Planning is a complex activity that varies a great deal from country to country depending on such variables as the administrative structure of the country. The complexity of the task is increased because the five planning activities--issuing directives for planning, preparing plans, approving plans, implementing plans, and evaluating and revising plans--overlap each other. Educational planning poses specific administrative problems in three areas--determining the location of a planning agency in a governmental structure, sorting out the relationship between politics and administration, and resolving the issue of involving public opinion in planning (from ERIC database)