Doris Morales

link to a very interesting video on educational management in Colombia



HOW EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT WORKS IN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES IN OUR COUNTRY?

I want to share with you what the Colombian constitution states about education and how it should be organized.

The Political Constitution of 1991

According to the Political Constitution, a social state of law governs in Colombia, organized as a unitary, decentralized with autonomous territorial entities, democratic, participatory and pluralistic Republic. It states that education is a right of the individual and a public service, which has a social function, and whose responsibility relies on the State, society and family. In Colombia, education is compulsory for ages from 5 to 15, and includes at least one year of preschool and nine of basic education.

The State is accountable to perform the final inspection and supervision of education in order to ensure its quality, its fulfilling purpose and the best moral, intellectual and physical health of students, ensuring an adequate supply of service and assuring the conditions for children to access and remain in the educational system. The Nation and regional authorities will involve in the management, financing and administration of state educational services, under the terms stipulated by the Constitution and the law.

There is also a specific Law for education and educational services. This Law specifies all the requirements for public and private education as well as the regulations for Universities:

General Law of education

The General Law of Education makes important changes: a) In the object and purpose of education, pointing to the dynamic development of the human being, so that he can integrate into society, as autonomous, participative, committed, productive and the like, b) It poses the Institutional Educational Projects – PEI, for its acronym in Spanish, which must be implemented with autonomy according to the particular needs of each institution, to achieve the integral formation of the student, c) Curriculum linking different subjects areas and educational projects d) The establishment of a national system of educational evaluation e) It empowers the Ministry of Education to regulate curriculum, through the general guidelines of curriculum processes, and in formal education through performance indicators.

As an integral part of education service, the General Law of Education determines the educational assistance to populations: disable or exceptional skilled people, education for adults, education for ethnic groups, rural and peasant education and education for social rehabilitation.

Law 30 of 1992 for higher education

It is the framework law in which the State, in accordance with the Constitution and the General Law of Education, organizes the public service of higher education, ensuring university autonomy and the financing for delivering educational services. The law provides mechanisms for regulation, control and monitoring aimed at ensuring the quality of service.

Education Decennial Plan: A planning tool for the organization of service delivery

The Education Decennial Plan included in the General Law of Education as a tool to organize the delivering of educational services, states that the Ministry of National Education, in coordination with territorial entities, will prepare at least every ten years an educational plan which will have an indicative character, it will be evaluated, reviewed permanently and considered in the national and territorial development plans. The formulation of the plan enables the right of citizens and social organizations to take part democratically in the planning, management and control of education.

The Law 715 of 2001 establishes organic standards in responsibilities between the nation and the territorial entities, and distribution of education resources to arrange the state education and health in the country. This reform aims to strengthen the decentralization of social services, including education, and to increase resources for education, in order to serve the entire population of children and young people in school age. This Act develops fundamental aspects that have to do with efficiency, coverage and quality of education:

a)    It introduces a major change in the distribution of resources to local authorities to finance the provision of educational services, depending on the number of students served and the population that still needs to be addressed in terms of efficiency and equity.

b)    It defines more accurately the responsibilities of each territorial level: the Nation assumes an education guiding and regulator role, while the departments, districts and municipalities are responsible for the provision of educational services. In turn, each school, in the lead of the school president, is responsible for the quality of education being provided and is required to report regularly to the Board of Directors, in which parents have participation.