A Discussion of Strategic Planning as Understood through the Theory of Planning and its Relevance to Education

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dabgoudw

This article introduces strategic planning in education by outlining core principles, practical templates, and the historical factors that helped it become a recognized approach in educational planning. It examines why strategic planning increasingly coexists with other educational planning methods and explores key conceptual distinctions, including how planning relates to goal achievement and how design outputs may be mistaken for the planning process itself.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Planning Throughout History

What Is Planning?

Planning, Process, and Output

Early Historical Emphasis

Educational Planning and Change Models

Pre-Planning Phase

Readiness Phase

A Discussion of Strategic Planning as Understood through the Theory of Planning and its Relevance to Education Robert H. Beach and Ronald A. Lindahl ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to strategic planning in education, including basic principles, templates, and factors that led to its rise to become a recognized approach in educational planning, and in the issues that have led to increasing reliance on other approaches to educational planning. PLANNING THROUGHOUT HISTORY Planning’s beginning is clouded in a history that extends backward for at least seven millennia, and, perhaps, depending on one’s definition and semantics, 100,000 years. If an ancestor, on picking up a stone, saw in that stone a spear point and proceeded to shape the stone soas to bring out that spear point, was this an act of planning? Although it may not be understood as such, everything people do is plan based. This does not mean that people always create a formal plan. Does one even need to comprehend planning to plan? Whatever the answer, one who is planning may or may not understanding what planning is. So, historically, planning really has no known beginning. So what is planning? It is best considered to be a design process by which a plan, model, or template is developed that guides future actions to achieve a goal(s) . It is not just strategic planning. As this article will explore, strategic planning is but one form among several forms of planning. However, the design process and its output, the plan, are often confused. This is a result of the process and the plan being simultaneously undertaken and essentially viewed as the same thing ina situation where the intent is to create one plan and use it once. This is generally the situation, but not always. With more complex approaches to planning evolving over time, the understanding grew that planning is only one element in a series including implementation and institutionalization that creates a process of organizational change and reform. In education, various categories of templates or models exist for dealing with concerns related to different goal achievement issues. Planning’s historic emergence is germane to this discussion where, rather than only strategic planning, the more intricate design of plans with different methodological approaches should be understood. So, we tend to begin any discussion of planning history with something that has been created physically, is recognizable, and is to some extent enduring. Buildings are a good starting point in that they obviously require some basic reasoned planning. One of the first buildings built that most assuredly called for cognitive planning was the structure known as Barnenez in France in 4850 BC (Barnenez, n.d.) . Note that this large stone building is twice as old as the Parthenon. In 2560 BC, the Giza pyramid of Cheops was constructed--at 20 times the mass of the Empire State building. Serious planning certainly was involved. Planning began to receive strong emphasis in the management literature with both Frederic W. Taylor (1911), an American engineer publishing Principles of Scientific Management that proposed the establishment of planning shops in factories as a means to create greater organizational efficiency, and in 1916, when Henri Fayol (1916, 1949), a French mining engineer, wrote General and Industrial Management. In this book he stressed planning as one of the five key roles of administrators. He defined planning (prevoyance) as the forecasting of future trends, the setting of objectives, and the coordination and harmonization of the organization’s efforts to achieve those objectives. He called for the development of timelines, action plans, and budgets necessary for the implementation of the plan. He also advocated for the participation of various stakeholders in the planning process. The work of both men led to ideas such as increasing organizational performance through better

FAQs

What is the article’s purpose regarding strategic planning in education?

The article provides an introduction to strategic planning in education, covering basic principles, templates, and the developments that increased its reliance alongside other planning approaches.

How does the article define planning?

Planning is presented as a design process in which a plan, model, or template is developed to guide future actions toward one or more goals.

Why does the article discuss confusion between the plan and the planning process?

It explains that in many situations the process and its output are treated as the same thing, even though planning can involve broader elements such as implementation and institutionalization for organizational change.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by dabgoudw