著者

水本 徳明

出版者

日本教育行政学会

雑誌

日本教育行政学会年報 (ISSN:09198393)

巻号頁・発行日

no.35, pp.60-76, 2009-10-16

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The micro-political perspective of schools differentiates itself from non-political perspectives in that it focuses on a diversity of purposes in school organizations whereas social systems theory focuses on a consensus among members of school organizations. It also differentiates itself from macro-political perspectives in that it recognizes conflict in schools not as a reproduction of ideological and/or interest conflict in society but as an original process in each school. There are two factors in the development of the micro-politics perspective around 1990, the theoretical and the empirical. The former is a radical change of the view on power by Foucault, and on school organization by loose coupling theory and new institutional theory. The latter is education reform based on neo-liberalism that emphasizes the neutrality of markets and management techniques in business. From the micro-political perspective a pattern of power relations has emerged as a result of the interaction of the members of an organization. As places of micro-politics in schools I examined classrooms, staffrooms, and infirmaries in Japanese schools. In classrooms students anticipate teachers' educational intentions. Some students try to meet the anticipated intentions and others refuse or ignore it, while teachers at the same time try to control students' reactions to these educational intentions. There are also identity politics related to ethnicity, sex, handicap, and so on. Students struggle to adapt to the class, enhancing their own self-esteem. Teachers try to treat students equally and yet treat some students differently according to their specific characteristics at the same time. Staffrooms are places where teachers do their jobs, take a rest, see visitors, hold meetings and so on. They are political places because their functions are not restricted and various activities meet and mix there. There are both connecting and dividing forces in staffrooms. Teachers are connected in one respect, acting in likely ways in the face of others. They are divided in another respect according to their subject or grade. Infirmaries are place where priority is given not to performance but to health, and some deviations from rules in classrooms are permitted there. Conflicts may thus occur between classroom teachers and school nurses. Not suprisingly, school nurses recently have identity problems because their roles have been broadened. School organizationa are thus a crossroads of places of micro-politics, and school management is a self-referential activity of micro-politics to control the micro-politics that occur in schools. Although conflicts in school organizations cannot always be resolved, organizational order is formed through an emergence of consensus from interaction and formal decision-making. Moreover, recently the environment of school management is so complex that micro-politics can neither be oppressed nor concealed. It is important to empower teachers and motivate them to collaborate. From such a point of view, the recent reform of school management through school evaluation and teacher appraisal may have negative effects on teacher empowerment and organizational capacity building in schools. Finally, the connection of politics inside and outside of schools is discussed. Until recently it was recognized as the interaction of macro-politics and micro-politics. But it can also be recognized as the interaction of micro-politics inside and outside of schools. An analysis of this interaction may elucidate the new realities of educational administration.