Educational change management

Have you ever heard of “Educational marketing” or “School PR management”? If no, this article is definitely for you. Today, education became a part of social sphere supports the government direction and policy within the students’ preparation for the labor activity.

Since the industrial and economical changes, the educational institutes have become the service sectors, producing non-commercial knowledge products, such as culture, experience, understanding, values and learning traditions. Human resources starts to gain “professional capital” to attract parents to the particular educational institute. In this case the educational marketing may be defined as the commercial and non-commercial parts depending on the school aim and type (private, public). The new socio-economical conditions require the development of humanistic and democratic community with the brand new marketing economy. On the one side, there is a requirement to profound changes related to the needs of the individual, production, state. On the other side, vocational education is one of the structural components of the economic system, which largely determines the successful development of the different countries’ reforms, within the structure and quality of human resources  training. The UNESCO Subcommittee on Education Affairs has determined the level of educational development as the most important criteria for the socio-economic development of the state. Earlier the whole system of vocational education was considered first of all as a system of personnel training for the production servicing, nowadays the educational system development is more focused on satisfying the individual educational needs. The main function of education was the reproduction and development of existing socio-economic relations earlier, at present this function is aimed at their development and improvement. Socio-economic transformations in the society naturally caused innovations in vocational education.

These changes require the schools to define the brand new development dimension which leads to the 21 century skills approaches and learning through dialogue and peace. That change highlights the importance of student-centered (individual-oriented) education for lesson planning, curriculum organization and administrative management. According to the high competitive environment, students should know the basic requirement of the labor market. The educational change market includes the modern requirements and creates a special framework for school’s development according to the community needs.

The ongoing development process makes the educational institutes (schools) to change the academic curricula that refer to the social and political needs. The schools must be ready for the new human vocational format: each person has to not only change jobs frequently, but also repeatedly change professions; new expert requirements not only in professional sense, but also the development of personal plan, learning/success portfolio: independence, initiative, education; one of the main structural changes in production is the primary development of small business and small enterprises; there is a constant outflow of labor from the industrial sphere to the service sector, infrastructure, insurance business, to the social sphere; a labor market is formed the way, where the basis of which is surplus labor.

These trends predetermine the importance for the further development of professional educational institutions, the creation of professional educational complexes on their basis where a person can realize a maximum of his educational needs: to obtain a certain level of professional education, to upgrade his qualifications, to undergo professional retraining.

The development tool of educational institute is the educational marketing at first. Educational marketing can help to resolve the escalating contradictions between the high rates of change in the economy of the countries and the insufficient pace of development of vocational education sphere. In this case the school must create the new curricula and development plan to include the professional and individual needs of each student. The individual-oriented approach should be the foundation for the further improvement and upbringing the new generation of future professionals.

Teachers know education does not stand still, and welcome thoughtful and coherent change that in the best interests of students. Change will inevitably impact on teachers because the learning conditions of students are also working conditions of teachers. However change is not the same as improvement. Two fundamental tests which should always be considered before taking the decision to launch a change are:

• Does the evidence justify this change as likely to cause improvement?
• Is an appropriate implementation process in pace to manage this change?

These questions are often not properly answered at the school management level do to the different factors:

• Luck of time;
• Luck of proper professional development;
• Inability to make independent decisions;
• The authority of stakeholders;
• The need of immediate changes due to the critical situation;

Education-based marketing is the sharing of knowledge with the purpose of building trust. It is a strategy that establishes credibility and trust with your customers by using educational messages. Today’s consumer lives in a highly digital and immediately gratifying consumer environment. They don’t have to buy unless it is on their terms and their timetable. Furthermore, today’s consumer won’t to do business with people they don’t trust . In order for them to trust you they need to be assured they are dealing with the right company who has their best interests in mind.The “4R” marketing formula was developed as a classic complex for commodity market.

The Harvard University professor, Dr Nail Bordain compared that formula with the “pie recipe”: This is not a formula for specific numerical values or ratios, but a unique combination of ingredients from which to turn out a unique work of the cook. The elements of this formula are internal factors of the enterprise's activity in the market, providing it with success. The main elements of the marketing complex (marketing mix, or "marketing mixture") are the combination of goods, the price, the place of sale and promotion. While the rendering services, three more factors are significant: the organization itself with its internal system, not visible to the consumer, contact personnel (visible part of the organization) with which the client interacts, and the material environment, in which the service is performed. That three additions were created by P.Egliye, E.Lengard and theoretically approved by B.Bumz, M.Bitner, the authors of “7R” strategy. Today the specific of service as a good represents the next marketing service complex:

• Product – the good, the nature of service that satisfies the consumer needs;
• Price – the price system;
• Place – the sale place and the environment;
• Promotion – the promotion and sale promotion;
• Process – the process of making and organizing service;
• Physical evidence – the environment of service organization, symbols and physical objects, that accompanying communication with potential client and service delivery itself;
• People (participants) - employees of the organization, as well as customers, involved in the provision of services; customers also affect the quality of services and can be propagandists of the service organization or vice versa, do it "anti-advertising".

In this case we may review that marketing complex with the highlight of educational marketing.

• The education service can be defined as a commodity, since it satisfies the needs for knowledge, personal development, professional skills of the target consumer. This social effect is a "product offer" of an educational organization, on the market it corresponds to a certain effective demand.

However the comparison of the teacher and service is not correct. The education is additionally difficult to compare with the goods. T. Chernoysenko defined the education as educational product in his academic research. With respect to this name, one can speak of the quality of the results provision of educational services, their competitiveness in the market, commercial feasibility and efficiency of labor to produce such type of products.

Author: Elvira Sarsenova​

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