Effective School Management

13
Managing Resources
RESOURCE DRIVEN OR NEED DRIVEN?
Our ability to develop the curriculum in the way that we wish to achieve our
objectives as a college, school or department will, of course, depend on the
resources that are available to us. However, it is extremely important to ensure
that the tail does not wag the dog, that the content of the education that we
offer is not determined by the resources most easily available to us, rather
than by the needs of our pupils.
Unfortunately, resources always seem to be most freely available in the
areas where they are least needed. This is particularly true of teaching staff,
who are most readily available for those subjects of which commercial
employers have the least need. If we advertise for historians or English
specialists we probably have a number of applicants of high calibre, but to
recruit an ICT specialist, mathematician, linguist, physicist or engineer may
not prove so easy. In consequence the best teachers in many staff-rooms are
those whose subjects are least useful commercially. These teachers are likely
to be the most persuasive both in curriculum discussions and in influencing
pupils’ choice of options. Does a pupil choose a subject because he or she has
an innate bent for it, or because the subject has been well taught, has been
made interesting and is likely to be taught in such a way as to achieve exam
success? The risk in such a situation is that we produce more and more
people with the least-needed skills.
A similar phenomenon occurs with equipment, and schools can easily
become the repositories for cheap junk or, even worse, expensive junk
sold to education authorities at ‘bargain’ prices. A powerful, high-quality
computer whose manufacturer has gone out of business and for which there
is very limited software may be of doubtful benefit even at a knock-down
price.
We must therefore be clear in our resolve to define the needs of our pupils
and therefore our educational goals. Though resources may mean that the
swing towards these goals has to be moderate, we must nevertheless attempt
to make the transition and develop our resources very deliberately in the
desired direction. When staff or equipment have to be replaced, we should

---

210
EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
see an opportunity for change and question whether we really wish to
replace like with like.
WOMEN AND EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT
One valuable resource which tends to be underutilized in schools is women.
Since the first edition of this book was published, the feminist movement has
strongly infiltrated education, but there is further to go before women are
adequately valued in management roles. Women headteachers are under-
represented in relation to the proportion of women teachers, yet there is no
doubting their competence in senior management roles, both within education
and outside. History, tradition and male prejudice, rather than objective
rationality, underpin this state of affairs; strategic planning is needed to redress
it, if resources are not to be squandered.
Adler et al. (1993) and Ouston (1993) have investigated the problem and
identified a number of causes: stereotypes of women and managers; shortage
of role models; women’s comparative lack of confidence; interference with
family life; and clients’ expectations.
Some ways of improving the position of women in education are equal
opportunities policies, monitoring selection procedures, equal access to
INSET, mentoring, networking and support groups. The gradual shift from
authoritarian to participative school cultures, and the adoption of styles of
management that better match the prevailing values of women, will also
help. We do not think it useful to regard (as some authors have done) some
management approaches as gender specific. In our experience, some men are
just as capable of adopting a so-called ‘feminine’ style of management as
some women adopt a ‘masculine’ style. It is always important to suit
behaviour to circumstances, and there will be times when heads need to
display a Thatcherite resoluteness or a Ghandian gentleness, whatever their
gender.
INVESTING MONEY
Resources are usually classified as
(1) human;
(2) material; and
(3) financial.
As far as educational establishments are concerned, the prime concern is how
we share limited finance between the human and material in order to achieve
our goals more effectively. The investment can take the form of maintaining
or developing existing resources or of acquiring new resources. Investment
may also take the form of buying in goods or services from contractors. The
question is, or should be, how do we invest limited financial resources so as
to maximize the benefit to the school? The question is doubly pertinent when

---

MANAGING RESOURCES
211
the money available to schools is not increased, or is even reduced, from year
to year despite increasing costs of equipment and salaries. Difficult choices
have to be made, including those of making staff redundant in order to remain
viable. It is also a distasteful fact of life that less experienced but lower-paid
staff may well be a better bargain than experienced staff. Industry has long
known this and remuneration tends therefore to be linked only to competence
whatever the age or experience.
LOCAL MANAGEMENT OF SCHOOLS
Independent schools have long had to manage their own finances, including
how they obtain those finances. ‘Local management of schools’ (LMS) has
given to maintained schools the freedom to apply financial resources in the
way that the governors and head believe to be most appropriate, and they are
now able to switch expenditure according to need.
Under LMS schools control
(1) costs of teaching and non-teaching staffs;
(2) heating, cleaning and decorating of premises;
(3) supplies, services, books and equipment;
(4) some elements of capital expenditure;
(5) the use of any income they can raise; and
(6) relative spending under each of the above headings.
They are able to carry a limited amount of overspending or underspending
forward to the next year, and can modify their spending plans to deal with
unforeseen problems such as staff sickness provided that they stay within their
cash limits.
LEAs may decide whether or not to delegate additional responsibilities
including those for
(1) school meals (unless the school can show that it can provide these more
cheaply);
(2) particular services (e.g. psychologists);
(3) major repairs and maintenance of premises; and
(4) special staff costs (e.g. long-term supply cover).
What LEAs are not able to delegate are
(1) ‘major capital’ expenditure (i.e. major investments with a life of more
than one year, for example in land and buildings);
(2) LEA administration and inspection;
(3) home-to-school transport; and
(4) government or EU grant-aided project costs.
While the introduction of LMS has given schools freedom, the exercise of this
freedom has meant that heads and senior staff have had to master the
techniques of costing, budgeting, negotiating, contracting and financial control.

---

212
EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
While the support of a bursar or other specialist administrator can be of help,
all the experience of independent schools, industry and small business goes
to show that to leave finance completely to the specialist is a recipe for
frustration, conflict and disaster.
COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS
The effective manager of resources will constantly be asking two questions:
(1) Looking at the present and past, am I making effective use of the
resources available to me?
(2) Looking at the future, what is the most cost-effective way of achieving
my goals?
While ‘benefit’ in education will not usually be measurable in financial terms,
it is usually possible, and convenient, to reduce the resources used to a common
denominator of money.
Some areas in which cost/benefit analysis can pay off in a school or college
are
(1) the use of time;
(2) teaching staff/equipment/ancillary staff choices; and
(3) training decisions.