Shah, Saeeda
(1998)
Educational management: an exploratory study of management roles and possibilities of management development at college level in AJK, Pakistan.
PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
Abstract
This study explores college management in the context of a Muslim, post-colonial, LDC (low developing country) situation. The thesis focuses on institutional heads, both male and female, to investigate their roles, practices and the possibilities of management development. It examines the interplay of the discourses of religion, education, management, leadership, and gender, as expressed through the participants’ experiences. Moreover, professional, socio-economic, political, and ideological forces are critically examined as contributive to shaping the discourses and subjectivities, and being shaped in the process.
The qualitative study is conducted from a poststructuralist theoretical perspective, but is underpinned by Islamic philosophical thought. This encourages an exploration of the related discourses, their fluid boundaries and an inherent power-play, and points to the movements from margins to centres and vice versa. It allows for a critical exploration of the 'political technologies' aiming at decentring or accessing the 'centre', with particular reference to education, gender and Islam.
The thesis begins by providing a background to the research and positions the researcher. Relevant international literature is reviewed as a backdrop for later discussions, to highlight differences and commonalties. The broad framework of the research is detailed next to explain theoretical and methodological choices, followed by a discussion of the research design and its emergent multifaceted nature.
Research findings, collected mainly through two diverse methods, postal surveys and in-depth interviewing, are presented and analysed separately in response to the theoretical inclines. The analysis unveils the practices involved in construction, validation and dissemination of 'discourses' and 'regimes of truth'. The concluding discussion unmasks the patriarchal power-play exploiting various modes of ordering practices and relationships on a specific educational site, and how these aim at depowering and/or empowerment through institutionalised boundaries. The study also highlights areas of management development for the college heads, and argues for context-specific programs for improved effectiveness.
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