Leader:Layout 1 02/07/2009 16:19 Page 3
Great expectations
IT’S SO EASY to slip into business-speak when discussing schools
these days. Anyone providing a service using public money (and lots
of it) had better be able to show a sound balance sheet and a
tangible return on investment. The Government likes to encourage
this approach to the sector, its latest White Paper
(1)
setting out
yet another series of performance measures designed to add value.
One sure sign that a business has come of age is when brands
Flights of fancy
start to emerge, and Ed Balls reckons it’s high time we had some
The design of Ørestad College in
Copenhagen, involved a re-organisation brandleaders in education. Plans are underway to bring together
of the traditional structure of flows and
classroom layouts by Danish architecture
‘chains’ of state schools under a single brand, sharing the same
firm 3XN. Four boomerang-shaped storey
decks were designed to rotate in relation
values and identity and directly managed by the best education
to each other like the shutter of a camera.
Each deck corresponds to a study zone,
providers. High performing universities and academies have already
linked together by the central staircase.
come forward to be part of the accredited scheme, and the
More Danish projects on page 15.
strongest contenders will be granted a charter mark to run
www.3xn.com
families of schools – with the freedom to recruit the best heads
and reward them with substantial pay packages.
Elsewhere, the Audit Commission is not at all sure that taxpayers
are getting value for money and says schools could save more than
£400m a year if they managed their affairs more efficiently
(2)
. A
Editor
past master in the art of business-speak, the Commission asserts
Richard Sutton
that school inspections have been preoccupied with educational
Group sales manager
Julian Walter
standards and what teachers actually do and have paid too little
Midlands sales manager
attention to “economy and efficiency”. A scandalous abuse of the
Jim Hastings
public’s trust!
Scotland sales manager
Roy Kemp
Whilst some heads will now be hard at work preparing their CVs
Production
Nicola Cann
and honing their executive skills, it’s a wonder that teachers (at
Design
least those who trained in the last century) are still able to
Sandra Cid
recognise their vocation, let alone remain focused and undeterred
Accounts
Kim Filby
in the face of a seemingly endless cycle of corporate restructuring.
Publisher
Toby Filby
(1) Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21st Century schools system.
(2) Valuable lessons: Improving economy and efficiency in schools.
Publishers
Stable Publishing Limited
SBC House, Restmor Way,
Wallington, Surrey
SM6 7AH, England.
t. 020 8288 1080
f. 020 8288 1099 Richard Sutton
e. sales@edbmagazine.co.uk
Editor
richard@edbmagazine.co.uk
The publishers do not necessarily agree with
views expressed by contributors and cannot
accept responsibility for claims made by
manufacturers and authors, nor do they accept
any responsibility for any errors in the subject
matter of this publication.
edbmagazine.co.uk 3
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