Contemporary educational management through the string theory lens

Abstract

Educational management is at crossroads; the old management paradigms seem to offer no practical solutions to the ever-changing educational dynamics. Theories once trusted and relied upon for answers to daunting educational questions seem dead and extinct. Managers and indeed leaders of educational institutions are embroiled in a state of quagmire and have to “think outside the box” for appropriate solutions or approaches to the dictates of the times. Tellingly, this implies searching from outside of education’s arsenal. This paper dwells on this, indeed, and explores the applicability of string theory – borrowed from physics to education in general and educational management in particular. It dissects the elements of string theory and draws on their relationship with educational settings. The authors, thus, claim that if educational managers and leaders dig deep into string theory, they are likely to learn, quite extensively and intensively, the necessary techniques of dealing with challenges to education that have since become an Achilles’ heel. String theory, it should be largely claimed, renders educational management a free visa to transformation of the education system as a whole.