Educational administration in Namibia

Abstract

Abstract taken from unknown publication, section B4: Social Anthropology, Ethnography, p. 84:

The research findings confirm that Namibia is suffering from a shortage of expertise in the very sector responsible for implementing fundamental change. By analysing this problem, the thesis contributes to an improved understanding of the significance and complexity of the administrative requirements for educational change and emphasises the need for vigorous but pragmatic actions to enhance the prospects for successful educational reform

The central argument is that few serving administrators are professionally equipped to carry out the innovations needed after independence. Independent Namibia has had recourse to exiles trained abroad, but the numbers of trained and experienced educational administrators among them has been negligible

This research charts the development of educational administration in Namibia from the period of German occupation in 1884 until the first anniversary of independence. The educational administration's staffing and structural trends are examined as well as the professional training of exiled Namibians. The Zimbabwean case-study covers similar ground, in addition to discussing the changes introduced there after independence, so as to illuminate comparable issues in the Namibian case

The study's approach is narrative description and use is made of quantitative and qualitative data and comparative methods to analyze the context of educational administration and its prospects in the new Namibia