Multiple criteria decision-making techniques in higher education

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review the literature which focuses on four major higher education decision problems. These are: resource allocation; performance measurement; budgeting; and scheduling. Design/methodology/approach: Related articles appearing in the international journals from 1996 to 2005 are gathered and analyzed so that the following three questions can be answered: "What kind of decision problems were paid most attention to?"; "Were the multiple criteria decision-making techniques prevalently adopted?"; and "What are the inadequacies of these approaches?" Findings: Based on the inadequacies, some improvements and possible future work are recommended, and a comprehensive resource allocation model is developed taking account of these factors. Finally, a new knowledge-based goal programming technique which integrates some operations of analytic hierarchy process is proposed to tackle the model intelligently. Originality/value: Higher education has faced the problem of budget cuts or constrained budgets for the past 30 years. Managing the process of the higher education system is, therefore, a crucial and urgent task for the decision makers of universities in order to improve their performance or competitiveness. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Discretion and control in education:the teacher as street-level bureaucrat

This article assesses the impact of education reform and the new public management (NPM) on the discretion of school teachers. The focal point of the study is Michael Lipsky's theory of discretion which casts public service professionals and others involved in service delivery as 'street-level bureaucrats' because their high degree of discretionary rule-making power enabled them to effectively make policy as well as implement it. The article considers the relationship between education reform and the NPM and focuses on the increased emphasis on skills-based teaching and changes in management and leadership in schools. The literature and survey of teachers demonstrate that discretion in the workplace has been eroded to such an extent due to a high degree of central regulation and local accountability as to question the applicability of Lipsky's model. The findings are based on the literature and a small survey undertaken by the author. © 2007 BELMAS.

Gestão educativa gerencial: superação do modelo burocrático?

The study discusses the changes in public management and their impacts on the educational field from the adoption of the flexible model production. It is based on the assumption that the changes incontemporary societies were influenced by the need to reorganize the capital that, in crisis, tried to overcome the Taylor/Ford production model, by implementing a more agile, more flexible one to meet the current demands of the market. For the implementation of the new public management, the Latin American countries started to use strategies based on the business model and the criteria of efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. This new management paradigm advocated replacing the bureaucratic model of management by a decentralized model, with focus on customer service. These guidelines have a broad impact on the educational management and were disseminated by international organizations. Studies show that the management model has been unable to overcome the bureaucratic model of management that existed within the school, which is found in the transformation of a bureaucratic flexibility, consistent with the new model of production.

A gestão educacional das secretarias municipais de educação de municípios maranhenses a partir do plano de ações articuladas 2007-2011

The main purpose of this thesis was to analyze educational management of Municipal Departments of Education (SEMED’s) of cities in Maranhão inserted in the Plan of Articulated Actions (2007- 2011). We evidence the role of Union in that public policy. The leading argument is that Brazilian federal government is not demos constraining in relation to its national sub-governments, what makes the central government to enforce, primarily, educational politics like PAR. This kind of politics interferes in the educational management by national sub-governments, turning them into mere executors. By turning them into mere executors, PAR limits their autonomy and over imposes the results-based management as a parameter to improve the education quality. In order to develop the hypothesis, we adopted Political Science as theoretical basis, represented by Federalism Theory as pact which premise is the cooperative pattern of federalism as being the best form of government because it allows a joint decision-making process from the idea of no centralization of power. The methodology was historical materialism, which assumes the totality and contradiction as a form to understand the phenomenon that does not express in direct way its existence, but can be analyzed from such categories that made possible to interpret the reality. So, we used as tools the semistructured interview and documental analyses with triangulation of data. The empirical basis of the research is 04 (four) cities in Maranhão that obey the following criteria: 1. The municipality has to be assigned on the FNDE Resolution nº 29/2007; 2. To present the lowest educational management indexes from the diagnosis made in loco by PAR; 3. To present the lowest financial management indexes based on the diagnosis in loco by PAR. The results suggest that PAR does not effect a resultbased management which are proposed in its legal rules neither the SEMEDs can propose their conception of educational management. That situation creates a hybridism that sometimes turns to managerialism and performativity, sometimes to bureaucracy, sometimes to a total uncoordinated and unarticulated action. In relation to SEMEDs management, this thesis shows that these institutions have no own conception about educational management and end up acting in an uncoordinated and unarticulated way. The thesis concludes that PAR is an over imposition by federal government towards national sub-governments that conflicts with management patterns of those institutions that are used to a less managerial logic. This over imposition makes the Central government to be the center of Brazilian federalism, which is in reality an incomplete pact.

“Yo acojo, tú agrupas, ella compensa”: Análisis comparado de la política de integración del alumnado inmigrante en tres Comunidades Autónomas

Con la Ley Orgánica de Mejora de la Calidad Educativa vuelve a emerger uno de los temas educativos más oportunos: la toma de decisiones en torno a las políticas educativas de atención al alumnado inmigrante. El momento supone una excelente excusa para, desde el prisma que nos ofrece la Educación Comparada, revisar cómo el colectivo de infancia inmigrante ha sido educado desde tres modelos de gestión educativa representados por tres Comunidades Autónomas: Comunidad Valenciana, Cataluña y Andalucía. El artículo se sitúa en el análisis de las medidas que se han articulado en los tres casos como respuesta a su recepción, acogida y escolarización, utilizando una metodología cualitativa basada en el método comparado: en el estudio descriptivo (fase analítica), se realiza una exploración explicativa de las medidas articuladas en torno a las políticas de gestión del alumnado inmigrante, mediante el análisis de contenido de fuentes primarias y secundarias. Con respecto a los resultados, en la fase sintética, tras haber yuxtapuesto los principales criterios que asemejan y también dirimen a los tres modelos, se reconoce cómo las tres Comunidades Autónomas presentan particularidades, fruto de trayectos históricos propios, coyunturas económicas y políticas e intenciones educativas y sociales, influidas por contextos en los que algunos factores han tenido un peso específico importante. Además del protagonismo institucional, se detectan diferencias notables en las medidas concretas adoptadas, pero también coincidencias, como las políticas que apoyan económicamente la lengua de la comunidad autónoma. Finalmente, en la fase de conclusiones comparadas, se plantean una serie de elementos de los que se deberían dotar las Comunidades Autónomas y que se hallan presentes en algunos modelos analizados. La atención a la lengua que porta el alumnado o el cuidado por incluir una educación intercultural en los planes de los centros educativos son dos de las acciones más significativas.

Size matters : the link between staff size and perceived organizational support in early childhood education

A mulher na liderança no contexto educativo do distrito da Guarda

Esta investigação foi realizada no âmbito do Mestrado em Administração e Gestão Educacional, tendo como tema A mulher na liderança no contexto educativo do distrito da Guarda. Os objetivos centrais desta investigação assentam na compreensão do que é ser mulher e líder de uma organização educacional e sobre a perceção que a mulher tem do exercício dessa mesma liderança. O quadro teórico de referência aborda o conceito de liderança, do género, a evolução do papel da mulher nos lugares de topo centrado nas organizações escolares e a motivação para oexercício destes cargos. No processo de investigação usou-se uma metodologia de investigação quantitativa comabordagem descritiva, mais adequada para traduzir, em números, as opiniões dos elementos do conselho geral dos treze agrupamentos de escolas que participaram neste estudo. Para apoiar a concretização dos objetivos e seguir as orientações da metodologia de investigação qualitativa em educação, foram, ainda, aplicadas entrevistas a três diretoras do distrito da Guarda privilegiando-se o testemunho das próprias, a fim de percebermos o que as motivou a candidatar-se a um cargo que é predominantemente exercido por homens. A análise dos dados demonstrou que o género não influencia a escolha do diretor, nem tão pouco é fator que influencie o exercício da liderança. As mulheres predominam nas nossas escolas como professoras, no entanto, os cargos de topo ainda são maioritariamente masculinos. Poder-se-á concluir que as responsabilidades familiares e os contrangimentos que advêm do exercício da função faz com que as mulheres tenham de arriscar e efetivarem a sua participação nos lugares de topo, mesmo a nível educativo.

When theories become practice - a metaphorical analysis of adult-education school-leaders’ talk

Marketization has changed the education system. If we say that education is a market, this transforms the understanding of education and influences how people act. In this paper, adult-education school-leaders’ talk is analysed and seven metaphors for education are found: education as administration, market, matching, democracy, policy work, integration and learning. Exploring empirical metaphors provides a rich illustration of coinciding meanings. In line with studies on policy texts, economic metaphors are found to dominate. This should be understood not only as representing liberal ideology, as is often discussed in analyses of policy papers, but also as representing economic theory. In other words, contemporary adult education can be understood as driven by economic theories. The difference and relation between ideology and theory should be further examined since they have an impact on our society and on our everyday lives. (DIPF/Orig.)

Impacto da utilização das TIC nas instituições do ensino superior público

A presente dissertação propõe estudar o Impacto da utilização das TIC nas Instituições de Ensino Superior, através da sua aceitação/não aceitação por parte dos seus docentes. O tema encontra-se no Contexto da Gestão Pedagógica de Ensino e da Gestão das Novas Tecnologias por parte de docentes das Instituições de Ensino Superior. Tendo como base a Teoria Unificada da Aceitação e Uso das Tecnologias, investiga-se o papel de aceitação e utilização dos SI/TIC por parte dos docentes das instituições universitárias; Abstract: Impact of the use of ICT in Public Higher Education Institutions. The present Thesis proposes to study the impact of information and communication technologies in higher education institutions, through their acceptance / no acceptance by their teachers. The theme is in the Context of Educational Management Education and Management of new technologies by teachers of higher education institutions. Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, investigates the role of acceptance and use of IS / ICT by teachers of universities.

Aportes de la administración moderna a la gerencia educativa

Nowadays, the educative manager or principal has a series of tools of modern administration that allow him/her to guide the educational institution towards quality. Thus, he/she must fulfils a series of functions that are framed within the administrative process, such as planning, organizing, directing and controlling activities in the educational institution. This article´s main objective is to present some of these contributions and the way in which the principal can use them to improve the educational institution. The modern administration puts at the disposal different conceptions that help to visualize the way in which the institution must be managed. The main conclusion that is extracted is that a unique theoretical framework does not exist that can ensure the success of a principal, instead, there must be a use of the best aspects that each of the conceptions that the modern administration have in order to adapt them, according to the circumstances.