What is Educational Administration?

Education Administration as a means of achieving the goals of Education through

effective and efficient manipulation of available inputs.

Aderonmu & Ehametalor (1981) defined Educational Administration as

"essentially a service, activity or tool, through which the fundamental objectives of
the educational process may be more fully and efficiently realized".

Educational Administration is therefore concerned with the utilization of

adequate resources and the harmonization of relationships and interactions in a suitable
environment, in order to foster the attainment of the goals of teaching and learning.

In addition, Educational Administration involves prudent management of

resources and high degree of accountability on the part of organizational members.

Finally, Educational Administration broadly means running of educational

institutions, which involves guidance, leadership, and controlling of the efforts of
individuals in the achievement of the goals of the institution (Ayanniyi 1999).

Educational Administration also involves management of resources; human,

material, and evaluation or appraising the result of educational efforts.

Educational Administration is aimed at directing all activities towards the

attainment of the goals of teaching and learning. All the people working in an
educational institution will have to contribute towards the accomplishment of these
goals.
Teachers and other professional staff are involved, such as parents and lay members of
the community. Also involved are members of Schools Boards, Local Education
Authorities, Inspectors, Ministries of Education and so forth.
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION

For the purpose of becoming an effective leader or manager who is incharge of an

educational institution needs to be familiar with the theoretical concepts and best
practices relating to educational administration.
In trying to gain a good understanding of Educational Administration we have to
make certain assumptions that:
 Organizations are essential and it is impossible to avoid the influence of
different types of organizations on human life
 Administrators can perform useful functions within organizations;
 Knowledge and understanding of organizational behavior, both internal and
external could enable an administrator to act more effectively; and
 Educational organizations and their administrations have some unique
characteristics that deserve distinctive treatment.

What is the Job of an Educational Administrator?

 The basic purpose of educational administration is to enhance teaching and
learning
 Administration serves an instrumental or supportive role and not a primary role
 Many administrative activities do not deal directly with students, the relationships
of these activities to teaching and learning are not always apparent
 one considers the range of activities that a school principal is involved in, she or
he can be viewed as a generalist needing and relying on the expertise of others
 Indeed the expertise that principals need to acquire is to know how to fit the pieces
together
 Because the total program of teaching and learning, whether in the more formal
arena of a classroom or in the school as a whole, could be performed better when
it is co-ordinated effectively by the principal
 In short, principals must help shape a safe and positive environment by providing
adequate facilities and resources, so that teaching and learning is fostered more
effectively.
Functions of an Educational Administrator
There are a number of distinctive functions that an administrator should perform to
enhance teaching and learning.
These are:
 s/he should discern and influence the development of a shared vision for the
educational institution or organization that she or he leads
 S/he should articulate a shared vision and involve others in setting the goals and
developing the strategies, for the realization of the shared vision
 The goals may reside in the culture of the community and of the school or the
particular organization and, if so, they should be identified and perhaps made
explicit.
 The administrator should stimulate and direct the development of programs to
achieve the goals and purposes
 The administrator should establish the structures and processes to co-ordinate
and organize the implementation of the programs
 S/he should procure and allocate the resources needed to support the
organization and its programs
 S/he should represent the organization to groups in the local and larger community
and whenever a necessity arises mediate between the groups
This is perhaps one of the most forthright and tough functions that an
administrator is called upon to perform
 S/he should evaluate and monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of institutional
operations
Starratt (1996) argues that the work of an educational administrator is different from other
fields of administration and management, as it is shaped and directed by the core
business of teaching and learning.

Exercise 6
• Identify two major goals of Educational Administration?
• All the people working in an educational institution will contribute towards the
accomplishment of these goals. List at least four categories of such group of people?

S u m ma r y

What you have learnt in this unit has exposed you to the meaning of Administration,
the concept of 'Administration and Supervision, Types of School Supervision, the
understanding of what Educational Administration is, and a discussion of the
relevance of Motivation rid Communication to the practice of Administration.