Philosophy of change coming to terms with administrative changes

Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Definitions ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Administration and administrative work .................................................................................................. 5 Administrative functions ............................................................................................................................... 6 Decision-making .......................................................................................................................................... 10 Normative ............................................................................................................................................... 10 Strategic .................................................................................................................................................. 11 Operational ............................................................................................................................................. 13 Administrative ......................................................................................................................................... 13 Educational Philosophy ............................................................................................................................... 15 Globalization as an agent of Philosophy change ........................................................................................ 17 Organizational structure ............................................................................................................................. 21 A Change in Culture and Philosophy ........................................................................................................... 25 Actual Mood ........................................................................................................................................ 26 Student attitudes toward schooling .................................................................................................... 26 Attitudes among people in the external environment. ....................................................................... 27 Social Change through Education ....................................................................................................... 27 Needs................................................................................................................................................... 28 Cultural pluralism ................................................................................................................................ 30 Creating a Context for Change .................................................................................................................... 31 Planning for changes ................................................................................................................................... 33 Finance .................................................................................................................................................... 34 Shaping the ecology .................................................................................................................................... 36 1

Nurturing and supporting a positive, widely internalized school culture ........................................... 36 Paying attention.................................................................................................................................. 38 Modeling. ............................................................................................................................................ 38 Teaching and coaching ....................................................................................................................... 39 Reacting to critical events ................................................................................................................... 39 Selecting, rewarding and censuring staff............................................................................................ 39 Effects of change on the ecology of the School .......................................................................................... 41 Implications ................................................................................................................................................. 48 Recommendations to come to terms with administrative changes ........................................................... 49 Future Proposal: Leadership and administrative changes .......................................................................... 51 Future Roles of Education Administrators .................................................................................................. 58 Visionary ................................................................................................................................................. 58 Observer.................................................................................................................................................. 58 Instructional Specialist ............................................................................................................................ 58 Enforcer................................................................................................................................................... 59 Overseer .................................................................................................................................................. 59 Barriers to change ....................................................................................................................................... 60 The School Culture............................................................................................................................... 60 Attitudes .............................................................................................................................................. 60 Cultural norms..................................................................................................................................... 62 Relationships ....................................................................................................................................... 63 Teacher-peer relationships.................................................................................................................. 63 Student-teacher relationships ............................................................................................................. 63 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 66 References .................................................................................................................................................. 67

Abstract

In education, at the level of the individual school, it is the school administrator or principal who is the key person in terms of leadership, school reform, creating and maintaining a secure school environment, involvement of stakeholders of all kinds in the school, and implementing visionary leadership. The purpose of this brief report is to examine how a change in philosophy comes into terms with administrative changes through effective strategies used by school administrators in shaping the school culture.

Introduction

The Government of Mauritius extended free education to the secondary level in 1976 and higher education became free in 1988. Literacy in 1990 for the population over 50 years of age on the island of Mauritius was 80% overall with 85% of male and 75 % of females. Education was set free because every Mauritian could not afford going to school. After two decades there has been a drastic change both in terms of technology and philosophy. New approaches to management in the public sector are imperative as governments enter the new millennium. Market dynamics have created challenges for public organizations, with the emergence of the global economy, advances in technology, increased societal demands, and the need to provide more social services with fewer resources. This is understandable and a new approach which incorporates modern strategic management tools is necessary for the public sector to achieve improved performance and overall service quality. The current public policy models have certainly started to reflect a shift away from traditional thinking towards a change in philosophy. Of course, such philosophies will have to come to terms with the administrative changes too and this work gives a global view of the track.

Definitions

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. It is distinguished from other ways of addressing fundamental questions (such as mysticism, myth, or the arts) by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. The word "Philosophy" comes from the Greek *philosophia+, which literally means "love of wisdom".

Administration and administrative work

Administration can be defined as the universal process of organizing people and resources efficiently so as to direct activities toward common goals and objectives. Administrator can serve as the title of the general manager or company secretary who reports to a corporate board of directors. This title is archaic, but, in many enterprises, this function, together with its associated Finance, Personnel and management information systems services, is what is intended when the term "the administration" is used. In the education sector, the administrative tasks may be summarized to managing school paperwork, especially bills, status reports, regulations and knowledgeable about the policies and procedures of their school or institution, and apply them as needed. They are also the custodians of employee and student files, financial records, and guidelines. In other type of organizations, administration can refer to the bureaucratic or operational performance of mundane office tasks, usually internally oriented and reactive rather than proactive.
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Administrative functions
Administrators, broadly speaking, engage in a common set of functions to meet the organization's goals. These "functions" of the administrator were described by Henri Fayol as "the 5 elements of administration".

Planning is deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and who should do it. It maps the path from where the organization is to where it wants to be. The planning function involves establishing goals and arranging them in logical order. Administrators engage in both short-range and long-range planning.

Organizing

involves

identifying

responsibilities divisions,

to and

be

performed,

grouping

responsibilities

into departments or

specifying organizational
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relationships. The purpose is to achieve coordinated effort among all the elements in the organization (Coordinating). Organizing must take into account delegation of authority and responsibility and span of control within supervisory units.

Staffing means filling job positions with the right people at the right time. It involves determining staffing needs, writing job descriptions, recruiting and screening people to fill the positions.

Directing (Commanding) is leading people in a manner that achieves the goals of the organization. This involves proper allocation of resources and providing an effective support system. Directing requires exceptional interpersonal skills and the ability to motivate people. One of the crucial issues in directing is to find the correct balance between emphasis on staff needs and emphasis on economic production.

Controlling is the function that evaluates quality in all areas and detects potential or actual deviations from the organization's plan. This ensures high-quality performance and satisfactory results while maintaining an orderly and problem-free environment. Controlling includes information management, measurement of performance, and institution of corrective actions.

Budgeting, exempted from the list above, incorporates most of the administrative functions, beginning with the implementation of a budget plan through the application of budget controls.

In today's modern democratic Mauritius there are teachers with rather ideologically based outlooks. There are not in principle many differences regarding education in Mauritius and other leading countries (the German states, Austria, and Switzerland). Some private schools in Mauritius maintained very high standards, but continued a very selective system. Administrators are the responsible for teachers, providing conflict resolution between students and employees, and supervising classroom quality. In elementary, private, and some high schools, they are known as principals. In college settings, education administrators take many names, as there are multiple academic departments, administrative departments, and financial departments. Presiding administrators are known as rectors. They look after school faculty,
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develop budgets, and ensure compliance with academic policies. If they head a particular academic department, they are called department heads or chairpersons, though their administrative and regulatory duties remain largely unchanged. In addition, there are administrators for school admissions, financial aid, athletic departments, and student services.

The pyramid above shows how information flow occurs in terms of decisions in general as well as changes to be effected in the education system owing to changes in philosophical changes that may be occurring.

Decisions about the development and use of technology reflect a range of factors. They are influenced, for example, by the values and experiences of different people and communities, by the actual or predicted impact of technologies on environments, by the processes by which the decisions are made and by the political influence of different groups. Making decisions about
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technology can be highly political in that they often involve a complex mixture of consensus, conflict and compromise.

Decision-making
The ministry of education is a social sector where decision making is a need. Decision making is a major responsibility of all administrators, but until decisions are not converted into action, they are only good intentions. Deciding is a sinequanon of an education because the school, like all formal organization is basically a decision-making structure. Decision making falls into four categories. Normative Strategic Operational Administrative

At the ministry level, the decision making is centralized and conceptual. Our analysis starts with an examination of the normative decision making subsystem. The normative theory assumes that decisions should be completely rational. It employs an optimizing strategy by seeking the best possible alternative to maximize goals and objectives. It is a classical model. Normative decision making involves a series of steps: 1. Identifying a problem. 2. Establishing goals and objectives. 3. Generating all possible alternatives 4. Considering the consequences on each alternative. 5. Evaluating all alternatives in terms of goals and objectives. 6. Choosing the best alternative- the one which maximizes goals and objectives. 7. Implementing and evaluating the decision

Normative
The normative model is an ideal rather than a descriptive of how most decision makers function. Decision makers virtually never have access to all relevant information. Moreover,
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generating al alternatives with their consequences is possible. Unfortunately the normative model assumes information-processing capacities, rationality and knowledge that decision makers do not possess. Consequently, it is very useful to practicing administrators. Moreover, the normative type is affected by finance, politics, and community, immediate needs of society, international environment, culture, technological changes, system survival and sustainability.

Strategic
Given the severe limitations of the normative model, it should not be surprising that more realistic conceptual approaches to decision making in organizations have evolved. The strategic class of decision making deals with the what could be done, when it could be done, i.e. time factor. Strategic decision making goes with planning. It is future oriented, with cooperative gain. It is a central step in the process. It is a central step in the process. It involves project selection and project identification and thesis in a difficult phase as needs and aspirations are not the same, they can be high. The process in the strategic decision making involves 4 steps: 1. Specify alternatives. 2. Predict consequences of each alternative. 3. Deliberate 4. Select a plan of action.

Specifying alternatives. This means listing a set of comprehensive alternatives. Time is necessary for this development, yet time is limited. Routine decisions can be handled quickly and effectively. Unique decisions demand more thoughtful and creative decision-making. Climate and culture of the educational organization will either inhibit or facilitate creative thinking.

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Predicting consequences. Specifying alternatives and predicting consequences occur simultaneously, i.e. proposing consequences for each alternative developed. By and large predicting consequences to propose alternative is hazardous- and some issues e.g. those involving financial costs-accurate predictions of consequences can be made however, when trying to anticipate reactions of individuals or groups.

Deliberating and selecting a plan of action. These are the final phases, i.e. developing a strategy of action which involves a reflective analysis of the alternatives and consequences. After such reflex ion, they choose the best alternative, or select a series of alternatives in a sequential order, which provides a strategy and a plan of action. The more problematic the issue, the more complex the course of action is likely to be.

In the process of searching for a satisfactory alternative, decision makers make use of heuristics (simplified decision rules0. one of these are data and information. There are always lots of data and information available, so, decision makers need to analyze and make a compromise. Obviously, a lot of factors will mediate the choice of a preferred alternative. The values of the administrator, the cultural context in which decision is made and implemented, the perceptions of those involved, the importance of the situation, the pressure of the decision maker, heuristic and the importance of the goal- all these will intervene in the selection of a final course of action. In strategic planning, technology, globalization, culture and climate of the organization need to be considered.

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Operational
In the operational stage, the decision maker decides what constitutes an acceptable solution. This stage is an unfurling process at grass root level. It means what could be done? How it could be done. It also includes everyday decisions. The impact is immediate, short termed, low range and at low cost. It involves the achievement of a minimum amount of objectives. The musts and wants are compared. It involves practical decisions, that is one is right and just one is accepted in general. It is based on criteria consistent with the organizations mission. The dynamics of the environment are always there e.g. technological change. So, some adjustments involve in the decision making will be there. It has a under dimension- the global launch pad.

Administrative
Finally let us examine the administrative model. In this phase we have implementation of objectives. It involves the instigations of the plan of action. So, once the decision has been made, and a plan of action formulated; the decision need to be implemented- the final element in the decision making cycle. The basic approach is satisficing that is finding a satisfactory solution rather than the best one. The administrative level assesses the organizational decisions taken at the normative level. It acts as a guide and ensures that the targets set at the beginning are finally met. Implementing the decision involves 4 steps: 1. Programming. 2. Communicating. 3. Monitoring. 4. Appraising.

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Programming Programming means that, the decisions are translated and interpretated into specific programs. E.g. the plan to change the grading system at CPE level contains a specific and detailed set of operations that require answers to a number of questions. Who has to have information about the plan? What action needs to be taken? And by whom/ what preparation is needed so that those who have to take action can do so? Programming needs to be realistic and capable of implementation.

communication Communication means that each involved individual has to be made aware of his\her responsibilities, once the plan has been programmed. So, channels of communication among the individuals as well as the opportunities for communicating both horizontally and vertically must be given careful attention.

Monitoring Monitoring means the process of overseeing the implementation of the plan of action. Evaluation and reporting must be built into the action cycle to provide continuous assessment of actual outcomes as compared to expected one.

Appraising Appraising means to determine how successful the decision has been. What new issues and problems have arisen? Organizational decisions are made in a context of change- facts, values and circumstances change. Hence appraisal stage is both an end and a new beginning in action cycle of decision making. Clearly there are no ultimate solutions- only satisfactory and solutions for the moment.

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Educational Philosophy
We believe that the purpose of education is learning. It is both that simple and that complex. While there are many ancillary benefits derived from an educational experience, if the process occurs devoid of learning, it is simply not education. While learning is paramount to education, the process of learning is framed in a myriad of constructs. I believe the most imperative construct is the democratization of information. Learning takes place in a manner that allows all people the right to access and potentially understand all available information. Information is no longer held exclusive for the privileged, but rather, it is available for all who desire it. This democratization comes at a great price, for the responsibility of understanding can be overwhelming. The enlightenment of understanding that there is more than that which I have, or choices other than that which I choose, or even needs greater than that which I can give, requires a democratic education to teach not only understanding information but also empathy. If we are to bring the learning and understanding of available information to all, regardless of ones station in life, we must also teach that each is going to approach and consume the information uniquely. We do not all live identical lives, therefore, we do not all learn and digest information identically, but rather quite individually. Our individuality causes each of us to bring our own bias, experiences, culture, values, strengths and weaknesses into our learning and understanding of the world, and acknowledging that every other person does not learn,

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experience and see the world the same as I do helps fight repressive, oppressive assumptions about the way others should behave and act upon information. If we had but one line to use to build my philosophy of education upon, it would be education is making learning available to all who desire it; teaching them that through the learning, we can achieve both understanding and empathy that will move every individual who seeks to be moved. Today there is a debate in Mauritius over educational philosophy. The same debate is being persuaded in America and other Western European countries. The debate is especially interested in Mauritius. The English Christians at first implemented a radical colonial educational reform based on ideological beliefs. They backed off this approach to an ongoing improving educational system each and every time the government changes after general elections. However, I can assure that there has been building up of capacities and we have one of the best systems of education in the world. Needless to say, every new ideology and philosophy has an impact on the on the administrative body but ways and means have been developed to overcome that task.

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Globalization as an agent of Philosophy change

The trends and characteristics of globalization: Contemporary realities such as trends and characteristics occasioned by globalization such as ascendancy of Information Technology, free market economy, privatization, and enthronement of democracy as a world-wide acceptable form of governance, cumulatively call for a fundamental paradigm shift in educational system of most countries. Globalization has implication for widespread systemic changes and

innovations in all aspects of education, from curriculum to teacher preparation, institutional structures, school calendar and teacher certification. Globalization should therefore be seen as a phenomenon behind widespread systemic changes needed in the school system of most countries. A globalized society equally needs a school system with a globalized orientation and focus. The school structure of a globalized society must involve a shift from mono-cultural approach to education to multi-cultural approach to education with attendant changes in school curricular and assessment policies. Equally, changes and innovations of a school system of our globalized environment must involve the emergence of elastic curricula models and educational policies which emphasise interdisciplinary courses, open-ended systems, inter-generational and interprofessional relationships, multi-culturalism and sustainability. The days of local schools may be over as all schools may need to have both local and global orientation simultaneously. Globalization has tended to dismantle geographical boundaries between nations. School products either from developing or developed countries will have to compete in the global zone where all nations of the world have access due to the ascendancy of information and communication technology. The skills and competencies needed for survival in contemporary globalized world may be different from those needed in the era preceding globalization.

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Survival in a globalized world perhaps calls for school products to develop new skills and competencies. Such evolving generic skills and competencies include some of the following: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) decision-making skills problem-solving skills autonomous-thinking skills diffused-thinking skills effective communication skills computer-manipulation skills interpersonal relation skills Independent and autonomous learning skills.

Stakeholders in the educational industries should be more alive to their responsibilities of ensuring that schools are made responsive to evolving changes in the society. For too long, the education industry had been too slow to respond to advances in technology and other changes in the society. A globalized world calls for the re-invention of a new teaching profession whose members should be prepared to anticipate, accept and celebrate positive changes in school policies and practices to accommodate a constantly changing and evolving world. Globalization has made essential the need to adhere and adapt to world standards in terms of quality and value-addedness. In any enterprise where there is one or more people involved in the day-to-day operation, planning, choices and decision- making, become very important factors for the smooth running and rational use of scarce resources. Efficiency and effectiveness, in such a context, is the common expectation from an organization, its head, and other members of staff: people have to learn to be rational in the use of the resources available. This is more so owing to the dependence of many governments on the funds of international financing institutions like the World Bank or the International Monetary fund for reforms or development of their education sector. Many eminent thinkers like Max Weber, Peters and Waterman have put forward their own views of what would constitute an efficient and effective organization. Max Weber (1947), a
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German sociologist, leading figure in that field, propounds the placement of people in a system that he called Bureaucracy. Such a system is based on characteristics, such as: a division of labour and specialization, an impersonal orientation, a hierarchy of authority, rules and regulations, and a career orientation. Though this system has been criticized due to its dysfunctions, yet it has also been coined as the Idealistic Model and almost all of our contemporary organizations are based on it. Peters and Waterman refer to the Seven Ss, namely: Shared values, Skills, staff, strategy, style, structure and system, as the leading characters on which organizational administration should be based. Shared values Shared values refer to the common goal or objective towards which the enterprise striveincreasing efficiency, or offering a quality product or service to clients could be one of the shared values of the organization. Other organizations might strive at making rational use of available resources with a view to increase their accruing benefits. In other words, if we take together all the vision, culture, attitude, and mission of the enterprise, we get its shared values. In such a case a strong moral leadership quality on the part of the school leader, would help in the motivation of staff members. The leader can also act as a model to its subordinates or pupils. Skills Skills consist of the distinctive capabilities of the personnel of the organization as a whole. It means how much talented people are, their mindset, types of competencies they possess, and how far they are capable of adaptability and flexibility. Skills also involves the way people behave to achieve goals of an organization. Communication skills, leadership skills are the skills considered to be very important to make an organization efficient. Good communication skills, when individuals communicate openly, good ideas are likely to receive the approval of others, reducing anxiety, promoting further participation, development and refinement of ideas.

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Staff The staff have a distinctive capabilities. They are individuals who do things to their upmost best. The number and type of staff in an organization is very important. Their competencies are needed too bring the organization towards efficiency and effectiveness. Style Style is the way people manage things day to day. It involves the ways people take fast decisions in an organization

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Organizational structure
The rector is a key part in the organizational structure of the Ministry of Education. Organizational structure refers to the alignment of people in the enterprise. That is, who does what? The different tasks that comprise the enterprise are thus taken up by different people who concentrate upon their specific duties. At this juncture it would be interesting to note three main trends in relation to the system of organization of people in the administrative process and the distribution of authority: the Cathedral structure (also known as vertical or pyramidal type), the organic structure and the Adhocratic structure. The placement of the rector in the hierarchic ladder is very important. In fact, on account of the Program Based Budgeting and the performance Management system that have been introduced in Mauritius, rectors have been given the responsibility of conducting, as well as gathering feedback from school situations to assess the relative impact and effectiveness of the new policy measures. The cathedral type The cathedral type of organizational structure like the ministry of education of Mauritius is characterized by a system whereby roles and hierarchy are rigidly applied. There is division of labour and specialization, but there are many vertical, lateral and spatial barriers to prevent information from flowing effectively. It is often the manager who makes decision and announces or sells it. The lower grade staffs just have to work according to the instructions given to them. One important loophole in our educational system is the validity of data gathered. In fact, with a view to increase his or her credibility as a rector, school leaders often present a picture of the condition of their school that would shield them from the critiques of their superiors. Very often many weaknesses seen and reported to the rectors are not listened to, or the subordinates coerced to report in such a way as to present the situations as the rector himself would like people to see.

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The organic type In the organic type, however, there is a single authority taking decisions, and the lower grade staff takes the information and use power delegated upon him or her to take appropriate decisions in the day-to-day running of the enterprise. The adhocratic type, on the other hand, is characterized by situational leadership, whereby the staff members are enforced to tackle situations and problems as they arise and have a wider scope of decision making in the day-today running of the enterprise. The movement in the decision- making process from a cathedral type towards an organic or adhocratic system is termed as flattening. Through the flattening stage, the managers gradually delegate more and more power to subordinates, until the latter are in a position to take decisions more freely and as they deem appropriate under going situations. Decentralization, in this context, is the common term used to depict the situation when an organization flattens its system of operation. A more friendly and collegial approach- a form of participative leadership is being encouraged. If the human factor involved in the operation of the organization believes strongly in the need to create excellence, is dedicated to its work and is ready and willing to put corporate effort in achieving expected objectives, aims and goals, as well as adapt to changes that occur in the market for its product then it is likely to be efficient, and effectiveness will automatically be the outcome. This condition, however, is based on the assumption that workers are both motivated and willing to do their job. In practice however, the leadership style of administrators as well as the appointment of the right people for the right job, become a sine qua non condition for both efficiency and effectiveness. This calls forth the need for strategies. Henry Mintzberg puts forward five conditions while dealing with strategic thinking, namely: plan, ploy, pattern, position and perspective (the Five Ps). In fact, going in any direction would lead somewhere, but if we have a direction, a time frame, a distance and an anticipated destination, we are more likely be able to reach where we intended going. This is planning. It is very important to plan in order that all the resources of the organization are properly aligned for the achievement of objectives and aims.

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However, the journey of an organization can be made less arduous and time or resources consuming, if certain tricks or cunningness is applied by rectors. This is the ploy aspect of strategy making. Moreover, as Peters and Waterman the shared values aspect should also be taken into consideration. In this connection, we consider the stream of action taken by the organization which the labour force has acquired out of experience and training; that is, the pattern of culture of work adopted by workers in the operation process. In this connection if rectors are required to give a good sense of direction, as well as the moral leadership that could be required to gather the cooperation of staff, pupils, parents and the community. Division of labour is the term usually used to refer to the placement of people in an enterprise whereby the main operation process is broken down into different tasks or units. That is different individuals or group of people specialize in specific tasks assigned to them. Therefore, with repeated work, there is the possibility of saving much time and development of dexterity and skill in the use of equipment and performance of tasks. However, this trait of bureaucracy, lead to a serious drawback in the form of boredom in the performance of tasks. Modern rectors are expected to create an atmosphere which is conducive towards effective teaching and learning. This brings us to the Position aspect of strategic thinking. For instance, in Mauritius directors and managers take the responsibility of policy and decision-making, whilst the other minor tasks (but important ones) are performed by lower graded staff. In the case of larger organizations, many administrators, departments and even sub-departments often have to be created with different people responsible of them. It is found, especially in the state secondary schools, that members of staff or even rectors themselves are transferred quite often. This calls for contingent leadership qualities from the rector as there is likely to be a fluid participation of members into the system. Moreover, according to Webers bureaucratic model, there is an impersonal orientation of workers in the performance of their tasks. The Staff is composed of workers who are considered as trained people who are appointed and paid for the performance of specific tasks, and their duties are clearly defined and specified so that there is no scope for ambiguity and
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thereby, greater accountability. Since the personnel knows that they have to prove themselves in the domain they specialize in, and that the smooth-running of the overall, main task of the organization depends a lot on how they perform their part, the workers concentrate on their performance only. However, such a condition is supposed to be effective if there is a culture of belonging and strong leadership to drive the different units and sub-units in the same line and direction, and that there is a good system of information gathering, sharing and flow, to eliminate risks of breakdown of the whole system. Theoretically speaking the idea of decentralized decision making does look appealing, especially with regard to the fluidity of information flow, flexibility and adaptability to situations, more particularly for client-serving institutions such as the ministry of education; however, in relation to accountability, consistency, information network and adequacy, there is the need for appropriate training and creation of learning organizations, whereby there will be the assurance of adaptation to situations not only in the present situation, but also stretch efficiency and effectiveness of manpower as far into the future, as would be required. Mintzbergs last P- perspective- points in that direction.

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A Change in Culture and Philosophy

We should adopt a new, inclusive, integrated, and interconnected view of Philosophy at change coming to terms with administrative changes and according to us the following aims should be considered:

constructive debate and creative intellectual engagement at all levels; cooperative work across departments, Colleges and Schools, and administrative boundaries in order to eliminate disconnected pockets of activity and bureaucratic barriers to broad interdisciplinary study and research by students and faculty;

transparent decision making that is predicated on access to information, open consultation, communication, and objective measures of performance; and

accountability, implemented through open discussion, solicited feedback, external assessments, systematic evaluations of performance, and deliberative processes,
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administrative structures, and information systems that lend themselves to selfcorrection and improvement.

Actual Mood
Our education system has made great progress in recent decades, but much work remains to be done. The greatest challenge is one of mobilizing all its members including students, faculty, staff, and parents to achieve these objectives. Mobilizing will require connecting the disconnected parts of our educational system including universities, technical education, colleges and schools to leverage our individual expertise across our faculties, to share increasing levels of knowledge about the University, and to share in transparent decision making so as to become nimble, interactive, and receptive to new ideas. We must extend this connectivity outside to the other regions and the world. Through this cultural change we can articulate a shared confidence in our potential, foster creative synergies between our best elements, and learn from objective external reviews of our performance. We should adopt a culture of continuous improvement whereby processes, programs, and organizational structures are evaluated regularly and held to high standards of effectiveness and efficiency. Through credible, systematic, realistic, and intelligent goal-setting and communication, we should create an institutional and intellectual culture that is connected, committed, and capable of achieving new levels of accomplishment. The change in philosophy should become an intellectually integrated system where people work enthusiastically and effectively, supported by administrative processes and a well-designed information infrastructure that work in concert to propel the institution forward.

Student attitudes toward schooling

Just as the perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and values of teachers impact change efforts, student beliefs and attitudes influence school improvement. Students must believe that they are respected as persons and that they are tied to the school. However, as noted earlier, two attitudes prevalent among high school students are boredom and alienation (Wehlage, 1988).
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One sign of alienation is a reluctance to engage in academic competition. Houston (1991) suggests that minority students in non- urban schools may be reluctant to engage in academic competition because they believe that the values of their culture are in conflict with those of the dominant culture. (p. 64) Like any child who is significantly different from the majority of classmates, gifted children too are apt to experience feelings of social discomfort and sometimes isolation or alienation. In such a situation the child seeks peer acceptance by masking giftedness, conforming to peer behavior patterns, and purposely underachieving (Whitmore, 1988).

Attitudes among people in the external environment.

External values affect the culture of the school, shaping what goes on inside. Deal (1985) suggests a number of changes in the external environment that have eroded the support of local communities and in Mauritius according to me the high use of evaluation, management by objectives, and a focus on technical aspects of instruction and administration have occurred.

Social Change through Education

Education should be a method of changing the world. When issues arise they are brought to education so that it can be addressed and ultimately changed. The idea of promoting change is based on the notion that individuals and society can be made better (e.g. Ozmon and Craver 185). Although education has been used historically as a means of introducing people to their cultural traditions, social and cultural, it has been so altered by modern science, technology, and industrialization that education now must be used as a positive force for establishing new cultural patterns and for eliminating social evils. Counts argued that educators should give up their comfortable role of being supporters of the status quo and take on the more difficult tasks of social reformers (e.g. Ozmon and Craver 171). Social values and institutions did not remain static, thus educational philosophies too must be reconstructed to maintain their relevance. I believe that education in schools must be directed toward humane goals that result in better social consequences for all. One great need in education today is to view the schools in a much
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wider perspective. This movement should be a more radical approach that seeks, through a variety of methods, to change existing social institutions, including the school, in ways that make them more responsive to human needs. Besides, schools should not be apart from society but within society. Thus issues that are within the society should be addressed through the schools. This movement requires educators who are willing to explore new possibilities through action. It requires teachers who can see alternatives and who have some conception of a better world When looking at the situation today, one finds that schools and educators are still not leaders of change and often serve to prevent it. When society had moved ahead in accepting new social customs, the school often continues to preserve traditional ways. Educators should become more involved in social causes.

Needs
According to the writings of William Howick in his book Philosophies of Education, Education of the right kind is the most effective means of achieving the goals of the social pragmatist. The opportunities for schooling reach practically everyone, the administrative structure is already in place, and we need only to redirect our efforts and alter our curricula in order to use that system to usher in the great society.

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World community, brotherhood, and democracy are three ideals that are required to believe in and desire to implement in schools and society. Schools should foster these ideals through curricular, administrative, and educational practices (e.g. Ozmon and Craver 185-86).Most methods currently used in all levels of schooling are critical. This is because the old methods reinforce traditional values and attitudes underlying the status quo. In such circumstances, the teacher becomes an unwitting agent of entrenched values and ideas. Teachers are viewed as dispensers of knowledge and students as passive recipients; the way is paved for students to accept uncritically whatever is presented. Passivity on the part of students deprives them of any creative role in analyzing and constructing materials or in making judgments or decisions (e.g. Ozmon and Craver 186). The teacher should be a person who is aware of what is going on in society and have an opinion and is able to discuss this with the students she teachers. Teachers need to be freed from passivity and fear of working for change. They need to focus on critical issues not generally found in textbooks or made a part of the school curriculum. They also need to make students more critical about the knowledge they receive (Ozmon and Craver, 1990).

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Cultural pluralism
Cultural pluralism is the term generally used to describe this cultural diversity, and multicultural education is the term most often applied to educational programs designed to study it. The learning of language and the cultures of other people should be encourage without forgetting reading the literature of other cultures, as well as newspapers and magazines that deal with issues on a worldwide basis. Moreover, an issue that arises should be addressed through education. For example, if people needed health care then that issue should be addressed in the educational system. At some public schools, there are site based health centers. Because of the need for health care and so many students not getting the proper health stuff, the mobile health services are moving to the schools. Red Cross volunteers, a doctor and a nurse staff the health-based centers.

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Creating a Context for Change

Improving schools involves change. Change, however, is not an isolated process. It occurs within some context. In the case of school improvement, that context is the school. A school is a complex organism, not just a building with people inside. In order to change the organism, it is necessary to consider the effects of a change on all the parts of the organism. Each part is dependent upon the others and all parts react to changes in any other part. Examining these parts and considering their influence on the change process is important for leaders of school improvement efforts. Educational research describes several elements of school context that can facilitate the work of leaders of school improvement efforts. What contextual factors influence change? Do these factors also influence success for at-risk students? How might leaders address these factors to support implementation of school improvement for at-risk students? The impact of the school context on at-risk students is an especially important consideration for those engaged in improving schools. Richardson, Casanova, Placier, and Guilfoyle's study (1989) of at-risk students proposes that at-risk status is derived from an interaction between the characteristics of the child and the nature of the classroom and school. Family background, personal characteristics of the child, the school context, and the social behaviour of children interact to create conditions that place children at risk of failing to achieve their academic potential, of dropping out of school, and of having limits placed on their ability to function as productive adults in society. What is school context? Context is viewed as a broad and inclusive term consisting of two dimensions. The first includes aspects of the school that are not living, but nevertheless affect its inhabitants. The resources available, policies and rules, and size of the school are examples of this dimension of school context. The second element is the school's culture. Culture is a

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term that captures the informal side of schools. It includes attitudes and beliefs, school norms, and relationships, both within the school and between school and community. As suggested by the Latin contextere, "to weave together," the interrelatedness and interaction of the school ecology and culture create the context in which school improvement efforts are undertaken.

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Planning for changes

For change to take place, a major factor is planning. For instance, Fullan, says that why most attempts at educational reforms fail, goes far beyond the identification of specific technical problems such as lack of good materials, ineffective in-service training, or minimal administrative support. In more fundamental, terms educational change fails partly because of the assumptions of planners. Adequate planning must precede the implementation of all the educational innovation and changes. In most cases, it is at the planning stage that Educational change fails. This is because the assumption of policy makers is frequently hyper rational (Wise, 1977, 1979). Policy makers often think of what to be changed without taking into cognizance on how the change is to take place, i.e. how to work through a process of change. Moreover, planning by policy makers often ignore those who are to implement the policies. Any leader who precludes others who are affected by the change is bound to fail. Any policy maker who wants plans to succeed must engage in cooperative planning. For instance, at the government level, policy makers must work with those who will execute the plan i.e. public servants. At the school level, a principal must work with his teachers, the non instructional staff and even students to succeed; there must be constant communication between planners and implementers.

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Finance

Another major strategy is for developing countries like Mauritius is to solve the problem of funding and financing of education decisively, if necessary changes and innovations in education will be given a chance of survival. Poor funding of education is the root cause of most problems confronting the education industry in Africa. Developing countries should have the courage of spending the required UNESCO percentage of their national budgets on education. Besides, the politics of free-education should be replaced by the politics of quality education which involve financial contribution of all stakeholders in the education industry. Education does not need to be entirely free for society that does not have the funds to sustain it. The financial involvement of parents may likely involve commitment of parents to ensure good academic performance on the part of pupils. All proposals for education innovations and changes may never succeed without adequately handling the issue of funding of the education industry.

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Shaping the ecology

The Rector needs to identify structural components of the school that influence change efforts. As the person typically responsible for scheduling and physical arrangements in the school, the Rector can use these tools to reduce isolation and alienation of students and teachers. For example, Rectors might schedule common planning periods for teachers to share information and interact. Through allocation of resources, Rectors can give preference to teachers actively engaged in collaborative practices or to field trips that involve two or more teachers working together on a project (Smith & Scott, 1990). This sets the stage for the development of collegial relationships. Smith and Scott (1990) suggest several ways in which Rectors can use faculty meetings as a vehicle for encouraging collaboration: Allow faculty to suggest agenda items; engage faculty in chairing the meetings on a rotating basis; hold the meeting in various locations to allow each teacher the opportunity to serve as host; set aside time at faculty meeting for teachers to describe inservice programs they have attended and to highlight teacher achievements. Simpson (1990) tells the story of the Rector of a school that had been engaged in school-wide improvement for nine years. The principal began by inviting anyone interested to join her for lunch one day a week to discuss improvement efforts. Outside consultants sometimes presented ideas to the group and even arranged a visit to another school. Nine years later, these lunches had become a "protected ritual" and an important time together for planning. These lunch meetings led to such changes as thematic curriculum, cross-age teaching, and exhibits of student work. The Rector cited rituals such as the lunch meeting as vehicles for change in the school.

Nurturing and supporting a positive, widely internalized school culture

Deal and Peterson (1990) point out that Rectors who are trying to understand the culture of their school need to ask three questions:

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What is the culture of the school now - its history, values, traditions, assumptions, beliefs, and ways?

Where it matches my conception of a "good" school, what can I do to strengthen existing patterns?

Where I see a need for new direction, what can be done to change or reshape the culture? (p. 16)

In order to answer the first question, the Rector must observe what is happening in the school. One possible framework for analyzing the culture is suggested by the work of Deal (1985). By examining the shared values and beliefs, heroes and heroines, rituals and ceremonies, stories told, and the informal network of cultural players, principals can begin to understand the culture of the school.

Shared values and beliefs may be uncovered by looking at written documents such as the school's mission statement or any publications written by the school that contain slogans or symbols.

The heroes or heroines are those individuals such as former and current teachers, principals or other staff whose heroic deeds or qualities serve as current or past role models.

Rituals and ceremonies (such as where and when meetings are held; how new employees are oriented; how accomplishments are recognized; who socializes with whom, when, and where) provide insight about what is considered valuable.

Stories that are told in the school about heroic deeds or the success of certain teaching practices carry messages regarding cultural values.

The informal network that controls communication patterns and channels may be analyzed by considering who talks and writes to whom, when, why, and the response they get; who in the school serves as a gossip, spy, or soothsayer.

Once the Rector has investigated these aspects of the school's culture, an examination of ways to strengthen or reshape existing cultural patterns may be undertaken. According to Schein (1985), the primary mechanisms principals use to strengthen existing cultural elements that fit
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with the shared purpose of the school and reshape cultural elements that conflict with the vision are:

what they pay attention to, their reactions to critical incidents and crises, their role modeling, teaching, and coaching, and criteria they use to recruit, reward, and censure employees. (p. 225)

Paying attention
Researchers (e.g. Deal & Peterson, 1990; Leithwood & Jantzi, 1991) who have studied Rectors who shape the school culture have found some common behaviors and tactics used by these Rectors. Those who shape culture have a clear and focused sense of mission and values and develop a vision of what the school should be. They strengthen a widely internalized culture through such activities as clarifying and prioritizing a set of shared goals. For example, by asking questions regarding how implementation is proceeding and what problems are occurring, Rectors demonstrate the importance of the school improvement effort. The Rector is also communicating an "expectation to be informed about classroom practices" (Staessens, 1991, p. 4). Paying attention to how the shared goals are being played out in classrooms is demonstrated in this way.

Modeling.
The Rector is extremely important to the school's norms and relationships. The Rectors studied by researchers such as Deal and Peterson (1990), Leithwood and Jantzi (1991), and others actively model their values in a highly visible manner through consistent daily routines and concrete actions. Rectors demonstrate what is important in the school through activities such as allocating resources, planning and scheduling time for collaboration, and involving others in decision-making. By modeling a high degree of interaction with the staff, the rector encourages a high degree of cooperation among the staff (Smith & Scott, 1990). Norms such as "one should work hard" are created by rectors who model this norm. "He is the first to be at school, and the

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last to leave; The school is his hobby" are teachers' remarks about one rector who provided such modeling (Staessens, 1991, p.11).

Teaching and coaching

Staessens (1991) found that rectors who nurture and support a culture conducive to change were well read and well informed. By making sure that answers and help are provided for problems encountered by teachers, rectors encourage a norm that "the school is a place where teachers can learn something, and that one can become a better teacher by bringing up something in a professional manner" (Staessens, 1991, p. 11). Rectors foster teacher learning by such activities as providing resources for staff development, attending in-service training with the teachers, and sharing information from conferences with teachers. Frequent and direct communication about norms, values, and beliefs further strengthens a positive school culture.

Reacting to critical events

Stories about reactions to critical events are a tool used to strengthen the culture. For example, one rector tells the story of "cart teachers" known for their "can do" attitude. Due to a shortage of space, these teachers kept materials on a cart and moved from room to room, exemplifying the school's focus on solving problems creatively (Blendinger & Jones, 1989, p. 24). When conflict occurs, principals who nurture and support a positive culture are willing to face conflict rather than avoid it. They use structures such as faculty meetings and common planning periods to reduce teacher isolation.These principals use conflict as a vehicle to resolve disputes and build unity.

Selecting, rewarding and censuring staff

Finally, each of the principals in the studies cited above used to some degree traditions, ceremonies, rituals, and symbols that expressed and reinforced the school culture he or she was striving to construct. These leaders used symbols and rituals (such as staff meetings and assemblies where the work of staff and students was recognized, private notes that expressed appreciation for special efforts, and encouragement to share experiences with colleagues) to
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express cultural values. Teacher commitment to shared goals is stimulated by rectors, sometimes through such forceful means as giving teachers the option to transfer elsewhere with the rector's assistance if they do not want to stay and devote themselves to the goals of the school. Teacher evaluation has also been found to contribute significantly to teachers' commitment to school goals (Leithwood & Jantzi, 1991).

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Effects of change on the ecology of the School

A change in philosophy will have a direct impact on the ecology of the school in order to come to terms with the administrative changes. The following adjustments are important:

Resources Physical arrangements Demographic shifts Working conditions Local & the Governments policies

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The elements of the ecology may be summarized to the physical, material, inorganic aspects of schools, impact school improvement efforts. The availability of resources for change is one of these elements that have a powerful impact. Physical arrangements for organizing persons, scheduling patterns in the school, the size of the school, and the degree of safety in the school also can facilitate or impede interactions that are meaningful for school improvement. Other factors, such as the demographic patterns of the school and working conditions exert influence on change as well. Finally, the policies and rules that govern the school are an influential inorganic element. Resources Those seeking for lasting school improvement must face the fact that effective change takes time and resources. Limited funds may mean that certain types of improvements are never considered. The availability of school resources influences implementation strategies. According to Corbett, Dawson, and Firestone (1984), when time for planning and implementation activities or money to purchase materials is scarce, change activities will not make much progress. Funding is also important because underfunding a project may result in the inability to address problems until the next fiscal year (Pink, 1990). If resources are not available for the school improvement effort, leaders must realize that in order to acquire resources, other groups or persons may have to be persuaded, converted to supporters, or even bypassed (Miles & Louis, 1990). Allowing the time needed for new programs to demonstrate results is often overlooked as a bridge to school improvement. In Mauritius too, many colleges face the same dilemma including very poor renovation programs and poor maintenances. Many change efforts fail simply because not enough was invested in them in terms of time If education is ever to stop the swinging of the pendulum and make significant progress in increasing student achievement, it must first change the ground rules under which innovations are selected, implemented, evaluated, and institutionalize. One of the most important reasons for the continuing existence of the educational pendulum is that educators rarely wait for or demand hard evidence before adopting new practices on a wide scale because it takes time to weld people into a team, this task requires great patience. "A
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particular mind-set for managing change: one that emphasizes process over specific content, recognizes organizational change as a unit-by-unit learning process rather than a series of programs, and acknowledges the payoffs that result from persistence over a long period of time as opposed to quick fixes" is what is needed (Beer, Eisenstat, & Spector, 1990, p. 166). Three factors that impact the amount of time necessary for change are urgency or a crisis situation, the attractiveness of the proposed change to individuals, and the strength of the culture that exists (Deal & Kennedy, 1982). Physical arrangements The physical arrangement and size of schools play an important role in the feelings of teachers and students (Fullan, 1991). Some structures in the school may minimize opportunities for teachers to interact, such as patterns of scheduling, cellular physical layout, and large school size. This, in turn, may promote among educators a decreased sense of self efficacy, an avoidance of controversy, and the often untested assumption that others do not share the same views as the individual (Fowler & Walberg, 1991; Sarason, 1982). Limited contact with new ideas and a decreased capacity for innovation may result from structures that encourage isolation (Fullan, 1991). On the other hand, a sense of community may be developed when schedules and structures are modified to encourage interaction among teachers. In Mauritius students are put into a room to work with 30 or more of their peers, with whom they cannot communicate. The teacher gives them their tasks, and, when the bell rings 40 or so minutes later, they have to gather up their belongings and head to another "work station" for a whole new set of tasks with a new "supervisor" who has a different personality and, very likely, a different method of operation. This routine is repeated six or seven times a day. All youngsters are expected to have sufficient motivation and self-discipline to get down to serious work on day and anticipation of a "reward" is far down the road. In addition to the limits placed on school improvement by the availability of time and money, the physical structures of schools may also facilitate or impede change. In their study of urban school change, Louis and Miles (1990) cite constraints of the physical plant as a major source of
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implementation problems. Physical arrangements can contribute to the isolation of teachers both physically and emotionally. This isolation then impacts teacher attitudes and limits the relationships between teachers, students, administrators, and the community -- relationships that are essential factors in the change process because they are restricted to the classroom and tend to have a limited network of ongoing professionally-based interaction within their schools or with their professional peers, most teachers have limited contact with new ideas (Fullan, 1991). Structures in the school that contribute to teacher isolation and the feeling that the individual cannot make a difference are indeed barriers to school improvement efforts. Modifications in the physical arrangement of schools in order to facilitate professional interaction between teachers will reduce this isolation. Fullan (1991) points out that students' active involvement in the school improvement effort is an essential ingredient in successful implementation. Student attitudes are affected when the structure of the school contributes to their isolation and alienation. Scheduling patterns State colleges in Mauritius result in acute pressure to educate all children efficiently and inexpensively, Cuban (1989) argues, the structure of schools is not even on the agenda for change. This is an example of how historical precedence in the school may limit school improvement efforts. Spady (1988) believes that the organization of schools around the calendar, the clock and the schedule, exerts a pervasive influence on the thinking of those who work and study in them. This focus on time, along with the legal mandate to keep students in the custody of the school for fixed periods of time, may result in teachers adopting the unproductive syndromes of "putting in time" and "covering material" (Spady, 1988). Examination of the organizational patterns of schools by those leading school improvement efforts is an important component of the change process.

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School size In Mauritius, some private colleges are having their doors closed due to the governments policy and an the other hands, many state secondary schools are being crowded where teaching and the administrative loads have increased and accordingly the private teaching and non teaching staffs are also moving to heal the situation but the school size is still the same causing great problems. Several researchers have found that the size of the school is a physical characteristic that may either support or block school improvement, especially those efforts designed to improve schooling for at-risk students. Fowler and Walberg (1991) found that increased school size has negative effects upon student participation, satisfaction, and attendance and adversely affects the school climate and a student's ability to identify with the school and its activities. Several researchers have found that small size tends to promote a sense of community in the school (Barker & Gump, 1964; Bryk & Driscoll, 1988; Pittman & Haughwout, 1987). In a 1973 study of the Montgomery County, Maryland, schools, "smaller schools had more innovative teachers, staffs that had a voice in running the schools, a family atmosphere, close community relationships, and a principal who could make the best use of the staff" (Hobbs, 1989, p. 6). Schein (1985) suggests that large size can lead to disruptive behavior. "Few circumstances cause as much breakdown of normal behavior patterns as excessive crowding, rendering any private space a physical impossibility" (p. 59). Demographic shifts

In our country more and more students are enrolling for further studies each and every year and such demographic changes can pressure schools to adopt and implement new policies (Fullan, 1991). Fullan explains that environmental changes external to the school impinge on it, increasing readiness to implement innovations. Demographic changes such as population shifts and redistricting decisions influence change efforts.
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Another demographic variable, employment growth, has been found to be significantly and positively related to the proportion of college graduates in the population and to the high school dropout rate in a study of rural schools (Hobbs, 1991). The greater the employment growth in rural areas the higher the school dropout rate. According to Hobbs (1991), this finding is logical due to great increases in demand for employees in consumer services, e.g. retail, food, and travel services, in rapid growth areas. Students may find these types of jobs readily available for them if they drop out of school. This type of demographic change influences school improvement efforts for at-risk students. Working conditions The working conditions of teachers in the vast majority of schools are not conducive to sustained teacher innovation. To improve teacher performance, the work environment must enhance teachers' sense of professionalism and decrease their career dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction occurs where teachers perceive class size as less manageable and where the rates of absences are high. In the recent years, even the police has had to be involved in combating students bumping classes an schools and a special unit called Minor Brigade was established for example. According to Sarason (1982) reports that the untested assumption that a few others think the same way keeps school staff from expressing ideas for improving the school. Arrangements that increase isolation and frustrate change efforts include: the fact that "existing [structures] for discussion and planning within the school (faculty meetings; teacher- principal contacts, teacher-supervisor contacts, etc.) are based on the principle of avoidance of controversy; at all levels (teacher, principal, administrator) there is the feeling of individual impotence; [and, finally], there is acceptance of the untested assumption that the public will oppose any meaningful or drastic change in existing regularities" (Sarason, 1982, p. 102).

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Local & the Governments policies When the ideas held about how schools should operate are written down, regulations, rules, and policies are produced. Because schools are public agencies, they must adhere to local & state regulations that make it difficult for schools to set their own educational goals. Past attempts to reform schools have generally sought to use policy mandates to drive changes from top to bottom in schools. This strategy either has not worked or, at best, has gone as far as it can in creating authentic and sustained change in our schools. Some of the most essential elements necessary to restructure a schools commitment, engagement, or sense of invention cannot be mandate. Besides, a lack of understanding regarding "first-order" changes, which are defined as attempts to make what already exists more efficient and effective without altering basic organizational features, and "second- order" reforms, which seek to change fundamental organizational structures, has resulted in ineffective solutions. The government can limit local efforts with restrictive regulations or promote local efforts through such strategies as increased funds, technical assistance and cooperative efforts between the various departments. Building autonomy and alliances with the community, and encourage the sharing of information, skills and understanding can improve and maintain effective classroom instruction.

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Implications
The inorganic aspects of the school are important due to their impact on the development of attitudes and beliefs, the facilitation of relationships, and the establishment of a widely shared culture. Elements of the ecology can facilitate or impede efforts to improve schools' capacity to implement changes that support at-risk students. The lack of resources is a major barrier to sustained change efforts. These resources include not only money, but also time. Patience with implementation efforts and student outcomes translates to a willingness to allow the time necessary for change. When the organizational pattern of the school creates a focus on custody and control rather than instruction and improvement, it too impedes change. Crowded, disorderly schools feed this mission of control and create an environment that decreases teacher career satisfaction and limits innovation. Modifications to the school organization to reduce levels of isolation and alienation move the school closer to a context supportive of lasting school change. Rules, regulations, and policies at the national, state and district level may constrain or enhance successful implementation efforts. Knowledge about the types of policies that will increase student achievement and address the second-order level of change is needed. These policies, however, need to allow autonomy for day-to-day decisions at the local site.

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Recommendations to come to terms with administrative changes

The Rector/Manager should be relieved of a number of administrative tasks by using either a single support measure or a combination of such measures:

deploying more administrative personnel, centralization of administrative tasks between a number of schools, deploying better trained administrative personnel, reviewing the temporary "geco" status, appointing an odd-job man or woman covering several schools, centralisation or outsourcing of financial management, central telephone service, greater automation and computerisation of administrative tasks.

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Additional training for both the head rectors/managers and administrative staff (in general regulations, time management, personnel management, financial management and IT).

Creation and distribution of a single central software package for schools administration. Rationalisation of the information flow by:

Working out a uniform information form and a central database, Development of a case follow-up system, General introduction of electronic information sharing and the use of e-mail, Continued promotion of the use of edison.

Home/Community Relations
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Home/school relations are an important aspect of any special education program. This is particularly true of programs for seriously behaviorally disordered and emotionally disturbed adolescents. Each student served should be assigned to a Social Worker and/or School Psychologist. These individuals will be responsible for home visitations, referral of family members to outside agencies for services (where appropriate), regularly scheduled group and individual counseling sessions with each student, meetings with each student's parents in order to implement the home portion of the individualized behavior management program, consultation with teachers and other duties as deemed necessary by the administration.

Future Proposal: Leadership and administrative changes

"There is a profound difference between management and leadership, and both are important. To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in a direction, course, action, opinion. The distinction is crucial" (Bennis, 2003). So managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing. The difference may be summarized as vision and judgment or effectiveness versus efficiency. So today, the school rector, as any head of any organization is called to be both a manager and a leader. To be able to embrace this point of view, we should clearly make the distinction between a manager and a leader. An organisation with all necessary resources including human financial, physical resources will be worthless if the most important element is missing, i.e., the ability to use effectively these resources. Consequently, for efficient management, there is a need for an efficient manager. According to Robert Katz (1974), managers must be skilled and he identified three managerial skills that are essential to successful management: technical, human and conceptual.
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The technical skill is the ability to use procedures, techniques and knowledge of a specialised field (Stoner et al. 1994). This skill may be acquired through education, training or experience. The school manager, for example, must be familiar with the childs psychology, the pedagogical tools used in this field. The human skill refers to the ability to deal with other people. A manager must be able to work with, communicate, understands and motivates others. Finally the conceptual skill which is concerned with the mental ability to see the overall picture and to understand how one part is related to the others. It is an important skill because a manager must be able to understand how, for instance, his actions can affect other stakeholders, or how environmental influences can affect the organisation. According to the functional approach, managers plan, organise, lead and control. All four functions are immensely important and no one function is better than another. These functions must be coordinated to have management operate as a whole. Planning encompasses looking forward and developing things in advance. It is up to the management to be able to make the plan and have firm decisions. Sometimes it is difficult to plan, but it provides an important focus for any business Organizing is another function of management. The basics here are to consider what resources are needed and what activities are needed. It is the managers job to assign responsibility of objectives to employees. It is also important to give employees the necessary authority to accomplish tasks. A manager that can successfully assign tasks to others ensures that everyone has adequate things to do, work is reasonably spread among employees, and everything gets done. A manager can delegate some work to others in an effort to decrease their own large work requirements. They usually delegate work that is more general and does not have to be done by someone in a management position.

Leading is the third function of management. Leading can be done in various ways. The meaning of leading is that you are able to get employees to do what needs to be done. Leading can be done by living up to the standards expected from employees, promoting those that do good work, and rewarding employees when they reach certain goals. Leading is providing a path and the motivation to get things done.

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The last function of management is controlling. Controlling is devising ways to ensure that plans are being achieved. A manager needs to constantly check on things to ensure himself that correct measures are being taken. Employee personal values need to fit with the organizational values. Administrative work such as paperwork and policies need to be kept up with. A manager must control the business by being a leader, figurehead, and liaison all at the same time. At all the levels of management, managers have to perform one more of these functional roles. A manager's main role is to achieve effective utilization of resources in an organization. He achieves so through coordinated human efforts. A manager has a very important role to play in achieving organizational objectives. He is responsible for aligning the individual's objectives with the organizational objectives. This is very essential for achieving long-term organizational success. A manager is the one who communicates organizational vision to the employees of the organization. He should ensure that there is effective communication flow in an organization and that there should no misinterpretations taking place. A manager has crucial role to play in decision making process in an organization. He has to decide how to bring and communicate organizational changes. He plays a major role in setting organizational goals. He has to be in close contact with the employees of the organization. He should understand them and motivate them. He should encourage them so that they can perform effectively. He should praise them when they show brilliant performance and on bad performance, he should give them constructive feedback rather than negative feedback. He should provide them online support and coaching. A manager should resolve conflicts among the employees and try to reach at an acceptable solution. This would improve employees work quality as well as performance. Thus, a manager's role is very important so as to improve employees productivity as well as organization's productivity. He should understand that organizational success depends on employees. Thus the more satisfied and happy the employees are the more success the

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organization will show. A manager must be committed to his work so as to set an example for his subordinates. A manager is an assistant to his men. (Watson, 1954) While Management controls, arranges, does things right; leadership unleashes energy, sets the vision so we do the right thing" (Bennis & Nanus, 1985). Leadership has commonly been defined as the traits, qualities, and behaviours of a leader (Horner, 1997) while Dobbins and Pettman (1997) defines leadership as being the ability to motivate people to work towards achieving common goals, to make ordinary people display extraordinary performance. In fact, leadership has been related to a persons skills, abilities and degree of influence to get people moving in a direction, making decisions and inspire people to do things that they would not normally have chosen to. There are various theories about leadership including trait theory, style theories, transactional leadership and transformational leadership. Trait theory is based on the belief that leaders have different personality characteristics or traits than other people. It assumes that leadership is innate. The assumption behind the style theories is that employees will work harder and more effectively under some given styles of leadership than others. This includes the autocratic and democratic leadership where the autocratic leader decides what should be done, when, how and by whom. The democratic style is where the work of the group is decided on by group discussion supported by the leader. Then we have the participative and directive leadership where leaders encourage their staff to participate in decision making regarding issues affecting them directly. Transactional leadership emphasises on the leaders position of power to use followers for task completion. (Burns, 1978). It is mainly concerned with maintaining agreements, responsibility and fairness, that is, more emphasis is placed on the means rather than on the ends. Transformational leadership differentiates itself from transactional leadership as it is more dynamic. A transformational leader is concerned with the ends rather the basics of a day-day running of an organisation. He empowers everybody in the organisation to fulfil their potential,
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and enhance their prospects by creating and following new objectives. In fact transformational leadership is concerned with communicating a vision, inspiring and motivating enough, to unleash peoples potential into achieving extraordinary things. (Cacioppe, 1997) It is now clear that all leaders should have the capacity to create a compelling vision, (be the) one that takes people to a new place, and (have) the ability to translate that vision into reality" (Bennis, 1990). A leader must grasp the essential facts and the underlying forces that determine the past and present trends in the business, so that he can generate a vision and a strategy to bring about its future. One telling sign of a good leader is an honest attitude towards the facts, towards objective truth. A subjective leader obscures the facts for the sake of narrow selfinterest, partisan interest or prejudice. Effective leaders continually ask questions, probing all levels of the organization for information, testing their own perceptions, and rechecking the facts. They talk to their staff. They want to know what is working and what is not. They keep an open mind to things. An important source of information for this sort of leader is knowledge of the failures and mistakes that are being made in their organization. Leaders investigate reality, taking in the pertinent factors and analyzing them carefully. On this basis they produce visions, concepts, plans, and programs. Managers on the other hand adopt the truth from others and implement it without probing for the facts that reveal reality. The significant difference between leaders and managers is doing thing rights and doing the right things. As seen earlier, a leader does the right things. Doing the right things implies a goal, a direction, an objective, a vision, a dream, a path, a reach. Managing is about efficiency. Leading is about effectiveness. Managing is about how. Leading is about what and why. Management is about systems, controls, procedures, policies, and structure. Leadership is about trust; about people. Leadership is about innovating and initiating. Management is about copying, about managing the status quo. Leadership is creative, adaptive, and agile. Leadership looks at the horizon, not just the bottom line.

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Leaders base their vision, their appeal to others, and their integrity on reality, on the facts, on a careful estimate of the forces at play, and on the trends and contradictions. They develop the means for changing the original balance of forces so that their vision can be realized. A leader is someone who has the capacity to create a compelling vision that takes people to a new place, and to translate that vision into action. Leaders draw other people to them by enrolling them in their vision. What leaders do is inspire people, empower them. They pull rather than push. This motivates people by helping them identify with the task and the goal rather than by rewarding or punishing them. So it is clear that managing and leading is different but both are important "To manage" means "to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct." "Leading" is "influencing, guiding in direction, course, action, opinion." The distinction is crucial. Managers tend to think incrementally while leaders adopt a radical approach. A manager is rigid and rules by observing established procedures whereas leaders are intuitive. A leader is a pioneer with a vision that will unite people who will naturally become followers through their own choice. On the other hand, a manger could have earned his position of authority for years of service rather than through owning leadership qualities. A school manager and a school leader is no exception to all this. However, nowadays we should no more dissociate school leaders from school managers. Leading people in an organization should be both good managers and good leaders. Managers are expected to be effective leaders. The ability to influence the attitudes and behaviors of others is essential in achieving organizational goals and objectives."The research shows that in addition to being accomplished administrators who develop and implement sound policies, procedures, and practices, effective administrators are also leaders who shape the school's culture by creating and articulating a vision, winning support for it, and inspiring others to attain it" ( Duttweiler and Hord, 1987).

So its high time that the Ministry of Education goes to the extent of employing education administrators in order to come into terms with these administrative changes. An education
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administrator wears many hats. He is called upon to take care of any issue that may arise that the teacher cannot handle. Additionally, administrators have the task of establishing routines for school emergencies. Also, education administrators set a precedent for the overall atmosphere the school. Usually, the attitude of the leader will end up being the attitude of most of the staff. Education administrators are the leaders charged with making crucial decisions that determine thee direction of direction of our nations school systems. How these institutions perform greatly affects every aspect of our society. By becoming a leader in education, you can play an integral role in defining the future and ensuring viable environments for our families, schools and communities. Leadership is the key for educational administrators to manage change, build consensus and communicate effectively in our diverse culture. It is imperative that administrators in our schools build strong relationships with teachers, staff, parents, students, the community, and government officials. Dynamic leadership also requires the ability to model the values, beliefs and attitudes that inspire others to achieve their goals. School leaders usually begin their careers as teachers and then transition into positions such as department heads, assistant principals, program specialists, and site administrators. Many public school systems in the country require certification from an accredited institution in order to serve in administrative roles.

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Future Roles of Education Administrators

Visionary
An education administrator must first and foremost have a vision about how education should look in her school. The administrator must be able to get parents, staff, community and the district to get on board with where she sees the school going. An administrator must have the ability to get others to share the same goals and plans for the school. If an administrator is unable to do this, then the school will be divided, and the progress of students will end up lacking.

Observer
A chief responsibility of any education administrator is to observe teachers and make sure instructors are using proper instructional strategies and employing successful discipline. Additionally, it is the administrator's job to ensure that all students in the class are treated equally. An administrator must be able to spot problems and assist the teacher with resolving any instructional and/or discipline issues. Feedback from an administrator is extremely important for the teacher.

Instructional Specialist
Every administrator must be knowledgeable about what the best practices are in terms of teaching strategies. The administrator should know what research says about the different education strategies and why they should be used. Most importantly, an administrator must be able to judge which cognitive tools a teacher should be utilizing at the various developmental levels.

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Enforcer
One of the main roles of an administrator is to be the chief disciplinary enforcer in the school. An administrator should make sure there is a school wide discipline management plan. Though it is the responsibility of the teacher to have a classroom management plan, it is up to the administrator to ensure one is in place in each classroom. When the teacher has exhausted all attempts to control or discipline a student and get results, the administrator is expected to handle the situation.

Overseer
There are many laws and rules which govern pedagogy, discipline and education standards. It is the chore of the administrator to make sure all teachers are operating within these laws, rules and education standards. When this is not happening, the administrator must discuss the infraction with the teacher and decide if there will be any further course of action. The administrator must follow the rules in terms of how he handles an infraction.

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Barriers to change
As the need for philosophy change to comes to terms with administrative changes occur, barriers inevitably emerges as a by product.

The School Culture

The culture of the school can assist improvement efforts for at-risk students, or act as a barrier to positive change (Deal & Kennedy, 1982; Sarason, 1982). A summary of the general knowledge base regarding school culture by Patterson, Purkey, and Parker (1986) provides insight for leaders in examining their school culture. They found:

School culture affects the behaviour and achievement of students. School culture is created and can be shaped by people in the school. No two school cultures are exactly alike. The culture bonds the individuals in a school together when it provides focus and a clear purpose for the school.

Culture can be an obstacle to educational success; it can be oppressive and discriminatory for various subgroups.

Lasting change in fundamental areas such as teaching practice or decision-making structures requires understanding and altering the school culture. This is a slow process.

Attitudes
The attitudes of teachers regarding schooling, students, and change have an impact on the behavior of teachers towards students, especially those at risk. These same attitudes influence teachers' behavior in implementing or resisting school improvement as well. The influence of teacher attitudes is particularly important due to the interplay between the characteristics of the student and the context of the school that defines a student as at risk.
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Identifying and confronting beliefs among school staffs that prohibit students from achieving their potential is a vital component of school improvement efforts. Commonly accepted myths become barriers when they limit students' access to quality education. Some of these myths, identified in a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1990), include:

Learning is due to innate abilities, and minorities are simply less capable of educational excellence than whites.

The situation is hopeless. Education is an expense and not an investment. Equity and excellence in education are in conflict. Minorities don't care about education. Educational success or failure is within the complete control of each individual.

Negative attitudes toward change can also hamper efforts to improve schools. A "system paranoia" that is reflected in statements such as "they won't let me do it," or "I knew things hadn't changed," or "there they go again" creates barriers to change (Goldman & O'Shea, 1990). Teacher concerns about how change will affect them personally and the practicality of change are areas to be addressed by leader and educational planners. Examining change efforts of the past is important because, if these past experiences were unsuccessful, teachers may be cynical or apathetic towards the new school improvement effort (Corbett, Dawson, & Firestone, 1984; Fullan, 1991). Taking time to ensure that the reasons for the change, the practicality of this program for the specific problem being addressed, and the philosophical basis for the effort are well understood by everyone involved will enhance the likelihood of lasting implementation (Boyd, 1992). Students' attitudes towards change, though examined little, are significant for the success of school improvement. Fullan (1991), who notes that few researchers have actually asked students what they think, proposes four images of student attitudes towards change: indifference, confusion, a temporary escape from boredom, or heightened interest and engagement with learning. If the school improvement effort creates conditions where students

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become actively engaged, it is more likely that increased student success will occur as a result of the effort (Fullan, 1991). In addition, the community's attitudes towards the school and the school improvement efforts affect implementation. External groups exert pressure on schools requiring schools to satisfy what their constituents believe is proper for schools (Cuban, 1990). If the community provides ongoing encouragement, support and resources, change efforts will more likely enjoy success (Goodlad, 1984). Developing this support by the community is an important task of school leaders.

Cultural norms
Just as the attitudes and beliefs of persons both inside and outside the school building may facilitate or impede change, the norms, or informal rules that govern behavior, exert influence on change efforts. Researchers have found particular cultural norms that facilitate school improvement: a norm of continuous critical inquiry, a norm of continuous improvement, a widely shared sense of purpose, and a norm of involvement in making decisions (Barth, 1991; Louis & Miles, 1990; Saphier and King, 1985). A norm of continuous critical inquiry may indicate that school personnel are aware of the school's strengths and weaknesses and are open to dealing with its imperfections. Programs that are successful for at-risk students do not suppress criticism or emphasize conformity (Fine, 1991). Introspection and reflection about the beliefs, actions, and underlying assumptions that regulate teaching and administration are important to successful change efforts (Dreyfuss, Cistone, and Divita, 1992). A close companion of critical inquiry is the idea that continuous improvement is expected. Experimentation and staff development lead to improved practice and an increased capacity for change through the development of knowledge, skills, and understanding. The expectation that staff development will occur is a norm that promotes change efforts. As Miles and Louis (1990) point out, "knowing that X is a workable action you want to take does not mean knowing how
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to deliver X. The paths to educational improvement are strewn with examples of behaviour that no one knew how to deliver" (p.58). The need for a widely shared sense of purpose or vision has been described in other Issues...about Change, as has the idea that broad-based involvement in decision-making, especially decisions regarding teaching and curricular issues, is important to change efforts. It bears repeating, however, that improved student outcomes that are clearly articulated, relevant, and visualized in action images must be the focus of whatever change schools undertake (Miles & Louis, 1990). When the existing norms of the school encourage continuous introspection, continuous improvement, and involvement in decision making, change is encouraged. The development of such norms is an important aspect of leadership for change.

Relationships
Just as individuals' attitudes and beliefs affect change and the norms of the school, relationships among individuals and groups are part of the school culture that can either facilitate or impede change. In turn, these relationships are affected by cultural norms.

Teacher-peer relationships
A norm of collegial relationships is often cited as a component of successful change implementation. A collaborative work culture can reduce professional isolation and contribute to higher morale, enthusiasm, and willingness to accept new ideas (Barth, 1991). Leaders of school improvement efforts need to encourage and support collegial relationships between the rector and teachers s. Collegial relationships facilitate change because peer group consensus and interaction are important to social learning (Goodlad, 1984), and change has been characterized as a learning process.

Student-teacher relationships

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In the traditional, isolated professional culture, the teacher develops mental models of schools and students based on the ways students respond to what the teacher is doing. Indeed, as Rosenholtz (1987) found, teachers rely primarily on students to provide meaning for their work. This reliance may encourage gradual narrowing of the teacher's sense of purpose, decreased teacher expectations for students, and increased weight given to practices that enable the teacher to manage classroom behaviour successfully. Rarely, in an isolated professional culture, will teachers' assumptions, norms, values and beliefs be challenged by significantly more ambitious visions of what is possible (Leithwood & Jantzi, 1990). Change efforts will have limited success unless students are actively engaged. The attitudes of students, the influence of cultural norms on their behaviour, and the relationships they have with teachers, other students and the school itself affects school improvement efforts (Boyd, 1992). High school students often develop a "live and let live" relationship with teachers that presents a barrier to change by protecting the status quo (Fullan, 1991). Research has shown that a cycle occurs where teachers' expectations affect students' commitment, which then affects teachers' expectations. (Firestone & Rosenblum, 1988). At-risk students have the same needs as all adolescents for group membership, positive relationships with adults, acquisition of knowledge and skills, and a sense of competence (Wehlage, Rutter, Smith, Lesko, & Fernandez, 1989). Peer leaders and student heroes affect the scholastic tone of the school and enhance student achievement (Deal, 1985). A school context that forms a sense of community is necessary to promote student growth (Smey-Richman, 1991). Relationships with parents and community: Transforming schools entails a fundamental change in traditional beliefs held by parents, local politicians, residents, administrators, staff, and students (Deal, 1990). Goals, standards, and practices of the school must be consistent with, and developed in partnership with, parents and community members. Community agreement on desired schooling outcomes is essential for effective schooling to take place, as is
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community participation in reviewing progress towards these desired outcomes (Weber, 1986 cited in Conklin & Olson, 1988). Community support of the school itself and for the change effort is vital. Parents and community members must be active partners and allies, not adversaries. A review of the current status of public education suggests that barriers common in the past decades are still present. A critical review of these obstacles can provide focal points needed for enlighten of the issue.

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Conclusion
In his 1995 work, Diffusion of Innovations, Rogers demonstrates that the spreading, or diffusing, of an innovation throughout a culture or community is a gradual process. Rogers accentuates that the adoption of an innovation by a particular group or people must take place on an individual level at first, and is then spread to others until the point where it is omnipresent. An example of this is technology use among teachers. In Mauritius the University of Technology has been the pioneer in introducing courses in education and technology and this has become an essential tool and requirement for ascending to posts of Rectors and Deputy Rectors. Thus despite globalization and changes in technology leading to changes in philosophy, we are preparing new ways and mean to face the future. As our society evolves and changes, we must too decide at some point that education must change also. Advances in technology have created a new playing field. According to Freedman (2007) in The World is Flat, the playing field is being leveled (p. 7). The ability to communicate instantly has created new competition for our country. No longer are we competing for jobs with people from the Mauritius, we are competing for jobs with people all over the world. Students no longer prepare for jobs on assembly lines; they must prepare for jobs that dont even exist yet!

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