Politics of Education

1. 1. Politics of Educational Management EDUARDO B. ARDALES, Ed. D.

2. 2. Four Frames of Leadership Based on Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice,
and Leadership L.G. Bolman and T.E. Deal
3. 3. Structural Frame Human Resources Four Frames Frame Political Frame Symbolic
Frame
4. 4. Looking at organizations through four frames & metaphors 1. Structure Frame—
the factory with leadership as social architecture 2. Human Resource Frame—the
family with leadership of empowerment 3. Political Frame—the jungle with leadership
of advocacy 4. Symbolic Frame—the theatre with leadership of inspiration
5. 5. Central concepts and challenges 1. Structure—rules, roles, policies and attune to
structure, task, technology, environment 2. Human—needs, skills, relationships and
align organizational and human needs 3. Political—power, conflict, competition,
politics with an agenda and power base 4. Symbolic—culture, meaning, ritual and
create faith, meaning, beauty
6. 6. Properties of Organizations • Organizations are complex—they are populated by
people. • Organizations are surprising—expectations often differ from results. •
Organizations are deceptive—they camouflage surprises. • Organizations are
ambiguous—complex + deceptive + unpredictable = ambiguous.
7. 7. Political Frame The political frame has often been described by the word jungle. It
focuses on a variety of issues such as: • The enduring differences between groups
and individuals, • The allocation of scarce resources, • Conflict, • The balance and
uses of power, • Bargaining and negotiating • The coalitions that form within
organizations. JUNGLE
8. 8. Five Propositions of the Political Frame 1. Organizations are coalitions of various
individuals and interest groups. 2. There are enduring differences among the interest
groups. 3. Most important decisions involve the allocations of scarce resources. 4.
Goals and decisions emerge from negotiating, bargaining, and jockeying for position.
9. 9. Well-springs of Power in the Political Frame • Position power— authority •
Information and expertise • Control of rewards • Coercive power— ability to block,
punish, interfere • Alliances and networks • Access and control of agendas • Framing
the control of meaning and symbols--unobtrusive • Personal power— charisma
10. 10. Four Steps in Developing a Political Map 1. Determine the channels of informal
communications 2. Identify principal agents of political influence 3. Analyze
possibilities of internal and external mobilization 4. Anticipate the strategies that
others will employ
11. 11. Networking and Building Coalitions 1. Identify relevant relationships 2. Assess
who might resist, why, and how strongly 3. Develop, wherever possible, relationships
with opponents to facilitate communication, education, and negotiation 4. When Step
3 fails, select and implement more subtle or more forceful methods
12. 12. Thoughts on the Political Frame • Organizations are arenas. •Managers are
politicians. • Top-down/bottom-up require different political actions. • Organizations
are political agents. • Organizations are political ecosystems.
13. 13. Politics
14. 14. Politics - Definition •The term politics is derived from the Greek words 'polis,'
meaning the city. • 'Politics’, therefore meant to an ancient Greek, the science of the
city-state or pertaining to the state and the government.
15. 15. •In ancient Greece, the science, which dealt with the state and government or
with the political activities of the community, was called 'politics’
16. 16. • Today politics refers to the art of government, the art of directing or guiding the
policy of the government towards a particular goal. • In recent times, politics as the
theory of the state or of the government is almost fading away. Instead, the concept
of power has become central to the study of politics.
17. 17. Politics • Politics encompasses the activities involved in getting and using power
in public life, and being able to influence decisions that affect a country or a society. •
It includes matters concerned with getting or using power within a particular group or
organization.
18. 18. • Politics describes a system of political affairs. Politics is therefore an act
whereby someone uses his/her power or authority to influence the decision of others
to his/her advantage. • Authority in this context means the power or right a person
has to give orders to people. • Influence on the other hand is the power that
somebody has to make people behave the way he/she wants them to behave.
19. 19. •Another element of politics is interest. •Politics is a kind of game play that
involves activities which people enter into to pursue groups, personal or selfish
interest(s).
20. 20. 20 • Positive Politics • Having practical wisdom • Being prudent, shrewd, &
diplomatic • Being expedient as a plan of action • Process of gaining support •
Negative Politics • Factional scheming for power & status • Being crafty or
unscrupulous
21. 21. 21 • Politics is the study of influence and the influential • Influence is measured
on the basis of the number of shares one or a group has in the preferred values or
attributes • The more values or attributes shared, the greater the influence
22. 22. 22 Political Influence • Measured in terms of who gets the most of what there is
to get, that is the ‘elite’: • Access to people, places, things, opportunities, • Attention
from others • Deference to ideas, positions, places • Security, safety, protection from
harm or hardship • Greater financial reward • Rational Meritocracy • Being ‘elite’ is
contextual
23. 23. 23 Plain Old Influence • The ‘elite’ get the most based on the number of shared
values or attributes they possess: • Wealth • Physical Attractiveness • Skill &
Resources Information  People knowledge • Personality • History • Background
or experience • Attitude Which gets them access to:
24. 24. Political Socialization • Political values, beliefs and patterns of behavior are
acquired by the citizens of a given society through political socialization. • Political
socialization is a long developmental process through which the citizens acquire the
beliefs, feelings and information that help them comprehend, evaluate and relate to
the political world around them.
25. 25. Agents of political socialization • The agents of political socialization include • the
family, • peer groups, • school, • social clubs, • political parties, • mass media
26. 26. Agents of political socialization The Family • The family is the nucleus of the
society and it is the first point of contact between the new born-citizens and the
political system. • It is the family that teaches the child his political system, mother’s
tongue, initial religious beliefs and some societal norms. • As he grows, he starts to
learn from his parents the symbols of the community, the political parties and political
figures favored by his parents and those they dislike.
27. 27. The Family • The place of the family as an agent of political socialization is so
diffused and pervasive that one can know the political leaning or preference of a
particular family by listening to their children. • Some critics of the family as an agent
of political socialization see it as an agent of introduction rather than educating the
children. • At this early stage of growth, the child is more or less a duplicate of the
parents political orientation.
28. 28. Agents of political socialization The School • The place of the school as an agent
of political socialization can not be over-emphasized as it is a critical socializing
structure in the modern state.
29. 29. Agents of political socialization The School • The school has within its curriculum
subjects like history, geography, and social studies etc. which teach the students the
different aspect of social life and by this a comprehensive cultural transmission takes
place. • Having been exposed to the various areas and knowledge of the political
system the student can now subject to critical evaluation the values he has been
taught in the family.
30. 30. Agents of political socialization The School • The teacher stands a very good
chance to indoctrinate the student but yet the student may still emerge independent
of the preferences of his teachers since the child is now growing in maturity and also
his exposition to numerous literatures.
31. 31. Agents of political socialization The School • A typical classroom is made up of
children from different religious, social and family background. • They enter into all
forms of relationships and these inter relationship may either strengthen or weaken
their previously held political perception.
32. 32. Agents of political socialization Civic Clubs • People collaborate in order to
realize their various interests because it is easier that way. Therefore they form or
join clubs, associations, unions, religious groups etc. • All these groups of different
forms and coloration exist in all political systems and they perform socializing
functions knowingly or unknowingly.
33. 33. Agents of political socialization Civic Clubs • For example, many parents insist on
sending their children to their religious denomination schools so that they can be
taught their religious tenets. • The Catholic Church for instance preaches against
abortion, divorce and other moral vices. It advocates good moral virtues which are
necessary for the survival of the political system.
34. 34. Agents of political socialization Mass Media •This is a powerful tool of political
socialization. •With powerful and sophisticated electronic gadgets at its disposal, its
power of informing and educating the people is very efficient and effective.
35. 35. Agents of political socialization Mass Media • The media gives the day by day
happenings in the nation and with globalization what is also happening all over the
world. • The people are in contact with their leaders, the issues facing the nation, as
well as the different positions on the issues. • In contemporary politics, political
parties float mass media outfits to enable government and opposition transmit their
messages to the people.
36. 36. Agents of political socialization Political Parties • The political party is also an
important agent of political socialization because it influences a large number of the
people to be involved in the political life of the state. • With its manifestos, the party
educates the people and makes them to be aware of the range of choices available
to them. Within and through the political party, the people are instilled with
expectations, hope and love for the political system.
37. 37. Interest/ Pressure Groups • The persistence or survival of any political system
depends on the information or supports it gets from the citizenry. • This support is
provided by some people with common interest or ideology in the system that forms
themselves into groups.
38. 38. Interest/ Pressure Groups • The groups are formed to advance specific demands
and may, disappear as soon as their demands are achieved. An interest group is an
organized body of individuals that consciously come together to agitate, defend or
articulate some kind of interests common to them in the system.
39. 39. Interest/ Pressure Groups •For example, some people come together in
government, military, school, business, or even in religious organizations to agitate
for or against whenever they feel their existence or interest is being threatened or not
adequately catered for.
40. 40. Interest Articulation •Agitations expressed by interest groups are not of much use
if they are not articulated or transformed into concrete policy alternatives suitable for
rational decision making.
41. 41. Interest Articulation • Interest articulation is the method or process by which
pressure groups press their demands. •Such pressures are normally geared towards
influencing public policies in their own favor or in direction that would benefit them.
42. 42. Interest Articulation • Allowing articulation of opinion or interest in any political
system shows how democratic the system is. When individuals or groups are
permitted to air the views or opinions, however bad, the necessary vent is given to
potently prevent or discourage clandestine activities. • Conversely, bottle-up feelings
that are not expressed in groups could lead to dissatisfaction and consequently to
the eruption of violence in the society.
43. 43. Politics of Educational Management • Harold Lasswell, American political
scientist and professor of law at Yale University said, • “Politics is who gets what,
when, and how.” • Who is able to get what from the education system? • Who is able
to get what from education policy leaders? • When are different groups able to get
particular policies passed? • How are they able to have influence?