Fundamentals of Administration Curriculum and Supervision Essay Example for Free

Fundamentals of Administration Curriculum and Supervision Essay Introduction Administration curriculum and supervision in education developed out of the desire to run schools under laid down skills, rules and guidelines. This was supposed to be carried out by professors and educational practitioners. In the 18thcentury this process was governed by professionally unskilled men from the local community. The administration process in education is comprised of government officials in charge of education that is from the ministry o education, the professors, curriculum developers and designers, heads of schools and the teachers’ staff. The curriculum involves stakeholders in education, professors and teachers. Supervision consists of almost the members in administration with others like inspectors and invigilators. These are charged with the role of monitoring the implementation of programmes in schools. (Doll, W. E. 1993) In this paper am concerned with the fundamentals of administration that is main the main areas of responsibility in administration, challenges that leaders face in education, the curriculum in the American society and the supervision process in education as well as problems encountered in supervision in schools. The three factors are important in the education system because schools are run by programmmes, set of rules and guidelines which can only be done by administrators, curriculum developers and supervisors. Fundamentals of administration Administration is used to mean governance or a body of rules regulations and programmes that guide the running of an organization. In the education context it is the management in schools or educational institutions. This process is very important since it facilitates effectiveness and efficiency in planning and running school programmes. There are several departments in the sector of education and just like any other organization it needs experts in different fields to perform the function of governance. In my opinion the various main areas of responsibility in administration are as follows: The area of selection of content, which can also be referred to as leaning activities. Education in any society is supposed to mould learners to become useful members to the society and develop the culture of that particular society. Therefore administrators have the responsibility to ensure that what is placed in the curriculum is useful and will enable students achieve the objectives and goals of that education system. This is the reason why administrators in education should be professionally equipped with knowledge and skills so as to enable the come up with sensible decisions in education. (Marshall and Oliva2006) Selection and recruitment of personnel in education sector is yet another area that calls for administration. In the modern world unlike in the past, selection of experts to run and play different roles in education is supposed to follow some rules and qualifications of the candidates. The modern world is full of advancements and inventions especially in technology, thus during recruitment some criteria has to be developed by experts already in administration so that competence is maintained throughout in education. The administration plays the responsibility of selecting students to join various levels of education. It does this by setting up standards for students and schools. Selection of resources and materials to meet the needs of students is done by the decision makers which is still the administration from the governmental level down to the school level. It is the decision makers in government who decide the sum of funds to be allocated to the education sector after the budget has been drawn for a state. (Ann, M. 2008) Administration is also concerned with the factor of standards of performance that is the evaluation process. Education can never be complete without measuring the outcome in students the teaching methodologies and the curriculum used, because of this there is need to set up standards in evaluating these programmes. Evaluation brings about improvements, it helps to identify and eliminate unproductive programmes. In students it is for motivational reasons for guidance and counseling as well as grading them. (Marshall and Oliva 2006) Administration is also in involved in the field of certification and employment whereby after completion of a course students graduate to the next higher level or they join the job market. During this time of going to other levels they are given certificates according to their performance and qualifications. The administration is able to certify by checking the standards of summative evaluation especially the examiners, they are also included in the body of administrators. (Perry, M. 2000) Challenges that leaders face in school administration. The quality of administrators and teachers(trainers). These are the professors ,government officials and teachers in schools . The quality is low meaning hat the level of output will be low because they lack skills and competence, This leads to poor performance. It is evident in the field of technology where teachers lack skills in new innovations like the use of digital technology in education system (. Ann, M. 2008). The problem can be responded to by establishment of training centres for administrators and teachers. This will help to prepare them with necessary skills like the information and technology as well as presentation skills. There should encourage workshops seminars and conferences to enable administrators to share ideas on leadership and learn from one another through the interactions. By so doing I feel the administration will notice some improvements in its performance. The issue of low performance is also an obstacle in the education system which leaders face Low performance in the school system is as a result of factors like indiscipline among the learners and the school staff, violent behavior in the school and the low quality of teachers who cannot deliver. In learners indiscipline consist of drug abuse absenteeism from school and so on. While indiscipline administrators, teachers and the other school staff are those who fail to perform their duties alcoholics and lack respect towards their co-worker. This problem can be dealt with through guidance and counseling programmes in schools to rehabilitate especially the drug addict victims. Parent should also be involved in correcting the indiscipline children. I suggest that institutions should also come up with firm rules and regulations concerning indiscipline cases, and then a friendly relationship should be maintained between teachers and students to avoid rebellions in schools because students will feel free to express their feelings. The gap between the advantaged and the disadvantaged is yet another challenge that leaders face in school. This is a barrier in provision of equitable resources in education The well off families are able to provide quality education for their children while the less fortunate lack opportunity to access this education because of lack of resources. This can be solved by measures being put in place to provide education to all regardless of the inequalities in the society and the cultural imperialism. Ann, M. (2008) has explained this issue this means that the government should intervene to provide social justice in the society. Poor leadership and weak management in schools is another big issue of administration in schools. This comes about because of lack of leadership and managerial skills among the people who are given the responsibility to lead and manage schools. Misappropriation and embezzlement of funds and resources is as a result of poor leadership. Due to this the are unnoticeable developments and improvements in schools with weak leadership because the administration misuse funds allocated to schools to meet the learners needs hence performances go drop as the essential needs of students are not provided which affects them negatively. The above problem can be avoided through training leaders in schools to gain leadership and managerial skills to assist them in planning and organizing the programmes in schools and wise budgeting of school basic needs and materials. Leaders should also set up boards to supervise the handling of finance and school resources so that the school administration becomes accountable to the expenditures made this will ensure transparency and accountability in the school management. (Ann, M. 2008) Curriculum in the modern society. Curriculum can be defined as well planned and systematic programmes that enable the process of education to achieve various aims and objectives. Marshall and Oliva (2006). In trying to understand curriculum one needs to have an understanding of these factors. Epistemology where by one has to know what type of knowledge is contained in curriculum and what is to know. The political side of curriculum is who controls selection of knowledge that should be included in the society. Curriculum can be said to be a cultural construction . This is supported by the postmodern theory . The postmodern vision of curriculum research and classroom practices can lead to a just, caring and ecologically sustainable culture In regard to the constructive curriculum Doll (1993) said that â€Å"Being alert to the implications of historical sedimentations in language we use is no destruction. Curriculum can be viewed as a body of knowledge, however this should not make one to take it as syllabus because this perspective tends to take the traditional text book approach as a body of knowledge it makes sense because this makes education to be a process by which knowledge is delivered to learners. People who take curriculum as syllabus are likely to limit themselves in planning content. Curriculum is expected to promote social justice in education. The post modern theory tries to challenge the foundationalism, realism and essentialism that have led to discrimination in respect to race gender and culture because they limit their scope to traditional quantitative beliefs in postmodern theory that will fight gender, cultural and racial discrimination in the modern theory of education. Postmodern argues that it is not easy for a teacher to be called a teacher without being a learner . This is a very important point. Teacchers should be willing to learn from this process of teaching because learning is a life long process. Modern theory assumes that teachers know everything. However there is an argument that learning is a life long process and it will never be complete. (Ann, M. 2008) Supervision in education. It is the process of checking and monitoring the implementation of the curriculum. For example the curriculum developers supervise curriculum implementation and curriculum evaluation. Experts in this section ensure that the curriculum plans, materials and equipment are in good condition. The examination boards supervise administration of exams in schools. They facilitate the setting, moderation and marking as well as the grading of students and the schools. (Sergiovanne, J. 2006). The government is also involved in supervision in education through the ministry of education which takes care and checks maintenance of educational standards in a state. It ensures that all laid down procedures in education are followed and the standards attained. Supervisors in education like any other field need to be trained to acquire necessary skills in supervision. These include skills in setting priorities handling responsibilities communication and other important skills in a profession (Perry, M. 2000) Problems of supervision in schools. The supervision section just like administration they have common challenges which they face since they are both dealing in management of the education system. The major challenge that supervisors face is scarcity of resources and funds to facilitate their functions. There is high demand from the schools for resources to meet the materials and resources required in education especially in trying to provide for the disadvantaged population. This constraint gives supervisors hard time in dealing with the available resources. The gap in the society of poor and rich ,the social injustices are also challenges facing supervisors as well as misappropriation of funds by the authority to schools and lack of skills by some personnel which means poor performances in that field and interference from the government officials. ( Sergiovanne, J. 2006) Conclusion The education system is organized into various programmes and for this process to achieve a success it has to be run by experts in different sections, these administer and supervise the process while the content or learning activities carried out in schools are what we refer to as the curriculum. References Perry, M. (2000) Walking the Line: The Art and Practice of Anti-Racism Teaching for Social Justice. New York: Amazon. Sergiovanne, J. T. (2006). Supervision: A Redifination. New York: Amazon. Doll, W. E. (1993). A post-modern perspective on curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press. Ann, M. D. (2008) Sustainability: a leadership issue. Retrieved on 6th June, 2008 from http://www. sustainabilityaleadershipissue. blogspot. com Marshall, C. Oliva, M. (2006). Leadership for Social Justice: Making Revolutions in Education. New York: Pearson Books.