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CONCLUSION
In writing this dissertation I have tried to identify
managerial strategies / methods used in the education system,
that could be construed as belonging to Scientific Management.
These strategies include: the process of deskilling, a reduction
in worker autonomy and the introduction of a task approach, the
role of managers in directing labour and the labour process, the
work study, the existence of a factory-like atmosphere /
production line within schools, economic incentives or efficiency
related pay and job fragmentation. I believe that this
dissertation presents a convincing argument that techniques such
as these are beginning to dominate the management of the
education system, in an attempt by top management to gain direct
control (including what is taught in the classroom)
Scientific management relies on the utilisation of a
production line or some form of continuous process whether it is
based on a factory floor or in an office. Within a secondary
school it is not difficult to locate specific evidence to suggest
that a production line exists as a school is not entirely
confined to regarding the pupil as a "worker" but also a
"product" (Handy,C. 1984, pp135-136) being processed along the
line. The subject teachers can be seen as performing different
tasks within their specialisms.
The education system expects schools to cover an age range
of 11 to 18 with the National Curriculum insisting on a number of
core and foundation subjects to be taught. Even the time
allocation for these subjects is statutory. In order to fulfil
this directive schools require a large entry of pupils at the
bottom to generate large enough classes in a range of subjects
later. School and the developing education process have resulted
in a "process plant" organisation seen as so essential to
learning and progression up the National Curriculum levels. ( For
example, National Curriculum Technology)
Before the National Curriculum and GCSE the assessment
system was aimed at one product in mind, producing the most
successful pupils. Although in theory the GCSE and the National
Curriculum allow for a wider range of abilities, employers still
see the higher grades, A to C as success. Certainly if this is
the case the school production line is extremely inefficient with
only a small minority of pupils reaching a high level of success.
This may be one reason why scientific management techniques are
being introduced, in order to increase efficiency.
The most compelling evidence that a production line exists
within schools is seen when a direct comparison is made with the
factory. Perhaps the most thorough implementation of scientific
management, as a strategy, was in the factories of Henry Ford and
this has become known as "Fordism" (Warde.A, 1989, p12). On the
classroom floor parallels to Fordism can sometimes be seen. Warde
(1989, p12) argues that the Fordist system employs the technology
of fixed dedicated machines. In educational terms this can seen
by teachers holding on to their subject specialisms. As this
dissertation points out, teachers in Technology are reluctant to
give up teaching traditional areas of work that have always
fallen within their subject boundaries. For example, Craft,
Design and Technology teachers are reluctant to allow other
subject teachers within National Curriculum Technology to teach
the design process. Here teaching specialisms can be regarded as
the dedicated machine carrying out the same functions. However,
this dissertation has described how scientific management
techniques are breaking down the monopoly of skills that some of
the subjects contributing to Technology once claimed ownership
over.
Fordism employs a production line of "vertical integrated
operation" and mass production (Warde.A, 1989, p12). In the
school this is reflected in the way pupils progress from level to
level within the National Curriculum (for example Technology)
rather like a production line. The skills / knowledge that
teachers pass onto pupils also steadily increase in difficulty
and complexity as the pupils move up the school.
In a Fordist organisation the products are aimed at a mass
consumer market and produced relatively cheaply. In education
pupils (the product) are supplied to industry and commerce with
the average cost of educating a child between the age of 5 and 16
years being kept to a minimum. Furthermore the introduction of
licensed teachers means the labour costs can be reduced, adding
to savings. This is similar to scientific management, which
deskilled a work force, in order to reduce production costs.
Fordism ensures that the labour process is fragmented with
workers having a limited range of tasks with little worker
discretion. The illustrative survey (chapter 4) suggests that
this tendency exists in schools with many teachers believing
that the National Curriculum provides the framework for the tasks
that they are to carry out. This suggests that a Taylorist or
Fordist style of shop floor or classroom floor organisation
exists. However, the production line may not be as clearly seen
as it is in a factory.
Over the last decade there has been a change in approach to
managerial strategies. This dissertation has found that there
appears to be two strategies, with scientific management applied
to the shop floor, and more modern practices such as
contractualism and subcontracting, applied to other areas of
education. The increase use of subcontracting and contractualism
has developed out of the beliefs of Thatcherism, that a company
or organisation should be "leaner and fitter" (Handy.C, 1984,
P79). Companies such as Marks and Spencer PLC reflect the new
industrial practices of contracting out. These strategies have
been adopted within the education service. For example, the
Manpower Services Commission draws up contracts with LEAs and
schools in which the school is contracted to deliver targets such
as "Information Technology Across and Curriculum" or "Balanced
Science" in exchange for direct funding, thus avoiding LEA
interference. The overall chain of command from the Secretary of
State for Education and the ordinary classroom teacher has become
less fragmented and this has enhanced direct control of the
workforce.
We can expect to see Education increasingly using
subcontracting among ancillary services and so moving management
into an era of contractual organisation more akin to the type of
flexibility as described by Alan Warde (1989, p11) as
"Post-Fordist", but still maintaining the control attributed to
scientific management on the shop floor. However, systems of
management that suit a company may not be appropriate to social
orientated organisations such as education.
On the classroom floor, scientific management techniques are
seen through the task approach and a reduction in teacher
autonomy (see chapter 3).
Scientific management clearly sets out the function of the
different levels of the employees. In education top management
sets the tasks for middle management who in turn set the tasks
that the workers and supervisors perform. This pattern reflects
classic characteristics of scientific management of the
production line era. Whereas modern management techniques within
industry may involve a degree of worker discretion / autonomy
(responsible autonomy) and participation over decision taking,
these techniques were more prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s in
the education system ((Shaw.K, 1990, p269). Since the Thatcherite
era discussion and participation in decision taking has been
severely curtailed with "imposition" being the key strategy, such
as enforcing salary scales or curriculum changes. Early examples
in the 1980s began with the introduction of the GCSE system, a
system rushed into operation against the advice of the teaching
profession. An example today has been the similar rapid
introduction of the National Curriculum and forced change in
working practices that have followed. Top management in the form
of government has implemented these policies, the middle
management from examination boards to headteachers have had to
prepare these policies for school consumption, while the
supervisors and shop floor workers (the ordinary teachers) have
had to turn these policies into practical reality, on the
production line (following directions from above), in the
classroom. These policies have become new rigid instruments in
the teaching process and a direct method enabling top management
to control the production process. In this way top management
have enhanced their influence over the entire 'production
process'
This dissertation has identified specific examples of
deskilling, especially in the subject Technology. The nature of
deskilling is a very difficult point to argue. Discussions hinge
on one's own definition of the word "skill". In the 1960s and
1970s a large percentage of pupils learned many of the skills
required for work at school (for example the subject Engineering)
followed by training such as apprenticeships. Pressure through
out the 1970s increased with more demands being placed on schools
and colleges to prepare young people for work with more
vocational courses and educational experiences geared to the
world of industry and commerce. For example, the early TVEI
vocational courses introduced pupils to the skills required by
industry. However, the National Curriculum has seen a move
towards more "academic" subjects with the emphasis placed on
Maths, English and Science while there has been a decrease in the
number of vocational courses that do not fit the National
Curriculum criteria. The types of skills required of teachers
have changed with an overall reduction of the skill content
especially within subjects such as National Curriculum
Technology, as described by this dissertation (chapter 3).
Ivan Illich, 1980, p87, suggests that education should be
for the learning of specific skills not only learning subject
specialisms but should also be a liberating experience whereby
the individual explores, creates, uses judgement and freely
develops faculties and talents to the full. Although Illich never
claimed schools were good at this, this dissertation points to
evidence that the National Curriculum with its narrow structure
and restrictive tasks (especially within Technology) reduces
these skills and experiences.
An important aspect of Taylor's Scientific Management was
the accurate use of the work study. In teaching, the work study
can be seen as "teacher appraisal" and is being gradually
introduced to the workforce, as discussed in detail in chapter 2.
The National Curriculum means that the appraisers can for the
first time accurately determine whether targets and tasks have
been reached by both the teacher and pupils. Both the National
Curriculum and job specifications increasingly determine the
organisation of departments, the curriculum and teaching methods
/ strategies (for example, the reorganisation of Business
Studies, C.D.T. and Home Economics into a Technology faculty).
Now school managers can clearly see what levels pupils at a
certain age should have reached and use this to appraise the
"success" of subject teachers. Also the managers now know what
should be taught in the classroom. One of the claims of appraisal
is that it is aimed at helping the teacher improve his / her
efficiency, just as the work study aimed at the systematic
analysis of production with a view to improving efficiency.
Taylor believed in economic reward as being the incentive
for a workforce and so pay should be related to efficiency. In
teaching it is often the case that allowances are offered for
extra responsibilities. However, the work study or appraisal has
been seen by employers as part of a reorganised pay structure.
According to Keiron Walsh (1990, p155) one of the first reports
of a group of officers appointed by the Burnham Management Panel
as early as 1981 suggested that pay should be related to
performance. Walsh further argues that between 1981 and 1986 both
the D.E.S and the Secretary of State for Education were
encouraging performance related pay ( Walsh, 1990, p.156) and the
D.E.S suggested that the salary structure should be designed "to
offer relatively greater rewards to the best classroom teachers"
(D.E.S. 1983, P.16). The National Curriculum may allow appraisal
to link economic reward with the teachers ability to aid the
progression of pupils up the levels and so complete the
relationship between the work study (appraisal) and economic
reward.
Few would dispute the reduction in autonomy that teachers
have suffered at the "chalk face" in terms of the selection and
presentation of materials (as described in chapter 3, in relation
to Technology). This dissertation has shown this aspect of
scientific management to be a fact as top management increase
their control of the curriculum. However, we must not ignore
other factors that conspire to limit teacher influence.
The current economic climate has also reduced the power and
influence once enjoyed by the teaching profession. A surplus of
teachers in most subjects means that the profession no longer has
the bargaining power it once had. Some schools face closure due
to falling rolls and therefore popularity has become the prime
aim of many, with schools having to ensure that they follow
recent educational directives, including National Curriculum
guidelines so that their professional approach cannot be doubted.
Exam boards have always presented an effective block on
teacher autonomy as a means of curriculum control. Many now have
a centralised administrative structure and operate on a committee
basis (see structure of the Schools Examinations and Assessment
Council, appendix 9, fig.3). Control of the exam structure and
the National Curriculum has been drawn into the central
administrative machinery which means autonomy, power and
influence disappearing from the grassroots teacher to examination
board officials. In the early 1980s Bowe and Whitty (1983, p237)
suggested that officials such as these dominate the boards
committee structure and where grassroots professional concerns
sometimes arise, the officials become clearly identified with the
organisational needs of their boards rather than the
requirements of their colleagues on the classroom floor.
The position of the examination boards has been
strengthened because opposition to increased teacher control has
come from many quarters ranging from the D.E.S, Conservative
Government and the Examination Boards, and is acceptable if they
limit teacher autonomy. Also recent competition between the
examination boards have led to amalgamations of some boards in a
attempt to consolidate their influence, for example, the Northern
Examinations Board.
Parents are another power group who have been encouraged to
take an interest in shaping the curriculum. When the aspirations
of middle class parents are allied with the power of the
examination boards and government and employers they provide an
effective opposition to teacher control / influence of the
curriculum.
Nigel De Gruchy (1991,p1) suggests that there should be a
revolution in management across public and private sectors with
the emphasis placed on "employee participation". He further
states that the Thatcherite formula, "managers right to manage"
has failed with the autocratic, aggressive style having being
given its chance. He calls for the need to develop a different
management ethos based on a sense of professionalism and service
with the removal of contempt for views and interests of
employers.
However, with the current atmosphere of mistrust between top
management and the classroom teacher, and the politics
surrounding the education system, it is likely that scientific
management will remain as an uncontested managerial strategy.
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