The Purpose of Schooling and the Merits of a Flexible Organisational Design - Coursework Example

The purpose of schooling and the merits of a flexible organisational design BY YOU YOUR ACADEMIC ORGANISATION HERE YOUR HERE HERE The purpose of schooling and the merits of a flexible organisational design The schooling purpose Outside of common academic learning is the necessity to build student character in terms of guiding moral, rational and other generically-social and accepted behaviours. Schooling serves as a medium for the absorption of cognitive information ranging from astrophysics to generic public accounting as a means to provide society with adequate and functional citizens who can contribute to the broader community. The purpose of schooling, however, is not in the pursuit of generating business-minded automatons with a variety of technical skills. The purpose is to promote evolution beyond the textbook-inspired lesson to create a harmonious system of lessons which encourage creativity, ingenuity, moral and ethical superiority as well as establishing a sense of community and humanistic advocacy. The aforementioned aspects which define the purpose of schooling may appear to be rather complicated determinations in terms of carrying out educational responsibilities. Should the instructor be regarded as more than an administrator of various study domains and be expected to conform to a role of social mentor and psychological counsellor? In many respects, a competent instructor should be well-equipped with generic knowledge of what drives human motivation from a psychological perspective and understand the basic mechanics of social and group systems. Understanding the foundational personality and behavioural characteristics which might be expected from most students would likely create a connection which moves beyond that of simple instructor and attentive pupil relationships. Several authors offer their view of the educational system as one that “interacts with the external environment” and should be concerned with the needs of community citizens when developing an appropriate learning curriculum (Cheng, Ng & Mok, 2002: 19). This view recognises schooling as the provision of business and social outputs which must be congruent with the needs of the external environment. This view of schooling further supports the notion that appropriate schooling is derived of diversified instructors able to manage both academic learning and generic psychology to provide society with well-rounded professionals with a talent for personal restraint, job role creativity, a reinforced moral and ethical system as well as effective socialisation skills necessary to function competently in modern society. Under the assessment that the purpose of schooling is to create an environment where promoting multiple learning (outside of the textbook) is the desired outcome, these demands would place considerable pressures on today’s educational faculty in regards to maintaining credentials in multiple disciplines of knowledge. Further, many of these behavioural characteristics are difficult to measure as it is relatively common knowledge that many organisations today find considerable difficulty in reliability and validity in relation to psychometric testing instruments designed to measure personality and behavioural characteristics of people. Despite the difficulties, it is vital that some measure of instructor capacity in relation to competence in ethical development, psychological reinforcement techniques or other appropriate non-textbook knowledge would develop the students necessary to succeed in complicated organisational environments. The ethic and morality of schooling There is a recurring theme in a wide variety of literature which emphasises the importance of the moral and ethical lesson in relation to multiple areas of society. For instance, one notable academic organisation describes the essential importance of values-based instructors by highlighting criteria which requires instructors to “continuously examine their own beliefs, values and assumptions” as part of the university’s focus on ethical competence (Delaware Department of Education, 2003: 19). The instructor should be equipped to recognise that his or her long-standing historical beliefs are often challenged by modern discovery, thus today’s lessons offered as fact might be tomorrow’s fiction. Always maintaining a flexible curriculum or standard by which any assumptions will be allowed to be challenged will likely aid or hinder a student’s desire to flex their unique creativity and basic contribution to classroom activities. It is a moral and ethical responsibility to allow for creative interpretation in appropriate situations, thus making the instructor adaptable and willing to explore secondary alternatives as a matter of daily instructional behaviour. Furman (2004) offers the concept of moral authority as a teaching tool as a means to promote concepts such as personal accountability and devotion to practice. The outcome of moral authority in practice is cited as maintaining the ability to transform communities and promote a sense of community service in all students (Furman, 2004: 215). These transformations would likely occur as a product of character modeling whereby the student observes similar moral behaviours and reactions and begins to adopt these characteristics. If the academic organisation is unified in delivering this message throughout the entire staff, the concept of morality and society can be observed in practice as a matter of positioning the university as a leader in upstanding and highly ethical outbound graduates. This unique belief in schooling as a culmination of activities bordering on social and psychological learning represents an evolution based on historical viewpoints of education. A rather primitive view of education would be one in which the textbook is the primary focus of all curriculum-related activities and little, if any, extension of lessons exist. However, with the development of the learning programme, new concepts and ideas are disseminated in relation to various domains of understanding. Instructors inspire with lessons on philosophy and literature, providing the proverbial fuel necessary to consider and explore alternative solutions. The evolution of modern business principles which often focus heavily on human resources functions as a pivotal role in business successes would tend to reinforce the notion that instructors must provide environments conducive to problem-solving and creative ingenuity in order to provide society with competent professionals or citizens. This growing trend toward the necessity of understanding what drives behaviour and which factors drive motivation in both the public and private world serve as the catalyst for the evolved view of the purpose of schooling. The ideal educational environment School as a personal haven for learners would be the primary, desired educational environment for promoting high quality education. It is relatively common knowledge that students, today, face significant pressures in terms of learning expectations, complex social relationships and family issues of variating scope and dimension. Though for some students the educational process is the completion of obligatory requirements, for others the process of learning is a personal motivation for achievement and the pursuit of knowledge. The ideal educational environment for the motivated learner should consist of an appropriate system of mental and professional health counsellors and educators who are trained to recognise various behavioural patterns in students through psychological training. Additional to the recommended faculty hierarchy are instructors who are well-versed in ethics and similar philosophical understandings with the dynamic personality to carry out functional debates on the appropriateness of various social situations or cultural beliefs. The safe haven recommendation would be designed to illustrate a sense of welcoming and self-promotion where complicated, external social issues are not on the forefront of the learner’s mind as they are inspired to remain focused on the coursework or lesson at hand. Various stakeholders, today, likely exert various pressures on senior school administration in terms of providing quality academic products and rewarding educational environments. Establishing new standards of selection criteria for instructors to ensure they are equipped with fundamental lessons in humanities studies, psychological studies, and other varieties of moral and ethical programming would only serve to validate selection efforts and reinforce the school’s integrity. As a function of risk control, redeveloped selection criteria would be a rational measure to instill new values in a socially- and cognitively-rewarding educational environment. Garman & Piantanida (1996) suggest that a haven-focused learning organisation tends to instill perceptions of control through making learning a wholly-lived experienced. The ideal school environment should also consist of personal communications courses which deal with more than the theoretical elements of what dictates a quality presentation but that which reinforces the art of diplomacy from a practical, junior level perspective. Courses in negotiation and similar theoretical curricula can teach the fundamentals of balance versus counterbalance or how to draw in that final sale through marketing foundations, however the element of human connection is missing from these course varieties. With the assumption in mind that the most appropriate definition for the purpose of schooling is to create a sense of moral and ethical wisdom, would not a more intimate, cross-cultural communications course mandate be appropriate to instill elements of community and cultural leadership? Whether the individual’s personal programme of learning involves mathematics, sciences or literature, or maintaining an understanding of what drives competent discussion amongst various demographic groups would instill the community values necessary to achieve the growing social expectation of schooling as more than a function of textbook idolisation. The embodiment of the ideal school would also consist of a flexible hierarchy of regulation and control whereby instructional leaders are able to mould a curriculum based on various observed or measured student capabilities. If a particular group has shown marked proficiency in mathematics over most student groups, allow the curriculum to be outlined according to unique group or individual talent and competency. Though the fundamental lessons of the course outcomes are delivered, this would likely create instructor perceptions of increased autonomy, creating an outward display of enthusiasm in their unique job role functions. From a student’s observational perspective, the long-term impact of witnessing these behaviours could inspire the student to absorb the lesson and ease burdens on senior-level expectations for student achievement. Flexible hierarchies of leadership would also narrow the scope of authority between educational ranks, reducing some of the likely bureaucracies which exist in any structured organisation today. Limitations caused by various organisational policies (those not within legal scope and responsibility) should be consistently reviewed and debated as to whether they are still appropriate for the changing educational environment. The timely and accurate delivery of education will be paramount in order to instill complex lessons in the learner, thus eliminating redundant layers of management should reduce response time between staff and supervision. The benefit of a flexible command hierarchy as part of the ideal environment is not only feasible but, if coordinated effectively, would work to satisfy the more strategic elements of higher education planning and budgeting. Conclusion The purpose of schooling is to provide superior lessons in academics whilst balancing learning on a multitude of disciplines. Moral and ethical values are something which can be reinforced through the faculty population so long, it seems, as the instructor is willing to assess their own, unique viewpoints of what constitutes right or wrong and the proverbial black or white closely associated to social knowledge. With instructors being demanded to carry higher credentials than merely their concentrated domain of study and society demanding more upright and ethical business leaders and citizens, clearly the purpose of schooling is to deliver communities an individual who is equipped to be a dynamic leader and a creative innovator both in thought and process. Creating the ideal learning environment is likely not as difficult as it might seem from an implementation and assessment perspective. Identifying the key factor which is most congruent to the purpose of schooling, recruiting and selecting the appropriate staff members, and creating a unified, organisational vision of upstanding citizenry as a portion of higher learning is the solution to creating well-adjusted and competent adults. Assessment of whether these recommendations are accomplishing their intended purpose would be measurable in student achievement scores as well as an assessment of the graduate post-employment. Clearly, the purpose of schooling is to help individuals balance emotion, integrity, and community so as to benefit society from virtually every conceivable angle. Bibliography Cheng, Y., Ng, K.H. & Mok, M.M. (2002). “Considerations in education policy making: A simplified approach”. The International Journal of Educational Management. Bradford. 16(1): 18-20. Delaware Department of Education. (2003). “Leadership for Learning: Domain of Continuous Improvement”. Retrieved 9 Nov 2008 from http://www.doe.k12.de.us/ess/files/LeadershipforLearningBook10808.pdf Furman, Gail C. (2004). “The ethic of community”. Journal of Educational Administration, Armidale. 42(2): 215. Garman, N.B., PhD. & Piantanida, M., PhD. (1996). “Introduction to Active Learning”. Module Guide, University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 9 Nov 2008 from http://www.pitt.edu/~ginie/bosnia/pdf/active_learning.pdf Read More