Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102980479
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 52
Book Description
The National Audit Office has reported that the Department for Education has delivered a fundamental change in the nature of the Academies Programme through a rapid, ten-fold increase in the number of academies since May 2010. This increase is a significant achievement. However, the Department was unprepared for the scale of the financial implications arising from such a rapid expansion. In the two years between April 2010 and March 2012, the Department had to meet an estimated £1 billion of additional costs, while remaining within its overall spending limits.By September 2012, 2,309 academies had opened, compared with 203 in May 2010. This represents significant growth of 1,037 per cent, most of which has been from schools choosing to convert to academy status. Academies have greater financial freedoms than maintained schools and the Department's approach to approving applications - coupled with the fact that most converters to date have been outstanding and good schools - appears so far to have managed the risk of schools converting with underlying performance issues. However, more schools with lower Ofsted ratings are now applying to the Programme. Future applicants may therefore require more in-depth assessment and support to manage potential risks.
Managing the Expansion of the Academies Programme
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102980479
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 52
Book Description
The National Audit Office has reported that the Department for Education has delivered a fundamental change in the nature of the Academies Programme through a rapid, ten-fold increase in the number of academies since May 2010. This increase is a significant achievement. However, the Department was unprepared for the scale of the financial implications arising from such a rapid expansion. In the two years between April 2010 and March 2012, the Department had to meet an estimated £1 billion of additional costs, while remaining within its overall spending limits.By September 2012, 2,309 academies had opened, compared with 203 in May 2010. This represents significant growth of 1,037 per cent, most of which has been from schools choosing to convert to academy status. Academies have greater financial freedoms than maintained schools and the Department's approach to approving applications - coupled with the fact that most converters to date have been outstanding and good schools - appears so far to have managed the risk of schools converting with underlying performance issues. However, more schools with lower Ofsted ratings are now applying to the Programme. Future applicants may therefore require more in-depth assessment and support to manage potential risks.
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102980479
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 52
Book Description
The National Audit Office has reported that the Department for Education has delivered a fundamental change in the nature of the Academies Programme through a rapid, ten-fold increase in the number of academies since May 2010. This increase is a significant achievement. However, the Department was unprepared for the scale of the financial implications arising from such a rapid expansion. In the two years between April 2010 and March 2012, the Department had to meet an estimated £1 billion of additional costs, while remaining within its overall spending limits.By September 2012, 2,309 academies had opened, compared with 203 in May 2010. This represents significant growth of 1,037 per cent, most of which has been from schools choosing to convert to academy status. Academies have greater financial freedoms than maintained schools and the Department's approach to approving applications - coupled with the fact that most converters to date have been outstanding and good schools - appears so far to have managed the risk of schools converting with underlying performance issues. However, more schools with lower Ofsted ratings are now applying to the Programme. Future applicants may therefore require more in-depth assessment and support to manage potential risks.
The Academies Programme
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102965476
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 48
Book Description
The National Audit Office finds that many academies are performing impressively in delivering the Academies Programme's intended improvements. Overall, academies have increased the rate of improvement in GCSE results when compared with trends in their predecessor schools. And although still below the national average, the proportion of pupils achieving five or more A*-C GCSEs is improving at a faster rate than in maintained schools with similar intakes. However, a small number of academies have made little progress, particularly when English and mathematics are taken into account. The proportion of academy pupils from socially disadvantaged backgrounds has reduced, although it remains over twice the national average. The performance of academy pupils from more challenging circumstances has improved over time. However, the attainment gap between these pupils and others has grown wider in academies than in maintained schools with similar intakes, since less disadvantaged pupils appear to benefit more immediately from improved standards at the academy. The increased rate at which new academies have been opening creates challenges around timely staff restructuring and appointment of senior teams. These challenges can impact significantly on teaching and learning, financial health and longer-term sustainability. The Department has identified that just over a quarter of academies may require additional financial or managerial support to secure their longer-term financial health, and a significant number have not received the financial contributions originally pledged by their sponsors. The expansion of the Programme increases the scale of risks to value for money - particularly in the areas of financial sustainability, governance and management capacity.
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102965476
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 48
Book Description
The National Audit Office finds that many academies are performing impressively in delivering the Academies Programme's intended improvements. Overall, academies have increased the rate of improvement in GCSE results when compared with trends in their predecessor schools. And although still below the national average, the proportion of pupils achieving five or more A*-C GCSEs is improving at a faster rate than in maintained schools with similar intakes. However, a small number of academies have made little progress, particularly when English and mathematics are taken into account. The proportion of academy pupils from socially disadvantaged backgrounds has reduced, although it remains over twice the national average. The performance of academy pupils from more challenging circumstances has improved over time. However, the attainment gap between these pupils and others has grown wider in academies than in maintained schools with similar intakes, since less disadvantaged pupils appear to benefit more immediately from improved standards at the academy. The increased rate at which new academies have been opening creates challenges around timely staff restructuring and appointment of senior teams. These challenges can impact significantly on teaching and learning, financial health and longer-term sustainability. The Department has identified that just over a quarter of academies may require additional financial or managerial support to secure their longer-term financial health, and a significant number have not received the financial contributions originally pledged by their sponsors. The expansion of the Programme increases the scale of risks to value for money - particularly in the areas of financial sustainability, governance and management capacity.
Making Schools Work
Author: Eric A. Hanushek
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815717687
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Book Description
Educational reform is a big business in the United States. Parents, educators, and policymakers generally agree that something must be done to improve schools, but the consensus ends there. The myriad of reform documents and policy discussions that have appeared over the past decade have not helped to pinpoint exactly what should be done. The case for investment in education is an economic one: schooling improves the productivity and earnings of individuals and promotes stronger economic growth and better functioning of society. Recent trends in schooling have, however, lessened the value of society's investments as costs have risen dramatically while student performance has stayed flat or even fallen. The task is to improve performance while controlling costs. This book is the culmination of extensive discussions among a panel of economists led by Eric Hanushek. They conclude that economic considerations have been entirely absent from the development of educational policies and that economic reality is sorely needed in discussions of new policies. The book outlines an improvement plan that emphasizes changing incentives in schools and gathering information about effective approaches. Available research and analysis demonstrates that current central decisionmaking has worked poorly. Concentrating on inputs such as pupil-teacher ratios or teacher graduate degrees appears quite inferior to systems that directly reward performance. Nonetheless, since experience with such alternatives is very limited, a program of extensive evaluation appears to be in order. Attempts to institute radical change on the basis of currently available information involve substantial risks of failure. Many people today find proposals such as charter schools, expanded use of merit pay, or educational vouchers to be appealing. Yet there is little evidence of their effectiveness, and widespread adoption of these proposals is sure to run into substantial problems of im
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 0815717687
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Book Description
Educational reform is a big business in the United States. Parents, educators, and policymakers generally agree that something must be done to improve schools, but the consensus ends there. The myriad of reform documents and policy discussions that have appeared over the past decade have not helped to pinpoint exactly what should be done. The case for investment in education is an economic one: schooling improves the productivity and earnings of individuals and promotes stronger economic growth and better functioning of society. Recent trends in schooling have, however, lessened the value of society's investments as costs have risen dramatically while student performance has stayed flat or even fallen. The task is to improve performance while controlling costs. This book is the culmination of extensive discussions among a panel of economists led by Eric Hanushek. They conclude that economic considerations have been entirely absent from the development of educational policies and that economic reality is sorely needed in discussions of new policies. The book outlines an improvement plan that emphasizes changing incentives in schools and gathering information about effective approaches. Available research and analysis demonstrates that current central decisionmaking has worked poorly. Concentrating on inputs such as pupil-teacher ratios or teacher graduate degrees appears quite inferior to systems that directly reward performance. Nonetheless, since experience with such alternatives is very limited, a program of extensive evaluation appears to be in order. Attempts to institute radical change on the basis of currently available information involve substantial risks of failure. Many people today find proposals such as charter schools, expanded use of merit pay, or educational vouchers to be appealing. Yet there is little evidence of their effectiveness, and widespread adoption of these proposals is sure to run into substantial problems of im
School Leadership in Diverse Contexts
Author: Simon Clarke
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317595920
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
School Leadership in Diverse Contexts demonstrates the centrality of context to understanding school leadership. It offers varied portrayals of leadership in a diverse range of distinct settings. Each chapter highlights the prominence of context in understanding the realities of school leadership, focusing on issues and influences that school leaders face, strategies school leaders adopt to deal with the complexities of their work, and conceptualisations of school leadership relevant to the context. An impressive array of international experts examine this neglected area of research by considering school leadership in nine heterogeneous contexts, providing rich and varied portrayals of school leadership and suggesting ways in which the leadership may be enhanced. School Leadership in Diverse Contexts is an ideal book for undergraduate and postgraduate students, particularly those studying units in educational leadership, comparative education and educational policy. Similarly undergraduate and postgraduate students engaged with development studies, history, sociology, law, human geography will be attracted to this text.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317595920
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 217
Book Description
School Leadership in Diverse Contexts demonstrates the centrality of context to understanding school leadership. It offers varied portrayals of leadership in a diverse range of distinct settings. Each chapter highlights the prominence of context in understanding the realities of school leadership, focusing on issues and influences that school leaders face, strategies school leaders adopt to deal with the complexities of their work, and conceptualisations of school leadership relevant to the context. An impressive array of international experts examine this neglected area of research by considering school leadership in nine heterogeneous contexts, providing rich and varied portrayals of school leadership and suggesting ways in which the leadership may be enhanced. School Leadership in Diverse Contexts is an ideal book for undergraduate and postgraduate students, particularly those studying units in educational leadership, comparative education and educational policy. Similarly undergraduate and postgraduate students engaged with development studies, history, sociology, law, human geography will be attracted to this text.
Late Soviet Britain
Author: Abby Innes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009373625
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Book Description
Explains why radical economic liberalism in the UK reproduces Soviet state failures, only now in capitalist form.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009373625
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Book Description
Explains why radical economic liberalism in the UK reproduces Soviet state failures, only now in capitalist form.
Department for Education
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215056917
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 56
Book Description
Academies are funded directly by central government, directly accountable to the Department for Education, and outside local authority control. They have greater financial freedoms than maintained schools. By September 2012 the number of open academies had increased tenfold, from 203 to 2,309. Academies are the Department's chosen vehicle for school reform, but increasing schools' autonomy and removing them from local authority control gives the Department responsibility for ensuring value for money. The Department has incurred significant costs from the complex and inefficient system it has used for funding the Academies Programme and its oversight of academies has had to play catch-up with the rapid growth in academy numbers. In the two years from April 2010 to March 2012, the Department spent £8.3 billion on Academies; £1 billion of this was an additional cost to the Department not originally budgeted for this purpose, some of which was not recovered from local authorities. The Department must improve the efficiency of its funding mechanisms and stop the growth in other costs. Furthermore, the Department has yet to establish effective school-level financial accountability for academies operating within chains. What will determine whether the Department ultimately achieves value for money is academies' impact on educational performance relative to the investment from the taxpayer. If the Department is to be held properly to account for its spending on academies, it must insist that every Academy Trust provides it with data showing school-level expenditure, including per-pupil costs, and with a level of detail comparable to that available for maintained schools.
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215056917
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 56
Book Description
Academies are funded directly by central government, directly accountable to the Department for Education, and outside local authority control. They have greater financial freedoms than maintained schools. By September 2012 the number of open academies had increased tenfold, from 203 to 2,309. Academies are the Department's chosen vehicle for school reform, but increasing schools' autonomy and removing them from local authority control gives the Department responsibility for ensuring value for money. The Department has incurred significant costs from the complex and inefficient system it has used for funding the Academies Programme and its oversight of academies has had to play catch-up with the rapid growth in academy numbers. In the two years from April 2010 to March 2012, the Department spent £8.3 billion on Academies; £1 billion of this was an additional cost to the Department not originally budgeted for this purpose, some of which was not recovered from local authorities. The Department must improve the efficiency of its funding mechanisms and stop the growth in other costs. Furthermore, the Department has yet to establish effective school-level financial accountability for academies operating within chains. What will determine whether the Department ultimately achieves value for money is academies' impact on educational performance relative to the investment from the taxpayer. If the Department is to be held properly to account for its spending on academies, it must insist that every Academy Trust provides it with data showing school-level expenditure, including per-pupil costs, and with a level of detail comparable to that available for maintained schools.
Risk Management and Public Service Reform
Author: Iniobong Enang
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000853667
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Book Description
School education reform is a dynamic process. It takes place in the context of changing institutional structures including society, economy, politics, legislation, and technology. Yet, there can be poor awareness of risk, particularly social risk, and its management during this process and more widely, during public service reform (PSR). This book aims to promote new PSR understanding about social risk management. It utilizes in-depth case studies comprising two anonymous Scottish councils responsible for providing and reforming school education services. Drawing mainly on risk management and structuration theories with elements of complexity leadership and institutional theories, the book explains contextual issues around the reform of Scottish school education services (SSES). It illustrates that social risks associated with reform can be used to explain emerging threats. Furthermore, it demonstrates that agent-structure duality may be instrumental to the production and management of social risks. The book also shows how the concept of social risk can be used to improve policy making and implementation. Targeted at practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and students, this book will be of interest to those in the fields of public administration, public service management, and risk management more generally.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000853667
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 191
Book Description
School education reform is a dynamic process. It takes place in the context of changing institutional structures including society, economy, politics, legislation, and technology. Yet, there can be poor awareness of risk, particularly social risk, and its management during this process and more widely, during public service reform (PSR). This book aims to promote new PSR understanding about social risk management. It utilizes in-depth case studies comprising two anonymous Scottish councils responsible for providing and reforming school education services. Drawing mainly on risk management and structuration theories with elements of complexity leadership and institutional theories, the book explains contextual issues around the reform of Scottish school education services (SSES). It illustrates that social risks associated with reform can be used to explain emerging threats. Furthermore, it demonstrates that agent-structure duality may be instrumental to the production and management of social risks. The book also shows how the concept of social risk can be used to improve policy making and implementation. Targeted at practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and students, this book will be of interest to those in the fields of public administration, public service management, and risk management more generally.
Decentralized Decision-making in Schools
Author: Harry Anthony Patrinos
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821379704
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 146
Book Description
An increasing number of developing countries are introducing School-Based Management (SBM) reforms aimed at empowering principals and teachers or at strengthening their professional motivation, thereby enhancing their sense of ownership of the school. Many of these reforms have also strengthened parental involvement in the schools, sometimes by means of school councils. SBM programs take many different forms in terms of who has the power to make decisions as well as the degree of ecision-making devolved to the school level. While some programs transfer authority only to school principals or te.
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821379704
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 146
Book Description
An increasing number of developing countries are introducing School-Based Management (SBM) reforms aimed at empowering principals and teachers or at strengthening their professional motivation, thereby enhancing their sense of ownership of the school. Many of these reforms have also strengthened parental involvement in the schools, sometimes by means of school councils. SBM programs take many different forms in terms of who has the power to make decisions as well as the degree of ecision-making devolved to the school level. While some programs transfer authority only to school principals or te.
Oversight of financial management in local authority maintained schools
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102976717
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
This report underlines the importance of effective financial management in schools. It is essential that the financial management framework for schools is capable of alerting the Department for Education to any systemic issues that may require action or intervention. Weak financial management and weak academic performance often go hand in hand. The Department sets standards but responsibility for financial management and cost reductions lies with schools themselves, with local authorities responsible for exercising effective oversight. Schools' financial management capability has improved - for example, as more schools have employed or have access to a school business manager. In the current financial environment, however, more schools are having to manage with reduced funding, and strong financial management is more important than ever. Many schools consider that they need to reduce staff costs and that they need guidance on how to do so while maintaining high-quality education. Local authorities do not publish systematic data to demonstrate how they are monitoring schools' financial management and that they are intervening where necessary. Indeed, many local authorities are set to devote fewer resources to monitoring and supporting schools' financial management. Forty per cent of authorities responding to an NAO survey do not believe they have sufficient resources to provide effective support to schools and almost half of those authorities are planning to reduce the amount of staff time spent on support. The report recommends that the Department should make clear how it is going to review the working of the financial management arrangements.
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102976717
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 40
Book Description
This report underlines the importance of effective financial management in schools. It is essential that the financial management framework for schools is capable of alerting the Department for Education to any systemic issues that may require action or intervention. Weak financial management and weak academic performance often go hand in hand. The Department sets standards but responsibility for financial management and cost reductions lies with schools themselves, with local authorities responsible for exercising effective oversight. Schools' financial management capability has improved - for example, as more schools have employed or have access to a school business manager. In the current financial environment, however, more schools are having to manage with reduced funding, and strong financial management is more important than ever. Many schools consider that they need to reduce staff costs and that they need guidance on how to do so while maintaining high-quality education. Local authorities do not publish systematic data to demonstrate how they are monitoring schools' financial management and that they are intervening where necessary. Indeed, many local authorities are set to devote fewer resources to monitoring and supporting schools' financial management. Forty per cent of authorities responding to an NAO survey do not believe they have sufficient resources to provide effective support to schools and almost half of those authorities are planning to reduce the amount of staff time spent on support. The report recommends that the Department should make clear how it is going to review the working of the financial management arrangements.
The Building Schools for the Future Programme
Author: Great Britain. National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102954593
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 84
Book Description
(BSF) programme believe that it is leading to more strategic procurement of school infrastructure than previous school building programmes. Local Authorities are using BSF to rearrange the location, type and number of schools in their area and create facilities and school environments which support their educational objectives. BSF schools are built to higher specifications and space standards than previous schools. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and Partnerships for Schools (the body established by DCSF to manage the BSF programme centrally) were too optimistic in their assumptions of how quickly the first schools could be delivered. By December 2008, only 42 of the planned 200 schools had been built, with 54 due to open next year and 121 the year after. To include all schools in the programme, 250 schools will need to be built a year and the number of schools in procurement and construction at any one time will need to double from 2011 onwards. The extent to which problems in the finance markets will affect BSF is still unclear. DCSF and Partnerships for Schools estimate that the total cost of renewing the school estate will be between £52 billion to £55 billion which is £7 billion to £10 billion more than was estimated at the outset of the programme.
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102954593
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 84
Book Description
(BSF) programme believe that it is leading to more strategic procurement of school infrastructure than previous school building programmes. Local Authorities are using BSF to rearrange the location, type and number of schools in their area and create facilities and school environments which support their educational objectives. BSF schools are built to higher specifications and space standards than previous schools. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and Partnerships for Schools (the body established by DCSF to manage the BSF programme centrally) were too optimistic in their assumptions of how quickly the first schools could be delivered. By December 2008, only 42 of the planned 200 schools had been built, with 54 due to open next year and 121 the year after. To include all schools in the programme, 250 schools will need to be built a year and the number of schools in procurement and construction at any one time will need to double from 2011 onwards. The extent to which problems in the finance markets will affect BSF is still unclear. DCSF and Partnerships for Schools estimate that the total cost of renewing the school estate will be between £52 billion to £55 billion which is £7 billion to £10 billion more than was estimated at the outset of the programme.