Popular Approaches to Educational Planning in Developing Countries
With relevant examples and illustrations, discuss some of the popular approaches to educational planning in developing countries.
Introduction
Educational planning is a worldwide practice found in both developing and developed countries. The developing countries and indeed all countries have placed a premium on education because of the persistent belief that formal education holds the key to national development and economic growth. In the light of this, the modern conception of educational planning has attracted specialists from many disciplines with each of them tending to see educational planning differently. In view of this attraction, the traditional approach to educational planning could no longer hold sway. In an attempt to find a most suitable approach to educational planning, different models have been developed by scholars. These include the social demand approach, the manpower approach, the cost-benefit approach and other remerging models. The choice of model to adopt is usually predicated on the peculiarities and other prevailing factors in a country. Generally however, scholars have tried to classify approaches to educational planning based on the level of development of a country. And this probably explains why some are called developing countries and others are developed countries.
A thorough understanding of these approaches however requires some background information or knowledge. In doing, this we shall adopt the definition of the concept of educational planning as provided by Coombs (1970), identify key planning questions, trace the history of modern approaches to educational planning, and bring out most important planning issues in developing countries with example and illustrations.
Educational Planning
Because of the ubiquitous nature of education and educational planning, several scholars have offered different definitions. For example, Coombs (1970) in a UNESCO Publication titled “What is Educational Planning “. says that:
Introduction
Educational planning is a worldwide practice found in both developing and developed countries. The developing countries and indeed all countries have placed a premium on education because of the persistent belief that formal education holds the key to national development and economic growth. In the light of this, the modern conception of educational planning has attracted specialists from many disciplines with each of them tending to see educational planning differently. In view of this attraction, the traditional approach to educational planning could no longer hold sway. In an attempt to find a most suitable approach to educational planning, different models have been developed by scholars. These include the social demand approach, the manpower approach, the cost-benefit approach and other remerging models. The choice of model to adopt is usually predicated on the peculiarities and other prevailing factors in a country. Generally however, scholars have tried to classify approaches to educational planning based on the level of development of a country. And this probably explains why some are called developing countries and others are developed countries.
A thorough understanding of these approaches however requires some background information or knowledge. In doing, this we shall adopt the definition of the concept of educational planning as provided by Coombs (1970), identify key planning questions, trace the history of modern approaches to educational planning, and bring out most important planning issues in developing countries with example and illustrations.
Educational Planning
Because of the ubiquitous nature of education and educational planning, several scholars have offered different definitions. For example, Coombs (1970) in a UNESCO Publication titled “What is Educational Planning “. says that:
Bibliography: Blaug, M. (1967). Approaches to Educational Planning. The Economic Journal Vol. 77, No 306 (June 1967) 77 262-287, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2229304 Coombs, P.H. (1970). What is educational planning?. UNESCO: International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris. http://www.unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0007/000766/07607leo.pdf Fakoya, F. O. Approaches to Educational Planning, 127669 http://www.neocgroup.com Oguntoye, A.O. and Alani, R.A. (1998): Planning Education in Nigeria: Theory and Practice. Kinsbond Inv. Ltd., Ilaro. Isave, S. G. (2011): Approaches to Educational Planning [Power Point Slides] http://www.slideshare.net/sgisave//approaches-to-educational-planning Woodhall, M. (1992). Cost-Benefit Analysis in Educational Planning, UNESCO: International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris. http://www.unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0007/000757/07575leo.pdf