The Development of Academic Administration Process of Small Secondary Schools in Phang Nga Province

Abstract

Small secondary schools in Phang Nga Province face common problems including lack of systematic academic administration, shortage of teachers especially those who are specialized in different subjects. Sometimes, the teachers are burn out due to excessive workloads resulting in ineffective teaching. Other problems include teachers’ lack understanding of academic administration indicators, high turnover rate as the teachers tend to move to bigger schools. This causes discontinuity for the work. This research aims to study the problems in academic administration of small secondary schools in Phang Nga Province; create and develop the academic administration process along with the administrative manual; and assess the appropriateness of the new process. The research procedure consisted of three stages. Stage 1 studies problems of academic management of small secondary schools in Phang Nga Province. A sample of 76 respondents including 6 school administrators and 70 teachers were used for this stage. A questionnaire with the reliability of .89 was used to collect the data which were then analyzed for mean and standard deviation. Stage 2 aimed to create and develop the academic administrative process and an administrative manual through a group discussion with seven experts. The discussion was recorded and the information obtained was used as the data collected at this stage. Stage 3 aimed to assess the appropriateness of the academic administration process from 12 respondents including 6 school administrators and 6 heads who were in charge of administration in academic affairs using a questionnaire with the reliability of .89. The data collected from stage 3 were analysed for mean and standard deviation. It was revealed that the overall perception of the respondents regarding problems in academic administration of small secondary schools in Phang Nga Province was in a moderate level. The creation and development of the academic administration process and the administrative manual of small secondary schools in Phang Nga Province can be divided into 2 categories. The major category requires one procedure in academic administration; and the minor category requires 10 sub-procedures of academic work performance. Each procedure follows the PDCA cycle and indicators for quality assessment so that all requirements are met. Results concerning appropriateness of the academic administration process of small secondary schools in Phang Nga Province was in the highest level. When considering each aspect individually, usefulness, feasibility, and suitability, were rated in the highest level respectively. Findings of this study will be useful for school administrators as well as teachers. They can be used as a tool to develop the academic administration process.