CC The Journal Vol. 12 Oct. 2016 ISSN 1655-3713
Needs Analysis of Administrators as Viable Measure
Towards a Proposed Continuing Professional
Development (CPD)
Program
Dr. Amelia Cecilia S. Reyes
Dr. Carlota A. Aquino
Dr. David C. Bueno
==================================================
Abstract - The management of tertiary education plays an important role in reshaping individuals’
natural potential so as an individual would be able to contribute to the socioeconomic development of
the country. The study analyzed the training needs of school administrators at Columban College, Inc.
as a viable measure towards a proposed continuing professional development (CPD) program for
AY2015-2020. The descriptive-survey method was used to generate significant data supported by
interview and observation. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics. It revealed that the
school administrators need intensive trainings and orientation activities for the general financial rule
about receipts, loans and advances, pension, provident and benevolent fund, preparation and
consolidation of various account registry for audit on a regular basis, and as well as procedure for
maintaining capital assets of school through peer-to-peer exchanges of ideas, hands-on workshops,
structured discussions with colleagues and guest speakers. Timing of event, geography and location of
venue and personal circumstances were the identified obstacles to attendance to trainings. Minimal
training needs relative to curriculum management, human resource management and other potential
areas for professional growth were uncovered. Thus, it appeared that areas of financial and physical
resources management were highly needed by the school administrators for the next five years.
Keywords – Institutional research, training needs analysis, administrators, continuing professional
development, descriptive method, Olongapo City, Philippines
INTRODUCTION
The management of tertiary education plays an important role in
reshaping individuals’ natural potential so as an individual would be able to
contribute to the socioeconomic development of the country. Tertiary
education produces various levels of the workforce and provides crop for
higher education. Goel (2005) points out that “tertiary for the economy,
education is a period of education which follows after basic education and acts
as a foundation for graduate education. The purpose of tertiary education is to
prepare the students for obtaining graduate education or post-graduate
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training”. In fact, tertiary education is a streaming stage in formal education,
because students usually choose the future line of action for further education.
College administrators, thus, have to cater the diversified needs of the
individual students and needs of productive sectors of the economy. This
diversification of the curricula and the importance of the tertiary education
have boosted the significance of school administrators.
Tertiary education is a sub-sector of the education system and
demands amicable management, keeping in view the major objectives of
producing various level workforce for the economy and providing a pavement
for higher education “the quality of higher education depends upon the quality
of school administrators managing the academic community.
Management is the process of coordination and managing resources in
an efficient and effective manner (Robbins, 2001). According to Mathur,
(2005), management is the act, manner or practice of managing, handling, and
controlling the resources of the organization to achieve the desired output.
Management in education also supposed to manage the resources efficiently in
order to achieve maximum output.
Thus, the school could not just develop any standardized managerial
training system for administrators in general without considering inputs from
its administrative employees. The learned societies and other private and
governmental agencies usually arrange training for school heads in various
perspectives, but no specific managerial training has been designed for them
after their immediate promotion as a school administrator.
In other words management training after promotion is not mandatory
for heads of schools recognizing the importance of managerial training for
heads of schools. However, government and private agencies emphasized in inservice training of these heads of educational institutions in various national
education policies. In these reforms special attentions have been given in the
training for school based management as well as community mobilization. This
indicates recognition and strong commitment of the agencies to provide
management training to school administrators as per to their job requirements
for their capacity building.
The National Commission on Education (2009) advocated that
“administrative staff, headmasters, and subject specialists for multi-purpose
schools should receive in-service training through the education extension
centers”. Similarly, the government brought administrative reforms through
devolution of power ordinance that focuses on decentralization and
participation in decision-making at grassroots level. Consequently, the role of
school administrators has been enhanced. Being head of an institution, s/he is
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vested with the responsibility of informed decision-making, in planning,
organizing, directing and controlling the resources for the best utilization.
Govinda (2002) highlighted that school administrators are accountable
for school education programs, student support, school council and parental
involvement in the organization of schools, and community representatives of
the school in proper manners.
Advancement in informational technology and globalization changed
the scenario of the whole world. The present era of information technology
and knowledge explosion created a competitive environment for heads of
educational institutions for producing high quality of manpower for the job
market. In this regard, school administrators have to play a vital role in the
development of the society. This challenging task cannot be accomplished
unless and until a required managerial training facility is provided to them.
Govinda, (2002) further highlighted the role of heads has to create a school
environment in such manner so that uniform policy can be adopted for the
involvement of teachers and maintaining discipline in the school.
Similarly, Reddy (2006) visualizes that heads of school are in a position
to affect attitude, social climate, morale, progress, cooperation and direction of
efforts in schools. Quraishi, & Khatoon, (2008) found that “heads of school
needed training in financial management, IT skills, guidance, counseling, cocurricular activities and management skills. These empirical evidences indicate
that there is a dire need for intensive management training of heads of schools.
Similarly Azra, (1999) found that “head of schools have to solve various
problems of the schools, but they were facing shortage of teaching and nonteaching staff, proper guidance, counseling and in-services managerial training
is required”. Kandasamy, & Blanton, (2004) documented an analysis of school
administrators functions in various Asian Countries and stated various
functions of school heads “personnel management, student management,
finance management, general, administrative management, teaching
responsibilities and Logistics”. These empirical evidences show that heads
required professional training for effective implementation of government
policies regarding education.
Managerial skills are required to handle managerial tasks at institutional
level, but due to lack of professional training facility, the performance of heads
of schools are not up to the desired level.
Thus, educational management required professional standards and
expertise at various levels and particularly at institutional level, but educational
managers are not fully preparing to handle the educational matters in
professional manners. When a teacher is involved in the managerial task,
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definitely teaching responsibilities are suffering. Therefore, in the developed
countries special attention is paid for the managerial functions of the heads of
the schools so that they would be able to handle the matters of the schools
without involvement of the teachers. Recognizing the importance of training of
the heads of the teachers, Khan (2009) further proposed action “a management
cadre for education, with specific training and qualification requirements shall
be introduced. The heads shall be trained in social mobilization to involve the
community in solving problems of the schools effectively. Hence,
implementation of this proposed action is to be done by analyzing the present
scenario of management training facility and professional training requirements
of education managers in the country.
The heads of schools play a vital role in qualitative improvement and
quantitative expansion of tertiary education. Consequently, school based
management is the need of the time. So, the heads of schools have to perform
much more complex roles than ever before. The managerial tasks include;
general management of the school, academic management, human resource
management, financial management, office management and maintaining good
working relationship with the community, etc. These management tasks can be
more effectively accomplished after receiving proper management training.
Therefore, it is, important to assess the professional management training
needs of school administrators so that on the basis of some empirical
evidences managerial training program could be designed for their professional
development.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The study focuses on the analysis of training needs of administrators
towards a proposed professional development training program for AY20152020. Specifically, it aims to analyze the: (1) perceived training needs of
administrators for the next five years; (2) preferred methods of training
delivery; (3) obstacles faced by faculty members in relation to attendance to
training; and (4) professional development training program for administrators
for AY2015-2020.
METHODOLOGY
The descriptive-survey method of research was used in the study to
obtain information concerning the training needs of administrators. The
descriptive research method describes the nature of a condition as it takes place
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during the time of the study and to explore the cause or causes of a particular
condition. According to Creswell (1994), the descriptive method of research is
to gather information about the present existing condition. Since this study is
focused on the analysis of the training needs of administrators of Columban
College, the descriptive method is the most appropriate method to use. The
respondents of the study were all the administrators of Columban College as
defined in the administrative manual during the Academic Year 2014-2015.
There were two vice presidents, seven deans, twelve directors, and 2 principals
with a total of twenty-three (23) administrators. In order to define the needs
and goals of the administrative professional development training activities, a
survey-questionnaire was developed and distributed to all administrators of the
College. The aim was to identify whether there is a need for a development
training program. The survey-questionnaire was divided into various parts. Part
1 will generate the demographic profile of the administrators in terms of age,
gender, highest educational attainment, number of years in service as
administrator. Part 2 will solicit areas of training needs of administrators. Part
3 will gather information on the methods of delivery. Part 4 will determine the
obstacles in attending to training/ seminars. The researchers took into account
the ethical issues such as the confidentiality of the data gathered and the
anonymity of the respondents in the administration of the questionnaires. The
data gathered were recorded, tabulated, and analyzed by means of descriptive
statistics.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Perceived Training Needs of Administrators
The perceived training needs of the administrators are based on
financial management, curriculum management, teachers’ management, human
resource management, general management, and other potential areas for
professional development program.
1.1 On financial management, the general financial rule about
receipts, loans and advances, preparation of various account registry for audit,
financial rules about pension, provident and benevolent fund, consolidation of
accounts on monthly & quarterly basis, and procedure for maintaining capital
assets of school are really needed by the school administrators to be included
in the professional development programs. Sometimes needed are relative to
the preparation of budget for college/ department/ unit, procedures in
utilization of budget/documentation, and maintenance of records, income,
expenditures and its verification, maintenance of petty cash fund/monthly
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expenditure bills, and purchase and acquisition of store items/library books,
etc.
1.2 On curriculum management, planning curricular and cocurricular activities for curriculum implementation, involvement of
teachers/staff in developing a curriculum, procedure to review the programs
designed to launch various activities, method of curriculum evaluation, and
course and curriculum development are sometimes needed by the school
administrators.
1.3 On teachers’ management, assigning subjects to teachers
according to their professional skills, providing guidance in selecting relevant
material, providing professional guidance in solving identified problems,
evaluating and supervising the teaching method of teachers, and providing a
conducive environment for teaching learning process are identified as
sometimes needed by the school administrators.
1.4 On human resource management, job analysis of the
requirements of each employee at school, planning activities for assigning the
tasks according to job requirement, performance appraisal of teaching and
non-teaching staff, developing a professional development program/ plan,
motivating the staff for professional and career development, and assessing and
developing harmony among the professional staff are analyzed as sometimes
needed by the administrators. However, interpersonal relationship skills for
maintaining working environment, and developing harmony among teaching
and non-teaching staff are not needed by them.
1.5 On general management, projecting and setting targets for the
academic year and procedure to utilize available resources in an effective and
efficient manner are sometimes needed.
On the other hand, trainings on planning and formulation the
objectives for the institutional activities, designing strategy to achieve the
objectives, effective implementation of decisions/governments’ policies,
providing guidance to accomplish institutional tasks in time, and procurement
and Preservation of assets of school are not needed.
1.6 On other potential topics, mentoring for new faculty/ staff is
really needed for inclusion in the professional development program.
Moreover, using technology to enhance administrative functions, designing
effective assessment instruments/ tools, conducting and utilizing research and
outputs, writing research grant proposals, educational statistics (statistical data
bases, surveys, data processing, etc.), writing manuscripts and conference
proposals, books/ modules/ learning materials writing and publishing, forming
partnerships
outside
institution,
developing
effective
policy,
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community/stakeholder engagement, health and safety at work, emergency
planning, work-life balancing, records management tasks, school governance
tasks, and labor relations are sometimes needed. However, collecting
evidence needed to validate that outcomes have been met, developing
leadership skills, Improving service quality, and communication skills are not
needed.
2. Preferred Methods of Training Delivery
The most preferred mode of training delivery is peer-to-peer
exchanges of ideas/dialogue, hands-on workshops, retreats (1-2 days),
organized informal discussions with colleagues, structured discussions with
colleagues, and inviting guest speakers. However, they somewhat like the
following modes: Web-based resources (distance and self-learning based on a
set of training materials), lecture series, and international training seminars and
workshops of short duration outside the country
3. Obstacles in Relation to Attendance to Training
There are managerial and departmental supports. However, timing of
event, geography and location of venue, personal circumstances, workload,
cost, awareness of event and topics are the pressing obstacles faced the
administrators in attendance to training.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Area on financial management is the most needed training by the
administrators. Management of curriculum, teachers, human resources, and
general management are sometimes needed by them. Other potentials training
needs are mentoring for new faculty/ staff Moreover, using technology to
enhance administrative functions, designing effective assessment instruments/
tools, conducting and utilizing research and outputs, writing research grant
proposals, educational statistics (statistical data bases, surveys, data processing,
etc.), writing manuscripts and conference proposals, books/ modules/ learning
materials writing and publishing, forming partnerships outside institution,
developing effective policy, community/stakeholder engagement, health and
safety at work, emergency planning, work-life balancing, records management
tasks, school governance tasks, and labor relations are sometimes needed. The
most preferred mode of training delivery are peer-to-peer exchanges of
ideas/dialogue, hands-on workshops, retreats (1-2 days), organized informal
discussions with colleagues, structured discussions with colleagues, and inviting
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guest speakers. Timing of event, geography and location of venue, personal
circumstances, workload, cost, awareness of event and topics are the pressing
obstacles faced the administrators in attendance to training.
Areas on financial, curriculum, teachers, human resources, and general
management should be included in the continuing professional development of
school administrators. Other potentials training needs such as mentoring for
new faculty/ staff Moreover, using technology to enhance administrative
functions, designing effective assessment instruments/ tools, conducting and
utilizing research and outputs, writing research grant proposals, educational
statistics (statistical data bases, surveys, data processing, etc.), writing
manuscripts and conference proposals, books/ modules/ learning materials
writing and publishing, forming partnerships outside institution, developing
effective policy, community/stakeholder engagement, health and safety at
work, emergency planning, work-life balancing, records management tasks,
school governance tasks, and labor relations should also be taken into
considerations. Peer-to-peer exchanges of ideas/dialogue, hands-on
workshops, retreats (1-2 days), organized informal discussions with colleagues,
structured discussions with colleagues, and inviting guest speakers should be
considered by the higher administration in planning for professional
development program as modes of training. Timing of event, geography and
location of venue, personal circumstances, workload, cost, awareness of the
event and topics should be considered and addressed to minimize the obstacles
faced the administrators in attendance to training. A five-year continuing
professional development (CPD) program for administrators should be
developed by the Human Resource Department.
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