In fact, it is more than “most” who agree.  In research undertaken by the School of Educational Administration and Management, 82% of school managers and administrators agree that schools should have a constant ongoing plan to improve the efficiency of the school.

While a small minority continue with the view that efficiency is either not an issue that should bother schools at all or that efficiency savings can be introduced when something is noticed, most now share the mainstream view of organisations across the UK – we have to think about efficiency all the time.

Thus it now seems that efficiency is very much a part of the concern of most schools, and the dominant view is that that efficiency savings can’t be made just by noticing something that “doesn’t look right”.  The problem is tha twe all get used to the way things are and so don’t see inefficiencies, or simply dismiss the chance of doing anything about them, because “that is the way things are.”

The results of this survey have now put them on the School Business, Management and Administration Week website.  The analysis of the survey results is here as part of the new School Business Management and Administration Week website.

If you have any thoughts about the site, particularly if you feel there is anything else that should be there, do let me know.  Remember the idea of the School Business Management and Administration Week is that we have a website that is aimed at administrators and management equally.  This is on the basis that the most efficient organisations have the closest liaison between management and administration.

I am also hoping that you, and your colleagues elsewhere in the school, will take particular note of the final item within the research – how work enters the school office and how the volume of that work is controlled.

Many school offices reported to the SEAM in earlier surveys that they are suffering from constant overload of work, and this final point is indeed relevant.

Thanks very much to everyone who participated in the research.  My hope is that it really will have an impact.

Tony Attwood

Chair, the School of Educational Administration and Management.

The School of Educational Administration and Management was set up with government funding through the Knowledge Transfer Partnership initiative with the support of the Dept of Trade and Industry, and the School of Education, Northampton University, to research and promote efficiency savings in schools.  More details of the SEAM’s work can be found on our website.