This article analyzes five of the trends that are being promoted by educational management in Latin American higher education institutions and thanks to these guidelines, we will see in the near future, the consolidation of university autonomy, the expansion of democracy in higher education, the improvement of the quality of education, the resurgence of comprehensive training and the consolidation of the virtual university.
This article analyzes five of the tendencies that from the educational management come impelling, in Latin American institutions of superior education and thanks to these directives, we will see in the future next, the reinforcement of the university autonomy, the expansion of the democracy in the superior education, the improvement of the quality in education, the resurgence of the integral formation and the consolidation of the virtual university.
Introduction
Planning and foresight exercises are basic tools for charting the future course of education. UNESCO as the governing body of world education has drawn up a series of guidelines, which have been taking hold in the millennium that is beginning. These guidelines have been adopted by some institutions of higher education and is what is known as the proactive university.. The challenge consists of establishing the policies and executing the necessary pertinent actions from the educational management, to obtain the desired objectives.
Theoretical foundation
Educational management as a discipline is relatively young; Its evolution dates back to the 1970s in the United Kingdom and the 1980s in Latin America. Since then, various models have emerged and developed that represent ways of conceiving human action, social processes and the role of subjects within them.
As a starting point, it is important to state the concept of educational management and establish some differences that are usually made between management and administration. Although for the theory of administration, since the decade of the sixties, the concept of management has been associated with the term of management and especially, on how to manage organizations, productive and service companies, it has not been so, for institutions in the education sector.
For some scholars of the subject, management is conceived as the set of services provided by people, within organizations. This means that management acquires a specificity, while human labor is very important. Today there are activities where the machine and the robot take on a relevant weight in the production process and human labor is considered less intensive, during and at the end of the process; but in the case of educational management, the weight of human competences is the most representative.
The dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish language, presents Management as the action and effect of managing. According to this definition, Management and Administration are not synonymous. This means that there can be administrative practices without there being management practices. In management practices, the fundamental characteristic is the transformation made by the subject, in this case the human person.
For other authors, the concept of management is the ability to achieve what is proposed, executing actions and making use of resources, financial and human techniques. Hence a distinction could be made between the concepts of 'management' and 'administration'. Where management is the whole and the administration is a part of the whole, it has to do with the management and use of resources. Therefore, for good management it is necessary to have a good management scheme; Or simply, good administration is essential for good management. The administration thus becomes, not an end in itself, but a constant support that responds to the needs of educational management.
Other authors, do not make the distinction between administration and management, prefer to identify both terms, since they consider that manage and administer are synonymous. However, the debate becomes important, especially when talking about educational management, because if we accept that the subject and his relationship with the other subjects, it is what transfers specificity to management, and if it is admitted that in education, the subject is the one who executes the actions to transform other subjects; accepting the discussion is advisable.
It is important to clarify that educational management seeks to apply the general principles of management, which have been present in the theory of administration, to the specific field of education. The object of educational management as a discipline is the study of the organization of work in the field of education, therefore, it is influenced by theories of administration, but in addition, there are other disciplines that have allowed to enrich the analysis, such as: administration, philosophy, social sciences, psychology, sociology and anthropology.
The meaning of educational management is closely related to the conventional concept of administrative management, as an approximation this definition is presented: Educational management, is conceived as the set of processes, decision-making and performance of actions that allow carrying out the pedagogical practices, their execution and evaluation.
Now, if we accept that the philosophy of education postulates educational action, as a dialectical relationship in which a group of subjects, directors, teachers, students and students' families intervenes, who make decisions and carry out actions, it is also It is necessary to recognize the similarities and differences on the part of this group of actors, as well as the definition of a series of concrete actions that lead the actors to achieve a common objective.
But in addition, it must be understood that education is related to the social order where, one of the purposes of educational management should be aimed at transforming individuals and society. In relation to this issue, the researcher Gimeno Sacristán has written: The same directive practice has to be understood as an educational action where the role of the subject plays a fundamental role. The analysis of the action is shown as well as unit of analysis; In other words, understanding what happens in the educational world has to do with the agents that give life to it with their actions. The foregoing highlights the value of the actions and subjects who perform them to understand education as a social process and its possible change.
The directors of educational institutions also called the educational collective, is made up of a group of people in which teachers and students participate. For some authors, as in the case of Valentina Cantón, management is associated with the actions carried out by a group of people guided by a leader or manager. This group of subjects execute a series of concrete actions aimed at achieving common objectives. Therefore, another of the conditions of educational management practice requires the recognition of similarities and differences by the educational community.
In view of the marked influence that the administration exerts on educational management, the same schools of administrative thought have been transferred to educational management. Today, there is a general consensus that maintains that educational management has three major schools: the classical, the human relations and the sciences of administrative behavior.
Now, if educational management aims to intervene in the administration cycle in the phases of planning, organization, execution, evaluation and control, it is pertinent that in the planning phase reflect on educational prospects. This article tries to explain five trends that have been present in Higher Education, of the XXI century, as they are; Autonomy, democracy, quality, comprehensive training and the emergence of the virtual university.
Autonomy
The concept of university autonomy had been raised since the eleventh century, in universities such as Bolognia and then spread to other European universities, such as the universities of Salamanca and Cambridge, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. However, since then, the concept has been changing and with the passage of time it has undergone obvious transformations.
Then, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, more universities emerged, even in America, the nascent continent began to boom, this type of educational centers. The cloisters of knowledge were considered exclusive venues where only a few attended and in this sense the university enjoyed a status of Perse autonomy. With the French Revolution, the need to give more openness to higher education began to spread.
With the student movements of the sixties of the twentieth century, Latin American universities strengthened the concept of university autonomy, emphasizing at least four basic criteria: the figure of Cogobieno, the possibility of having their own statutes, having plans educational resources including own investment resources that were safe from changes of government and the inviolability of university buildings by the public force.
Today, the figure of autonomy goes beyond these criteria. It is characterized by pursuing its own solutions for the population of students, teachers, families and the social environment. But also, unlike the previous concept, it seeks not only to look inward, the existing needs of higher education institutions, but it is concerned with consulting the social mandate that society makes to the university, and the obligation that the university has. itself, to reverse knowledge, research and applications that allow solving problems that afflict society.
An autonomous and decentralized educational management implies that educational institutions have opportunities and capacities to make decisions and carry out educational projects of their own, pertinent and relevant to the needs of students and the requirements of citizen training and local, regional and national development. This means that looking inward is not enough, it is necessary to consult the needs of the environment.
Autonomy suggests self-reflection, looking within with freedom to act, but with control in the process. Exercising autonomy does not mean chaos, on the contrary, it requires articulating the dimensions of educational management, emphasizing different aspects of educational processes, so that they can be integrated into theories that address the following dimensions: Pedagogical, Administrative, Social-community and Policy-educational.
One of the challenges that some Higher Education institutions face are the barriers imposed by the ministries of education to achieve the figure of university autonomy. In some Latin American countries, in an unjustified manner, such as the case of Colombia, the Ministry of Education denies or distributes unequally, to public entities of higher education, such as Polytechnics, the obtaining of financial resources from the national budget, as well as credits from the Since they do not have the figure of autonomy, these resources are only allowed for institutions that are approved as universities.
Democracy
The key sense that should inspire a meaningful and relevant theory of educational management related to democracy is education for all, also assuming high levels of collective human quality. Democratization in educational management implies, in turn, the existence of permanent spaces and mechanisms for citizen participation in the planning, administration and monitoring of educational policies and decisions, in each area of management from educational institutions to the regional level. and national.
The concept of democracy in education suggests that it should cover all students and teachers, which implies developing a qualitative work environment in educational organizations, through the institutionalization of concepts and practices, both technical and administrative, capable of promoting training. sustainable human life and the quality of life of students, teachers and technical-administrative officials. In this sense, the institutional strengthening of higher education entities should promote democratization based on a participation policy.
Another issue that is part of democratization is the promotion of women. Education reinforces the difference between masculine and feminine values, which determines the image of men and women that society considers valid, and conditions the behaviors and expectations of male and female students.
The lack of democratization is also evident in the strong weakness on the part of the political and social system to represent young people, which means that students do not find the adequate means to develop their interests, ideals and particular sensibilities. Faced with the above, it is necessary to insist on increasing communication between the educational system, its authorities, social and institutional actors so that mechanisms are encouraged, which favor spaces and moments of dialogue for young people.
Democratization should outline policies and strategies supported by government regulations aimed at the care of indigenous populations, ethnic minorities, and migrant and displaced populations. For which, the propositions arising from a multicultural and intercultural approach must meet the conditions to influence the values and rules of behavior typical of global society.
At present, democratization is a distant objective to achieve in Latin America, the inequality of opportunities that this situation generates is closely linked to the economic-social problems that especially affect vast sectors of the population, ranging from women to minorities social or ethnically and culturally differentiated populations, such as indigenous peoples.
The concept of democracy is closely linked to the quality of education, which means that it must cover all students and teachers, which means that a qualitative work environment must be developed in educational organizations, through the institutionalization of concepts and practices., both technical and administrative, capable of promoting sustainable human formation and the quality of life of students, teachers and technical-administrative officials.
The quality
The new ordering of the economy and the modernization process that characterizes our societies generates strong demands especially in relation to the analysis of the labor market and the qualitative training of human talent, for no one is a secret that the internal prosperity of the countries It is determined by the position they occupy in the international arena and one of the variables that is part of the measurement is precisely the qualification of human talent.
The type of society that tends to predominate in the century that is beginning is characterized by a great scientific-technical capacity, and by the possibility of applying this capacity to the production process. The constant and increasingly rapid generation of new knowledge and its dissemination throughout society currently constitute the basis on which international competitiveness is based, which requires quality training. Educational management to improve quality must adjust to the new demands of science and technology.
If we accept that teachers have the great responsibility of training students in new knowledge and techniques, teacher training programs are another challenge for the quality of education to cover the gaps and deficiencies that arise in this countryside.
Therefore, one of the proposals to improve quality is related to the planning of training programs aimed at teacher training that provide the teacher with theoretical and practical elements, historically located, that allow them to understand their society and provide students with the conceptual tools that guide their destiny in a rational, critical and autonomous way.
To achieve quality, educational management should be concerned with: complying with the regulations that emanate from the ministries, abide by the standards that are derived from the higher levels of the Departmental and Municipal Secretaries and should emphasize the need for the quality of the work of educators, which requires high teacher training.
The educational management of the XXI century must: draw up action policies that qualify workers whose training today tends to be below the technology used; reconvert those trained who perform functions that are already obsolete or saturated with personnel; and to confront the problem of graduates of the educational system who cannot find employment, who occupy positions below their abilities or who emigrate to more developed countries.
That is why higher education must direct its objectives to design proposals for professional, occupational and technical education, thus allowing progress in improving educational quality in relation to the demands of economic sectors, planning and executing actions that lead to profound changes.
Other fundamental issues that will contribute to preserving educational quality will consist of: establishing an evaluation system that allows adequate measurement of the knowledge acquired by the participants and beneficiaries of the educational process. Introduce a new culture in educational managers responsible for training on evaluation systems, motivating and generating quality.
Research and extension are two great shortcomings that have been present in Latin American higher education entities. Higher education has the duty to do research in compliance with the demands of scientific and technological development, providing highly qualified human resources to act in the knowledge society, with an ethical and ecological sense.
It is not possible to speak of quality without extension, which should seek connections that contribute to strengthening the links of the triad, Company, University, State, a combination necessary to achieve development. The extension thus becomes a communication channel that allows: knowing the innovations produced in the most advanced countries, establishing networks to carry out best practices, transferring knowledge, providing feedback on the educational teaching process, boosting academic mobility, strengthening business practices, bring graduates closer to the academy; becoming a letter of introduction to the area where their educational processes operate; The above are challenges that the university of the new millennium will have to face
Comprehensive training
The situation of transformation of values that has been occurring in the national and international spheres demands educational actions that allow solving the problem, for this purpose it has been disseminated from UNESCO that comprehensive training is one of the educational trends of the 21st century.
Neoliberal tendencies and the phenomenon of globalization that are sustained by the increasingly accelerated development of the world capitalist system, have accentuated the crisis of ethical and moral values as a result of the deep internal contradictions of the same and in particular in the underdeveloped countries with manifestations of corruption, ungovernability, inequality, social injustice, and consumerism, which becomes an obstacle to comprehensive training.
Education with an integrative vision emphasizes the need to impart the formation of values in today's education as a current trend. In this regard, the following is said: An integral formation is one that contributes to enriching the student's socialization process, which strengthens their sensitivity through the development of their intellectual and artistic faculties, transcends their moral formation, opens their spirit to critical thinking and cultivates in the student the values of justice and solidarity without which life in society is not viable.
The university must contribute both to preserving the legacy of previous generations and to shaping the future. To achieve this, it is necessary to educate students on the importance of culture, nature, the human condition, intangible forms of heritage, traditions, rites, festivals and customs, genetic heritage and above all, ethical heritage.
The issue of comprehensive training in higher education has gained marked interest, in line with the systematic deepening of the teaching-educational work carried out in Higher Education, however, there are phenomena that hinder comprehensive training.
One of the causes that hinders comprehensive training falls on the teachers, who have a solid training in their technical areas but lack psycho-pedagogical training, which makes it difficult for the students to develop values, to solve this deficiency it is necessary to train teachers on ethical and axiological issues.
Educators, in general, give more importance to the skills training process than to the values training process, a trend that comes from the Taylorist educational model that was implemented in Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, trying to seek efficiency. To this phenomenon is added the fact that educators are not trained to train in values, This desire to privilege, instructive about education ended up annihilating any attempt to form ethics and values by relegating humanities subjects. A real evidence of this problem is the absence or scarcity of human science subjects in technical careers such as Administration and Engineering.
For students and even for many professors of technical majors, the few subjects of human sciences that appear in the study programs are considered as "fillers", a derogatory term that means that they are subjects without importance.
It has also been demonstrated that the majority of Higher Education institutions lack a management system that develops policies and actions aimed at comprehensive training. The absence of a strategy for the management of the formation of values contributes to the unpunished transmission of countervalues such as violence, aggression and humiliation, which day by day find in our country a prosperous environment for the transgression of all human rights.
These countervalues are transmitted collectively, that is, they are imposed on people through norms and patterns of conduct typical of complex systems that, by pointing out what is desirable and undesirable, what is true and what is wrong, create standard codes of behavior and homogeneous collective identities.
The process of formation of values undoubtedly begins in school and in the family, but it must continue in the Higher Schools and Universities, in the academy, whose meaning and legitimacy lies in training professionals, people with a deep knowledge of their subject and willing to be oriented in practice by the values and goals that give meaning to their profession.
Preparing to fully train the students of the 21st century requires designing and implementing an educational management strategy for the formation of values, for which a determined effort is required from managers, teachers, students and parents in order to review institutional practices, their structure, organization and procedures, and place them at the service of comprehensive training.
To fully train the student is to favor the critical formation and self-learning capacity of young people, as well as the assimilation of values prone to democracy, social solidarity, the protection of human rights, sexual, ethnic and non-discrimination of any kind. another type, and respect for the environment.
5. The virtual university
Another trend in educational management is that Higher Education entities should be concerned with setting up units dedicated to managing and starting up the so-called virtual universities. This implies creating another university, it is about superimposing a digital university that is only visible through computers, on another university that is visible and that we have called the university campus, with its offices, classrooms, courts, swimming pools and coffee shops.
But for the virtual university to work, it requires permanent management and knowledge, but both the rector and the people who direct it, not only must have high academic and pedagogical knowledge but must have a solid training in management systems, pedagogical, curricular design, evaluation methods and above all to offer in a continuous but virtual way, the different programs that arouse the enthusiasm of the new assistants enrolled in it.
These programs demand high quality standards and must meet a series of requirements, such as: legalize them before the ministries of education, offer them permanently, take exams and certify students who have passed the different tests.
A virtual university should strengthen information and communication technologies (ICT). This means having your own broadband network with high capacity servers properly connected to the web and internet servers. It suggests that it should have a virtual library that allows the dissemination of the reading of texts and documents to connected students in digital form.
Research is also one of the factors that must be present in this electronic world, for which it must be connected to national and international research networks.
In addition, it requires training a faculty of teachers who adapt to the teaching and learning of virtual systems, from the curricular design, to the most appropriate methods and techniques to digitize the chairs and of course to carry out the tests to the enrolled students.
Setting up the virtual university presupposes financial resources to provide the universities with intelligent buildings with broadband cables, computer rooms, offices for the operation of the virtual university, meeting auditoriums to guide virtual students, the assembly of portals that they have permanent information, virtual magazines that become channels of dissemination, in other words it is about advancing in telecommunications and connectivity, an essential issue in the knowledge society. But in addition, it requires a permanent human team of managers, teachers, monitors and assistants, experts on the subject, who are ultimately the guides, managers and motivators of the program.
Another trend that has been developing in the virtual university is the increasingly frequent use of the so-called Training Games: to instruct future pilots to drive airplanes with flight simulators, to train lifeguards with virtual drills to save lives in case of emergencies, using the role-play technique as in the case of the sudden illness of the pilot or the hijacking of a plane by terrorists. The question then arises: Is this type of pedagogy a good teaching method?
Likewise, demonstrations have been proliferating in the form of simulations in administration universities, stock market games, currency buying and selling simulators, decision-making models on marketing, finances and how the company is affected. While it is true this type of methodologies are appropriate to sensitize students, objective evaluation criteria are required to affirm that these tools are better than other teaching methods and why.
Conclusions
In summary, the university of the XXI century has several challenges: to strengthen the figure of university autonomy, establish a democratic climate, improve the quality of education, strengthen comprehensive education, and build the virtual university.
Autonomy presupposes acting on priority issues in the improvement and transformation of educational processes in institutions, such as: the interrelation of educational management with the quality of educational processes, the connection of educational management with pedagogical and development theories human, the linking of educational management within the framework of the community academy relationship for the transformation of society and the achievement of financial resources.
Democracy in education presupposes that science is not the patrimony of an elite, nor of what was called the aristocracy of intelligence, but of the whole of society, even more so of humanity. Therefore, all men, women and children must have information on aspects that decisively influence the present and the immediate future of our daily lives, aspects among which occupy a priority place, scientific discoveries and technological applications, which allow transform our life and society; Citizen participation is a decisive factor for the sense of democracy in education to advance.
Achieving quality learning is a challenge faced by educational systems in the world, which requires an emphasis on the training of future scientists, professionals, technologists and technicians, necessary to incorporate into the productive sphere for the developing. Quality education seeks to train citizens capable of understanding the complex interrelationships between science, technology and the fields: social, economic, political and cultural so that in the future and whatever their sphere of activity they have the essential instruments to participate in decision-making that contributes to building a democratic society based on scientific and technological development.
Comprehensive training goes beyond settling for instructing. In short, it is a matter of converting institutions into generators of a climate that enables the exercise of values in everyday life, in classrooms, courtyards and in decision-making bodies. Institutions that change to become protective spaces for the rights and responsibilities of managers, young people, teachers and parents. To form comprehensively is to educate with a critical vision with the capacity for self-learning, as well as in the assimilation of values prone to democracy, social solidarity, the protection of human rights, sexual and ethnic non-discrimination, and respect for the environment.
The implementation of the virtual university is another challenge for 21st century education, it requires redefining the current concept of university, exploring and building a concept of virtual education, its meaning and objectives. Each institution will have to make efforts to build its own model without forgetting that currently there are other references and experiences where some techniques can be adopted that serve as paradigms that allow the adoption of best practices.
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