Abstract
This chapter introduces a normative knowledge management model to support strategic planning by bridging the knowledge gaps for school development. School strategic planning can help school leaders to tackle the impacts and change generated from the schools’ external environment. It articulates the relationship between knowledge management and strategic planning and addresses the implementation issues for applying knowledge management in schools.
7.1 Strategic Planning
Strategic planning helps schools to survive in a turbulent policy environment by coping with the changes generated by government policies and market forces as mentioned in Chap. 1. It plays an important role in providing a blueprint for school leaders and teachers to address curriculum reform and lifelong learning policy. Strategic planning can also facilitate the sustainable development of schools by scanning the organisational environment and reviewing internal strengths and weaknesses to prioritise action planning. Without effective planning, schools’ targets cannot be achieved and the quality of education cannot be improved. This can lead to a high risk of failure for education reforms and, in turn, a waste of government resources. An important research agenda is how to strengthen staff PKM competency for planning and facilitate knowledge sharing within the school to improve strategic planning.
7.6 Summary
The many changes in education and the rapid expansion of knowledge have dramatically influenced how schools perform and the flexibility of teaching. In order to bridge the existing knowledge gaps of nurturing self-regulated learners and conducting effective self-evaluation for sustainable development, schools can strengthen their strategic planning capacity by institutionalising a normative knowledge management model. This can be done through utilising information and knowledge to support the continuing development of professional practice within a global learning environment. School leaders should play their knowledge leadership roles to nurture an organisational learning culture by cultivating different CoPs to support school management, teaching and learning, and school guidance activities. They should institutionalise a KM system and provide learning opportunities for teachers to develop their PKM competencies. They should formulate KM strategies that align with the school strategic plan. The normative KM model emphasises the mapping of knowledge domains with the aims of the school plan and the alignment of KM strategies and the school development strategies. This normative KM model needs to be put into practice to bridge the knowledge gaps and to address problems occurring in school development. The model provides a tangible starting point for a KM initiative and implementation.
