Perspectives on Planning: initiatives for the nineties

Abstract

Conditions surrounding planning in many countries have changed from growth to at best steady state funding and often to a decline in finance. This paper argues that three key areas in educational planning need reconsideration: Firstly, the ’room to manoevre’ (factors of budgetary provision, available manpower, culture and political tranditions, demand for schooling and relationships between labour markets and qualifications); secondly, ’resource allocation’ (the interlocking dimensions of internal or external constraint, controllable or uncontrollable factors, and certainty or uncertainty in prediction); and thirdly, ’sensitivity analysis’, which identifies which inputs are most critical to performance and need to be protected against erosion. The importance is stressed of regular, systematic data for policy analysis, evaluations and monitoring.