Educational Management: what is it and how does digitalization help?

Educational management is an increasingly common expression in teaching environments. It refers to the correct planning of all the processes developed in these companies, whether private or public. Thus, mapping the administrative and pedagogical actions represents the correct allocation and application of financial, human and material resources. This is because the educational institution is a company, which has its peculiarities, especially if the analysis focuses on private education.On the other hand, as for the public educational institution, it is their duty to ensure the proper use of public resources and to provide society with quality education. So, can the digitization of processes bring improvements to these frameworks? The answer is simple: the digitization of educational management can help you achieve these objectives. However, there is other information you need to know about this issue. Continue here and check it out!

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What is educational management?

Educational management is responsible for the organization of all sectors of the school, from the administrative to the pedagogical, to the management of people, communication and education itself. Thus, the focus is that the processes are aimed at providing a constructive, safe and effective teaching environment. It is part of the educational administration to understand and apply the guidelines that guide the sector. These guidelines must be in convergence with the processes and ways of conducting the teaching and learning methodology between students and teachers. As you have already seen here, public and private institutions present considerably different contexts regarding choice and conduct of all educational processes. The public sector, in this sense, may present a slower educational process, as it is quite bureaucratic. On the contrary, private schools have good autonomy, being able to detect problems and present solutions quickly. However, they may err on transparency or be less open to the participation of the school community. Thus, it is necessary to take into account these peculiarities before qualifying educational management in Brazil.

How does educational management work?

The good management of an educational environment works by giving autonomy to macro areas that integrate the processes. They are:

• administrative sector;
• financial sector;
• pedagogical sector;
• human resources sector;
• people management sector;
• communication sector.

For the company's areas to be able to work synergistically, they must be aligned. In other words, there must be clarity in the objectives of each of them and an understanding of how the most sectoral goals are fundamental to achieve objectives set by every institution. However, those who ignore the influence of educational management on the pedagogical aspect are mistaken. It even has an impact on the application of teaching methodologies. The management model, for example, explains this. Educational management formats can be classified as democratic, participatory, and private. Below we outline the differences:

• Democratic management: managers, teachers, collaborators and the school community give their opinion and participate in management;
• Participatory management: decisions are made by a board made up of managers, teachers and the school community;
• Private management: decisions are exclusive to educational managers.

An interesting point to highlight is that the National Education Guidelines and Bases Act supports democratic management in education, pointing out that this model provides the best benefits to the school environment.

What is the importance of educational management?

The importance of educational management in the educational institution is confirmed by the existence of two important factors at play that need to be aligned. They are related to the business vision and to the pedagogical objectives within the management model. In this way, the manager seeks a balance in the management of various areas so that the company has financial health and is able to be in constant improvement. With this intention, many institutions have sought to create their strategic plans. In turn, these plans require other instruments to monitor the systematization and application of actions, but also to measure and, if necessary, make adjustments to the route.

Who does educational management?

The command and coordination of educational management occurs differently between public and private educational institutions. In public schools, the Municipal, State, or Federal Government is responsible for creating, implementing, and executing the guidelines. They are based on the documents that regulate education in Brazil. Among them, the Federal Constitution of 1988 stands out, which guarantees access to education to all Brazilians, but also the National Education Guidelines and Bases Act. On the other hand, pedagogical management is the responsibility of the management of each school. In private schools, in turn, management is fully carried out by the institution's representatives. It is clear that they have as their reference many laws that regulate the Brazilian education sector. However, they have more autonomy to make decisions, decide on rules and processes.

What is considered good educational management?

In short, a good way to assess whether educational management is good or not is to analyze the results and make a comparison with the objectives set. On the other hand, there are quantitative questions that can and should even enter the exam. That way, The ability to optimize the resources available in the environment comes into play. But also achieve both pedagogical and financial success.

What are the differences between educational management and school management?

The terms seem to be very close. However, they bring significant differences, especially in their scope of action. Educational management is more comprehensive, being a way of understanding the institution's current moment and making projections for the future. In this sense, the school is seen as a living organism, in which each system has autonomy, and they are interdependent on each other. On the other hand, school management is more related to the actions that need to be performed in order for the institution to offer all the activities scheduled for the day. In this way, each institution can have its own way of treating school management. For example, the demands of a nursery school are not fully the same as those of a high school.

After all, how does digitalization contribute to good educational management?

Educational Management is a tool for decision-making, for the development and implementation of actions. Within a branch such as education, which involves several variables and qualitative results, decisions will still be made by people. On the other hand, the digitization of processes and documents is a reality in all national sectors. In the educational field, tools for controlling and accessing business, legal, and personal data are a necessity. That is, many files and documents need to remain in the institution only as long as required by law. They can then be digitized. To do this, organization is needed. In this way, many educational institutions opt for integrated and intelligent management systems. In this sense, ERP tools carry out activities of great value, thinking about administrative and financial aspects, but also informational and communicational aspects. Digital systems are capable of controlling aspects of the student routine, but also facilitating communication between sectors and individuals. For example, information about a student can arrive quickly on the parents' cell phone or important documents can be sent from one sector to another, without having to be exposed to an open internet network.

What sectors can improve with educational management?

School management can bring improvements to the performance of all other sectors, if properly coordinated and applied. In the financial department, for example, it can ensure that resources are better allocated and invested in strategic actions. In addition to allowing the reduction of expenses on low-value actions for pedagogical and financial success. In the pedagogical sector, the benefits can be innumerable. For example, one of the objectives may be to strengthen ties between the institution and the external community, that is, to make the students' parents more present in the environment. Or, on the other hand, promote greater integration between school and local community, with effective participation of teachers and staff. These two actions, by themselves, would already produce interesting results. First, family engagement would make the school a more student-friendly place, contributing to learning. Second, parents felt more responsible for their children's schooling. And finally, teachers and staff could be more motivated to feel part of a community beyond the institution's walls. In this text, you realized that all sectors of an institution can benefit from good educational management, and you understood how digitalization can accelerate these gains. Until the next one!