years later the International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP Paris) was set up by UNESCO as the international research and training institute for educational planning and administration. In order to address the peculiarities and challenges of developing countries, however, it was necessary for UNESCO to set up similar institutes albeit at regional levels, thus giving birth to the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) Nigeria , which suppose to serve the entire west Africa sub region. There is also, NIEPA in India , IIEP in Argentina , SISMO –INNOTECH in Philippine to mention a few.
All over the world, various organizations and diverse interest groups within and outside government establishments have put in place educational planning and administration structures with wide aims and objectives. But whether established by government, funding/donor agencies or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), educational planning institutes are generally set up and tailored to meet specific goals:
- Specialized training for educational planners and administrators
Education management has developed beyond what formal schooling only can achieve. New methods, techniques, systems and practices are continuously evolving at a very fast pace and there is therefore, need for education managers, planners and practitioners to constantly update, monitor and keep abreast of current trends and developments on the field. Only through regular and continuous training and retraining can education planners and managers hope to keep up with constant changes and challenges in the education sector and thus be enabled to make necessary impact. The ultimate aim would be a well-rounded and well-balanced educational sector adequately poised to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century and provide excellent and qualitative learning to end users who now, by reason of increasing awareness through globalization, demand the best of educational institutions and practices.
- Conduct Research in Educational Planning and Administration
Challenges and issues would generally crop up and solutions must be sought and proffered to them. Contemporary and better methods must also be applied in preference to traditional and outdated ones while existing strategies must, of necessity, be improved upon. Appropriate planning concepts and techniques need to be developed and revised for various educational projects. Studies must regularly be carried out to evaluate the success of current programs as well as forecast and explore future possibilities. It is also important to initiate and foster intellectual discourses to guide educational planning, administration and policy formulation. These tasks properly fall within the purview of educational planning institutes.
- Provide Consultancy Services
Educational planning and administration institutes, where properly structured and managed, frequently provide consultancy services to governments, NGOs, private and public institutions, funding agencies, legislators and persons connected one way or the other with educational planning and management both at local and international levels. These categories of people and organization would, one way or the other, require the services which educational planning and administration institutes are in a strategic position to provide.
- Disseminate Latest Knowledge and Information
We live today in a rapidly changing world and educational planning institutes not only play an important role in spearheading this change, but are themselves communicators of the most up-to-date discoveries and progress in the field of education mostly through publication of resources as well as in organizing trainings, conferences, workshops, seminars and the like.
- As Clearing House for the Education Sector
By virtue of their nature and organization, educational planning institutions are well positioned to process information and ideas as well as to receive and consider requests from interested persons and organizations on education related issues. In this way they act as clearing house of ideas and information on research, training and on all education management and allied issues.
- Aiding Policy Formulation
All over the world, education planning institutes play a critical role in policy formulation by influencing and assisting schools, governments, funding and regulatory agencies on the formulation of policies and reform of existing ones through the integration of research findings, evaluation and adoption of resources generated by planning institutes. In this way, educational planning institutes play a pivotal role in nation building and are virtually indispensable in the development of the education system.
It is not unusual for educational planning and administration institutes to collaborate with other agencies and organizations while at the same time providing academic and professional guidance to appropriate agencies. In fact, these organizations serve as one-stop shops for education planners, managers and stakeholders. Where they are correctly structured and managed, with accurate understanding and exploration of their roles, these planning institutes have often grown to become national centers of excellence and the pride of their nations and founders.
An evaluation of educational planning and administration institutes globally would reveal the positive impacts these institutes have made on the evolution of the educational sectors of their various countries or regions and on the overall development of the polity. The degree of success and effectiveness however varies. But by and large, it is near impossible to make sensible and valuable educational sector decisions without accessing educational planning and administration institutes.
