FRM

Question 1

Educational productivity:

Answer 1

An approach or useful tool – enable schools to look at efficiency, equity and effectiveness and economy.

Question 2

Educational productivity is … Paik 2015)

Answer 2

…developing human capital, maintaining economic growth, it continues to be a t the forefront of almost every political debate.
Relationship between productivity and achievement is not entirely clear.
Many factors central and relevant to learning and productivity outcomes – home, mentoring, peers and CCA time, demographic. Attitudes to employment, involvement in society, improved health, better informed & decision making citizens are other outcomes.

Question 3

Resource management is…

Answer 3

how to spend a delegated budget to best achieve educational aims, careful analysis of future wants and needs against current wants and needs

Question 4

Resource management theorists Hall, 97 & Levacic, 97

Answer 4

Hall: Schools need strategies in place to manage their resources human and physical
Resource management has 4 interrelated processes – obtaining of (marketing), allocation of (planning/budget setting), use of (implementation), evaluating of (future decision making)
Levacic: The problem facing teachers and school managers in making resource decisions, especially those concerning the most efficient and productive mix of learning resources and educational activities, is the absence of a well specified, technical knowledge base which gives a blueprint of efficient methods.
The most effective and productive mix of learning resources and educational activities.

Question 5

Inputs

Answer 5

Quality of teaching staff as one input that might make a difference in improving student performance
School visits, training, consultancy
Resources

Question 6

Outputs

Answer 6

specific learning achieved by students at particular stages of their education
immediate gains by students

Question 7

Outcomes Richer, 17, Simkin, 98

Answer 7

longer term effects of education on individuals and society eg. Critical thinking, collaboration
Hard to measure
Studies of organizational arrangements like school-based management and privatization use multiple outcomes measures in evaluations
Lasting qualities
Societal & Personal

Question 8

Input-Output model

Answer 8

1. external environment 2. processes 3. Human relations

Question 9

Systems, Scott, 87 viewed all organisations in 3 ways (not specific to schools, just all organisations but highly regarded)

Answer 9

Natural: serves human needs
Rational: relates inputs and outputs with outcomes, how well objectives and aims are achieved (Education Acts of UK, Australia based on)
Open: dependent on external environment, exists to satisfy stakeholders (privately funded schools worldwide)

Question 10

Open system - Butler, 91

Answer 10

Organisations should meet the needs if stakeholders because they exchange resources eg fees and taxes into education (outputs)

Question 11

Open system - Glatter, 98

Answer 11

…turbulent environmental uncertainties which educational institutions face is evidence enough of the need for stakeholders involvement in school finance.

Question 12

Open system - Coleman at all, 1966

Answer 12

Inputs measured in study were divided into 5 categories: family background, school facilities, curriculum, teacher characteristics, student body characteristics.
Inequalities imposed on children by their home, neighbourhood and peer environment are carried along to become the inequalities with which they confront adult life at the end of school

Question 13

Rational system - Simkins, 2000

Answer 13

Effective resource allocation is only possible if those taking decisions know how much various elements of staffing, building and teaching materials cost.
Rational model has strong emphasis on value 4 money that is both efficient and effective in comparing inputs and outputs, bringing measurable and immeasurable together.
“Those managing budgets at the microlevel of the institution will make better decisions than external/senior”

Question 14

Allocation system & Culture, Bush, 2000

Answer 14

local/national. Local – management style affects the philosophy and practice of resource allocation.
Bush classification of management styles –
collegial model – determined by consensus and discussion
political model – allocation dependent on strength and micro-political play of groups, usually dependent on who has power and likely to conflict
ambiguity model – chaotic, attempts to work alongside others but damages the rational. Schools tend to operate with a mix of this and rational.
rational (incremental) model - how well objectives and aims achieved, relate inputs and outputs with outcomes, data driven
Bush: “Spending decisions often reflect the priorities of the decision makers.”

Question 15

Allocation systems & Culture, Carr, 94

Answer 15

Management style set by SLT follows the manner a budget is created and managed.

Question 16

Allocation systems & Culture, Grono, 2010

Answer 16

When leaders empower staff, encourage others to lead, imposes greater responsibility and initiatives on them.
Visionary leaders and strategic planners with distributive style had positive impact, delegating to others and leading school transformation and success.

Question 17

Decentralisation is…

Answer 17

an aspect of is increased parental and community participation.
Could have both pos and neg influence on different aspects of education – quality, relevance, attendance, equity or efficiency.
Has potential to improve service delivery and education quality.
Impacts on educational outcomes include experimental, time series and cross sectional observations and qualitative case studies.

Question 18

Decentralisation theorists - Bray, 03

Answer 18

Popular goals for parental and community involvement in education has been desire to spread the burden of resourcing, improve volume, relevance and impact of schooling.
Divides community participation into 2 groups – communities supplementing government efforts to provide resources in public education systems and schools operated outside public system.

Question 19

Decentralisation theorists - Winkler & Yao, 07

Answer 19

Decentralization has power to improve accountability, increase parental participation, strengthen leadership role, increase teamwork (thus leading to improved school outcomes.)
Nicaragua study where community managed schools had more autonomy than traditional schools, especially on personnel, school plan and budget matters…was a positive and statistically significant relationship between degree of decision making and student achievement.

Question 20

Decentralisation theorists - Winkler & Yao, 07 part 2

Answer 20

There is evidence to date which suggest decentralization, in particular, school autonomy can improve the delivery of schooling, with some risk of increased inequality of outcomes.
increase quality, both by improving teaching and by using resources efficiently.

Question 21

Efficient and Effective devolution of financial management is carried out by those who understand the impact, those close to the action, stakeholders with responsibility for the outcomes.

Answer 21

Problem when political and power models underestimate the importance and limit involvement from all stakeholders.
Those who hold power may not have the same definition of effectiveness and efficiency.

Question 22

Equity

Answer 22

Differs from equality
Fairness in the distribution of desirable inputs of outcomes.
Fair is not always equal, equity must be about fairness rather than equality – figures at a fence looking over, need different heights to achieve same thing
OECD states all schools should aim for equity.
Based on moral principles

Question 23

Efficiency (Simkins, 98)

Answer 23

The productive use of resources so they cannot produce higher levels of outputs or outcomes without sacrifice of other services.
Efficiency research that includes outcomes goes beyond simple measures such as % of spending on instruction to more valid measures that compare inputs to outputs/outcomes.
Constant monitoring of budget and resource distribution allows for effectiveness to be monitored.
Eg. Teacher quality routinely assessed and vale added data used to consider effectiveness. Leaders can evaluate impact of each teacher on helping meet the goals of the school. Can be just formality rather than genuine attempt to measure effectiveness.
Simkins: “Achievement of outcomes at the least cost”

Question 24

Effectiveness

Answer 24

As a concept is subjective. Can be used to build a fuller picture but not the only thing and hard to measure – what does effective mean on its own?

Question 25

Economy

Answer 25

Acquisition of resources at the least cost
Can cause problems when opting for cheapest resource over quality resource eg. Teachers having to teach subjects they are not qualified in; insufficient materials or CPD to do the job properly.
An example where public funding removed, management decisions dictated by economy instead of efficiency so saw a drop off of numbers, students & staff. Issue was enrolment rates were directly related to financial inputs.
Public funded schools can be seen to mean ‘be economical’/.

Question 26

Value for Money

Answer 26

Determined through evaluation of what has been purchased against the needs of the schools and is achieved when production process is efficient and effective.
Should be a priority for all stakeholders.
If all think about budgets in terms of incremental planning and prioritise thinking in terms of inputs and outputs (and understand what these are), value for money can be considered through understanding nature of costs, tools needed to develop measurements for evaluation and awareness of strategic and immediate planning for resources.
Important for not for profit schools where money goes back in.

Question 27

Devising a set of principles (Levacic, 97)

Answer 27

Consider schools vision, culture, context and leadership style
Determine what data to collect and how in order to benchmark, assess, monitor and evaluate effectiveness
Determine who will be involves in setting, monitoring, and evaluating the budget
Outline clear expectations (eg deadlines) for determining costings: cost benefit, cost effectiveness, financial management philosophy
Levacic: “The problem facing teachers and school managers in making resource decisions, especially those concerning the most efficient and productive mix of learning resources and educational activities, is the absence of a well specified, technical knowledge base which gives a blueprint of efficient methods.
The most effective and productive mix of learning resources and educational activities.”

Question 28

Budget preparation (Harrold & Hough, 98, Law & Glover, 2000)

Answer 28

Importance of planning and budget cycles being linked – a financial year can span two educational years affecting costs such as staffing.
12-18 months is a reasonable period to plan for changes, some costs could take 6-12 months to roll out (eg. Smartboards in classrooms took 18mths to implement)
The tighter the plan, the less flexible it becomes.
Synoptic planning – predictable and sequenced actions V Retroactive planning – reacting to events and incremental development.
Categorize costings under different headings – those under retroactive heading can be looked through a different budget lens (zero-based or collegial).
Designated portion of budget kept behind for unplanned contingencies.
Ends and means is key if a school is to know how resourcing is affecting educational outcomes.
H & H: “Financial responsibility in schools assigned to specialized, qualified and experienced staff”
L&G: “Leadership must consider desired outcomes and critically evaluate use of its resources.
Budget cycle has 4 main phases – goals, decisions, implementation, evaluation (most important phase)”

Question 29

(Historic) incremental budgeting (Levacic, 95)

Answer 29

Making adjustments to established patterns of expenditure, bulk of work is carried over year on year, a stable approach, things continue, little room for creativity and flexibility, lessened workload, status quo is maintained (Dulwich JS), a tight model, hierarchy maintained and clear, control, does not promote effectiveness and efficiency of resources, links between objectives and resources is not clear, thus can stifle SD Plans, can find it challenging and restrictive. Teachers have little influence on decision making process.
Levacic: :(Zero-based budgeting) allows for less wasted resources which can be the case with historic budgeting.

Question 30

Zero-based budgeting (Bush, 2000, )

Answer 30

Meaningful during periods of change, can be time-consuming, lack of detailed understanding about alternatives budget practice, means devolution of power, gives a fresh faced look at spending in an organisation, budgets relocated to different areas, based on school priorities and ranked in importance, allows and works with rational approach to planning.
Ties expenditure in with priorities of organisation and money reallocated
“Zero based budgeting likely to mean more scrutiny of spending, not necessarily fresh justification for all activities.”

Question 31

Gap-analysis (theorist?)

Answer 31

Involving all stakeholders in long-term planning is beneficial. Use an auditing perspective
o Where are we?
o Where do we want to be?
o What progress do we need towards strategic objectives?
o What are current favourings?
o What are inhibiting factors?
(eg. St Michael’s case study involving stakeholders positively)

Question 32

Budget Evaluation (Hope, 06)

Answer 32

Evaluation is not concerned with detail rather how to meet objectives
Clear financial procedures: money spent against intention, consistent audit control, systems for monitoring and evaluating long term effects.
Benchmarking common in comparing like schools.
Good evaluation needs to be planned and baseline data collected so as to measure improvements.
Hope: “Evaluation concerned with 5 areas of excellence – 1. Strategy execution 2. Resource management 3. Operational effectiveness 4. People management 5. Risk management”

Question 33

Auditing & Monitoring

Answer 33

External auditors (private or LEA) support financial control and management; ensure errors or mishandling is managed.
Tales place throughout the year
Serves essentially an accountability purpose
It should be robust and rigorous and make all accountable.
Internal audits should involve specialist staff and include proper training, monitoring and evaluation (eg. McCabe case)

Question 34

Cost effectiveness is …

Answer 34

is a form of cost analysis – determining how the various types of costs compare to the outcomes produced.
Costs can recurrent, direct, fixed or variable.
HoDs see it as a way of thinking, not just techniques – understand why goods cost what they do.

Question 35

Opportunity costs are…

Answer 35

marginal costs/average costs/fixed/sunk costs
OCs is successful by some middle leaders but not others – why? Leadership? Culture? Subject? (option V core) Limited understanding?

Question 36

Monitoring bugets (Levacic & Downes, 2000)

Answer 36

Importance of monitoring budgets to ensure mismanagement controlled and steps in place to assist planning, implementing and review. (McCabe case)

Question 37

Educational equity … (Levin, 94)

Answer 37

……a reasonable criterion is that we have obtained educational equity when representatives of different racial gender and socioeconomic origins have about the same probabilities of reaching different educational outcomes.

Question 38

Educational productivity (Bourdieu, 86)

Answer 38

Educational capital - economic, social, cultural