Strategic Planning for Education - Literature review Example

Running Head: Strategic Planning For Education Strategic Planning For Education Name Course Lecture Date Strategic planning According to Al-Hariri (2007), Strategic planning is the process of ensuring an organization’s operation fit its marketing opportunities. In this regard, Strategic planning for school can be defined as the process of making sure school activities are aligned with the goal of producing candidates who fit what the society wants in terms of skills, attitudes, and their ability to react to the society’s challenges. A more fitting definition of strategic planning in education is by Morrill (2007) which defines strategic planning as a “means by which the most effective organizations establish priorities and goals and coordinate their efforts to anticipate, direct, and manage change fundamental to organizational challenges”. Strategic planning enables organization’s advance their vision and mission through setting of objectives, goals and priorities which later become initiatives with some outlined outcomes enabled by strategic resource allocation, and commitment to assessment and reporting. Why is strategic planning useful for RRR city’s schools Debate continues to rage in the Arab world about the low quality of education while investment in education remains the highest in the globe. The debate question why Arab nations are not able to offer high quality education equal to the task of ensuring its populations enjoys a high quality life in the futures. According to Maroun et al (2008), the level of literacy among communities around the globe has been rising presenting a challenge to countries where achievement remains low. Therefore it is imperative for Saudi Arabian and other educational planners in Arab countries to ensure the quality of education is in line with global averages. Arab countries are trying to model the success of Singapore in the Republic of Korea in the improvement of educational quality. The Saudi Arabian government in acknowledgment of future skill challenges to its citizens launched the 10-year strategic plan in 2004 which include educational quality as a key pillar (Maroun et al, 2008). Jordan which started strategic education planning in the 1980 has shown remarkable progress and ranks far above countries which are realized the need for strategic planning recently Mohammed (Ahmed and Siddiek, 2012). The UAE also announced its educational strategic plan on April 2007. The motivations for adopting these long-term strategies reflect the importance of strategic educational planning in the three countries (Maroun et al, 2008): Strategic planning in education is needed to handle present and future demand for education which is increasing at all levels. The socioeconomic environment is changing with local graduates faced with competition from expatriates as a result of liberalization of labor markets. Strategic planning in education allows educational plan to be aligned with the government's developmental goals. Strategic planning may also allow the Saudi Arabian government to gain a more reasonable rate of return on educational investment. According to Maroun et al (2008), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia spends more on education than any other government in the world. According to Maroun et al (2008), the figures are comparable to developed countries where the quality of education is much higher. However, the kingdom is yet to achieve the desired results in educational quality and achievement. According to Maroun et al (2008), the Education Development Index 2004 shows that the UAE and Saudi Arabia were ranked 90th and 97th respectively in terms of educational achievement. It is obvious the high educational investment by the two governments have not translated into improvement in the quality of education. Marian et al (2008), reports that between 2000-2004 illiteracy levels in Oman, UAE, and the Saudi Arabia averaged 24 percent. In comparison literacy levels in Argentina and Singapore were 3 and 7 per cent respectively. Strategic planning seems to have benefited Jordan whose literacy levels were 14 per cent lower than Saudi Arabia. Tertiary institution enrollment levels in Saudi Arabia are also very low in comparison to other countries. In 2004, the average enrollment level of tertiary institution was at a depressing 23 per cent in the Gulf Cooperation Countries. In comparison, Canada and the Republic of Korea recorded 57 and 89 per cent enrolment levels respectively (Maroun et al, 2008). While the Saudi Arabian government expected its expenditure in education to create a new generation to take over the employment opportunities occupied by expatriates this did not materialize (Maroun et al, 2008). However, unemployment rates among Saudi nationals have remained at a high of above 12 per cent in comparison to a non-national and national combined rate of 3.0 per cent (Maroun et al, 2008). Unemployment trends for Saudi Nationals were expected to continue rising in comparison to nationals of developing countries. While other factors account for high unemployment rates among Saudi nationals, the most prominent is lack of skills. Other factors include high salary demands and lack of motivation to work. The private sector is concerned about the skill shortage needed to transform the economy. According to the private sector the operating model and infrastructure of the education systems needs to be transformed if the Saudi Arabia population is to compete with other highly educated populations around the world (Maroun et al, 2008). Business leaders feel the Saudi educational system is unable to respond to the changing capital demands in the immediate business environment (Maroun et al, 2008). Abundance of skills those are not-aligned with the needs of employers show lack of focus on market needs of the curricula. Recent reports say allege that for foreign Pharmaceutical workers to be replaced tens of thousands of qualified Saudi Pharmacy graduates are needed (Maroun et al, 2008). To improve its economic competitiveness the Saudi Government should focus on improving the quality of its education system. Strategic planning, as applied in the RRR city’s school is a step that will enable Saudi Arabia realize better outcomes for its investment in education. A country’s educational system is very important to the growth and development of the country’s economy. It is a reflection of the country’s social and economic development. It is also an anchor for development as seen in some countries with a highly skilled workforce. In the views of Alzboon and Hasan (2012), strategic planning is critical for the success of any investment in education. In contemporary society, education is a contributing factor to the depth in human resources and knowledge, and it impacts the ability to conduct research positively resulting in excellence and quality. SP avails criteria for measuring the level of development and growth at all the educational levels of a nation. Strategic planning is essential for all educational operations at all school levels (Al-zboon and Hassan, 2012). As a tool SP enables educational institutions achieve desired results in their various educational outcomes. A student’s education and achievement of the desired industry skill is a long process that begins once a student is admitted at the most basic level of education. Similarly, their teachers also need critical skills and qualification which are also acquired over a long period of time. Therefore, to fulfil both the educational requirements of students and teachers, a strategic plan executed over a long period of time is needed. Through an SP a school has a clear vision to focus on in terms of performance. The Schools management and utilization of resources is focused on achieving the objectives set out in the strategic plan. According to Bryosn& Farnum (2005) as cited in Al-Zboon & Hasan (2012), pp.809-810, a schools long term planning is related to the school’s vision, and a visualization of the schools competitive environment, the strategic curricula utilized in management and execution of educational programs and operations, the total management operations and services. Thus through a SP a future visualization of education and learning is established. Through SP, methods to expand and organize educational resources in order to achieve learning priorities for children are also availed. According to Alhariri (2007) a strategic plan helps in the realization of a safe and effective school environment. SP impact the development and implementation of curriculum, teaching and learning methods to be adopted in realizing the schools vision. In the views of Alhariri (2007) SP in education enable schools adopt to a continuously changing environment, and the explosion of knowledge and technical needs in contemporary society. A study in Melbourne, Australia to investigate the improvement in the Early Childhood development schools revealed the advantages of strategic planning. According to Al-Zboon & Hasan (2012), the executive plans, academic programs and projects which were part of strategic planning played a pivotal role in the creation and enhancement of supportive educational environment. The study reveals that children in schools that had implemented strategic plans were more creative, and had better developed concepts of continuous education to achieve life’s goals. The students also had elevated value systems and behaved in ways that could increase educational achievement. Administrative activities, services and total educational operations also witnessed major improvements. While performance in education settings is hard to measures, a strategic plan provides objectives which can be used as references by institutions to access their accomplishment and progress. According to Salazar (2002), the objectives contained in strategic plans convert an institutions values, mission and vision into tangible outcomes which can be measured. In a study in the USA, the importance of strategic planning to the professional development of schools administrators was shown (Salazar, 2002). The study concluded that strategic planning aimed at achieving better results in school management factors in the professional needs of its school directors. For school directors to be effective managers of strategic plans, they need to develop strategic planning skills and training before strategic plans can be introduced into their schools. According to Grumdahl (2010), there are some important concepts that enable the effective strategic planning that can result in development and enhancement of student’s education. In the three US schools sample in the Grumdahl (2010) study improvement in academic achievement were found after the application of comprehensive quality management strategic plans. The Grumdahl (2010) viewed the establishment of a culture that support strategic planning as critical for the success of a strategic plan. How is SP already practicing at RRR’s schools? The importance of strategic planning is not apparent to all schools. Therefore, the level of application of strategic planning around the world varies greatly (Ziad, 2007). In most schools strategic planning is applied at a minimal degree. This minimal application brings about a question concerning the level of preparedness of some countries in applying the concepts of strategic planning to their educational institutions. It is also pertinent to consider whether employee in educational institutions have the professional qualification to understand the role of strategic planning in educational institutions. According to Maroun et al (2008), Arab higher educational institutions rank lowly in global educational circles. Arab universities make little contribution in research publication and the educational outcomes of their students are poor. A trace of TQM practices reveal that Arab institution have low uptake of strategic planning processes (Ziad, 2007). In the views of Ziad (2007), it is important for Arab educational institution to apply strategic planning processes such as TQM. Sawhel (2012) quoting the 2012 report of global competitiveness reports the poor performance of Arab nations when it comes to quality of education. Egypt ranked 135, while Yemen was 142 out of the 142 countries whose educational quality was sampled. Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic ranking of World universities reported that only four Arab universities were ranked among the 500 best universities in the world (Sawhel, 2012). These universities were the Cairo University in Egypt and three Saudi Arabian universities: the King Abdulaziz University, the King Saud University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and minerals. Arab education has been characterised as low quality and dubious research undertakings. This can be linked to lack of quality management strategies among education and school administrators through the Arab World. According to (Mohammed &Siddiek, 2012), the quality of education in the Arab world from pre-school right up to college is a major headache for education planners and educationalists. In the Al Qsheori (2007) study conducted in the Republic of Yemen, the absence of strategic school management is apparent in a study. The study was conducted to access high school directors application of strategic planning in the governance of the educational institutions they headed in the Adan Governorate. Al Qsheori (2007) noted the school directors in the Adan Governorate had a weakness in formulating plans, evaluating them and giving adequate follow-up to ensure the plans succeeded. A study in the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan revealed poor application of strategic planning in the running of Jordanian high School. The AlAbsi (2004) was conducted to develop a guide for the application of strategic planning in Jordan. The study revealed that most Jordanian High schools continued to rely on traditional short-term planning methods. In another Arab country; Turkey, the adoption of strategic planning has been picking pace in recent times (Efendioglu and Karabulut, 2009). Although more people appreciate the role of strategic planning in organizational success, application levels in the developing economy of Turkey remain low. According to Efendioglu and Karabulut (2009) study in Turkey, foreign firms are more ready to adopt strategic planning than their local counterparts. However local Turkish firms are now involving their top management teams in strategic planning and allocating more resources to the process. Similarly, it is expected that Saudi Arabian schools have reacted to the strategic planning like Turkish firm, but uptake of strategic planning practices is likely to improve with passage of time. Despite emphasis on the need and importance of strategic planning in educational institution, few leaders have been able to produce good results through strategic planning (Mohammed and Siddiek, 2012). For now, research on strategic planning in Saudi Arabia and the whole Arab Gulf region remains scarce. How could SP best be implemented at RRR’s schools? Article 26 of the United Nations General Assembly’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights focuses on the need to improve the quality of human capital around the globe. RRR city’s school can adopt the framework to drive educational reforms in its jurisdiction based on the three critical dimensions (Maroun et al, 2008); 1. Educational institutions where social and economic priorities are reflected by the educational strategy and goals; 2. An operating environment where educational institutions, operating entities and funders are committed to ensuring sustainability of education goals. 3. A quality infrastructure to ensure good outcomes for students including quality instructors and curricula, assessment and performance measures that are reliable and an excellent learning environment. According to Maroun et al (2008), any strategic plan that ignores any of the three critical dimensions at the expense of other is likely to fail from the onset. It is important for planners to adopt a plan whose holistic following can guarantee success. Each dimension of these framework remains inextricably linked with the others. According to the ability of a country to connect the three dimensions is critical in delivering higher student achievement and higher skill levels. Maroun et al (2008) argues that countries like Singapore that realized the potential in strategic educational planning were given the tag “miracle country” and their GDP has been growing in leaps since the 1960s. School is the basic educational institution in any countries; it plays an important part in moulding the character of a student, and assist in transforming his energy to useful and marketable skills. Successful management of change in an educational setting is critical in realization of the desired goal. This aspect makes school administration an integral part of the strategic planning of educational administration. School administrators reflect the reaction of the whole institution to strategic plans. According to Abu Nasser (2008), the acceptance of strategic plans by school management is critical in determining the success of such plans. Leadership in Strategic Planning The success of strategic planning at school depends on the presence of effective leadership at the school. The school director should be the head of the strategic team at the school. As a leader he should provide a clear vision of the strategic plan based on co-operation, commitment, regulative and management efficiency and loyalty (Salazar, 2002). As a leader, A school directors should be acutely aware of the opportunities, amount of risks and threats that follow any changes in the way the school is run . Leaders are critical in the management of both material and human resources essential in the achievement of the objectives of the strategic plan (Morrill, 2007) According to Hager (2006) the success of strategic planning at educational institutions is dependent on the type of administration that runs the institution. The administration’s ability to drive the strategic goals within the predetermined timeline is critical for success of the educational institution. Throughout the stages of planning, organization, directing and monitoring of plan, great effort, creative thinking and commitment are required of the school administrators. School directors are faced with a demanding work schedule where they have to make many complex decisions. Administrators must manage their time in a way that gives priority to issues that need their attention in order for strategic planning to succeed. A school administrator is in charge of an environment that is always in flux; he has to deal with high stakes testing issues, he has to be in meetings, respond to phone call and emails and is also in charge of student discipline within the school. This shows that most of the time for school administrators is taken up by operational duties leaving little time to focus on strategic plans. It is therefore imperative for school principals to know how to manage time in order to give time to strategic issues. Abu Nasser (2011) observed that people are normally surrounded by circumstances and people that demand their attention and undermine their effectiveness throughout the day. In a number of studies on strategic planning in school governance, Abu Nasser (2011) found that school principals spent most of their time on instructional leadership issues. Abu Nasser (2011) points at poor planning and a weak concept of responsibility as the main causes of school leadership focus on instructional leadership. It views of Abu Nasser (2011), strategic focus should be an integral part of the job requirement of a school principal. According to Abu-Nasser (2011) in Saudi Arabia school principals still lack strategic focus; this is despite significant government support in term of resources. The effectiveness of school administrators is critical in improving educational processes and achieving good student outcomes. An effective strategic plan should include school administrators in the formulation, planning, organization, follow-up and evaluation stages of strategic development. Madbouli (2001) is convinced that giving schools greater autonomy in developing and executing their strategic plans is the best approach to application of strategic plans to UAE and Arabian Gulf educational institutions. However, the lack strategic focus associated with principals and school directors will be an obstacle if schools were granted autonomy to develop and implement their own strategic plans. According to AlAbsi (2004) there is a leadership gap in educational institutions which needs to be addressed in order for any educational plans to be successful. AlAbsi (2004) offered educational guides that can assist in implementing strategic planning in schools. The Ministry of Education in Jordan has shown strategic focus by planning a child’s path through the educational institution from an early age (Al-Zboon & Hasan, 2012). The ministry of education in Jordan is currently running the 2009-2013 strategic plans. According to Al-Zboon and Hasan (2012), the Jordanian strategic plan is focused on meeting current educational system challenges as well as those that are likely to arise in the future. Jordan’s strategic plans starts at the Early Childhood education level and is built around the principles of literacy for everyone and education for life. The Jordanian ministry of education in its 2009 educational development plan is focused on enhancing strategic planning culture in Jordanian schools (Al-Zboon & Hasan, 2012). As seen earlier giving autonomy to schools to develop and execute strategic plans is critical for the success of these plans. Similarly, the Jordan ministry of education focuses on empowering school administrators to be able to develop and execute strategic plans (Al-Zboon & Hasan, 2012). The plan also aims to address the lack of strategic focus affecting school administrators through enhancement of professional capabilities and educational expertise. Through the plan Jordan aims to provide safe learning environments for students and build schools were curriculum objectives are easily achieved. According Al-Zboon & Hasan (2012) this plan will provide Jordan with an opportunity to excel in the knowledge economy as well as provide the nation with an educated population that can solve the country’s problem. Although the strategic planning process may vary from one educational institution to another, any successful model has to have five common elements (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012): 1. Vision, Mission and Values; 2. Environmental Analysis through a SWOT ((strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats); 3. Objectives; 4. Action planning 5. Monitoring. A company’s vision, mission and values exhibit a complex interrelationship which should be reflected by the company strategic plan (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012). Vision, mission and values guide the later stages of strategic planning including SWOT analysis where a school cannot consider an opportunity appropriate if it is not aligned with its vision. Vision is a visualization of what the institution wants to become in future, while vision outlines the basic purpose of the organization; what it is attempting to accomplish. On the other hand, values are an outline of the behaviours and ideals the company strives to observe. In strategic planning, the three concepts collectively provide guiding principles to the process of decision making. In this argument the vision, mission and values of RRR schools should act as the most important guidelines in the implementation of their strategic plans. In implementing strategic planning RRR schools should carry out a thorough environmental analysis. According to Nauffal and Nasser (2012), educational institutions operate in an environment with constantly changing opportunities and threats. An examination and analysis of educational institution major parts is an important precursor to strategic planning. Some of the schools major parts include staff, faculty and administrators foreign students, students from diverse backgrounds and local students who make who make up the internal environment; funders, employers, and graduate schools make-up the market for schools; public stakeholders including the media, government and local and international public; the microenvironment consisting of political, economic, social, technological and environmental factors (Cheverton 2004). Through an analysis of these factors RRR city schools can formulate goals that take advantage of opportunities in the environment and seek to meet up the challenges of operating in the environment. According to Nauffal and Nasser (2012) strategic plans can be implemented using a range of goal orientation. However, the goal must be smart, measurable, acceptable, realistic and timely (SMART) to be more accessible to action planning and monitoring the last two stages of strategic planning (Duke Corporate Education 2005). In the next phase; action planning the institution now narrows its focus to actual initiatives and strategies that facilitate the realization of the preset goals (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012). Action planning sets out the short-term actions the organization should implement to steer in the right direction in the immediate future, while focusing on more complex, evolutionary changes by delineating long-term actions (Tromp and Ruben 2004). The final phase of strategic planning involves monitoring and evaluating outcomes and accountability reporting (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012). Some of the outcomes to look out for should include increased levels of activities, how strategic plan has impacted the institution in the intended direction; level of progress also comes into consideration while evaluating strategic plans. This phase of the organization involves comparing ongoing outcomes with the strategic goals that have been delineated. This stage may involve corrective action if something is perceived to be going wrong. The implementation and success of strategic planning is dependent on “leadership, communication, and assessment” (Tromp and Ruben 2004). According to Nauffal and Nasser, (2012), it is essential to outline the role of leaders in the implementation of strategic plans. Engagement and commitment to strategic plans is thought to be dependent on the leadership style adopted in the institution. On the other hand effective communication with external and external stakeholder is key to the formulation, execution and success of a strategic plan. Past Implementation of strategic Planning at Schools One model of strategic planning used in the Lebanese American University LAU, Qatar can be used to implement the RRR strategic plan. At LAU, the president started off the strategic planning process by appointing a committee to steer the planning process (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012). The committee comprises university and faculty staff and was in charge of supervising other strategic planning sub-committees. The committees were supposed to address nine key areas were strategic initiatives and strategies could be applied. The aim of the committees was to come up with strategic initiatives and strategies aligned to the institution vision, mission and value and assist in conversion of these concepts into concrete outcomes (Lebanese American University 2005). This was the first phase of strategic planning at the LAU. For new institutions which have not previously engaged in strategic planning it is important to use the services of consulting firms. Similarly, LAU contracted a consulting firm to assists in the execution of the strategic plan (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012). The firm came in to train the university’s staff and provide guidance for the planning process. To ensure the success of the strategic plan, the university ensured that the input of various stakeholders was considered. The University executive council, and the board of international advisors were all asked to provide input on the strategic plan (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012). It was important to consider the stakeholder’s perception of the University’s external and internal analysis. Electronic surveys, meetings, and focus group sessions were some of the mechanism used by the university to collect the input of stakeholder used in formulating the strategic plan (Lebanese American University 2005). . In the second phase, the steering committee refined the draft plans to identify the level of action and effort necessary to achieve each initiative and how much it will cost the university (Lebanese American University 2005). The committee also set out measurable performance indicators that would be later compared with expected outcomes. At each phase, the Universities executive committee and a board of trustees reviewed and approved the strategic plans (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012). The LAU strategic planning process was compared with a similar initiative at a public university where strategic planning was at the department level while at LAU the strategic planning was at the institution level (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012). The two plans used five common techniques: Phase one involved outlining of institutions vision, mission, and value statements; Phase two involved environmental analysis through SWOT; Phase three delineated goals that were guided by vision, mission, and value; Phase four; outlined initiatives and strategies for converting goal into solid outcomes.; and finally an evaluation of the outcomes with accountability reporting taking precedence. At all stage of the strategic planning process it was necessary to engage all constituents of the plan to guarantee its success. Engagements of all stakeholders enable a clearer understanding of the institution’s or academic unit’s vision and mission while promoting a sense of ownership by all stakeholders (Nauffal and Nasser, 2012) A strategic vision where leaders are engaged in all the strategic planning phases in more likely to succeed as illustrated by LAU’s strategic planning process. References Abolhaija, J. (2013). 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