1.4 Theories of educational management  (Page 2/29)

By leadership, I mean influencing others actions in achieving desirable ends . . . . Managing is maintainingefficiently and effectively current organisational arrangements . . . . I prize both managing and leading and attach no special valueto either since different settings and times call for varied responses. (p. xx)

Leadership and management need to be given equal prominence if schools are to operate effectively and achievetheir objectives.“Leading and managing are distinct, but both are important . . . . The challenge of modern organisations requiresthe objective perspective of the manager as well as the flashes of vision and commitment wise leadership provides”(Bolman&Deal, 1997, p. xiii-xiv).

The English National College for School Leadership.

The contemporary emphasis on leadership rather than management is illustrated starkly by the opening of theEnglish National College for School Leadership (NCSL) in November 2000. NCSL”s stress on leadership has led to a neglect of management. Visionary and inspirational leadership are advocatedbut much less attention is given to the structures and processes required to implement these ideas successfully. A fuller discussionof the NCSL may be found in Bush (2006).

The significance of the educational context

Educational management as a field of study and practice was derived from management principles first appliedto industry and commerce, mainly in the United States. Theory development largely involved the application of industrial modelsto educational settings. As the subject became established as an academic field in its own right, its theorists and practitionersbegan to develop alternative models based on their observation of, and experience in, schools and colleges. By the 21st century themain theories, featured in this chapter, have either been developed in the educational context or have been adapted from industrialmodels to meet the specific requirements of schools and colleges. Educational management has progressed from being a new fielddependent upon ideas developed in other settings to become an established field with its own theories and research.

Conceptualising educational management

Leadership and management are often regarded as essentially practical activities. Practitioners andpolicy-makers tend to be dismissive of theories and concepts for their alleged remoteness from the“real”school situation. Willower (1980, p. 2), for example, asserts that“the application of theories by practicing administrators [is]a difficult and problematic undertaking. Indeed, it is clear that theories aresimply not used very much in the realm of practice.”This comment suggests that theory and practice are regarded as separate aspects of educational leadership and management. Academics develop andrefine theory while managers engage in practice. In short, there is a theory/ practice divide, or“gap”(English, 2002):

The theory-practice gap stands as the Gordian Knot of educational administration. Rather than be cut, it hasbecome a permanent fixture of the landscape because it is embedded in the way we construct theories for use . . . The theory-practicegap will be removed when we construct different and better theories that predict the effects of practice. (p. 1, 3)