The Design of Strategies and Tactics in the Strategic Planning of Education

Abstract

Strategy and tactics are constituted as the two essential elements of the strategic planning of education. While the first constitutes the action plan of the educational organization, the second is the specific operations to respond to its effective and efficient development to guarantee the achievement of the organizational vision and mission. Therefore, the author developed a documentary-type investigation oriented by the following study objectives: to determine how the works explicitly or implicitly delimit the concepts of strategy and tactics; to identify if the works establish a procedure for the design of strategies and tactics, appropriate to be implemented by the director to draw up the strategic plan of the educational center. To meet these objectives, the published works on Strategic Administration, Strategic Management, and Strategic Planning in general and in the specific field of Education during the period 2010-2020 were considered as study units. The exploration of the study units was generated from the keywords strategic planning, educational planning, director, educational manager, strategies, and tactics. In addition, the researcher considered the following databases: Google Scholar, EBSCO Information Services, eLibro.net, and ScienceDirect. As for the results of the investigation, the study units explicitly define both concepts and agree that there is a binding and subordinate relationship between them. Although they describe types of strategies and tactics, they do not establish a procedural model for their design. Given the absence of such a model and the relevance they have for the strategic planning of education, a model was developed for its design integrated by four stages and supported by three theoretical references: Director, Strategy, and Tactics. In conclusion, the study units carry out a broad conceptual delimitation and an extensive typification of the strategic and tactical concepts, however, it does not develop a model for its design that can be implemented by the director in the outline of the strategic plan of the educational center.