Introduction: The Landscape of Maladministration in Education

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the phenomena of maladministration in educational organisations, is intended to lift up the rug of educational administration perhaps higher than usually done and from a different corner of the rug than is usually lifted. It develops a broad theoretical and critical foundation for understanding the phenomena of maladministration in educational organisations and systems internationally, including the examination of contemporary issues that shape harmful administrative and organisational behaviours. The book explores from the full range of authority positions and structures through conceptual and role distinctions that exist in decades of public administration and management studies and in educational administration. It shines a light on maladministration by examining various practices at individual, group, organisational, and system levels; the contexts and influences that give rise to them; and potential remedies.