Current Issues in Professional Development in Developing Countries: A Personal View

This is a personal review of conditions which can influence the well‐being of educational administration in developing countries. After over thirty years working with local colleagues in a variety of overseas countries in professional and administrative jobs ranging from divisional education officer, teachers college principal and personnel officer to director of a university institute of education and ministry of education adviser in a system divided by two European languages, the author looks at those influences often forgotten: the myths; the external pressures; the selection of appropriate policies and strategies; personnel and training programmes; and the problems of providing adequate professional support.