HKIER

摘要

教育行政理論經歷超過一個世紀的發展，雖然距離要建立自己知識領域的目標還有一段路，但已有可觀的成就。然而，有些學者卻認為教育行政理論對解決目前的教育問題毫無幫助，更有一些學者甚至認為教育行政理論可能與教育目的背道而馳。教科書內的教育行政理論常被指為過於抽象，不切合學校的實際運作情況，而學校行政人員所累積的經驗，亦往往無法提升為客觀的理論。這樣說來，教育行政理論是否對教育的實踐意義作用不大呢？理論和實踐的差距又可如何拉近？本文引用Michael Polanyi的默會知識與外顯知識兩個概念，嘗試解釋教育行政理論與實踐的爭辯背後的原因，繼而引申出從實踐中學習的可能性。文章亦以教育行政實習作為例子，解釋在實習過程中學校行政人員最終會推動個人自省，並與別人進入一個對話過程，藉此幫助行政人員進入行動學習的循環，提升個人的反思能力。

Abstract

After a century of development, educational administration is still far from the target of developing its own theory base, yet its achievement has been impressing. However, some academics think that theories in educational administration are useless in solving current school problems. Some even suggest that the application of administrative theories in education may contradict the aims of education. Viewing from the actual operation of schools, the theories of education administration as outlined in textbooks are often accused of being too abstract and impractical. On the other hand, the experience accumulated by school administrators often remains at the practical level, and cannot be generalized to the theoretical level. If these are the case, does it mean that theories of educational administration are meaningless to school practices? How can the two be pulled closer together? The present article attempts to employ Michael Polanyi’s concepts of tacit and explicit knowledge to explain the arguments behind the debate between theory and practice, and suggests the possibility of learning in practice. The article also uses educational administration practicum as an example to argue that in order to empower school administrators to enter into action learning, school administrators should be encouraged to enter into a dialogue with themselves and with other people.