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edited by Godfrey Baldacchino & Charles J. Farrugia, London, Commonwealth Secretariat, 2002, ISBN: 0-85092-729-3.
This publication is based on the critical reflections of 18 senior education officials working in 12 small states on the management and planning of education. These same officials have spent time as students of a postgraduate diploma in educational planning and management at the University of Malta: a unique, scale-sensitive programme. The bulk of the arguments, examples and concepts presented in the essays that follow owe their origin to the dissertation that each student was expected to complete successfully as part fulfilment for the award of the postgraduate diploma.
This text seeks to fulfil the
following five main objectives:
1. To provide educational policy
makers, students and practitioners in the small states of the Commonwealth
with a manual of case studies in educational management and planning, adopting
a conceptual approach sensitive to, and inspired by, the ëecologyí of small
scale.
2. To add to the rich collection
of publications by the Commonwealth Secretariat on this subject, and in
particular to contribute to capacity building and institution strengthening
in its specific field.
3. To bear tribute to the active
involvement of small island nationals in diagnosing their own educational
challenges, thus strengthening the relevance of the issues and the transfer
potential of any lessons learnt.
4. To further enhance the visibility
of case study material from small states which, because of the market limitations
of its provenance, often does not make it to print, irrespective of its
quality, appeal and transferability.
5. To share and disseminate such
experiences and their analysis to wider audiences which may benefit from
the similarity of the case being addressed to the particular educational
challenges of their country or region, especially in micro-contexts - such
as islands, or remote villages, or ethnic enclaves - where circumstances
similar to the small state milieu may be in place.
Two Sections
The text is divided into two main
sections. After this introductory essay and two papers on generic management
and administration issues in small states, there is the first selection
of papers dealing with issues in Educational Management. This means that
the papers here basically address the education process from its internal
organisational or operational perspectives. Papers here look at Ministries,
Departments or schools as organisations; and the management thereof implies
the effective and efficient use of human and material resources deployed
in the execution of desirable goals. Total Quality Management, staff recruitment
and appraisal, job satisfaction, stress management and the multi-functionality
of incumbents are key considerations.
The second and final section deals with issues in Educational Planning. This section considers education as a tool for national development and looks at the rapport of the educational system with the external world and its various stakeholder interests. It considers the influence and role of educational planning generally, and then specifically at different developmental challenges: those of the teaching staff themselves, those of school-business linkages; those of primary, secondary, vocational and up to adult education.
GB/20.03.2003
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The publication 'Educational Planning and Management in Small States: Concepts and Experiences' edited by Godfrey Baldacchino & Charles J. Farrugia was presented at a recent book launch held at the office of the Rector at the University of Malta. This book is based on the critical reflections of 18 senior education officials working in 12 small states on the management and planning of education. These same officials have spent time as students of a postgraduate diploma in educational planning and management at the University of Malta: a unique, scale-sensitive programme. The bulk of the arguments, examples and concepts presented in the essays owe their origin to the dissertation that each student was expected to complete successfully as part fulfilment for the award of the postgraduate diploma.
The launch was attended by the two
editors and by the presenters and participants at a conference held in
Malta on School Evaluation Best Practices in Small States. These
included representatives from Commonwealth countries as diverse as Montserrat;
The Seychelles; The Gambia; Tanzania and Papua New Guinea as well as from
the Commonwealth structures in the U.K. Roli Degazon-Johnson, Chief
Programme Officer at the Commonwealth Secretariat in Jamaica responded
on behalf of the group. She emphasised the importance of the postgraduate
diploma and said that those who attended were often to be found in the
upper echelons of education in their different countries. She also
said that a publication of this nature was an extremely important resource
for those in the field who could, thus, really understand the problems
which they share and appreciate also the diversity of approaches.