Persistent Dilemmas in Administrative Preparation and Practices in Underdeveloped and Developing Countries Earle H. Newton

As they endeavor to develop or reform, restructure or energize, and manage and direct educational systems and institutions, educational planners and administrators are confronted by numerous problems and issues. These problems and issues can have many historical, cultural, political, and economic dimensions and may be caused by factors and circumstances that are indigenous or exogenous to the particular locale. They may assume such magnitude and have such serious consequences for individuals, groups, or the wider society that they take on alarming proportions and appear insurmountable and insolvable. Some of these problems and issues are universal. Some are specific to certain contexts, cultures, or regions. This chapter will identify and discuss some of those factors that are specific in some way to underdeveloped and developing countries. Before one can proceed, however, this formidable topic must be brought within manageable proportions. The parameters within which it will be approached must be carefully delineated and defined. The focus of discussion will be small developing nations and states; the term "underdeveloped" will be subsumed under the concept of developing. The chapter first discusses and defines the terms "small state," "developing," and "dilemma," on which a proper understanding of the content of the chapter hinges.

A FRAMEWORK FOR DILEMMAS

Dilemmas, according to Cuban ( 1992) and the first chapter of this book, involve conflicting moral choices that are deeply rooted in who we are and in our practices as administrators. They are often distinguishable from routine, structured administrative problems because they are complex, untidy, and insolvable. Aram sees dilemmas as situations in which people are forced to choose between equally attractive or equally unattractive alternatives with no way of rationally calculating the better choice. He states "A dilemma is a predicament -- a complicated and perplexing situation that requires choice between equally valued alternatives" ( Aram, 1976: 9). Katz and Raths ( 1992) suggest that a dilemma is a predicament that has two main features. First, there must be a choice of two or more courses of action, each, in turn being problematic, and second, the choice of any one course of action sacrifices the advantage that might accrue if the alternative were chosen. In summary, a dilemma is a situation in which a perfect solution is not available. These three definitions have been selected as our framework because they reveal different approaches that reflect the predicament in which administrators in small developing states often find themselves. It must be observed, however, that the choices do not always involve purely moral positions, nor indeed are the alternatives necessarily equal, in any or every way. They may involve conflict, various desiderata, and considerations but they are always dilemmas or predicaments where decision making is not straightforward and uncomplicated. Educational administrators in small developing states have to make hard choices in a variety of areas and over a variety of issues at the macro level. At the micro level, they are expected to be all things to all people. They have to nurture and balance organizational and individual growth and development in situations fraught with difficulties not experienced by their counterparts elsewhere -- at least not to the same degree.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SMALL DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

What are the characteristics that make small developing states stand out and create peculiar problems for the development and administration of education? The major features of developing countries are lack of adequate financial resources; inadequate technical and technological resources, knowledge, and skills; limited and inadequate provision of education across the recognized, basic and primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, and especially in the technical-vocational and special needs areas; inadequate and inappropriately trained and qualified teaching and administrative staff; inadequate provisions of social services (health and sanitation, education, transportation, water, and welfare); and infrastructural arrangements that are generally too limited and too weak to initiate and sustain a meaningful and relevant development thrust. These problems have been fostered and exacerbated by the pervasive and iniquitous influence of a dependency syndrome and a misguided concept of development. The former has its origin in the historical master-colonial, dominant-dependent relationships of colonial days and is kept alive today by the developed world and its lending agencies. The latter is the progeny of the former (the dependency syndrome) and was inflicted on the developing world by the developed world to serve its own trade and financial interests when the growing forces of nationalism and independence caused the demise of its empires. Development is measured by the standards of the developed world and the extent to which a country mimics and approximates it, receiving its exports-consumables, technology, values, and culture. Graham-Brown observes: "Despite the achievement of political independence, the vast majority of countries in the South have remained locked into positions in the international economic order which impose constraints on national decision-making of a quite different magnitude from those which affect most countries in the North" ( Graham-Brown, 1991:13). As we approach the twenty-first century, we notice a deterioration in the position of the developing countries. In many of these poor countries, there has been a serious decline in the per capita rate of gross domestic product, public expenditure, and private consumption. This has been accompanied by an increase in the debt service that now claims a greater share of their export earnings. The plight of the developing nations has been further exacerbated by a decline in trade for primary agricultural and mineral products, and the protectionist policies of Europe and the United States that led to attempts to exclude certain products of the developing world from the markets of the developed world. There is no doubt that the economic and policy decisions of the developed world and the international financial and lending agencies that they dominate continue to hold serious implications for the developing world. All developing countries suffer in some way, but the most severely affected have been those that depend more on primary commodity production. The key economic problems affecting these developing countries are both the producers and the products of the dual demon of the dependency-misguided development notion. As the developing countries under the impulsion of the developed world strive to be more like it, they achieve greater degrees of dependency, often to the point where they approach the undignified state of international mendicancy and are forced to sacrifice or prostitute their values and norms. Naturally, the factors discussed above do not apply in every particular to all developing countries nor indeed do they necessarily have the same impact. However, this general picture of the plight of developing countries is necessary if we are to understand the context and intricate nature of the issues and problems of educational development, management, and administration. The problems and challenges of poor developing countries become magnified and more perplexing for the small developing countries. These countries cannot produce many of the goods they need, their factories and other means of production operate on a small scale and generally cannot use the most efficient production methods, and they are always at the mercy of outside forces, in whatever sphere. There are few approaches to the definition of what constitutes a small state. The demographic approach uses simple statistics, such as population, area, or the magnitude of the national product. Sociological interests define small states in relation to the nature and number of relations and roles that exist within the society. Another approach involves measuring the structural dimensions of an economy, both the level of diversification of economic functions and the degree of complexity of relations among the agents. There are merits and demerits in all these approaches that must not detain us at this time. Suffice it to say that the demographic approach, which is the one most commonly used, will be used here. One million inhabitants is the generally accepted upper limit, but a UNESCO Conference in Mexico in 1990 on Planning and Management of Educational Development decided to raise this threshold to 1.5 million. This, with some fluidity, is the threshold to hold in mind. However, as Atchorena points out: "The reality of small states is not limited to demographic size, and to grasp the concept of small state it is necessary to have a vision including the dynamics of development. Small size often ends up being associated with concepts of dependence, vulnerability, viability or even isolation" ( Atchorena, 1993: 17). Small states have been described as "transparent" societies. In transparent societies everybody knows everybody else and what they do. Indeed, it is often said (quite erroneously) that everybody is related to everybody else. Be that as it may, relationships (family and friends) and affiliations (social, religious, and political) are important, and political influence and consideration impinge more directly on official action and decision making. The point here is not that these factors are nonexistent in larger developing or developed countries, it is simply that the impact can be greater, more pervasive, and more obvious in smaller societies.

In small societies, there is a greater tendency to centralization and bureaucratic control, and status and power assume a greater significance. The size factor, limited resources, and the need to be cost-effective have combined to create multifunctionalism in small states. With respect to education, for example, whatever its size, a country needs to establish an education system to provide an efficient education service, and any system requires an administrative and managerial organization. The same tasks (perhaps more) as those in larger countries have to be done. As Farrugia and Attard observe: The actual number of people working in each branch . . . of small education systems will be fewer, sometimes much fewer than in larger states. However, the difference is not proportional to population or school enrollment. The pressures on personnel expected to fulfill a number of roles and responsibilities are proportionately much higher than those in larger countries" ( Farrugia & Attard, 1989:19). This background to the circumstances and situation of small developing states is useful, perhaps even essential, for an examination of some of the administrative dilemmas in education. However, the picture is not complete without some reference to those factors that influence educational provision in all countries -- large, small, developed, or developing. Educational provision in all countries must be based on some feasible and defensible concept of social justice. The various social, cultural, and other elements of the society must be reflected in and provided for in the planning and administration of education and due consideration must be given to issues of equity and equality with respect to gender, class, ethnicity, religion, and other areas. As societies become more multicultural, multiethnic, and more stratified, the greater the problems and challenges become. The conditions in developing countries, revolving mainly around the dependency-development concept, the special circumstances of small states, and the more general issue of social justice all combine to influence and determine educational policy, planning, and administration in small states. It is also at the confluence of all these elements that major problems and dilemmas are created. It is, therefore, to a consideration of some dilemmas and problems that attention will now be turned. It might be useful to point out that the term "educational administration" is used in a broad sense in this chapter. It embraces both the traditional executive functions of the administrator -- decision making, planning, communication, allocating roles and facilities, supervising, coordinating, evaluating, and so forth -- and policy making and planning at the macro or systems level.

EDUCATIONAL DILEMMAS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Many dilemmas are encountered and hard choices have to be made in the administration and management of education in small developing countries. These dilemmas and choices manifest themselves at the general system level, at the institutional level, and at the individual level. Education has been seen as the major, if not the only, means of uplift and salvation for both the individual and the nation in most developing countries. It has been proclaimed as a right and efforts have been made by governments to provide free, universal primary education. Many small states in the Caribbean and indeed countries across the Commonwealth have gone farther, providing free secondary education; some have provided free or heavily subsidized postsecondary education. Public support for education has become a given. Public education is the norm, certainly across the Caribbean. It is seen as a means of protecting the rights of the poor and disadvantaged groups to quality education. Today, public education is under threat. The ever-increasing demand for more and better education, escalating costs, the worsening world financial situation, and pressure from lending agencies have all combined to force policy makers, politicians, and administrators to pay more attention to sources of funding. There are renewed discussions as to who should pay for education. Lending agencies are demanding that some sort of cost-recovery mechanisms and cost-effective strategies be put in place to bring educational costs under control. Policy makers and administrators fear that user fees will hurt the already disadvantaged groups and affect their life chances. On the other hand, cost-effective strategies, such as reduction of teacher-pupil ratios and limited spending on texts and equipment, will result in a decline in the quality of education provided. This, in turn, could lead to an upsurge in private education that would have implications for the concerns of equity and equality. The way ahead is not an easy one. Inequities, disadvantages, and perceived injustices can assume greater significance in small transparent societies than elsewhere. The situation is further complicated by the equity-efficiency conflict. Equity in the provision and delivery of education recognizes that more resources (time, equipment, and teachers) are needed for groups or individuals that are disadvantaged -- slow learners, the mentally and physically handicapped -- or at risk by virtue of class, gender, ethnicity, or geographical location. It is, therefore, deemed legitimate to employ a variety of measures and approaches to ensure wherever possible acceptable standards of learning. The efficiency approach advocated by the developed countries and their lending agencies for the developing world rejects as economically wasteful such approaches as repetition of a year and individualized or small group learning. This overemphasis on efficiency is anathema to the legitimate aspiration of people in small developing states to quality education. Hard decisions have to be made in this domain. Educational planners and administrators often find themselves caught between the rock of the politician's desire to be seen as a fair champion of the people's aspirations and the hard place of the financial reality imposed by the lending agencies. An area of great concern in all developing countries, but one that has special implications to small states, is the extent to which they can develop national institutions instead of continued dependence on overseas institutions at the higher levels of education. Education at the postsecondary and tertiary levels is very expensive, hence, expenditures must be carefully considered and there must be a reasonable expectation of commensurate benefits and returns. The need for education and training at this level may be strongly felt by both the individual and the state. However, the numerical demand is seldom enough to justify significant outlays and recurrent expenditures to cover a wide range of needs. Decisions, therefore, have to be made. But decisions cannot be based purely on financial considerations, important though they may be. Social, historical, cultural, religious, and moral aspects must be considered. In today's world, there is great cultural awareness; small states are alert to the fact that their cultures are constantly under threat from rich and more powerful nations through the electronic and print media and other sources. They are conscious that overdependence on large powerful countries in such vital areas as education puts their cultural and values heritage under siege. When, for example, the majority of key personnel in education planning and administration in small states is being trained abroad, many questions must be raised, even if satisfactory answers cannot be immediately found. What guarantees will there be that the training will be appropriate for the particular purpose? How can one tell that the individual's and the state's best interest will be served by the training? What assurances will there be that the theories and philosophical tenets of the course will be transferable between the cultures involved? How can one be assured that there will be no major dissonance between the culture, values, and aspirations of the state in question and the teachings and practices in the course? These and similar questions have been treated elsewhere (for example, Newton, 1985; Marshall & Newton, 1983) and it is not appropriate to elaborate on them in this forum. However, it must be borne in mind that educational goals, aspirations, and expectations are closely bound up in the historical, social, cultural, and values orientation of the people involved. Therefore, the assumptions of the theories developed for the Western developed world may not necessarily apply in the developing world. Regional cooperation, although not necessarily the preferred solution, may be a workable and more fruitful alternative. The University of the West Indies and the University of the South Pacific, each of which serves a number of small states, are good working examples of what can be achieved in this regard. Fortunately, many small states are archipelagoes with considerable similarities and close geographical location that facilitate collaboration and cooperation. Even here, however, administrative predicaments abound. In small island states, transportation and communication can be problematic and solutions carry a high cost factor. Insularity and parochialism can assume alarming proportions, and require delicate and sensitive handling, lest they get out of hand and operate to the detriment of good educational decisions. Great care has to be exercised with respect to the cultural and national aspirations of each contributing territory. The University of the West Indies has had to grapple with these and similar problems, but has adjusted from time to time, and still continues to retain the confidence and support of the people and to serve the region well. The advantages of such regional cooperative ventures are obvious. It is recognized, for example, that a doctor trained in his own region will have a better understanding of the environment and context of his patients and should, thus, be better placed to offer help. However, returning to the overdependence of small developing states on the developed countries, there is yet another aspect to it -- one that is often neglected or ignored by the developed world and its lending agencies. It is the national pride of the small country that is compromised in many different ways. No country can stand proudly and defend its rights if it constantly occupies the dependency end of the dominance-dependency relationship. Recognition of this important fact could bring about a change of attitude that could lead to a change of policy and greater efforts by the developed countries to help the developing world generally, and small states in particular, to develop their own capacities on a number of different points. There is a strongly held view that it suits the purposes of the developed countries to maintain this dominance-dependency relationship. This position is manifest when the developing country is required, against its convictions, to support a stand taken by a developed country that provides some form of aid. The curriculum, textbooks, and examination system also pose a dilemma for educational administrators and planners in small states. For a long time, questions have been raised and dissatisfaction expressed over many aspects of these questions. The relevance of the curriculum has been questioned, textbooks have been seen as expensive, irrelevant, containing unfamiliar content and ideas, and, in some cases, misrepresenting minority and disadvantaged groups and presenting them in a patronizing or derogatory manner. A curriculum that has been tied to foreign examinations has been unable to respond to the needs of a society as it evolves in a quickly changing world. The examinations naturally reflect the foreign textbooks, test material, and knowledge that are often outside the experience of the local student. Administering the foreign examination also has a foreign exchange implication for the small state, even though it may be argued that what is lost here is more than made up for in international currency and credit worthiness of the related certification. Would it be to the advantage of small states to develop their own curriculum, produce their own textbooks, and design their own examinations? Would this be more cost-effective? Do small states have the expertise in sufficient depth and numbers and over a sufficient range of specializations to make such a venture a worthwhile undertaking? Is the relevant technology available or can it be attained at reasonable cost? Would local examinations be as readily acceptable on the international market as the recognized foreign ones? These questions would have to be answered on an individual basis and decisions made accordingly. The obvious gains in developing local syllabuses would be curriculum relevance; familiarity of content; authenticity in social, historical, cultural, and values orientation; and the removal of foreign currency outflows. The Caribbean Examinations Council is a good example of a regional effort that was established to tackle some of the problems described above. The council was set up by a number of Caribbean governments to prepare syllabuses and texts in a range of subjects to replace the British Ordinary level (O level) examinations in the secondary schools. The council brought together teachers from across the region, resulting in an examination more oriented to the region. By careful communication with and involvement of existing foreign examining boards the council was able to tackle the problem of international currency and acceptance. However, the council has created what some teachers term a dilemma for them. The O level examinations were deemed to be heavily contentoriented and to pay insufficient attention to thinking, creativity, application, problem solving, and divergent thinking. The curriculum developers seem to have gone overboard in most subjects. While they have been catering to those areas insufficiently addressed in the O level exams, they have been criticized for increasing the content as well. The result, in the opinion of many, is an examination too challenging and demanding on average for the 16-and-over age group for whom it is intended. It is fairly typical of countries seeking to free themselves from a dependency situation to hold greater expectations, set higher standards, and make greater demands of themselves. This leads to yet another dilemma that small countries have to confront -- that of training education. The question of whether small states should be primarily concerned with training individuals to operate certain procedures and technologies efficiently or with educating them to be creators and designers is not easily resolved. In spite of what politicians and governments say, they are more likely to be influenced by programs that lead to improvements in material wealth during their regimes: the rapid results syndrome. This is often more easily achieved by adopting and adapting foreign technologies than by developing indigenous ones. The products of foreign technologies are more likely to be marketable both inside and outside their territories. Hence, training programs that teach people to perform routines efficiently may be the most attractive. The resulting increase in wealth from these programs is likely to sustain this type of activity at the expense of more creative pursuits, at least in the short term. This has serious implications for what is taught, how it is taught, and how it is tested, particularly at the secondary and postsecondary levels of education. Nowhere perhaps is there more talk of democracy or more claims made for democratic practices in the management and administration of education than in small developing states. Equally, perhaps nowhere is the tendency to centralization and bureaucratic control more manifest than in these very states. Ministries of education proclaim that their principals have the authority and discretionary powers to act. Principals, on the other hand, claim that, when they dare to exercise authority and discretion in their schools, they come into conflict with the ministry. Clearly this conflict over the locus of change and decision making constitutes a dilemma for all concerned. What has been noticeable, however, is that, in times of severe social and financial problems, there is a tendency to talk of decentralization, of placing greater authority and autonomy in the school. This may simply be a way of shifting the pressure away from the central body by placing a greater measure of accountability on the principal. Principals are, thus, being called upon to do more with less. In some places, they are expected to operate on market principles without the resources, the tradition, and the training necessary to make such principles workable. The problem for the principals is that they dare not resist, because, in so doing, they put at risk all aspects of their professional autonomy for which they have been striving for so long. Within the schools themselves teachers experience similar difficulties -- whether to act or speak in staff meetings -- because any action on their part easily prompts such reactions as "This is my school. I make the decisions. What I say here goes." from their principals. It is as if principals believe that the involvement of teachers diminishes their authority. These situations are experienced across the small states throughout the world. They are rooted in the false notion of status and authority that considers discretion, judgment, and knowledge to be hierarchically distributed within the organization and that it would be an admission of failure or an abdication of authority if people lower down the ladder were seen to be contributing in their realm. This approach is by no means peculiar to small states, but it takes on a particular significance here where the bosses have high visibility and are always (often by their own choosing) under scrutiny. The bosses must be assertive and no one and nothing must be seen to diminish their authority or status. The concept of multifunctionalism mentioned earlier must now be revisited. We must recognize and accept multifunctionalism as a way of professional life in small states and prepare our administrators and other officers to function efficiently and effectively in their multifunctional roles. It must not be seen as a problem or a nuisance that we have to live with but would rather be rid of. This latter approach is the cause of some of the problems associated with the concept. Farrugia and Attard ( 1989), elaborating this multifunctional role, noted that it is quite usual to find many areas of responsibility centered in one post. They cite the example of a director-general of education who also has responsibility for youth, culture, sports, public libraries, and museums. There are cases where the lone secondary school principal may also be the education officer responsible for all the primary schools. They observe: "Education Officers in small states often cover the pedagogical and curricular development of several subjects taught in all sectors of the education system. . . . In addition they are likely to be called upon to monitor teachers' work in schools, run in-service courses, lecture in teacher education institutions, prepare budgets, sit on purchasing committees, chair selection and promotion panels, attend policy meetings, meet parents and teach their subject specialisation in one or more secondary schools" ( Farrugia & Attard, 1989: 23). How do persons so placed get through their professional day? Imagine the predicaments they must face each day as well as those they must create for other personnel in their organizations. Is the alternative to designate posts and assign personnel on the basis of specialisms even when there is insufficient work to occupy them? There can be nothing less cost-effective for the state and more soul-destroying for the individual than to have every professional day filled with bits of nothing. Sound and practical approaches to multifunctionalism must be arrived at. It must not be left to happenstance, accretions, or the whims of individuals. Every effort must be made to reduce the number of tasks -- especially highly demanding, specialized, or conflictive tasks -- assigned to any one post and careful job descriptions must be provided to assist the post holders. Above all, training based on the shared experience of the post holders should be provided. Relationships, affiliations, and political concerns have a profound influence on policy decisions and administrative actions in small states in ways that are not experienced in larger countries. Recognize however, that this statement does not imply that nepotism, political patronage, or interference are rife in small states. Administrators and decision makers know that whatever action they take will be subject to scrutiny and interpretation according to their known or ascribed affiliations and attitudes as well as the connections and dispositions of those who judge them. Often people in authority seek to find out (more by inference and surmise) the will of their superiors so that it can be done. Thus, important areas for decision making that affect both individuals and institutions -appointments, promotions, evaluations and assessment of teachers, disciplines, locations of schools, and educational reform -- are placed in a sphere where objective professional judgment, vital as it is to these areas, is submerged in a sea of other considerations. The basis for action, therefore, becomes not, "All things considered in my judgment this is the best," but "This is the one likely to cause the least stir, the least reaction." This may be illustrated in these examples: promote not necessarily the best but certainly the most senior candidate; go for the one with the most support; write nondescript reports on teachers (they may say nothing but they'll cause no stir and raise no questions). In many small states the way around these difficulties is to establish cumbersome bureaucratic decision-making structures so that no one individual can be blamed for the decision. The strong academic orientation in the curriculum in most developing countries is a legacy of their colonial past. For some time now, questions have been asked about an approach to education based on a metropolitan model designed to serve a small elite. Is this competitive, examinationoriented, academic approach relevant and should its dominance be allowed to continue? The response has been a thrust, apparently not very powerful, toward vocational education to prepare students for the world of work by providing them with marketable skills. Thus, a tension has developed between those who see education as improving the mind and creating the "cultured individual," and those whose "human capital" orientation values only those skills that have a direct bearing on the labor market. The reality is far more complex than is reflected in either of these simplistic positions. Technical-vocational education is costly and the demand for certain skills is not static. Skills that are valued and essential today are not necessarily those that will be required tomorrow. Furthermore, most ex-colonial societies do not place a high value on manual and technical skills. More importantly, the value of education cannot be dichotomized in this way. While education can make a contribution to the achievement of social equity and a more democratic society, it cannot of itself achieve such goals. Education cannot be too closely tied to economic considerations or separated from them. Education is much broader. It is inextricably linked to social, cultural, moral, and intellectual development. Education in most societies is identified with people's hope for change. A country's education system and the curriculum and organization of its schools should reflect all these interests. Therefore, as Graham-Brown ( 1991) suggests, "It is not only a question of assessing the economic demand for particular skills, but also of questioning the society's assumptions about both work and educational achievement" (p. 279 ). Clearly then, decision making about reform of the school curriculum in developing countries, particularly in small states, is not easy. There is often a wide gap between statements about the aims and objectives of education and the application of these aims in the school curriculum. There has been a great deal of rhetoric in the developing world over the introduction of technical-vocational education with little practical results to show. In one Caribbean state, there have been many recent studies by foreign consultants on the need for technical-vocational education and many recommendations have been made. Yet another study has been planned and is, in fact, being carried out. Today, the curriculum has remained virtually unchanged and there is hardly any provision for the training of teachers in the field.

CONCLUSIONS

 This chapter has examined a number of dilemmas in developing small states. It was not intended to be exhaustive, but the hope was that it would serve to provide some insights into and raise questions about the peculiar situation of small developing states. This section of the chapter will attempt to draw out a few implications and make some suggestions that might provide useful guidelines for the way ahead. It should be clear that the training of administrators in small developing states is crucial and cannot be left to chance. People who operate within these dilemma-ridden, multifunctional contexts cannot be promoted primarily on experience or seniority. It must be obvious, too, that the traditional approaches to the training of administrators in the developed world, with different values, experiences, and constraints, is unsuited to the needs of the small developing states. How can training from a totally different philosophical orientation, in a technologically advanced setting, with different interpersonal relationships be used to train people for other contexts? Consider the findings of some researchers on this question: "This research demonstrates that cultural factors affect organisational processes in ways that render universalist statements of the effects of organizational structures on individuals seriously deficient. Organizational structures may be loosely coupled to formal goals but they are closely tied to the social and cultural orientations of the people involved in them" ( Lincoln, Hanada, & Olson, 1981: 114). In general, each time the environment is involved, the theory developed for Western settings does not apply, because it assumes contingencies that may not be valid for developing countries ( Kiggundu, Jorgensen, & Hatsi, 1983: 81). A further problem, of course, is that, even when the training is not done in the metropolitan country, the books, materials, and theories are still imported from them. What is needed is the collaboration of colleagues across the cultures to develop practice-oriented theories, texts, and materials suited to the needs of the developing states. Such a collaborative effort would require that educational experts -- planners, administrators, philosophers, and practitioners -- from the developed and the developing world, work together as equals in research activities, seminars, and other professional ventures. Opportunities should be provided for the movement of academic and practitioner scholars in both directions for professional activities. Frank and open communication in an atmosphere of mutual respect and good interpersonal relationships would be of paramount importance. Associations, such as the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and its partners and affiliates, and programs like the International Intervisitation Programme already make a tremendous contribution in this regard. Perhaps an attempt should be made through these existing channels to formalize an arrangement that would allow a more continuous and sharply focused set of activities in this direction. The reality of multifunctionality demands that training be broad based and provide insights and understandings in a wide range of activity. It should be problem based and practice oriented and the explorations of values and valuing should play an important role. The simple process of living and working in small transparent societies emphasizes the importance of understanding and practicing good interpersonal and communication skills and the necessity of understanding the political process. These should, therefore, feature significantly in training programs in educational administration. Superior officers must be taught to understand the value of empowering and involving their professional subordinate staff. This serves the best interests of the individual, the institution, and the community and ensures that the best use is made of expertise that is often limited. This is particularly important in schools and other educational institutions. Strong school leadership is often equated with control and the disenfranchisement of teachers by principals. It has been observed that the distribution of authority does not necessarily diminish principal authority nor does supervision necessarily diminish teacher authority. It is considered that, in poor countries, higher education is elitist and benefits only a very small part of the population. This, together with the fact that costs per student are high, is used as an argument, especially with respect to small states, to concentrate funds into basic rather than higher education. However, it must be borne in mind that access to higher education is an important aspiration in developing countries and "no nation can be truly autonomous unless it has its own autonomous cultural and educational institutions" ( Graham-Brown, 1989: 278). GrahamBrown further argues that all countries, even the most underdeveloped, need an appropriate pool of highly skilled people and a locus for critical analysis of their history, economy, and society. Indeed, if societies in the developing world are to design their own models of development rather than continue to copy models from the developed world, their own higher education institutions must be the cradles where curricula can reflect histories, traditions, and cultural values appropriate to their own societies. Regional cooperation of states similarly placed may, indeed, provide a workable alternative to undue dependence or excessive expenditure. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The author thanks his postgraduate students who contributed to some of the thinking in this paper: Vere Parris, Keith Glasglow, Carolyn Sinckler, and Bonita Thompson.