Strategic Management as Key to Improve the Quality of Education

Abstract

Strategic management and Leadership are both issues of central importance in raising achievement in schools and colleges and thus are at the heart of the educational debate today. This book is concerned with such major issues as: the nature of strategic management in education; the importance of vision, and mission; styles of leadership; models of educational management; and the purposes of strategic management, which here are equated with the effectiveness and improvement of the institution. It will be invaluable for students of educational management, such as those following master’s degrees. It is also directly relevant to teachers and lecturers and schools of all phases and in further education colleges. During the last decade education systems have been undergoing a long process of restructuring from a model of educational management that was deeply rooted in the past to a strategic management model that is focused on the future. The present study aims to make a contribution in this direction. Firstly, we review the current scenario of change, and explore sustainable improvement in education as priority objective in educational management, making it clear that the most signi cant changes are those that are focused on improvement and on the educational establishment itself. Secondly, after finding that at both national and international level there is a growing consensus in the research about the existence of certain key elements that are necessary in order to achieve this improvement these being strategic educational management and effective educational leadership we describe the distinctive characteristics and the main components of this type of management in education. The paper ends with several implications for improving educational practice. In particular, some basic competences for the professionalization of educational management are outlined.