Core Course 1:
Organisation and Management Perspectives of Education (1995010)
Responsible faculty:
 |
 |
 |
| Prof. Dr. Jaap Scheerens | Dr. Adrie Visscher | Dr. Bob Witziers |
Core Course 1 provides a theoretical framework for analysing organisation and management problems.
Note:
The on-campus and the distance delivery of
the course deal
with organisational
and management problems in school settings.
In case a (distance) student wishes to focus on
corporate training, it is advised to take the course "HRD
Theory". This course will be offered under the umbrella of the Faculty's
MSc Programme Human Resource Development.
Module 1.1: Introduction: A Theoretical Framework
Within this module students are introduced into the specific features of schools as organisations by addressing the following topics: what kind of organisational structures do schools have; what type of organisational activities take place in them; what kind of problems face those who run schools. Moreover students are confronted with the issue of which goals schools should address. Therefore they get acquainted with different models of school effectiveness.
Module 1.2: Co-ordination, Leadership and Organisational Goals
People within organisations perform different tasks. This raises the question of how to integrate these different tasks in such a way that the organisational goals are achieved. Co-ordination is the concept referring to this process of integration. Co-ordination takes place in educational organisations as well. For example, governments often specify the goals of education. However, scholars differ on the question of whether educational organisations should be considered as tightly coupled organisations or as loosely coupled organisations. Students will become acquainted with these two different perspectives and with the implications these perspectives have for school effectiveness and school improvement. Moreover, attention is paid to leadership within schools. This implies that attention is paid to the responsibilities of school leaders, leadership style theories, situational theories of leadership, theories stressing substitutes for leadership. Finally, attention is paid to school leaders' role in school improvement.
Module 1.3: Teacher's Role
Whether schools achieve their main goal is largely depending on the quality of teaching. Therefore, students will become familiar with what is known about 'high quality' teaching and what schools can do to improve it. The effectiveness of schools is not only determined by the quality of teaching, but also by teachers' motivation and commitment. Therefore, students will be confronted with the question of how to enhance teachers' motivation and commitment.
Module 1.4: Evaluation from a Theoretical Perspective
It is often stated that evaluation is a sine qua non in order to improve schools' effectiveness. That is, one should examine whether school reach their goals and which factors might be responsible for a performance below standards. In many countries evaluation is a task of agencies outside the local school (i.e. the School Inspectorate). However, in some countries schools are assigned the task to evaluate their own performance as well. How schools can do this and which conceptual models are useful for the evaluation of schools are the central themes of this part of the course.
Module 1.5: External Factors
Organisations are affected by their environment. In order to "survive" they have to align with their environment. For example, if, due to demographic changes, the school population changes, educational organisations might need to readdress their instructional strategies and goals, in order to serve their pupils more effectively. Within this part attention is paid to external factors and developments affecting schools and what schools can do to align with their environment. This implies -among other things- that attention is paid to environment directed strategies, management direct strategies and organisation and environment directed strategies.
Module 1.6: Concluding Assignment
(In-class ) written exam.
Study materials
Visscher, A.J. (Ed.) (1999). Managing schools towards high performance. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.
Other selected texts from journals and books will be collected in an annotated reader.
Other programme elements
Click on a link below to learn more about the main phases of the programme (or elements
thereof).
- Introductory Module
(2 weeks)
- Core Phase (18 weeks) - 6 Core Courses
- Specialisation Phase
(24 weeks) - 6 Specialisations
- Organisation & Management - Curriculum - Instruction - Instrumentation - Evaluation - Training Systems Design for HRD
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© University of Twente, 2002
