A General Systems Approach to Decision‐Making in Schools

Abstract

Educational administration still relics greatly on “wise” generalizations from the experiences of outstanding practitioners. Hence, a great many decisions in educational practice are still at the “professional lore” level. With the rapid expansion in knowledge, emphasis has tended to shift to the expert and the technician. Nevertheless, value decisions should not be permitted to be eroded. The educational decision‐maker needs to be both humanist and scientist. A rational basis exists for such a nexus. There is need for the joint operation of knowledge and value systems in decision‐making Both systems pass from the rather uncritical “Common Sense Stage” through the Empirical to the Scientific Stage. Self‐conscious rational action becomes possible only at the Scientific Stage. It is only within comparatively recent times that decision‐making in education has begun to move into the Scientific Stage, primarily because scientific knowledge about human behaviour is largely a product of this century. A decision is seen to be concerned primarily with predictions of future events that are desirable to people. The decision process involves (1) monitoring, (2) control (diagnosis, selection, transformation) and (3) action.

Citation

OLIVER GIBSON, R. (1968), "A General Systems Approach to Decision‐Making in Schools", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 13-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009617