PLANNING OF EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS

Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

The term planning has no doubt enjoyed wide application across disciplines. However, different institutional context and socio-political structures determine the specific activity that can be classified as involving planning. For example, what an architect may regard as a planning activity may slightly differ from that of a medical doctor, an engineer, an economist or an administrator. In the same vein, the content of planning in the former socialist USSR before the break up of the Republic or any socialist country cannot be the same as that in the capitalize economy like the USA or any other capital country (Adigwe, 2000).

However, planning has been used to mean the process of determining in advance, what is to be done, including classification of goals, establishment of policies, mapping out of programmes and campaigns and determining specific methods or procedures and fixing day to day schedules (Newman, 1993). In contemporary usage, Newmans definition appears limited, since it did not recognize the focal issue that has given rise to the adoption of planning in every field of economic life. That focal issue is rationally or optimization of resource use. Therefore, the term, “planning” connote a process which essentially involves deciding in advance, the specific future course of action to be adopted with a view of optimizing the use of limited organization resources towards desirable and specified goal attainment.

What is clear from this is that planning is a conscious, deliberate, systematic and rational decision making process, designed to influence future course of action in an organization or any field of human activity with the ultimate aim of making the most economical use of the limited resources (i.e. profit or benefit maximization) (Ayo, 1989). A plan then is a product of the planning processes. It is a blueprint for action towards organization goal attainment in the most effective and efficient manner. The need to plan all human activities that involves the use of resources to accomplish objectives have become very necessary for many reasons.

Firstly, the fact that economic resources like time, money, human and other resources are limited relative to the competitive demand for them makes it desirable that activities should be planned, to ensure economical use of these resources. Secondly, planning gives purposeful direction to all actions of organizations; since all actions generated from planning are usually goal-directed. A well directed activity facilitates delegation of duties, enhances control and forms a rational basis for evaluation. Finally, planning enables us to pre-empt future consequences of organizational activities, which is desirable to adjust actions towards desirable objectives, thereby avoiding wastages of all types (Duro, 1980).

From the above benefits, we can easily appreciate why everybody (educational administrator or manager, teacher, student, house wife, market woman, farmer etc) must involves in planning. The difference lies in the content and degree of sophistication put inot it. Educational resources include the human, physical, material and financial resources in any given school system. According to Anyanwu (1990), for the educational resources to be managed and planned well, the school authorities should be on their toes and ensure that they engage experienced and well groomed personnel to carry out planning and managing of our educational resources in the school system of Nigeria. For instance, managers and planners of the Nigerian educational system should endeavour that teachers and other personnel in the educational sector are well trained and retrained for them to carry out effective work of teaching and learning in the school.

According to Adigwe (2000), the financial allocations to the school are not properly managed by the school managers, and this has caused lack of proper funding of the schools for effectiveness and high productivity in the system. Onyenlor (1994) argued that lack of material and physical resources like the building, the school plants like the school environment and other resources like the video tapes, audio video tapes and so on, are not adequately available in the school, and the ones that are available are not well planned and effectively managed by those who control and manage the school.

Onyenlor summed it up by saying that poor management of the educational resources such as human, physical, materials, materials and financial resources have give rise to the poor work performance of teachers and dismal academic performance of the Nigerian students in our school system. He advised that, for our educational system to be revived from the decay it has sunk into, the educational resources must be well planned and managed effectively. In education, the importance of human resources planning and management cannot be over emphasized. This is because, the role played by human resources management and planning on the achievement of education objectives cannot be neglected (Iyede, 1998).

According to Odenu (2000), human resources planning and management, involves planning, leading, directing and a number of other activities in order to achieve the efficient utilization of human resources. Precisely, it involves integrating society’s needs with education objectives among other things. In addition, the extent to which an organization like education, attains her objectives are directly proportional to the human resources available and their planning and management. Human resources management is described by the Institute of Personnel Management (1963) as “one of the most valuable resources of an organization”. In another development, Anyanwuocha (2000) described human resources as the most vital of the resources that are at disposal of the educational enterprise. The proper management of the human resources in it, would be apart from an added advantage in attaching educational goals, it also attracts efficient and quality staff or workforce in the educational sector (Anyamole, 1990).

The term, personnel administration refers to management of human resources, the acquisition of personnel and co-ordination of performance within the organization. Cubson (1985) opined that there is limited literature in the area of human resources planning and management. Equally, he added that, since early 1970s, there has been an increased attention to administrative specialization on education. Peretomode (1991) and Nwangwu (1994), state that human researches planning and management are variously referred to as personnel management. They observed that human resources management and planning are that functions of all enterprise which provides for effective utilization of human resources in order to achieve both objective of the, enterprise and the satisfaction and development of the employees.

According to them, without the planning and management of human resources, staff in the educational sector would not be effectively harnessed and managed for effective utilization in education, especially in the teaching learning processes. The component part of management concerned with facilitating the accomplishment of the objectives of an organization through the systematic management of constraints and careful utilization of the available, limited resources which include human, material, equipment supplies, finance and work techniques or technology is known as administration (Peretomode, 1991).

According to him, while management deals with the formulation of policies, administration is fundamentally concerned with the execution and implementation of the formulated policies, plans or ideas and programmes. As Amaonye (2000) puts it, administrators are more of implementers of policies and programmes rather than formulators of programmes and administration like management, involves such elements and reporting and evaluating, but this is done on a smaller scale when it is done on a smaller scale when it is compared with management. According to Ezewu (1983) “the school management in the traditional sense is often thought of as involving the management and planning human resources such as men (teachers and students) and perhaps money (school finance).

The buildings, school space, and equipment are usually taken for granted as given, for they, are there or “on the ground” as it were and therefore should not be given attention. But this assumption is unwarranted for they are actually not there. Onyeuke (2000), observed that school facilities means substantial costs to the school system for their establishment. According to him, if they are not properly maintained and managed, they depreciate and become dilapidated and even wear out faster than their normal “life span”, and also if not properly utilized, the school units would not derive optimum benefits from their use. Educational resources or material resources; or educational facilities and or school plant are the ‘things of education’. These according to Adeleke (1994), include, school building (classrooms, assembly halls; laboratory rooms and workshops; libraries etc.), teaching aids and devices such as modern educational hardware and their software in the form of magnetic tapes, films and transparencies. Educational facilities or resources are the material things that facilitate the effective teaching and learning processes in the school.

As observed by Mgbodule (1986), educational facilities are directly related with the school curriculum. Mgbodile (1986), described the school plant as the space interpretation of the school curriculum. According to him, the programmes of the school are expressed as it were through the school site, the buildings, play grounds the arrangement and design of the buildings etc. According to Amaobi (1990), the logical place to start planning the educational resources or school facilities, is the development of the educational programme. The school educational programme should strongly influence the design of the school buildings. The basic principle here is that no educational facility should impose unwanted restrictions upon the educational programmes of the school buildings in Nigerian school system, especially the public school buildings set up to by the communities in the 1980s, were just set up as buildings to house students without regard to planning in terms of what educational purposes the buildings should serve or their place in the delivery of the school programme (Ayo, 1989). School plant or resources planning experts agree that curriculum development is a crucial aspect of school resources planning. For instance, no architect can design a functional educational need without a clear description of the educational programmes in the school (Castaldi, 1977).

As Onyeanwu (1990) puts it, it is advisable that considerable time should be devoted in developing the curriculum of the school before actual planning or designing of the school building by the architects begin. For instance, the architect should not only know what subjects would be taught, but should know the fundamental educational concepts and students’ experiences that underlie the design of the buildings. The architects should know what equipment is needed and how much space the teachers feel a student needs to perform each type of educational experience. According to Iroegbu (1995), if the architect lacks the vital information about the school before designing and constructing the school building, this often results in the design and construction of who would use them or the community in which school is located. So, educational resources need to be well planned by experts if there should be effectiveness in the school, especially in the effective teaching and learning processes in the school.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

School productivity cannot be effective without adequate planning and management of educational resources, which include financial, physical and human resources. Often times, planners and managers of the educational resources for Nigerian Secondary School system, are not experts and well groomed for planning and management of our educational resources which should be effective and result-oriented. For the fact, those who plan our educational resources are not vast and knowledgeable enough on how to carry out efficient educational resources planning; the resultant effect has been ineffectiveness in school productivity. For instance, for the reason of ineffective educational resources planning and good management, there has been rote in teaching and learning processes, and this has affected adversely, both the job performance of teachers and academic performance of students, and generally, the educational standards of Nigeria as a country.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The objective of this study includes to:

1. Ascertain whether planning influence educational resources utilization in the school.
2. Examine whether there is relationship between planning and management of educational resources.
3. Investigate whether relationship exists between school productivity and educational resources’ planning.
4. Compare the academic performance of students in schools where resource are planned and those in schools where they are not.
5. Examine whether the work performance of teachers in well planned schools differ from performance of those in schools where resources are not planned.

1.4 Research Questions

The following research questions were raised in this study:

1. Does planning affect educational resources?
2. Does any difference exists between the school productivity and educational resources planning?
3. Will there be any difference between the academic performance of students who are in schools where educational resources are planned and those in schools where they are not planned?
4. Will there be any difference in job performance of teachers who work in schools where educational resources are planned and those in schools where they are not?

1.5 Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses are formulated to guide the study:

1. Planning of educational resources will not significant influence its utilization.
2. There will be no significant relationship between planning and management of educational resources.
3. There will be no significant difference between the job performance of teachers who are in schools where resources are planned and those in schools where they are not.
4. There will be no significant difference between the academic performance of students in schools where educational resources are planned and those in schools where they are not.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The study will be beneficial to all stakeholders in the Nigerian school system. For example: The school authorities at both our primary and secondary school levels would be able to benefit from the recommendations and the findings obtained from this study. For instance, the school authorities and the stakeholders in our educational sector, especially at the secondary school level, would find this study very important in the sense that, it will generate new or fresh insight and information on the way forward to planning and management of educational resources in our various schools.

Not only the school authorities, the teacher who is one of the most important and prominent stakeholders in Nigeria’s educational system, would be able to have good information on planning and management of educational resources for effective teaching and learning processes in the school. With the findings and recommendations in this study, administrators of our educational system, including educational planners, would be able to see the need to plan well the educational resources, because, guiding their usefulness, if the educational resources are not properly planned and adequately executed by the school administrators, it results to unproductively in school. This study will be very informative and directional to the school managers/administrators and planners. This is because, it will make them to have insights on how best to plan educational resources and how well to manage them effectively.

This work, if completed, will serve as reference material to researchers and students. Also, this study will be relevant to other agencies of our educational system, because this study will help them to understand the move, the positive functions of well planned and properly executed school/educational resources and the attendant results. Scope of the Study This study examines the planning of educational resources for school effectiveness in selected secondary schools in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State.

1.7 Definition of Terms

In this study, operational and ambiguous terms were categorically defined thus:

Planning:

Plan has been used to mean the process of determining in advance, what is to be done, including classification of goals, establishment of policies, mapping out of programmes and campaigns and determining specific methods or procedures and fixing day to day schedules.

Physical Resources:

Education resources or educational facilities are regarded as things of the school or education, which include the building (classrooms, assembly halls, laboratories, workshops, libraries, etc.) they also include the teaching aids and devices, which include modern educational hardwares and their softwares which are utilized in the effective teaching and learning processes in the school system.

Administration:

This fundamentally concerned with the execution and implementation of the formulated policies, plans or ideas and programmes of education.

Management:

This concerned with the facilitation or the accomplishment of the objectives of an organization through the systematic management of constraints and careful utilization of the available, limited resources which include human, material, equipment supplies, finance and work techniques or technology.

School Programmes:

This means the activities, events or programmes that take place in the school environment such as orientation programmes, workshops, seminars or in-house programmes of the school.