How Public Administration Restructuring Can Contribute to Greek Educational Reform - Information and Communication Technologies in Public Administration - page 298

14.7 Perspectives .............................................................................................. 315
Author Biographies ........................................................................................... 316
References ......................................................................................................... 317
Abstract
For the last two decades, information technology professionals and
public servants have witnessed a rapid coevolution of information and
communication technology (ICT) artifacts, which have invaded all
major sectors in public administration. These tools offer valuable help
in managing everyday operations of the organization but at the same
time incubate a whole mindset of innovation and novelty. Especially
in the educational area, the combination of large-scale automation
projects with prolific didactic theory interventions (that reinforce the
sociocultural theories of learning as the most dominant today) shapes
contemporary high-level priorities in education as well.
It is always useful to have comparative examples with other countries
that have also tried to reform their systems. Two cases are presented,
Finland and England, where the changes had measurable results. These
examples represent two different approaches that can contribute fruit-
ful outcomes to the discussion.
The degree of pragmatologic approach of ICT in the educational
system is being ascertained. This procedure stirs between two poles:
the technocratic and the holistic. Having defined the current status,
we investigate the role of innovation as a catalyst for change. Then,
some critical research questions come up: Under which circumstances
can technology-driven innovations emerge and flourish inside educa-
tional organizations? What performance indices could measure the
impact of change? Can we model systemic transformation based on
ICT?
A solid transformation model that consists of four standard modules
(namely, Management by Objectives, Common Assessment Framework,
International Organization for Standardization, and e-government) is
suggested. Each one of them is being explicated. The combination of
all comprises an operational framework, suitable for the restructuring
of an educational organization in terms of improved efficiency and per-
formance. A simple modeling tool that uses metrics vector is applied,
after careful selection of a series of attributes that make up a school unit's
“eigenvector.” This can lead to the calculation of a final numerical expres-
sion representing the whole process.
Keywords: restructuring, reform, innovation, education, public admin-
istration, ICT, management by objectives, assessment