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Mendive. Revista de Educación
ISSN 1815-7696
30--2023
Original article
An Approach to the Management of Peruvian Educational Institutions
1Universidad César Vallejo. Perú.
2 Universidad de Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca". Cuba.
The strengthening and development of the quality of pedagogical processes in Latin American educational institutions also involves consolidating the management capacity of managers and teachers. This means increasing responsibility in the institutional pedagogical process, its administration and its results. That is, to stimulate and develop institutions in order to assume the confrontation and solution of the problems concerning the processes they manage. However, inadequacies persist in the management of educational institutions that undermine the quality of the educational process and product. This article aimed to make an approach to educational management in educational institutions in Peru and its essential characteristics today. A mixed approach was employed that included content analysis of the terms administrative or school educational management and quality of education in high-visibility database publications. The focus group was used to know the opinions of teachers from the District of Lima on the educational management process. A questionnaire on educational management was answered. The population consisted of 35 teachers from the District of Lima and the sample with 23 teachers. The main results referred to the deficiencies in the theoretical and practical knowledge on educational management of teachers, despite the efforts of the state and the existence of documents and programs that favor institutional educational management. The dimensions of best results were administrative and pedagogical management, followed by institutional and community management as the most affected.
Key words: quality; education; dimensions; educational management
Introduction
The intention to offer quality education characterized by mass nature inevitably implies taking on the challenge of substantially improving the management of educational systems. Together with the concept of quality, educational management has occupied a relevant position for the last 30 years in the purpose of permanent improvement of education (Flores, 2021).
Although the universalization of the educational system in general since the end of the 19th century and, fundamentally, at the beginning of the 20th century was the basis of education in Latin America, today, more than that, a quality education characterized by for equity, diversity and inclusion; guiding idea of sociopolitical consensus when thinking about the development of regional educational systems (Benarte, et al. 2020)
The concept of quality in education has traditionally included three important dimensions (Benarte, et al. 2020). The first of them weights the learning results that are achieved as effects of pedagogical activities; The second takes into account the individual and social relevance of the content learned and what it means for personal development (axiological, physical and intellectual) and social performance. The third dimension refers to the quality of the process and its material and human resources.
So, strengthening or developing the quality of pedagogical processes in Latin American educational institutions today also involves consolidating the management capacity of directors and teachers. Which undoubtedly means increasing responsibility in the institutional pedagogical process, its administration and its results; That is, stimulate and develop institutions in order to assume the confrontation and solution of problems concerning the processes they manage.
Particularly in Peru, the director of the educational institution is the highest authority and legal representative of the same (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO]-Peru, 2011). This means high responsibility in the educational, pedagogical and administrative management processes, which in turn means achieving optimal conditions for the adequate professional performance of teachers in pursuit of quality education.
But despite the strong Peruvian neoliberal context, in the opinion of León (2020), "It is not possible to attribute the collapse of the public school to neoliberalism. When neoliberalism and its educational reforms arrived on these shores, Peruvian education was in deep long-standing crisis" (p.1).
For this scholar, it would be more convenient to search for the origin of the problem in the progressive process of elitization of Peruvian education throughout the 20th century, at the cost of the abandonment of public education; which divided Peruvian men and women between those who could provide themselves with a good education and those who could only access public school, that is, a poor education for the poor (León, 2020).
However, when referring to educational management, León (2020) associates it with the management or entry of business management models into the public domain, a situation that has been possible due to neoliberal educational reforms. As an effect, he maintains that neoliberal educational policies accuse large school systems (massiveness) of being inefficient, inequitable and with low quality results.
Given these realities, thinking about substantial changes in the quality of the educational system is complex. With all this, modernization and management are pursued efficient as a sense of improving the educational service and its quality.
For UNESCO (2011) representatives in the country, effective management involves:
[…] a series of aspects, such as planning, organization, direction, coordination and control. Therefore, the director of the educational institution must be prepared to act in all these areas and, therefore, requires strengthening his or her capabilities to perform adequately in them. (p.9)
The management category is not new; As a concept it has existed since ancient times. This is shown by León (2020) in his research results. However, the vision of educational management as a systemic organization based on the interaction of various aspects or elements present in the daily life of the school, has emerged in recent years at an international level.
The current approach includes the work of managers, teachers, students, administrative and maintenance staff, parents, the local community, etc., as well as their relationships, the issues they address and the way they do it, focused on the educational context (norms, rules and principles) as the true meaning of action. This is where the learning environments and conditions for students are generated (León, 2020; García, 2021)
Then, all these elements coexist, interact and articulate with each other, dynamically, according to their nature. In this sense, actions of a pedagogical, administrative, institutional and community nature are assumed that constitute the dimensions of educational management (UNESCO, Peru, 2011).
In practice, improvement in the quality of education services for managers and teachers is not sufficiently achieved through correct and timely feedback, which allows the flow of permanent information to management teams and positively influences decision-making. of corrective measures necessary to direct educational management with quality (Marcillo and Tomalá, 2021).
In this educational perspective, the Peruvian government has opted for the principles and political configurations of the new public management as one of the most important reforms promoted since 2000; Although it cannot be ignored that neoliberalism in education has shown a contradictory discourse in relation to the issue of urgency and speed of change (León 2020). To this end, standards and laws have been designed that regulate the progressive implementation of decentralizing management policies and accountability under the logic of results based on the achievement of student learning (Cotrado, 2020).
On the other hand, it is difficult for educational institutions to take measures that involve contextualizing the educational reality, from the active participation of all actors, including the community in which they coexist, and then, assuming the results of such management. Achieving this requires permanently keeping in mind the positive and significant correlation that exists between motivation, administrative management and the commitment of teachers to face change (Peralta et al., 2023).
That is why these authors mention that to achieve the success of administrative management in educational institutions, quality management and education processes must be integrated, which contribute to the improvement of people and society, which is why it requires that the pillars of education are closely linked to the lives of administrators, teachers, mothers, fathers and students (Peralta et al. 2023).
In addition, the skills that the institution's staff have must be recognized (Sánchez and Delgado, 2020), which is why the considerations of Machaca and Campos (2021) are shared when stating that: "In that sense, we take the teacher as that human resource that must be developed.
Therefore, it is necessary to take the appropriate steps to empower the teacher" (p. 107).
Additionally, the lack of management capacity also affects the curricula, which makes it difficult to take advantage of the considerable resources that are made available to educational institutions (García, 2021) despite the efforts to create management teams, which They include managers, teachers, parents and students.
However, insufficiencies persist in the management of educational institutions that undermine the quality of the educational process and product. Hence, this article arises as a result of research related to educational management in Peruvian school institutions, due to the transcendental role they assume as responsible for national educational development, in contexts that are constantly changing and that requires a decision-making process. decisions in which all those involved in the educational organization participate (Flores, 2021), which includes the community.
Therefore, the study has the main objective of making an approach to educational management in educational institutions in Peru and its essential characteristics today.
Materials and methods
The research followed a mixed approach. Content analysis was used as fundamental methods, which included national and international articles and official documents, more than 75% published during the last five years (78.5%), which has educational management as its center. The materials were recovered from the databases Scielo, Latindex and Redalyc, Dialnet, Ebsco Host, Scopus and Google Academic, using the term educational, administrative or school management as the main search engine given that in Latin America they have a similar use; Secondly, the concept of quality of education was used. In the study, materials belonging to the Latin American context prevailed with emphasis on Peru, given the characteristics of educational approaches in which public and private nature prevail.
The focus group was used to know the opinions that a group of teachers from the Lima District have about the educational management process. The topics that were analyzed were (a) the development of educational management in the institutions in which they work; (b) the knowledge they have about educational management; (c) the relevance of teacher preparation in management theory, and (d) issues that favor and hinder institutional educational management.
A questionnaire on educational management was also applied to these teachers, replicated from Rosario (2017) that contains 30 items referring to the four widely recognized dimensions, institutional, administrative, pedagogical and community management.
The population was made up of 35 teachers from the District of Lima who participated in the II International Congress of Pedagogy from February 13 to 24, 2023. The sample was made up of 23 teachers who agreed to participate in the research on educational management, participated in the focus group and answered the questionnaire on that topic. Of the 23 teachers, three belong to initial education, 13 work in secondary education institutions and seven work in primary educational institutions.
Results
Document analysis
Peru, influenced by educational changes in Latin America, also followed a policy of decentralization of the educational system. This policy was applied according to the characteristics of each territory and its institutions, so the principles, measures and logic of educational management have been characterized by the diversity of ways in which the approach is applied.
The configuration of educational policies based on educational management in the Peruvian public educational system, in addition to decentralized educational management, also includes accountability based on standardized evaluations of learning achievements and incentives for school performance through bonuses. economical. As a consequence, to a large extent, educational quality is reduced to measuring the increase in test scores, which does not reflect the real development of students. Furthermore, insufficient projection implies that improvements in the teaching-learning process occur in the long term without a completion date, which increases the social and individual human costs, which represent increases in the measurements of the quality of the pedagogical process.
In relation to the above, there is a gap between the deficiencies in student learning and the scores they obtain in the evaluations standardized. As a result, insufficiencies in policies and programs and their inability to resolve the problem in the established time come to light.
Achieving efficiency and effectiveness in the consolidation of educational management policy also requires the consolidation of a more horizontal educational system, which offers educational institutions greater management autonomy. In this sense, greater homogeneity is necessary in the creation of capacities, faculties and the guarantee of resources that involve variables such as: staff of teachers and directors, managerial leadership, collegiate and participatory work, less administrative burden, decent infrastructure, access to information and communication technologies, connectivity, its own budget, quality technical-pedagogical assistance, and greater participation of parents and the community in general.
In the management policy, features of the autocratic style still remain and the model ignores some central aspects of educational and pedagogical policy.
The previous regularity, in turn, requires better and greater permanent training of managers in the contents of educational management, with emphasis on the democratic nature and the participation of the entire school educational community.
On the other hand, most of the sources consulted insist on the need to implement a new curricular development, based on current challenges and the introduction of new methodological strategies that involve educational innovation, the training of teachers for a better application of the institutional curriculum, the participation of students through different channels that promote interactivity, dynamism and innovation in the teaching-learning process.
Efficient management fails to achieve the planned goals, despite being modest and insufficient and, despite its interpretation from the perspective of gradual long-term solution, typical of neoliberalism. Educational problems are not understood nor are human, material and economic knowledge resources mobilized in an optimal way. Efficiency is replaced by results.
Finally, with regard to teachers, their identity is being forced into successive social transformations, as a result of continuous neoliberal educational reforms, which affects their professional identity and, consequently, educational quality.
Educational management questionnaire
The questionnaire covered the four dimensions of educational management. The analysis of the results by dimensions showed that the administrative management dimension had the best results, averaging 4.19, followed by the pedagogical management dimension (3.96), then institutional management (3.91) and, finally, community management. (3, 44).
The analysis within the dimensions reflected the following:
The items with the highest average were:
(7) The management promotes compliance and effective use of pedagogical hours (4, 84).
(3) The internal regulations of your school are reviewed and updated by consensus (4.15).
(1) The management of your school invites you to participate in the preparation of management documents (PEI, RI, PAT) (4, 07).
The items with the lowest average were:
(2) The management promotes the development of institutional projects that respond to the strategic objectives set in their school to improve educational quality (3, 15).
(5) The management proposes the organization of work commissions based on criteria and characteristics of the teachers themselves (3, 53).
(6) The management maintains horizontal communication with all school personnel (3, 69).
The items with the most favorable results were:
(10) Compliance with the school year schedule is monitored, respecting the scheduled times to complete the effective hours with the students (4.61).
(12) The management carries out periodic monitoring of its pedagogical practice (4.38).
(14) Compliance with the regulations issued by the Ministry of Education is ensured (4.30).
The most discreet results in this dimension were seen in the items:
(13) The fulfillment of duties of all school personnel is regularly monitored, taking into account the internal regulations and/or the duties manual (3, 84).
(8) Financial resources are appropriately distributed to meet the priority needs of the school in service to students (3, 92).
In this dimension, the items with the best averages were:
(20) Develops a welcoming, affectionate and safe environment with its students (4.38).
(21) Constantly evaluates the learning of its students using various evaluation techniques and instruments (4.15).
(16) Constructivist theories are taken into account in their learning sessions (4).
In the dimension itself, the lowest averages were obtained in the items:
(15) Teaching strategies are applied according to the heterogeneity of their students (3.84).
(17) It works with a problem-solving approach in all learning sessions and (19) It has the necessary resources to develop its pedagogical functions adequately (3, 53).
The highest averages were seen in the items:
(23) Parents and the community are considered strategic allies of EI (4.23).
(28) Working with the family is encouraged in favor of student learning (4).
However, the following items showed the lowest averages:
(27) Research and innovation projects are carried out at the service of the educational quality of the Institution (2, 53).
(30) The challenges of quality education are shared with the educational community and local authorities (2, 92).
Focus group
Regarding the development of educational management in the institutions in which they work, in a general sense, teachers recognize the efforts of the Ministry of Education (MINEDU) for the development of institutional educational management, which include the implementation of the "Improvement of the educational infrastructure of public educational institutions of initial and primary education", with the purpose of improving the conditions of educational facilities and "Cuna más", which aims to provide comprehensive care to girls and boys under three years of age, in situations of extreme poverty, to improve the physical, cognitive, emotional and social development of infants and offer support to families, in their role as caregivers.
They also mention the existence of documents that govern the work of teachers and directors, which address the dimensions of educational management, the processes and instruments of educational management and establish the domains, competencies and capacities that teachers must develop, which favor the educational management in educational institutions.
However, they state that there are problems in institutional educational management, related to the theoretical and methodological knowledge they have on this topic. There is a consensus that they do not feel sufficiently prepared in the field of educational management and that they are not offered sufficient preparation in this regard, which considers the diversity of contexts in which they work and, particularly, the management associated with inclusive education, while neither the staff nor the institutions are prepared for these processes and their different characteristics.
Other negative elements pointed out by the teachers in the focus group have to do with the insufficient knowledge that the directors demonstrate in the educational management of the institutions they direct. Finally, they also point out some dissatisfactions in the workplace of teachers, which include dissatisfaction with salaries.
Discussion
The concept of educational management dates back to the sixties and was born precisely in the United States; Later it gains strength in Europe and later it is introduced in Latin America, as an effect of neoliberalism (Flores, 2021).
The results of the study indicate that the educational management policy in Peru has made progress. However, there are still some shortcomings that limit its efficient execution. In educational management seen, according to UNESCO (2011), as a set of integrated and related theoretical-practical processes, horizontally and vertically, within the educational system to meet social demands towards education, verticality and autocratic approach.
Peralta et al. (2023) state that:
It is known that, along with quality teaching, leadership and school management, they are key to improving student achievement. However, pedagogical leadership is not the hallmark of many schools. Management staff lack adequate training, development, encouragement and support to focus on improving the quality of instruction and student achievement and strengthening relationships between schools and the community. (p.7)
Hence, educational management requires participation, democracy and the permanent stimulus of academic leadership, in addition to other elements, which according to Flores (2021) include:
The vision of the systemic approach of educational organizations where each area is part of a whole that contributes to the fulfillment of the stated objectives. Continuous improvement as a spiral of ascent to achieve educational quality. The democratic participation of the subjects (managers, teachers, students, parents or the community) and their involvement in the processes. The exercise of leadership that motivates people and at the same time they feel empowered. (p.20)
This coincides with Sánchez and Delgado (2020), who see educational management as the possibility of creating an orderly relationship between the structure, strategy, systems, leadership style, capabilities, teachers and managers, and the objectives of the school. educational institution, as well as the ability to articulate the resources available as a condition for achieving educational quality.
Huapaya (2019) analyzes the procedural nature of management in educational institutions, from three types of processes, (1) strategic, (2) operational or missional and (3) processes that support the operation of the educational institution. In this regard, it points out that the integration of these processes takes place in the institutional educational project "as a strategic plan, which must be addressed through the active participation of all the actors inherent to the educational institution" (Huapaya, 2019, p. 257).
This collective participation implies the planning, organization, execution and control of the objectives and purposes; This requires the collaboration and involvement of all members of the educational organization. Consequently, management must avoid autocratic approaches in decision-making; Therefore, it implies being a participatory process for all members of the educational community.
It is considered that management is the predominant factor for an educational institution to develop optimal and quality work, with the collaboration of all members by virtue of facing and resolving the current challenges that contemporary times impose on educational systems (Marcillo and Tomalá, 2021). In this sense, the implementation of new strategies and innovations that contribute to efficient teaching work is also recognized, as a consequence of curricular development and it’s updating according to the scientific-technological and socioeconomic changes and transformations that require modifying education.
The educational management model to follow must be promoted throughout the educational community, since all its members are responsible for thinking and designing improvement proposals together (León, 2020). This decision implies serious collective analyzes of each problem to be faced and resolved, as well as proposals for effective alternatives.
Working for efficient educational management implies not only the need to train managers and teachers; It also implies the invitation, the call and the call for collaboration from specialists from other higher levels who, with their expertise, contribute to the good of the process (Peralta et al. 2023). However, these decisions must be preceded by timely diagnoses that are based on the identification and knowledge of institutional complexity in general, as well as a solid theoretical information, which enables stable training in the pedagogical didactic field ( Cotrado , 2020).
Cotrado (2020) herself, we must avoid the mechanical application of methodological strategies that lead to proposing or developing class sessions designed at the higher level, without taking into account the characteristics of each institution, which is a point favorable to the decentralization emanating from the neoliberal approaches consolidated in Peru.
Then, neoliberal practices in education show a contradictory discourse in relation to the demands and speed of transformations, so that the need to offer agile responses to problems influences the proposal of immediate alternatives, lacking relevance, that imply a postponement of solutions.
The results obtained here confirm what was found by Abanto et al. (2019) on the importance of managers and leaders in the management of the school institution. Similarly, we agree with Maita (2018) regarding the proportional relationship between educational management - teaching performance - organizational culture, to which job satisfaction could be added, meanwhile, to better indices of educational management and teaching performance, more job satisfaction for teachers, as Machaca and Campos (2021) found.
Regarding the results of the questionnaire applied, there are differences with respect to Rosario (2017) in the institutional management dimension, who found that 42.5% of the teachers surveyed stated that they are sometimes called by the school management to participate in the preparation of management documents (PEI, RI, PAT), 30.0% said never and 20.0% said almost never.
In that dimension itself, in the item on whether management promotes developing projects institutional that respond to the strategic objectives set in their school to improve educational quality, the results obtained by Rosario (2017) are similar to those of this study, while 45.0% of the teachers stated that sometimes and the 27.5% indicated that almost never.
However, significant differences are seen in item (3), in which Rosario (2017) found that 62.5% of the teachers stated that only sometimes the school's internal regulations are reviewed and updated by consensus, the 15% indicated that almost never and 5.0%, that never.
The findings referring to the dimension with the lowest results in this study, the community dimension, coincide with some of the results of Rosario (2017), while 40.0% of teachers indicated that sometimes, 12.5% said never and 2.5% said that the challenges of quality education are almost never shared with the educational community and local authorities.
As a culmination, it is essential to prioritize educational management based on the quality of the pedagogical processes and their results. It is not possible and it is not in the spirit to deny the progress achieved, but, given the still latent insufficiencies, a redesign of the conception of institutional educational management is needed (León, 2020).
The deficiencies in the effectiveness of the educational management development process largely occur because the subjects involved are also affected by these deficiencies. It is imperative, although not sufficient, to permanently study the theory and practice of geographical spaces that have been successful both nationally and internationally, but not to import their proposals, but to take the best of them, deconstruct and reconstruct them according to the characteristics and conditions of the various Peruvian educational contexts.
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Received: May 10, 2023; Accepted: July 05, 2023
