This document discusses four approaches to educational planning: social demand, manpower requirement/planning, cost-benefit, and social justice. The social demand approach forecasts demand for education based on population data but ignores costs, quality, and manpower needs. The manpower requirement approach links education to economic development but is difficult due to uncertainties. The cost-benefit approach ensures benefits from educational investments but ignores non-economic benefits. It also fails to consider the long-term nature of returns. Finally, the social justice approach aims to provide equitable access to disadvantaged communities but faces challenges in planning education at different levels given constraints.

1. SYSTEMS
APPROACH TO
EDUCATIONAL
PLANNING
by: Anacrissa F. Soriano

2. Educational planning involves
obtaining and analyzing data
discussing them to make
projection for future educational
development particularly
estimates of human, physical and
financial resources needed to
achieve objectives (Fadipe and
Adepoju, 2006).

3. System Approach is a problem-
solving method of analyzing the
educational process and making
more effective.

4. The process of forecasting demand
and providing sufficient places in
schools, colleges, and universities to
satisfy demand.
Regarded as a traditional approach
to educational planning.
Social Demand Approach

5. The social demand approach to
educational planning has three
major short comings as
highlighted by Okwori 2011.

6. 1. It is capital intensive.
2. It leads to one-sided production
of manpower.
3. It plays too much emphasis on
population for education at the
expense of proper costing and
quality.
Short comings:

7. The implication of social demand
to educational planning according
to Azunwena and Uchenna (2011)
is that the type of education, levels
of education and demographic
data are put into consideration;
because of the following
advantages.

8. 1. It increases the level of literacy
in the country.
2. It encourages equal educational
opportunities.
3. It facilitates the process of
income redistribution.
Advantages:

9. On the other side, Azunwena and
Uchenna (2011) enumerated the
disadvantages of social demand
approach to educational planning
that:

10. 1. The social demand approach
to educational planning does not
give consideration to overall
national equitable distribution
of resources.
Disadvantages:

11. 2. The approach also ignores
manpower needs of the
society, but cause over
production of some types and
not enough of others.
Disadvantages:

12. 3. The approach also over
estimates the demand for
education but under estimates
cost, which results in inadequate
spread of facilities and poor
quality and standard of
education.
Disadvantages:

13. Based on the assumptions of the
social demand approach that
education is a consumption rather
than investment good, a
fundamental right of the people,
Osareren and Omoike (2013)
highlighted the limitations of the
approach to include:

14. 1. The approach has no control
over factors such as the price of
education.
2. The approach has no control
over absorptive capacity of the
economy for trained personnel.
Limitations:

15. 3. The approach is poor because
it does not guarantee the
effective/economical
distribution of resources.
4. The approach lacks guidance
to how best to meet the needs
identified.
Limitations:

16. If the government in power believes
that the citizens of that state or
country have to be given the
opportunity to satisfy their desire for
education (ex. free education), social
demand approach is to be adopted.

17. But heavy financial implication be
considered critically because as
enrolment increases so does
expenditure on teachers and
classrooms.

18. The approach is generally
concerned with demand for
economy of any country. This is an
approach which aims at
developing those skills that are in
severe shortage in the economy.
Manpower Requirement /
Planning Approach

19. In this approach, the general
demand for and the capacity of
supply of human resources in
different streams of and at different
levels of the education sector are
estimated.
Manpower Requirement /
Planning Approach

20. The approach asserts that the system of
education produces the right quality of
human resources with desirable
knowledge, attitudes and skills in the
right numbers and thus, education is
directly linked with economic
development.
Manpower Requirement /
Planning Approach

21. Manpower requirement approach is
based on forecasting of the manpower
needs of the economy in the various
skills areas required by the labour
market to produce a certain level of
development for a given period
(Osareren, 2013 et al).
Manpower Requirement /
Planning Approach

22. There is direct relationship between
increase in skilled manpower and
productivity, and skills, potentials
and competencies of the people can
be transformed through education.
Manpower Requirement /
Planning Approach

23. 1. The approach reduces the level
of educated unemployment.
2. It creates a balance between
demand and supply of educated
manpower on the labour
market.
Advantages:

24. 3. It is rational and ensures that
the limited educational, resources
are applied in the training of only
desirable manpower resources.
Advantages:

25. 1. It gives educational planes a
limited guidance in the sense that
it does not specify achievement in
every level of education.
Disadvantages:

26. 2. The approach ignores primary
education because is not
considered to be work connected.
Disadvantages:

27. 3. It is impossible to make
reliable forecast of manpower
requirements far ahead of fine
because of economic
uncertainties.
Disadvantages:

28. 4. Accurate educational and
demographic data are
difficult to lay hand on.
Disadvantages:

29. 5. The shortcomings of this
approach also include:
- Lack of adequate data and
information
- Lack of consideration for the
cost and financing of skill
formation.
Disadvantages:

30. This approach recognizes the fact
that resources are scarce and
must only be applied when the
best advantage or result can be
achieved.
Cost Benefit Approach

31. According to this approach,
investment in education should
take place in such a way that the
returns from the investment are
equal to the returns from other
kinds of investment of capital,
e.g. investment in industry.
Cost Benefit Approach

32. 1. It is rated as being sound,
empirical and rational
approach.
2. It ensures adequate benefits
from investment ventures in
education.
Advantages:

33. 1. It ignores the non- economic
benefits that accompany the
acquisition of a particular level
of education.
Disadvantages:

34. 2. The approach fails to realize
that benefit of education takes
longer time to mature.
Disadvantages:

35. Education is perceived by the cost
benefit approach to planning
two perspectives, the social rate
of return and private rates of
return (Osareren et al., (2013).

36. 1. The social rates of return:
stresses the benefit to be
derived by the state of
investing in a particular form
of education, because cost of
education is usually borne by the
society.

37. 2. The private Rates of return:
Is the investment by private
individual and the expected
benefits for acquiring a particular
type of education.

38. Therefore, this approach demands
that, within the formal education
system priority should be given to
investment in the Kinds of
education which promises the
highest returns.

39. At any given time the planner has
to determine which level of
education (primary, secondary,
teacher training, Polytechnic and
University) will yield the greatest
dividends of

40. investments made on them
depending upon the prevailing
economic, social and political
realities of the country.

41. This approach is aimed at making
special provisions for the socially,
economically and educationally
disadvantaged communities for a
longer education.
Social Justice Approach

42. The main focus of this topic was
on the four major systems
approach to educational planning
that; the social demand approach
provides useful projections of the
private demand for education,
Conclusion

43. the manpower requirement/
planning approach recognizes the
role of education in providing
trained manpower although it is
difficult to forecast accurately,
Conclusion

44. the cost benefit analysis approach
emphasizes the relationship between
expected economic benefits and
costs. Given the constraints to
effective educational planning,
planning education at different levels
is not possible without challenges.
Conclusion