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Caribbean Journal of Education

Sociological Issues in the Preparation of Caribbean Educational Administrators

Authors: 
Pages: 
43-54
Publication Date: 
April 1985
Issue: 
Abstract: 

Governments in the so-called developing countries are increasingly coming to believe in the desirability of preparation or training for adminis­trators, including educational administrators. They have been receiving assistance from international organizations such as UNESCO, the Common­wealth Secretariat, the University Council for Educational Administration, and the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration, in the training of actual and potential administrators in their countries. The big question is what meaning is to be attached to these preparation or training programmes. 
This paper limits itself to an examination of two fundamental and related issues in the preparation of educational administrators in the so-called developing countries of the Commonwealth, especially the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean. The two issues are educational administration and regional development, and educational administration and the unequal distribution of power. The first section of the paper questions conventional definitions of development, including the widely held notion that only the non-industrialized countries should be classified as "developing". The second section describes regional training programmes for educational administrators which have been carried out in the Commonwealth Caribbean by international organizations with the backing of the regioqal governments. The third seed.on provides an insight into the socio-political environment in which educational administrators in the countries under study have had to operate. It is concluded that educational administrators in the countries in question need to come to an explicit recognition of the fact that education and politics do mix, and must strive to build up their political skills if they are serious about increasing the contribution of education to development.

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