Educational positive management: features and recommendations



Teachers know that education does not stand still, and welcome thoughtful and coherent change that in the best interests of students. Change will inevitably impact on teachers because the learning conditions of students are also working conditions of teachers. However change is not the same as improvement. Two fundamental tests which should always be considered before taking the decision to launch a change are:

‒ Does the evidence justify this change as likely to cause improvement?

‒ Is an appropriate implementation process in pace to manage this change?

These questions are often not properly answered at the school management level do to the different factors:

‒ Luck of time;

‒ Luck of proper professional development;

‒ Inability to make independent decisions;

‒ The authority of stakeholders;

‒ The need of immediate changes due to the critical situation;

New Zealand’s education system is full of initiatives, but not effective change, therefore they created a change toolkit for schools and educational institutes that assist schools and branches in implementing effective change for improvement, following the identified best practices for educational change. It contains general principles for implementing successful education change in schools and a series of questions to answer before, during and after a change is trialed. There is a draft policy which branches can discuss with their boards. For more information, advice and guidance on working through a successful education change, hyperlinks will take you to sections associated with each question

Table 1

Educational change toolkit, author: PPTA, source: Positive change toolkit

Ideas for change are informed by evidence; Goals are manageable, credible and appropriate to the school; People’s sense of moral purpose is fully engaged; School leaders understand change and guide the process; Capacity is built through trust and collaboration; Change is properly resourced; Progress is reviewed and adjustments made; Expectations around quick fixes are absent.

Jump in without investigation, reflection and planning; Set goals that are unachievable given time, money and staffing constraints; Make excuses like “the ministry says we have to do this”; Assume people are lazy and afraid of change; Ignore the importance of relationships; Overload people with multiple initiatives; Forget to assess how well the change is going and what problems are appearing; Lose interest before the change is fully implemented.

Education-based marketing is the sharing of knowledge with the purpose of building trust. It is a strategy that establishes credibility and trust with your customers by using educational messages. Today’s consumer lives in a highly digital and immediately gratifying consumer environment. They don’t have to buy unless it is on their terms and their timetable. Furthermore, today’s consumer won’t to do business with people they don’t trust. In order for them to trust you they need to be assured they are dealing with the right company who has their best interests in mind. The “4R” marketing formula was developed as a classic complex for commodity market.

The Harvard University professor, Dr Nail Bordain compared that formula with the “pie recipe”: This is not a formula for specific numerical values or ratios, but a unique combination of ingredients from which to turn out a unique work of the cook. The elements of this formula are internal factors of the enterprise's activity in the market, providing it with success. The main elements of the marketing complex (marketing mix, or «marketing mixture») are the combination of goods, the price, the place of sale and promotion. While the rendering services, three more factors are significant: the organization itself with its internal system, not visible to the consumer, contact personnel (visible part of the organization) with which the client interacts, and the material environment, in which the service is performed. That three additions were created by P.Egliye, E.Lengard and theoretically approved by B.Bumz, M.Bitner, the authors of “7R” strategy. Today the specific of service as a good represents the next marketing service complex:

‒ Product — the good, the nature of service that satisfies the consumer needs;

‒ Price — the price system;

‒ Place — the sale place and the environment;

‒ Promotion — the promotion and sale promotion;

‒ Process — the process of making and organizing service;

‒ Physical evidence — the environment of service organization, symbols and physical objects, that accompanying communication with potential client and service delivery itself;

‒ People (participants) — employees of the organization, as well as customers, involved in the provision of services; customers also affect the quality of services and can be propagandists of the service organization or vice versa, do it «anti-advertising».

In this case we may review that marketing complex with the highlight of educational marketing.

‒ The education service can be defined as a commodity, since it satisfies the needs for knowledge, personal development, professional skills of the target consumer. This social effect is a «product offer» of an educational organization, on the market it corresponds to a certain effective demand.

However the comparison of the teacher and service is not correct. The education is additionally difficult to compare with the goods. T.Chernoysenko defined the education as educational product in his academic research. With respect to this name, one can speak of the quality of the results provision of educational services, their competitiveness in the market, commercial feasibility and efficiency of labor to produce such kind of products. For an educational institution such products are, first of all, knowledge and skills of trainees (students). T.Chernoysenko includes students’ researches, essays, art works, technical arts, methodological projects, school events and after-school activities. In a narrow commercial sense, these species products correspond to real goods intended for goods exchange. Although as a result of the activities of the educational institution, they were not originally created for commercial implementation. List of educational products can be specific and based on different types of educational institutions. In preschool institutions such products can be, in addition to the named, crafts for children, scenarios for entertainment events, developed by teachers, design and technical solutions on special equipment of premises. The greatest variety educational products, however, (or products of educational activity) are present in educational institutions of vocational training:

technical inventions, computer programs, new materials or equipment — they appear as a result of creative learning material by students.

‒ The price system for educational service connects with the nature of rates.

Educational rates for educational services, as a rule, are established once in year. Specificity of the establishment of educational tariffs is in their «time shifting». Change of prices for educational services of universities, schools, institutions of secondary vocational education is tied to the top school year. All documents of the financial reporting it is accepted indicate incomes and losses at the end of a calendar year. In the service sector, it is common to share firm tariffs and flexible tariffs. Flexible tariffs take into account the volume of work, its uniqueness, the importance of the client for the company and other conditions. In education, fixed tariffs are set for payment for period of study, for participation in various activities (for example, for participation in methodological seminar, for attending a student concert, etc.). Flexible tariffs can be applied, for example, in the provision of qualification or retraining: the amount of payment may vary from number of the group or from individual relations with the customer such services. Payment for education gradually becomes familiar in our country. This is due not only because of the time or psychological factors, but, first of all, with the availability of effective demand. The price of educational services is related to their quality, with financial the possibilities of an educational institution, as well as with the market situation education in a particular region or a municipality.

‒ The place of service and it’s environment is significant for both positive image of the organization, and for the very process of interaction staff, parents, teachers and students. Excess will justify that the comfortable situation determines a positive emotional background of activity and motivates to its continuation.

The specific of providing educational services in that their consumers need independent creative activity (except, perhaps, only pre-school education services). Personal interest of a student, a student raising qualification of a specialist in the educational process in his results is a necessary condition for the success of training. In trading activities with such a marketing mix element as a «place». The notion of merchandising is associated with encouraging the purchase of a certain goods with the help of special techniques (for example, psychologically competent layout of goods). Applied to educational methods that form the students' mood for active presentation of a school uniform, an exhibition or literary novelties of the library of the educational institution, various forms of public encouragement of successful students or students: from the «board» and honorable» status and stands with cups for sports achievements before the organization expositions of the museum of the educational institution.

‒ The school promotion

Many modern educational organizations take care of contact with their potential students and clients (parents) on the beginning stage of the entrance examinations. For this aims the school prints products, distributes booklets, promotes posters about the organization, commercials in mass media and social networks. The tradition of open door day and event exhibition takes place annually. More active form of school services promotion is personal or public meetings of leaders and teachers in institutions of lower levels of the educational ladder. School teachers attend kindergartens, teachers of colleges, technical schools, universities and organize meetings with parents or with schoolchildren on a classroom clock. These actions are nothing more than a marketing communications system educational institution. Such a system includes four main directions.

In this case the educational advertisement could be:

‒ Posting the commercial on the public newspapers;

‒ Commercial on the banners;

‒ Commercial on the transport;

‒ Commercial on TV and radio;

‒ Publishing of special literature and books about educational institute.

The system of public relations:

‒ Publishing of press release;

‒ Making the presentations and press-conferences;

‒ Making of methodological and practical conferences;

‒ Making the consultation on commercial and non commercial base;

The direct marketing:

‒ The submission of invitations for the participants of the educational process;

‒ Making the Career days;

Sales promotion:

‒ Provision of price discounts for paid educational services (benefits for different categories of students);

‒ Exhibitions and sales of methodological materials of the organization products;

‒ Activities of students’ special promotions («Refer a friend — get a discount»).

The list of marketing forms of communications is wide. Each of the forms above have their own regularities. With the growing competition in the education market, the need for more active marketing communications educational institutions. Therefore, this element of marketing-mix, undoubtedly, will be developed in more detail.

‒ The educational organization environment, where marketers means a set of specially designed objects, symbols, color solution, reflecting the organization's philosophy, its principles — everything what gives a product or service a specific person, a «trademark» (if specific goods are sold) or «service mark» (if the firm renders services).

Communication with the client must remain in his memory, to be imprinted not only in the form of the labor results, but also be related to it consciousness with concrete images. After that the client (participant of the educational process) will identify with given images and this type of service. The main purpose of the symbolism of the educational institution in the same, as the brand packaging of goods, their labels, tags and, in general, the marking company goods. In commodity marketing, a sign, symbol, name or a combination thereof, intended to identify the goods of one seller (or group sellers) and their differences from competitors' products is a trademark, or trademark. It can have various forms: a verbal designation, 3D image (for example, a McDonald's clown), expression, be in the form of a melody or even a smell. Sign service is applied to the service sector and has the same meaning as for commodity name of commodity. They are the central elements of corporate creation identity. Recognition of the trademark or service mark allows the consumer to satisfy his need for security. This kind of recognition allows you to have additional profits — vintage capital. Owning a trademark is protected by copyright laws. In order to secure these rights, different countries use their own systems licensing. In international practice, the following symbols are accepted, protecting trade marks. There are four types of names that help mark the product or designate the service: individual name for a particular species product or service, the general name for the product group, individual names for different product groups, a combination of an individual name goods with the name of the company, in any case the main role is fulfilled brand name — to position the market values, culture, goals, principles of the organization. In the name are reflected not only distinctive features of the goods, but also the responsibility of the organization, its quality products or services. Educational institutions that have long existed on the market and have established traditions, as a rule, have their own symbolism. School flag, university logo, color printing solutions about the business school, the symbolic name of the kindergarten — these funds form the environment in which educational services are provided. Similar means set the style for the marketing communications of the organization and for the non-verbal level is spoken of by her, instead of many words.

‒ The process of getting the educational service — is the element of marketing complex, that connects with the service business.

The organization is a complex system, most of which is closed from the consumer services. As the root of the tree provides with stability and nutrition, also internal the environment of the organization, hidden from consumers, determines the success of the whole activities. Factors of the internal environment of the organization are specificity of its management, and corporate culture. In the educational organization the culture is reflected both the philosophy of the organization, and its’ practical embodiment. They, in turn, depend on individual values, attitudes, goals, and also on individual personal qualities employees of the organization. The style of management, the nature of the joint activities of employees and even personal relationships between them determine the emotional background of educational activities. When providing educational services, like no other, relevant is the nature of the relationship of the teacher and students. At all levels educational system, from kindergarten to higher education, namely psychological closeness, mutual acceptance, trust between the teacher and trainees determine the success of their teamwork. Final goal educational services — personal changes student, a pupil of a kindergarten. So the formation of emotional comfort in the process of rendering educational services is a condition that provides a social effect of such services is qualitative changes in the personality of the students.

‒ Educational process participants — this is not only teacher and student.

Director or janitor, watchman or barmaid — with point of view of the consumer of educational services they are all important, they all create unique psychological atmosphere of the educational institution. Parents are important participants in the provision of educational services. From the pedagogical theory point of view of the, this is not to be proved educational activities of the educational institution or its educational process directly depend on what it was like family education of a child, student or schoolchild. In many educational organizations have a tradition of joint leisure, sports and other events together with parents. From economic side, parents are also necessary educational services, because they depend on tuition fees, they are endowed with legal responsibility for underage students. Today, parents can become full-fledged subjects of government educational institution. For this, the guardianship councils, parents are included in the elective council of the school. Students, students, students of kindergarten as persons educational process are also part of the internal environment organization and one of the elements of its marketing complex. As carriers «Educational product» — knowledge, skills, culture in a broad sense words, they make a name for an educational institution. Therefore, support relations with graduates is not only a beautiful tradition that makes the internal atmosphere of the educational institution is warmer. Such links are useful and from the marketing side: after all, the success of graduates — the best advertising educational organization. Summarizing the specifics of the components of marketing mix in education, noting that the theory once again follows the practice. Many tricks and means of forming the internal environment of the educational institution at all are not described in economic and marketing researches, but already have long been used in the practice of education. Their more complete comprehension and comparison with classical marketing concepts will do this the use of more meaningful, and therefore effective.

References:

1. Abdalkhan K. Educational activity and psychology. Moscow: Znaniya, 2005.Teaching series. ISBN: 9781405663564
2. Amonashvilly Sh.Pedagogy of collaboration. Saint Petersburg: Am Rita, 2003. The family education. ISBN:9785000565165
3. Magnysson D. Studying individual development in interindividual context. London: Skandinavskaya, 2002. Social and personality factors in relation to school differentiation. ISBN: 1317524349