Abstract:
The purposes of this study were 1) to investigate the current and desired state of an administrative process for alternative schools, to study the best practice of alternative schools and to develop an administrative process of alternative schools based on the soft side management and humanistic education concepts. The research methodology was descriptive and narration using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This research had five phases: 1) to study the current state and desired state and priority needs of an administrative process in alternative schools based on the soft side management and humanistic education concepts. 2) to study 5 cases of alternative schools recognized as best practices in translating these concepts into action. 3) to design guidelines for an administrative process of alternative schools based on the soft side management and humanistic education concepts 4) to verify the guidelines on their appropriateness and feasibility 5) to improve and propose the guidelines for an administrative process for alternative schools based on the soft side management and humanistic education concepts. The results showed that the average values of the desired state were higher than those of the current state in all aspects. According to priority needs, the administration of alternative schools focused on the soft side management and humanistic education concepts. These concepts included survival (viability), self-sufficiency, awareness of the planet, sustainability, service to the society, and self-respect and respect for others. From the case studies, it was found that, in managing alternative schools, administrators should concentrate on planning based on the soft side concept, implementing by administrators, teachers, staff, parents and communities involved in the management of soft side and humanistic education, evaluating by giving value to teachers, encouraging them to use full potential for teaching soft side in schools, evaluating students by various methods and flexibility to seek their full potential. An administrative process developed from this study was Soft side BasedAlternative School Management (SBASM) consisting of three components. 1) The first involved planning measures for survival (viability), self-sufficiency, awareness of the planet, planning for sustainability, service to the society, and self-respect and respect for others. 2) The second component included implementation by determining the outcome (goal) of the plan(Outcome-Based Participative Operation), outlining the indicators of success, identifying and prioritizing them before planning, observing the present situation of schools, making soft side management guidelines for staff and personnel, having people plan strategies together in team, providing resources, supporting and helping one another, running sufficiency and social services in various ways, using positive reinforcement, and giving teachers the opportunity to provide feedback. 3) The third components involved evaluating the real performance identified in the monitoring plan using tangible results, applying multi-approaches of evaluation and the system reporting based on the real situations, monitoring effectiveness of the plan, reporting the success and improvement of alternative education, exchanging knowledge derived from the study of prototypes of learning for alternative education to promote satisfaction, pride, happiness and joy of working and learning of teachers, students and parents.