Scholars at home and abroad have put forward many useful opinions, which can be summarized into the following categories:

1, take education management as a science to study the process and law of education management.

This view points out the research object of education management, and divides education management into administrative management and school management according to this object. This concept definition belongs to functional definition, that is, the function of educational management science is used to define educational management science.

2. Take education management as a science to study the phenomenon and essence of education management and reveal the laws of education management.

This view holds that the object of education management is to study the phenomenon and essence of education management, and its function is to reveal the laws of education management. It defines education management from two aspects: research object and research function, which is more comprehensive than the first category.

(B) the definition of the concept of education management

# Definition: Educational management is a management science that takes educational management issues as the object, based on management, pedagogy and other related disciplines, and uses qualitative and quantitative methods to discover educational laws, form educational management theories and guide educational management practice through the study of educational management issues.

It includes three functions or purposes: discovering educational laws, forming educational management theory and guiding educational management practice.

Second, the research object of education management

(A) the definition of educational management research object

There are different expressions, which can be summarized as follows: first, take the law of education management as the research object; The second is to study the phenomenon of educational management; The third is "activity theory", which takes the management activities of the education system as the research object, and many people in the management field hold this view; Fourth, take phenomena, activities and laws as the research objects of educational management.

# The research object of educational management science is educational management problems or educational management phenomena that have become problems.

With education, there will be educational management phenomenon, and any educational management problem is based on educational management phenomenon. There are phenomena first, then these phenomena are known to people, and then people question and question some known phenomena, which constitutes the research object.

Therefore, the core of educational management science is to enhance the awareness of educational management issues, find and define educational management issues, and carry out research on educational management issues. Educational management can only start from the problem and finally solve or explain it.

(B) the types of educational management research questions

1. Facts and values of educational management

According to the nature of educational management problems.

The fact problem of educational management is the phenomenon problem or objective phenomenon problem of educational management perceived or experienced by educational management researchers. It can be divided into four categories: ① self-factual problems (such as students' physical and mental growth and teachers' metabolism); (2) objective facts (such problems exist in large numbers, such as school organization construction, rules and regulations, organizational culture, etc.). ); ③ Empirical fact problems (problems perceived or recognized in practice); (4) Theoretical facts (contradictions between different theories and between theory and practice).

The value of educational management refers to the significance of the management object to the existence and development of the management subject in the practice of educational management, and it can also be regarded as what the management subject pursues, appreciates and expects. There are many classifications, which can be divided into three categories according to the needs of educational management subjects: material value (economic benefits), spiritual value (spiritual satisfaction) and comprehensive value (meeting people's all-round needs); According to the existing forms of value, it can be divided into three categories: material value (the management of things, such as the value of campus construction), spiritual value (such as campus culture and moral fashion) and humanistic value (such as people's position, function and dignity).

The question of fact is a question of "yes" or "no", which is universal; There are "good" or "bad" values, and their nature varies with different cultural backgrounds and educational organizations.

2. Experience and concept of educational management.

According to the purpose of educational management research.

Empirical problems can be divided into three categories: ① unsolved problems (forming new theories or methods by solving such problems); (2) solved problems (theory is the basic content of education management); (3) Abnormal problems (solved problems become problems under new conditions).

The concept problem, also known as the theoretical problem, refers to the problems existing in the theoretical construction of educational management itself and is the "meta" problem of educational management. It is divided into two categories: ① internal conceptual problems (vague or contradictory concepts within the theory); ② External concept problem (contradiction or conflict between theory and concept).

The problem of experience is to study the problems related to the practice of educational management, and its purpose is to solve the practical problems of educational management; The concept problem is the problem of the research theory itself, and its purpose is to make the educational management theory more reasonable, explanatory and systematic.

3. Educational management standards and revolutionary issues.

According to Kuhn's view of scientific revolution, scientific development can be divided into two stages: conventional science and scientific revolution.

Standard questions can be divided into two categories: ① questions that can be answered at present (answering questions according to existing theories, thus enriching and perfecting current theories); (2) Problems that can't be completely answered by the existing theories (but we can explore new theories and methods to solve problems from the existing theories, so as to develop the existing theories).

Revolutionary question, also called crisis question, is a brand-new or heterogeneous question that the existing educational management theory can't answer. It can be divided into two categories: ① individual revolutionary questions (referring to abnormal questions that do not have a fundamental impact on the existing theoretical system, and when the answers accumulate to a certain stage, they will form a systematic new theory); (2) Structural revolutionary issues (referring to the major issues related to the overall situation that cannot be answered by existing theories, and its solution means the birth of new system theory). The new theory will replace or coexist with the existing theory.

4. The "truth" and "falsehood" of education management.

All the above questions should be true, not false. The basis of judgment is whether the problem exists, not whether it is necessary or not.

The real problem is that the existing theory has not been solved or not solved well enough. The determination of the real question is based on literature research, so that it is found that the problem does exist, or that it needs further study although it has been studied.

Third, the nature of education management

(A) different views on the nature of education management

1. Educational management is a branch of pedagogy.

Educational management does have the nature of pedagogy, but the attribute of pedagogy is not a general attribute of educational management, but a special attribute that is different from other management.

2. Education management is a branch of management.

Educational management is rooted in modern management theory and is the application of general management theory in the field of educational management.

3. Education management is an interdisciplinary or marginal subject.

There are two viewpoints: one is the interdisciplinary of pedagogy and management; Second, interdisciplinary, closely related to management, education, philosophy, psychology, political science, sociology, operational research and so on, is a marginal discipline.

4. Educational management is an applied subject.

In terms of methods, based on facts and experience, many empirical research methods are adopted; The main purpose is to solve the practical problems of education management and improve the management level. The deficiency lies in the fact that educational management itself is divided into theoretical disciplines and applied disciplines, which cannot be simply classified as applied disciplines.

5. Education management is a comprehensive subject.

Comprehensiveness is a characteristic of educational management, not unique, and can't be called a comprehensive discipline.

(B) the nature of education management positioning

Educational management is a management discipline.

The establishment of educational management science on the basis of management science can make full use of the existing research results of management science to construct the conceptual category and theoretical framework of educational management science; Secondly, it provides conditions for the dialogue between management and other management disciplines, because their basic concepts are common; Thirdly, with the foundation of management science and the conditions of communication with other management sciences, educational management science has found its own position and got rid of the isolated situation.

2. The characteristics of education management.

(1) Synthesis refers to the synthesis of research objects, methods and contents.

(2) Practicality refers to the objectivity of educational management knowledge, the practicality of functions and the situational use.

(3) Openness refers to breaking the boundaries of disciplines, constantly absorbing the theories and knowledge of related disciplines according to the requirements of discipline development, and developing and perfecting this discipline.

Fourth, the methods of education management.

(A) the classification of educational management methods

There are various research methods, P.39 list analysis. It is divided into qualitative research, quantitative research, qualitative research and systematic research.

(B) the qualitative study of education management

The general name of a research method, which uses words to describe rather than numbers and measurements to explain the nature or attributes of things. The basic methods are deduction and induction, and the specific methods are experience summary, historical documents, comparison, abstraction and theory.

Qualitative research follows strict logical principles, is based on facts, and takes rationality as a means to reveal the essential laws of the research object, which is a scientific research. The main defect is that it cannot accurately explain the nature of the research object.

1, deductive method

Aristotle founded. Deduction is reasoning from general to special, and its main form is syllogism. P.4 1-42

2. Induction

Founded by British philosopher Bacon. Induction is a kind of reasoning that deduces conclusions about general knowledge on the premise of individual or special knowledge, including complete inductive reasoning and incomplete inductive reasoning. Page 43

3, experience summary method

Researchers analyze, summarize and generalize the perceptual knowledge and effective concrete practice formed by educational administrators in the practice of educational management, so that these knowledge and practice can be promoted to rational and universal theories and methods. It belongs to induction.

4. Historical research methods

Methods to explore the characteristics and laws of the production and development process of research objects. There are five genetic forms, six basic steps and two limitations.

5. Comparative research methods (widely used)

According to certain standards, this paper compares and analyzes the different manifestations of similar phenomena in different situations, finds out their universality and differences, and draws practical conclusions. It can be divided into vertical comparison and horizontal comparison, qualitative comparison and quantitative comparison, and the four kinds of comparison are intertwined.

6. Theoretical research methods

It is not a specific method, but a synthesis of various methods. It is based on the existing objective reality materials and theoretical materials, and reflects the characteristics and laws of educational management in the form of rational knowledge through various logical and illogical processing. There are strict procedures or processes.

Since the emergence of ancient school education, educational management has appeared in a certain form. Modern education management refers to a series of activities such as planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling the education system by the state or local government. From the management function and process, modern education management mainly includes education administration and school management.

Education management is different from education administration. Education management not only has administrative content, but also contains the principles and policies of relevant political parties, and the party and government should be separated. From a hierarchical point of view, according to Liu Wenxiu's point of view, education management can be divided into macro-management of education (the promulgation of educational policies, laws and regulations, educational policies, etc.). ), the middle management of education (educational administrative activities at the local level) and the micro management of education (management and operation activities at the school level).

Educational administration refers to the management of school education by educational administrative departments at all levels in the country. The main contents are as follows: 1. Implementing educational laws and regulations; 2. Formulate educational laws and regulations; 3. Compiling educational planning, educational development and reform plans; 4. Review education funds; 5. Appointment of educational administrators; 6. Guide and inspect the work of subordinate units; 7. Coordinate the relationship between education and other departments and other aspects of society. Some countries adopt a centralized approach to education management, such as China and France, while others adopt a decentralized approach, such as the United States.

School management usually refers to the internal management of the school itself. However, at present, school management pays more and more attention to the relationship between school and society, and between school and other social departments. The main contents of school management include: 1. Make teaching plans and arrange teaching and scientific research tasks; 3. Formulate school rules and regulations; 4. Coordinate the work of all departments of the school; 5. Manage other work of the school; 6. Coordinate the relationship between schools and communities, schools and other social sectors. As the radiation source of civilization, schools have their own abilities and obligations.

Educational management is an interdisciplinary subject based on pedagogy and management. It is often necessary to use the basic ideas, theories and principles of management and pedagogy to study the management problems in the education system and reveal the general laws of education management with educational practice as the object. Professor Sun Miantao defines educational management as: studying educational management phenomena (educational management activities, systems, mechanisms and concepts) and revealing educational management laws (general laws and special laws) through studying phenomena. Although education management is mainly based on pedagogy and management, it also involves many disciplines, such as philosophy, sociology, psychology, economics, politics, anthropology, law, mathematics, system science, computer science and so on.

The history of educational management as a discipline is not long. It sprouted in the early 20th century and gradually became an independent discipline in 1950s. It should be said that education management is a young subject.