Philosophy, Politics, and Planning. An Extended Rationale for Synthesis

Abstract

Thematic trends in the preparation of administrators are examined and a dialectic adduced which is supportive of some previous sug gestions for synthesis in the literature but which further implies a need for a humanistic, values-oriented modality of preparation. Philo sophic components of training are analyzed into specific requirements to complement and synthesize the policy science approach suggested by previous writers. Dr. Christopher Hodgkinson is Associate Pro fessor of Education and Chairman of Educational Administration at the University of Victoria, Canada.

Preparation for the School Principalship: The United States' story

“…The infrastructure for this activity was the expansion of the conceptual and theoretical knowledge base of the profession by the development of a science of adm inistratio n. T his was a m ovem ent intended`to produce a foundation of scienti® cally supported (hypothetico-deductive) knowledge in educational adm inistratio n in place of the hortatory, seat-of-the-pants literature already in place' (Crowson & M cPherson 19 87: 47± 48) and a trend`aw ay from techniqueoriented substance based upon practical experience and toward theory-oriented substance based on disciplines ª externalº to education' (Culbertson & Farq uhar 1971: 9). The scienti® c m ovem ent led to: (a) a conception of educational adm inistration as`an applied science within which theory and research are directly and linearly linked to professional practice [and in which] the form er alw ays determ ine the latter, and thus knowledge is superordinate to the principal and designed to prescribe practice' (Sergiovan ni 19 91: 4); (b) the acceptance of a heavy relian ce on social science content`as an indicator of a high quality program ' (M iklos 1983: 160); (c) the borrowing and adopting of research techniques and instrum ents from the behavioural sciences' (Culbertson 1965: 7); (d) a m ultidisciplinary (if not interdisciplinary) approach to preparatio n (Culbertson 1963;Hodgkinson 1975).…”