Summary of doctoral thesis developing manager teams of community learning centers

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VIETNAM NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES NGUYEN LE VAN DUNG DEVELOPING MANAGER TEAMS OF COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTERS Major: Educational Management Code: 14 01 14 SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS HA NOI, 2019 This research is completed at: The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences Supervisors: Prof Dr Pham Tat Dong Dr Phan Thi Ngoc Anh Reviewer 1: Reviewer 2: Reviewer 3: This thesis shall be defended at the Thesis Examination Committee at Institute level, The Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences, 101 Tran Hung Dao street, Ha Noi at ……… ……… dated ……… year ……… This thesis is available at: - National Library of Vietnam - Library of the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences INTRODUCTION Reason to choose the topic In the past years, we have built an education manager team for educational institutions that are increasingly crowded, mostly having ethical qualities and political consciousness, professional qualifications and profession increasingly improved However, compared to the socio-economic development and the requirement of educational innovation and development, the education management team of continuing education has many shortcomings in many aspects One of main causes of the above situation is that the development of manager teams of continuing education in general, especially the development of educational managers of Community Learning Centers (CLCs) has not been properly cared and limited According to the Decision No 382/QD-BGDDT dated 20/01/2012 of MOET on issuing the training programs of educational managers; however, according to the above decision, managers of CLCs are not among the beneficiaries This fact shows that the development of CLC managers in the past years has not been paid attention to, affecting the management capacity of these staff in particular and affecting the quality and performance of CLCs in general Moreover, the planning of source training, training - fostering, evaluation, filtering screen and policy regime to create environment and motivation for developing CLC manager teams has not been implemented effectively In addition to the achieved results, the CLC has also revealed certain weaknesses One of important causes of these weaknesses is the limited management of the CLC directorate boards From those shortcomings, finding solutions to develop CLC manager teams in terms of quantity and quality is an urgent need to be addressed For the above reasons, the writer chooses the thesis topic "Developing manager teams of Community Learning Centers" Purpose of the research On the basis of theoretical and practical research of developing CLC manager teams, proposing solutions for team development, contributing to enhance operational efficiency as well as maintaining, strengthening and sustainably developing CLCs Research object and subject 3.1 Research object: Activities of developing CLC manager teams (directors, deputy directors of CLCs) 3.2 Research subject: Management of developing CLC manager teams Scientific hypotheses Based on the theory of human resource management and based on the approach of capacity and approach of developing community to orient the capacity framework according to the management positions and tasks of CLC manager teams, and to propose solutions of developing CLC manager teams in the direction of focusing on solutions of fostering capacity, arranging usage, assigning work efficiently among members of the Directorate Boards and creating a working environment, legal environment, compensation policy for teams would contribute to develop CLC manager teams, contribute to enhance the operational efficiency as well as maintain, strengthen and sustainably develop CLCs in the stage of building a learning society of Vietnam today Content and scope of the research 5.1 Research content - Studying the theoretical basis of developing CLC manager teams - Assessing the status of CLC manager teams and the development of CLC manager teams - Proposing solutions developing CLC manager teams, surveying the necessity and feasibility of solutions - Testing a solution to develop CLC manager teams 5.2 Research scope * Space scope: The study was conducted in three provinces: Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa and Dong Nai * Content scope: Solutions of developing CLC manager teams (directors, deputy directors) Research tasks The thesis performs the following tasks: • Researching the theoretical basis for developing CLC manager teams; • Assessing the current situation of developing CLC manager teams; • Proposing solutions of developing the CLC manager teams; • Surveying, exploring the necessity and feasibility of solutions proposed by the thesis; Testing a proposed solution Methodology and specific research methods 7.1 Methodology: System approach; Human resources management approach; Capacity approach; Community development approach; Practical approach; 7.2 Specific research methods: Theoretical research methods; Practical research methods; The complementary methods Thesis viewpoints (1) The CLC manager teams are an important factor to determine the quality and effective performance of CLCs Developing CLC manager teams based on the theory of human resources, approach to capacity and approach to community development is to develop CLC manager teams ensured with the quantity and improved with the quality (2) The CLC manager teams still reveal a number of certain limitations, especially the professional capacity that has not met the requirements in the current context of building a sustainable learning society and community development Developing CLC manager teams is the process of developing this team in accordance with the capacity framework of CLC managers (3) Fostering capacity; allocating and assigning effective tasks among members of the Directorate Board and creating working environment, legal environment, and compensation policy are considered as the basic solutions of developing the quality of CLC manager teams New contributions of thesis - In theory: Contributing a theoretical framework of developing CLC manager teams based on the theory of human resources, the approach to capacity and the approach to community development to developing the capacity frame of developing CLC manager teams - In practice: (1) Surveying, analyzing and assessing the current situation of CLC manager teams, the current situation of developing CLC manager teams with strengths and limitations; (2) Proposing a system of scientific principles and solutions that are suitable to reality of developing CLC manager teams, meeting the requirements of CLC development in contributing to building the learning society from locals (communes, wards and towns) 10 The structure of the thesis the list In addition to the introduction, conclusions and recommendations, references and appendix, the thesis is structured into chapters Chapter I - Theoretical basis of development of CLC manager teams Chapter II – Real situation of development of CLC manager teams Chapter III - Solutions of development of CLC manager teams CHAPTER THEORETICAL BASIS OF DEVELOPMENT MANAGER TEAMS OF COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTERS 1.1 Overview of issue research An overview of the development of the CLC manager teams at home and abroad helps the thesis have the most general and comprehensive view of research contents The thesis has systematized the researches on developing the CLC manager teams into major issues as follows: (1) Research on the foundation of CLCs; (2) Research on developing the CLC manager teams; (3) Research on the development of the CLC manager teams The issues need to be further studied and resolved The documents mainly focus on researching staff development issues in terms of training and fostering to improve management capacity in different regions across the country However, this is only one content in the development of the CLC manager teams Besides, some important contents for staff development such as the compensation regimes and policies for the manager teams; the monitoring, examination and evaluation of the quality of the manager teams or creating working and legal environment has also been mentioned but at a weak level Moreover, for manager teams, they have a special feature in that they work part-time so the content of developing the CLC manager teams needs to be studied in a specific way and must be specified how are the differences in the management of developing the CLC manager teams compared with the management of developing the education managers in general? In addition, contents such as planning for team development, recruitment, appointment, dismissal and rotation of staff that are difficult to apply to the CLC manager teams are mentioned in the same way as the planning and use of regular management staff in general Meanwhile these researches have not yet deeply analyzed the work arrangement and assignment among members of the CLC directorate board or emphasized the fostering, self-fostering and creating working and legal environment, remuneration regime for the CLC manager teams The studies also identified capacity groups of the CLC managers based on the approach to management function, namely planning capacity, organization capacity, direction capacity and monitoring and evaluation capacity but had no the specific capacities of the CLC managers Clearly, the CLC managers have a unique and differentiated management method than that of school administrators Due to the CLC typical operation mechanism, it is a coordination mechanism with all community organizations, so it also makes a difference in the CLC management mechanism The CLC manager teams must not only demonstrate their competencies in the functions of the management (planning, organization of implementation, direction, monitoring - evaluation) but must also have specific competencies related to community development education, including capacity of mobilizing resources from community, capacity of mobilizing all community subjects to participate in center activities, capacity of coordinating with local organizations, agencies and unions, capacity of gathering people to share information, discuss, make decisions and take action together, solve local problems With the above analysis, it can be seen that the research contents about the development of the CLC manager teams have not been studied in a specific, complete and systematic manner The issues that the thesis needs to focus on solving - Researching the theoretical basis for the development of the CLC manager teams • Characteristics of CLC models in Vietnam • Characteristics of the CLC manager teams • Development of the CLC manager teams based on their composition and structure - Surveying the actual status of developing the CLC manager teams • Actual situation of CLC manager teams • Actual situation of management of developing the CLC manager teams - Proposing the system of solutions of developing the CLC manager teams - Surveying, exploring the necessity and feasibility of solutions proposed by the thesis; Test a content of the proposed solution In summary, the research on the development of the CLC manager teams is an indispensable need for practice The results of international and domestic research overview helped the thesis to have more valuable sources of references, which is the premise to apply and develop the thesis in researching the current situation and proposing solutions for developing the CLC manager teams 1.2 The basic concepts The thesis has deeply studied into three basic concepts closely related to the topic, which are the following concepts: (1) Community learning center; (2) Development of education management staff; (3) Managing community learning center 1.3 Characteristics of the CLC manager teams 1.3.1 Tasks and powers of the CLC manager teams The direct management team of CLCs (the board of directors) includes 01 director, 02 vice directors working on a part-time basis This is reflected in "Regulation on organization and operation of CLCs in communes, wards and towns" (Issued with the Decision No 09/2008/QDBGDDT dated 24/3/2008 of MOET) Tasks and powers of this team are specified in Article 12, 13 of the Regulation 1.3.2 The role of the Directorate board in managing CLC The subject of direct management in CLCs is the CLC board of directors, and in the directorate board, the director is the person who has the highest decision-making power in CLC activities The board of directors plays a major role in the operation, maintenance and development of CLC activities It is the responsibility of the board of directors to run all center activities and be responsible before the law and the superior management agency for all center activities 1.4 The content about the development of the CLC manager teams 1.4.1 Theory of human resources management The thesis uses the theory of human resources management by Leonard Nadler to develop the CLC manager teams But because the CLC manager teams have several different characteristics from the manager teams at regular schools, namely: - Failing to payroll arrangement for the CLC manager teams as the regime of civil servants and officials in centers Therefore, the CLC manager teams are always fluctuating according to the management term of members of the CLC directorate board For the president/ vice president/ secretary of the commune and the president/ vice president of the commune-level Association for Promoting Education, the term of leadership is 05 years and there is no overlapping process for these two titles Meanwhile, the principal/ vice principal of the elementary/ secondary schools also has a leadership term of years and no more than two consecutive terms at an educational institution and have transfer and rotation by the District DOET - The CLC manager teams works as the regime of working concurrently, which means that they will both work in the management of the commune authorities, schools, associations for promoting education and concurrently hold positions in the CLC directorate boards As such, these teams are essentially public servants/ officials with the State salaries based on their positions and concurrently holding positions in the CLC directorate board that are entitled to the CLC allowance under the current regulations - The Chairman of the District People's Committee makes a decision on the structure of the management board of CLCs based on the proposal of the Commune People’s Committee (for the position of center director) and the proposal of the CLC director (for position of center deputy director) But in essence, CLCs are directly managed by the Commune People's Committee and directed by the professional guidance of the District DOET Therefore, the commune level is the subject of direct management of CLC managers Due to the different characteristics of CLC manager teams as analyzed above, the thesis does not use the original human resource management model of Leonard Nadler to apply to manage the CLC manager teams It focuses on the following basic contents (see Figure 1.1): Management of Manager Team of CLC Developing Manager Team of CLC Using Manager Team of CLC Fostering, selffostering to improve competence Using, valuating team Creating environment of developing Manager Team Creating working and legal environment and compensation policy Figure 1.1 Model of managing CLC manager teams 1.4.2 Access to capacity in CLC CB staff development On the basis of research and analysis of capacity approach, the thesis builds a capacity framework for CLC manager teams This capacity framework must also ensure conformity with the CLC organizational and operational model The capacity framework includes the following basic standards: (1) Political and moral qualities (2) Professional competence on developing community activities/ training/ learning programs (3) Community-based Management Capacity of the CLC activities * Capacity of planning the CLCs activities * Capacity of directing and organizing the implementation of the CLC activities * Capacity of monitoring and evaluating the CLC activities * Capacity of mobilizing resources inside and outside community for the CLC activities * Capacity of linking, coordinating with community organizations, individuals, departments, agencies and unions for the CLC activities 1.4.3 Community development approach in developing the CLC manager teams Community management community of CLCs becoming "community development workers" is a positive factor contributing to the growth and sustainable development of community, because they are the ones who implement the local community activities The CLC cadre management team not only needs leadership and CLC management competencies but also needs the capacity for higher education 1.5 The importance of developing the CLC manager teams Developing a staff of CLC managers is implementing the Party's resolutions and directives on cadre work; Besides, meeting the needs of developing CLC models in particular to realize the goal of building a learning society from grassroots level (commune, ward, town); Also meet the needs of each cadre holding concurrent positions at CLCs 1.6 Developing the CLC manager teams according to the theory of human resources, capacity approach and community development approach 1.6.1 Allocating and assigning specific tasks for each member of the CLC director board Based on capacity framework developed for the CLC manager teams, the managers will determine their management ways to conform to working environment Besides, the management levels also consider it as a basis for developing the local team local by combining various types of different training and fostering For the CLC directorate board, because they work on a part-time basis, the division of work according to ability and expertise of each member of the management board will also have the differences compared to the management staff at regular education institutions 1.6.2 Training and fostering the CLC manager teams The nature of training and fostering the CLC manager teams is to improve the quality and capacity of the CLC manager teams so that they have sufficient personal conditions in fulfilling their duties, functions and powers In order to improve the quality of the CLC manager teams, training and fostering activities are indispensable Applying the above training process to the CLC training process as follows: (1) Identifying the needs of training of the CLC manager teams; (2) Planning on training and fostering of the CLC manager teams; (3) Organizing the training and fostering courses for the CLC manager teams; (4) Directing and supervising the training and fostering of the CLC manager teams; (5) Monitoring and evaluating the quality and effectiveness of training and fostering of the CLC manager teams 1.6.3 Regimes and policies for the CLC manager teams The compensation regimes and policies as factors motivating this team wholeheartedly for management whereas it can also reduce the work enthusiasm The remuneration is manifested by material or spiritual priorities Therefore, in formulating and perfecting regimes and policies, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp the viewpoint of associating tasks with interests, ideals with benefits The main content of the remuneration policy for the CLC manager teams focused on honoring the CLC manager teams with the development of community and creating motivation and capacity development for the CLC manager teams 1.6.4 Evaluation of the CLC manager teams Evaluating the quality of the CLC manager teams not only understands the status of all aspects of this team, but also makes predictions about the quality of the team as well as outlines feasible plans for activities to improve the quality of the team On the other hand, the evaluation results of the CLC manager teams are the basis for managers to have self-adjustment to adapt to the requirements and standards of that team When evaluating the CLC manager teams, it is necessary to specify: purpose of evaluation; principles of evaluation; contents of evaluation; method of evaluation 1.6.5 Creating working environment, motivation for the CLC manager teams The factor of creating working environmental and motivation for the CLC manager teams is an indispensable factor in developing team The management levels need to build an environment (physical and mental environment) to help the CLC manager teams to work more effectively Besides, it is necessary to issue policies motivating the CLC manager teams 1.7 Factors affecting management of developing the CLC manager teams (1) Objective factors: The management mechanisms and policies of the State and the Education sector; Conditions of local socio-economic development; (2) Subjective factors: Quality, capacity and qualifications of the CLC managers; Working environment in CLCs 1.8 Decentralization of management and responsibilities of all levels in developing CLCs and the CLC manager teams The responsibility of levels in developing CLCs and the CLC manager teams as follows: the responsibility of the Provincial DOET, the responsibility of the province-level Association for Promoting Education, the responsibility of the District DOET, the responsibility of educational institutions, the responsibility of the commune-level People 's Committee Conclusion of Chapter To ensure the development of CLCs in a sustainable way, the development of center staff is one of the key tasks Only when the CLC manager teams are ensured in quantity, developed in quality, comprehensive in structure, this would be a real change in the quality of center operations The thesis has studied in depth the theory of human resources management with the approach of capacity and approach of community development in developing the CLC manager teams Based on these approaches, the thesis also identified standards within the framework of the CLC manager, specially emphasizing on management capacity and community development of the CLC directorate board Besides, with the characteristics of the working position "concurrently" of managing CLC and no payroll regime for the CLC manager teams that the thesis has selected contents to develop this team including: (1) Allocating and assigning specific tasks for each member of the CLC director board; (2) Training and fostering the CLC manager teams; (3) Regimes and policies for the CLC manager teams; (4) Evaluation of the CLC manager teams; (5) Creating working environment, motivation for the CLC manager teams In addition, chapter also shows the decentralization of responsibilities at all levels in management and development of CLCs and the CLC manager teams The theoretical basis for the development of the CLC manager teams is considered to be a solid theoretical foundation for the thesis to conduct research on the current situation and propose suitable solutions in the development of the CLC manager teams CHAPTER THE REALITY OF DEVELOPING MANAGER TEAMS OF CENTER LEARNING COMMUNITY 2.1 Situation of developing CLCs in Vietnam According to the annual summary report of the Department of Continuing Education, MOET, after 15 years of formation and development in Vietnam, the CLCs have now formed a nationwide network From 10 piloted centers with Japanese financial support (school year 1998 1999) to the school year 2017 – 2018, there was 11,019 CLCs nationwide Especially in some provinces, 100% of communes, wards and towns have CLCs (Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Vinh Phuc, Da Nang City, Hai Duong City, ) 2.2 Several general information on survey - The purpose of the survey is to find out: (1) Actual situation of CLC manager teams; (2) Actual situation of developing CLC manager teams; (3) Factors affecting the development of CLC manager teams - Survey locations: provinces Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa and Dong Nai - Survey objects: 338 objects including the CLC manager teams (director, deputy director); the Provincial DOET officials; the District DOET officials; the commune and district leaders; Some community organizations, agencies, unions; - Survey methods: questionaires, in-depth interviews, discussions - Survey data analyzing: The thesis also uses SPSS software to handle the quatitative data of questionaires through statistics on quantity, percentages, average scores (X) and Spearman's hierarchical correlation coefficient 2.3 Actual situation of CLC manager teams In order to find out the reality of the CLC manager teams, the thesis surveyed the following contents: (1) The number and composition of center managers, (2) The quality of the CLC manager teams 2.3.1 Actual situation of the number and composition of CLC managers in some surveyed provinces The thesis has investigated the number and composition of managers of the 03 surveyed provinces In fact, the three provinces have the number and composition of managers in accordance with the regulations on CLC operation 2.3.2 Assessing the appropriateness of the number and composition of each concurrent position in the CLC directorate board 2.3.2.1 Regarding the number of members of CLC directorate board Through the survey, most of the opinions said that the composition of the CLC directorate board is enough, only a few opinions showed that the number of CLC managers is redundant or lacking So, in general, the current number of people in the CLC board of directors is quite appropriate 2.3.2.2 Regarding the composition of the CLC directorate board Currently, the model of CLCs developed towards characteristics in many different regions Typically, there are several provinces such as some southern provinces tending to merge the commune-level Culture - Sports centers with CLCs to become Culture - Sports - Learning centers; some provinces developing model of satellite network of CLCs as learning clubs to the villages/ hamlets/ These models more or less brought the satisfactory performance results for CLCs The thesis also assessed the relevance of number and composition of the CLC directorate board as follows: Table 2.10 The relevance of structure of the directorate boards of Culture - Sports - Community Learning Centers Relevance Composition of the Directorate Average Total Appropriate Less None Board score N % N % N % Commune-level managers holding concurrently directors of 316 290 91.8 22 7.0 1.3 2.91 CLCs Composition of the Directorate Board Total Appropriate N % Relevance Less N % None N % Average score Managers of primary or secondary schools holding 306 182 59.5 52 17.0 72 23.5 2.36 concurrently deputy directors of CLCs Managers of Association for Promoting Learning holding 294 212 72.1 50 17.0 32 10.9 2.61 concurrently deputy directors of CLCs Managers of Culture - Sports Centers holding concurrently 290 188 64.8 58 20.0 44 15.2 2.50 deputy director of CLCs Total average score 2.59 The data in Table 2.10 shows that the communal managers working concurrently as directors of CLCs are still considered to be suitable with the highest level in positions of the center directorate board with 91.8% of respondents' agreement This is evidenced by the fact that in recent years, the CLC Director who is concurrently appointed by the commune manager will help the CLC operate more effectively, the center staff will also be more concerned Therefore, in the coming period, the position of CLC Director is concurrently worked by commune officials remaining the same In addition, the Association for Promoting Learning officers working concurrently as the deputy director of CLCs should still be kept with 72.1% of respondents' support Regarding the position of leaders of primary schools or secondary schools working concurrently as the deputy director of CLCs, there are many different opinions The table data shows that only over 50% of respondents supporting this title (59.5%) About titles Leaders of Culture - Sports centers working concurrently as the deputy director of CLCs also received over 60% of the respondents agreed (64.8%) In fact, the model of Culture - Sports - Learning centers has just come into operation in recent years, this concurrent title has not had a long time to verify the suitability However, initially, this position is also considered to be quite consistent in the position of part-time deputy director of the Culture - Sports - Learning centers The Average score is 2.59 in the range of 2.33