e. Toilets are arranged reasonably, separately for teachers, male students and female students, not polluting the environment inside and outside the school;
g. There is a parking area for teachers and students on campus, ensuring order and safety;
h. There is enough clean water for teaching activities, water for teachers and students; there is a sanitary drainage system;
i. Have an information technology system connected to the internet that meets management and teaching requirements; have an information website on the internet that operates regularly, effectively supporting teaching and school management.
1.4. Managing facilities of primary boarding schools according to national school standards
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1.4.1. Basic concepts
1.4.1.1. School management and administration
* Manage
Referring to the issue of management, K. Mark said: “A solo violinist controls himself, but an orchestra needs a conductor” [cited in 46].
With different attention to aspects of management activities, researchers have given many definitions of management. Some examples can be cited:
W. Taylor defines: "Management is the art of knowing clearly and exactly what needs to be done and how to do it in the best and cheapest way" [cited in 9].
Nigel Bennett believes: "Management is a rational activity related to finding the most effective and efficient ways possible to use resources to achieve the organization's goals" [cited in 9]).
Dang Vu Hoat and Ha The Ngu wrote: “Management is a process of orientation, a process with goals, managing a system to achieve certain goals. These goals characterize the new state of the system that the manager desires [cited in 30].
Drawing from many concepts of domestic and foreign researchers, we can draw the following characteristic signs of management activities:
- Is an activity carried out within an organization or social group;
- Is the targeted impact of the management subject (through policies, principles, methods and measures; through management decisions);
- Are systematic, planned actions (coordinating individual efforts, mobilizing resources) to achieve the organization's goals.
Organizational management can be viewed from different perspectives. From a functional perspective, many researchers believe that there are four basic management functions: planning; organizing; directing (leading, coordinating) and controlling. From another perspective, management activities are viewed according to groups of main resources to ensure that the organization achieves management goals such as: human resources; financial resources; material resources; information resources. Depending on the nature of each type of organization, management is also studied in the form of a combination of methods, measures, and impact policies.
* School management
Many researchers agree that educational management has many levels and can be divided into two main levels: macro and micro. At the macro level, educational management is the management of the educational system. It is the purposeful, planned, and conscious impact of the management subject (state educational management agencies) on all links of the educational system and social forces to optimally mobilize resources to bring the educational system and educational career to achieve the desired results. At the micro level, educational management is viewed from the perspective of managing educational institutions and is often called school management. School management is a system of planned, oriented impacts of the management subject on educational forces inside and outside the school to optimally mobilize resources, to achieve the quality and effectiveness of the school's educational goals.
The difference in educational goals of different levels and grades has created unique characteristics of management activities in schools. Our country's Education Law (2005) has clearly stated this.
To fulfill the assigned responsibilities, schools at each level and grade must implement a series of work areas: training management, scientific research management, staff management, student management, financial management, facilities management, international cooperation management, etc. Therefore, in research projects, primary school management can be considered as a comprehensive concept, or dissected and analyzed in depth in a specific work area. However, in all cases, ultimately, the researcher's proposals aim to realize the educational goals of primary schools.
Author Nguyen Phuc Chau [9] analyzed two basic approaches: According to educational theory (educational process) and according to activity theory (purposes and means). With the first approach, school management includes management of the following areas: educational goals, educational content, educational methods, educational means and conditions, educational forces, educational organization forms, educational results, and learning environment.
The second approach considers the means to achieve the educational goals of the school to include 5 basic groups: institutions, organizational apparatus and human resources, financial and material resources, environment, information and educational communication .
From the quality perspective, author Nguyen Duc Chinh [12] believes that school management must aim at quality goals (general quality and quality in each field and each position), following the cycle: setting standards; assessing the current situation according to standards and raising the current situation to the standard level. Author Nguyen Loc [36] points out: "Approaching quality requires a combination of modern management skills such as strategic planning, team building, change management, employee motivation, surveying, statistical analysis, etc."
1.4.1.2. Managing primary school facilities according to national standard school standards
In essence, the meaning of facilities is to serve training (in primary schools, it can be understood from the teaching perspective). Managing facilities and equipment according to national standard primary school standards must ensure this meaning. We analyze the concept in that direction.
If school management activities are considered as a system of planned, oriented impacts of the management subject on the management object, aiming to optimally mobilize resources to effectively and qualitatively implement the school's educational goals, then facilities and equipment serving training are an important resource in that.
On the one hand, the management of training facilities is the most important part of the management of the school's physical and technical infrastructure, within the general school management system. On the other hand, this is a part of the school's training management system (providing resources to implement the school's educational goals). The management of training facilities can be considered a subsystem in the training management system or a subsystem in the overall school management system. The operation of this subsystem (subsystem) also requires effective coordination of the efforts of related individuals, making optimal use of resources to achieve defined goals, contributing to the implementation of the common goal.
Management of school physical and technical infrastructure in general or management of training facilities in particular is very complicated, including many areas of work (The thesis mainly approaches from this perspective) : planning for building facilities; planning for building facilities; building facilities; exploiting and using facilities; renovating and repairing facilities; preserving, inventorying, auditing, and liquidating facilities (The term "building facilities" is used in specific cases with the meanings: "construction of works" or "increasing
equipment enhancement”). These work areas, in general, can be visualized as stages in the management cycle. The location of each stage depends on the type and type of facilities. The purpose of each stage helps distinguish them from each other. Facilities construction planning aims to provide development orientation and strategic orientation for facilities construction. Facilities construction planning is to determine the content of investment stages. Facilities construction is the process of implementing the approved investment plan. Facilities exploitation and use is to put works and equipment into use, taking advantage of the potential and capacity of facilities. Facilities renovation and repair aim to transform facilities to suit new requirements or overcome degradation and damage. Facilities preservation, inventory, auditing, and liquidation are tasks aimed at maintaining the lifespan and quality of facilities, assessing the condition of facilities or removing facilities (selling, destroying, moving). Each of these stages has specific objectives, contents, and management requirements determined based on the school's objectives and tasks and the characteristics of the type of facilities. To carry out each of these stages, management activities with appropriate operations are indispensable.
From another perspective, managing the school's training facilities is managing the operations of different specialized areas (library; equipment room; classrooms, etc.). Although there are many things in common, each area has its own specific management requirements.
From a quality perspective, the management of facilities serving training is considered as the management of a series of work processes. The facilities of schools are very diverse and of many types. The number of work processes needed for the field of school facilities management is very large. In addition to a number of processes generally prescribed in legal documents of the State such as construction planning, investment project management, equipment bidding, asset liquidation, most of the other processes are built by the schools themselves. Depending on the organizational model, level of management decentralization, types of facilities and management initiatives of each school, there may be processes such as: construction management, equipment enhancement; supplementing learning materials; importing books; maintaining and repairing equipment, providing laboratory materials; providing teaching aids; managing, allocating and coordinating classrooms; managing book borrowing; managing the use of multi-purpose gymnasiums; management of student accommodation registration, etc. There are processes that are specifically built to manage a project, operate a laboratory or preserve and maintain a specific type of equipment. There are work processes that have been generally regulated in the State's legal documents, and when implemented in each school, they are specified by processes that are appropriate to the school's hierarchical management relationship.
Above analyzes the concept of managing school facilities serving training from different perspectives. In general, managing school facilities serving training aims to:
- Meet to the maximum extent possible the educational tasks of the school, current needs and changes in training and scientific research activities;
- Plan, process and institutionalize work to create favorable conditions for service objects, especially students;
- Invest, allocate, and coordinate facilities and equipment reasonably and promptly for specific tasks within realistic resource conditions and to save resources;
- Ensure technical features and continuously improve the efficiency of exploitation and use of infrastructure, capacity to serve training and scientific research;
- Maintain the sustainability, features and functionality of the facilities;
- Implement safety and environmental hygiene in management and use of facilities;
- Provide necessary documents and data for managing fields, stages and processes in the school's management cycle;
- Contribute to creating an exemplary image of the school.
Managing training facilities, ultimately, aims to contribute to the overall goal of the school: ensuring and improving training quality. Therefore, to effectively manage this area, it is necessary to consider its relationships in the school's training activities.
In the scope of the research topic, I understand that managing facilities according to national standard primary school standards is the planned and oriented impact of the management subject on the subjects participating in the construction, use and preservation of material resources towards meeting the standards of facilities of national standard schools, contributing to the quality and effective implementation of the school's educational goals.
1.4.2. Management of facilities in school activities
With the complex nature of the field of facilities management serving special activities, especially the leading political activity of teaching and education, from many cognitive perspectives (pedagogy; economics; organizational structure; function; management purpose), schools have used many different management approaches to manage this field. Below are some basic approaches.
1.4.2.1. Management according to the division of school work areas
Facilities management is considered a field of work that is divided according to the functions and tasks of the school's organizational apparatus. Schools often divide management fields as follows: Personnel organization; Teaching; Education; Science and technology - engineering; Student management; Planning - Finance; Equipment management; Administration - Synthesis; Cooperation.
With this approach, the relationship between facilities management and other management areas is expressed through the functions and tasks of the responsible department in the school. The provision of facilities and equipment is often carried out according to established regulations and plans.
Management by field of work is a traditional and popular approach of schools in general and primary schools in particular. The benefits are simplicity in organization, consistent with the administrative structure of the school; clear division of tasks and responsibilities; convenient for general management. However, there are also many potential disadvantages. When functions "are in the subconscious of each person, this has broken the spirit of cooperation for a common purpose. When functional groups narrow their vision, they have lost the overall view of the system" [36]. Overemphasizing functions and tasks can reduce the flexibility of the team, limit cooperation between departments, leading to limitations in management efficiency, especially in organizing the exploitation and use of facilities and equipment.
1.4.2.2. Management by educational tasks
Approaching management according to educational tasks (also known as according to educational programs) sees the field of facilities management as one of the supporting and serving fields. Teaching management in primary schools is considered the main activity. Facilities management activities in this case are directly governed by the requirements of teaching organization.
In theory, the management of facilities and equipment is organized and changed according to the requirements of the school's teaching activities. The ideal condition is that all forces related to the educational task are fully aware of their work, know how to make the educational program of quality and do it correctly. However, the reality is often not as desired. The cooperation between the teaching unit and the facilities and equipment management departments is perceived as the relationship between the requester - orderer (teacher) and the responder - supplier (service person). This relationship is loose or tight, largely depending on the level of interest of the requester in the use of facilities and equipment. The issue of innovation in teaching methods will not directly affect the service team, but through the teaching team. Changes in investment or organization of exploitation and use of facilities and equipment are carried out according to the orders of the teaching units. Regarding the disadvantages of this approach, quality expert Sallis Ed. wrote: The distinction between teaching staff and support staff, between different levels in the traditional hierarchy, which often hinders the necessary expansion of team collaboration, is an obstacle that needs to be broken down.
1.4.2.3. Management according to narrow professional expertise
As presented, managing facilities is a cycle that includes many stages with many jobs that are intertwined from simple to complex . Each job has professional requirements for the person assigned to perform and is managed according to regulations, requiring strict procedures and operations to ensure the standards of the management object and the economic efficiency of management. For example, planning the construction of facilities and equipment, establishing or implementing construction projects or bidding and selecting contractors to supply equipment all require related professional skills and comply with general regulations. When put into operation and use, the service departments must design services that comply with general professional requirements (including ensuring operational safety).
The way of managing each type of work in the field of facilities and equipment management according to prescribed operations can be called a narrow professional approach .
Approaching the management of facilities and equipment according to narrow professional expertise is used in all types of school organizations. Because this is a necessary management method for all administrative and career organizations to ensure investment efficiency, prevent loss and waste. However, overemphasizing narrow expertise, complying with all management requirements for an administrative and career agency, but not taking into account the characteristics of the management object as presented can limit the service efficiency of facilities and equipment items. Because the economic efficiency in investing in facilities and equipment is first assessed through the operational efficiency of educational and teaching activities in schools. The operational efficiency of this activity is required by the subjects managing facilities and equipment.
1.4.2.4. Management by service nature
The school's facilities system is a complex combination of management areas with different specialized tasks (Library; Equipment room, etc.). Each area provides services of similar or similar nature. Therefore, in each school, each service area often has its own management apparatus, functions and tasks.
Service-based facilities management has many advantages thanks to the concentration of resources appropriate to each type of service, helping to increase specialization and develop skills for staff. However, the “relative independence” of service departments in schools, if not taken into account, can lead to the existence of these areas as “islands” in the general operating environment of the school. As a result, the designed services may comply with professional standards for that type of service, but are not responded to by consumers (service objects). The problem is how to promote the advantages and limit the obstacles arising from this management method.
The thesis is based on the approach to educational tasks and the field of work of the school is teaching activities. Facilities are managed according to content to perform well the service of teaching activities and contribute to the school meeting national standards.
1.4.3. Content of facility management according to national standard primary school standards
Facilities management is one of the top management tasks of the Principal. It is an organized and directional process to make teaching equipment used for the right purpose while ensuring the investment, exploitation and use of facilities and equipment to develop in accordance with the training goals of each school.
Facilities are both an economic and educational field and a scientific and educational field, so management must comply with general requirements for economic and scientific management and at the same time comply with specialized educational management requirements.
Facilities management in primary schools includes 3 basic contents:
(1) Manage facilities and equipment in accordance with the content and standards of national standard primary schools;
(2) Managing the use of facilities to improve the quality of education;
(3) Manage and maintain well the equipped facilities.
The above contents are closely related to each other. Organizing the effective use of facilities to improve the quality of teaching and learning is the basic content and also the ultimate goal of facilities management in schools.
1.4.3.1. Facilities and equipment management
To improve the quality of teaching and learning to meet the requirements of the current general education program innovation in general and to contribute to helping primary schools achieve national standards in particular, the provision of facilities must be implemented comprehensively and in a balanced manner for each educational activity. To do that, the Principal must grasp a number of theoretical and practical issues about the general facilities system and the teaching equipment system in particular, such as the role of teaching equipment in the teaching and learning process, methods of using teaching equipment and measures to improve the effectiveness of using teaching equipment. At the same time, the Principal must have a strategy and roadmap to build a system of facilities and teaching equipment to meet the requirements of teaching and learning according to national standard school standards. Once the provision of facilities and teaching equipment is given due attention and implemented regularly and promptly, it will be effective in improving the quality of education in the teaching process.