The Development of

Educational Policy and Planning

Learner is able to explain:
 The Development of EP
 Philosophical Approach of EP
 Changes in Conception of EP
 Issues in Educational Planning
 Types of Educational Planning

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The Development of Educational Policy and
Planning
 The aims of life have influenced social and educational
planning.
 It centers on the tension between individual freedom and
societal development.
 During ancient times, Sparta developed an educational
system to suit especially the defense, social and
economic needs of the society.
 Plato in “The Republic” proposes that education is for the
society; individuals should be educated to become
members of the society.
 In China, the examination system has been used to
screen for civil service positions, and this practice lasted
for millennia.
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 More systematic educational planning began when the
Union of Socialist Soviet Russia (USSR) developed a Five
Year Development Plan in 1923, after the revolution in
1917.
 USSR started the establishment of an educational planning
unit as a state mechanism in carrying out her development
plan.
 As a result of WWII, most nation states, especially the
European and North American, consider educational
planning as a necessity and as a mechanism to solve post-
war related problems such as population growth due to the
baby boom.
 There was a high demand for jobs, and thus job related
training.
 Education Acts introduced in England in 1944, gave the
Local Education Authorities (LEA) the mandate to plan their
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own education.
 In 1953, France introduced her own National Planning,
including education.
 For Malaysia, it was the Razak Report 1955, the
Rahman Talib Report in 1961 and the Education Act
1996.
 In fact, the number of educational planning centres
mushroomed after WWII, providing a much wider and
systematic planning of education to suite local needs.
 The Asian Institute of Educational Planning and
Administration was established in New Delhi in 1962.
 The International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP),
UNESCO was established in 1962.

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 Thus, early educational planning has been
characteristically based on demographic, social,
economic, political as well as manpower approaches.
 However, the growth and expansion of democracy and
capitalism later stimulated economic based
educational planning approaches such as cost benefit
and cost effectiveness.
 This later movement was echoed by the success of
corporate planning especially in the production sector
such as automobile production in Detroit.
 Educational planning reached its golden era from
1973 to 1981.

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 Philosophical Approach of Educational
Planning
Based on states:
1. Socialist Nations
2. Capitalist Nations
3. Developing Nations

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 1. Socialist Nations
 Led by the USSR and China
 It emphasized manpower development
 Used a centralized, top-down, directive approach
 Collapsed, became decentralized, since 1989

2. Capitalist Nations
 Led by Western Europe & North American states
 Used the market economy approach
 Due to the urgent demand for reconstruction of the state
economy and baby boom as a result of WWII, required a
huge sum of financing
 Decentralized, indicative and a loose central government
control 7
 3. Developing Nations
 Mostly achieved their independence in the 1950s and
1960s.
 A need for nation-building.
 At first, model their EP on the manpower-socialist
approach
 Dependent on their former colonial masters due to
the shortage of expertise
 Lately, followed the market approach due to the
collapse of the socialist model
 

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 Learning From The History Of EP
1. Planning for change is more difficult than early
expectations: the case of USSR and IRAN. Example:
education through tape recorder.
2. Innovation takes time than expected.
3. Difficult to achieve the planned objective especially
when it is big in size, top-down implementation, but it
seems to be easier for reform and innovation to take
place at the bottom - the school level.
4.The collapse of beliefs that innovation is a means of
control by the state which dictates what students ought
to learn.

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 Changes in Conception of EP
1. From quantitative to quality; ISO.
2. From emphasizing centralised to decentralised and equal
involvement.
3. Focuses more on incentives, market forces, privatisation,
out-of-school and non-formal education.
4. Increasing job related training.
5. Increasing non-governmental agencies’ involvement; eg.
Brain Trust.
6. Increasing adult education program.

Farrell (1997: p. 279) suggests:

“… a new conception of EP that focuses less on planning change
and more on developing a capacity to innovate and that conceives
planning not as controlling learning but as enabling it.”
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International Agreement on Education

 UNESCO 1990, The World Conference on

Education for All. Jomtien, Thailand, 5-9
March 1990.
 UNESCO 2000, The World Education Forum
for Lifelong Education. Dakar, Senegal, April
2000.

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 Technical vs. Political Approach?
1. Technical Approach 2. Political Approach
 Utilizing “hard” quantitative  Utilizing “soft” data. Tends
data, complex statistical to work from a variety or
analyses, research results and another conflict theory
“rational” or “scientific”
analysis.
 Tend to operate from a
general consensus or
equilibrium model of society.

3. Mixed Approach
 Successful educational planners must be highly skilled political
and technical operatives.
 Planning process must take into account the varying stakeholder
groups.
 Called “participatory”, “transactive” or “interactive” planning such
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as strategic planning (a win-win situation)
Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Approach?
1. Top-Down Approach

 Decisions on EP are made by high-level actors within

the educational system
 Use directives, especially in a fidelity model of
educational system
 Little involvement of lower-level actors within the
educational system
 Little exercise of flexibility in implementing the
decisions
 Works well in the short-term
 Create resentments & resistances w/in the system
 Make future plans even more difficult
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Practicality Ethics (Doyle & Ponder 1977):
 Only practical innovations will be implemented in the
classroom.

Coping Strategies (Andy Hargreaves 1978):

 To cope with societal and central demands, the
teacher establishes strategies that can make her/his
life bearable, possible and even rewarding as an
educational practitioner.

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2. Bottom-Up Approach:
 Decisions on EP are made by the lower-level actors
(teacher, school principal)
 Flexibility in implementing decisions
 Needs support from colleagues, school and
education authorities
 Works well in the long-term, except issues related to
inventor mortality

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 Types of Educational Planning
1. Comprehensive EP
2. Adaptive EP
3. Contingency EP
4. Compulsive EP
5. Manipulative EP
6. Indicative EP
7. Incremental EP
8. Autonomous EP
9. Ameliorative EP
10. Functional EP
11. Educational Programming

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 1. Comprehensive EP
 A long-range planning, takes 25-40 years
 General and comprehensive in nature
 To provide a guideline to be followed by other related fields;
on the use of educational resources, on how to monitor and
evaluate educational progress and problems.
 E.g Wawasan 2020

2. Adaptive EP
 To adapt current practices as a result of reaction from
external development
 Problem solving in the narrowest sense
 To ensure organizational equilibrium
 Example: Introduction of English in the Teaching of
Science and Mathematics 17
 3. Contingency EP
 As a means to absorb emergency with minimum
inconvenience
 Example: contingency examination centres during the
monsoon season

4. Compulsive EP

 A detailed account on what should be done

 Rigid, but necessary
 Motivational instrument: congratulation if successful and
punishment if failed
 Example: school finances
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 5. Manipulative EP
 Manipulating various strategies and instruments to get
maximum results
 Among the strategies used: deals, trades and personal
inducements
 Example: school cooperatives

6. Indicative EP
 Giving the right signals in the hope that they (the actors)
in turn will take appropriate actions
 Instrument: Check list
 E.g. PTA activities
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 7. Incremental EP
 Is planning that takes short steps, correcting mistakes as
it proceeds
 Such a process, while constituting acceptable short-term
adaptability, is accumulative in nature
 A sufficient body of mistakes will force the planner to take
a completely comprehensive approach.
 On the other hand, such planning, if successful, should
accumulate a sufficient body of experience to enable the
educational planners to attempt comprehensive planning

8. Autonomous EP
 Is planning pursued by itself and not as a part of any other
planning.
 Example: the teacher might exercise her/his own teaching
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strategies.
 9. Ameliorative EP
 To put things in their original form without considering what
would happen.
 Its aim is to return to the status quo.
 E.g. School fee

10. Functional EP
 Focuses on a particular aspect of the total educational
problem.
 Essentially, this type of planning is segmented in nature,
but still functions as a part of the total planning effort
 Example: education for special children

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 11. Educational Programming

 Specifies the target groups, the program requirement,

and the resources needed to achieve a specific
objective.
 Example: tuition classes

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