School business manager: developing the role

Introduction

There is an ongoing ‘revolution’ in the running of UK state schools and this is making the position of the school business manager (or bursar) both significant and necessary. Government thinking, together with profound changes in society generally, will affect every institution both in terms of pedagogy and the physical environment, particularly technology and levels of security employed.

This course will look at how you – an existing or aspiring business manager – can work effectively to support school activities and stakeholders, and in particular how you can support and manage aspects of the change agenda in your school to improve teaching and learning outcomes.

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Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• review a job description for a business manager that takes account of today's context

• understand how a business manager can support teaching and learning and all stakeholders

• understand and use a range of analytical tools

• apply these analytical tools to your school's situation, in particular responding to government agendas

• understand how benchmarking data can be used to compare and contrast expenditure and resource management.

1 A revolution in schools

The school we are in today will not be the school we are in tomorrow. This is especially apparent when the government's Extended Schools and Every Child Matters agendas for English schools are added to the mix, together with remodelling and the changes to the 14 – 19 phase. For details of the bursar's key role in this process visit Bursar's role in remodelling [accessed 26 January 2007].

Admittedly, there is no ‘one size fits all’ business manager (or bursar) role. The position and responsibilities vary immensely between schools. So, to begin, turn to Activity 1 to assess where you are now.

2 How can you predict the future?

2.1 Looking forward

What tools can we use to help us provide an education that prepares our students for their future?

Davies and Ellison have identified ten key re-engineering trends for schools, which are summarised below.

Click on 'view document' below to download an animation

Many of these trends are beginning to show through already. Of course, these can be added to by each school as it sees fit. The contents of Every Child Matters, Extended Schools and workforce reform, for example, are found in the above-mentioned trends. Any one of these key trends can be analysed using a range of tools.

Any meaningful analysis, however, must be part of a process – it cannot be done quickly or easily or as a ‘one-off’. In my own school, a ‘strategy group’ of members of the leadership team was set up to ‘think the unthinkable’. Davies and Ellison (1999) suggest setting up a ‘futures group’. Look at the document in which the two authors list a simple matrix to guide you by clicking on ‘view document’ below.

Click on 'view document' below to read Futures Group Matrix

Another useful tool in understanding the natural life cycle of an organisation is the Sigmoid curve, as described by Handy (1995). Read the explanation in the document below.

Click on 'view document' below to read The Sigmoid Curve

Now turn to Activity 2 to look more closely at Davies and Ellison's suggestions.

2.2 Analytical tools

To take matters forward, Davies and Ellison suggest the use of analytical tools to assist with practical target setting when data and information have been collected. They suggest some tools including ‘Boston Growth Matrix’ from the Boston Consulting Group and Little's ‘Lifecycle portfolio matrix’.

Perhaps most readers will be familiar with a SWOT analysis – strengths and weaknesses are usually internal while opportunities and threats are regarded as external factors. Davies and Ellison have modified this to include a macro approach and have included sub-categories to make the tool more sophisticated.

Explore this tool in Activity 3 now.

3 Extending services into the future

3.1 The Extended Schools initiative

The last few years have seen a plethora of initiatives for English schools: two significant initiatives are ‘Extended Schools’ and the ‘Every child Matters’. What are the implications for a business manager?

Government thinking places schools at the centre of local provision for a wide range of options, from health centres to full community facilities. These ‘extended schools’, as the government terms them, offer an opportunity for schools to contribute to and work more closely with their communities.

Click on the links below:

Extended Schools: providing opportunities and services for all and

Extended schools: access to opportunities and services for all [accessed 26 January 2007]

for more information on the services schools may be expected to provide.

At my school, for example, our sports centre operates seven days a week. Its activities are summarised below, in a presentation to our governors:

Click on 'view document' below to download King Edward VII Sports Centre Community Use Report for 2005

3.2 The Every Child Matters agenda

The government's vision for extended schools builds on the Every Child Matters (ECM) initiative. Click on the following links for more information Every Child Matters: Change for children in schools [accessed 26 January 2007]. It is founded on five outcomes:

• Be healthy.

• Be safe.

• Enjoy and achieve.

• Make a positive contribution (as a citizen).

• Be employable.

In moving towards these five outcomes, our school is conscious of the thinking that lies behind them, including:

• Opportunities for students are not always equal.

• Occasionally individuals ‘fall through’ the gap between agencies.

• Inappropriate/abusive behaviour, including problems with drugs and alcohol.

• Children ‘in need’ of specialist support and the difficulties that can arise in obtaining such support.

3.3 Responding to these initiatives

A key implication of both initiatives is greater interagency working, which necessitates more engagement of school staff with other professionals.

The DfES notes in Extended Schools: Providing Opportunities and Services for all that schools will need to work in partnership with other groups and agencies to enable:

• more diverse activities that involve parents, community members and local groups;

• a ‘joined-up’ approach to local services by involving the local authority, local agencies and partnerships;

• services that require specialist skills, such as healthcare or social services;

• sustainable programmes where activities and services are not over-dependent on the skills and time of a few key staff;

• opportunities for services that have a different ethos from school activities and present themselves as ‘teacher-free’ zones.

Explore how your school is responding to one of these intiatives in Activity 4.

4 Putting plans into action

In part, the business manager can and should be an ‘educational resource manager’. By having someone who concentrates on areas such as administration, facilities management or human resources, it allows others to focus on teaching.

When I applied for the post of business and community manager, the advertisement specified that the successful candidate would have ‘an empathy and understanding of comprehensive education’.

The head explained after my appointment that he did not want someone from industry or commerce who ‘knew the cost of everything and the value of nothing’. Rather, he wanted someone who would fit with the ethos of the school, its staff, pupils and local community.

Crucially, the business manager should take part in, or at least be aware of, SMT deliberations regarding teaching and learning priorities – timetable and curriculum changes and other ‘big picture’ aspects of the school – in order that he/she can help ensure that the hidden work underpinning this ‘big picture’ is in place. For example, identifying timelines, financial resources, actions and activities for internal and external staff to ensure the correct classroom equipment, décor, ICT infrastructure etc. are in place in an effective, efficient, academic and timely manner.

Developments such as consistent financial reporting and other comparison methods can help you compare and contrast expenditure. Be warned, however, that it is essential to ask key questions – who, what, when, where, how and why – in relation to differences and similarities.

4.1 Where to find support

There is a range of tools available to support you, including:

• The DfES financial management standard [accessed 26 January 2007]. See especially the guidance on the role of bursar [accessed 26 January 2007].

• Teachernet school finances webpage [accessed 26 January 2007].

• Schools Audit Commission [accessed 26 January 2007].

• DfES Value for money [accessed 26 January 2007].

Go to Activity 5 now to look at how you can support your leadership team's priorities.

Conclusion

I hope this course has made clearer what a business manager can do to impact positively on the school and its core function of teaching and learning as we move forward into a changing future.

You may now find it helpful to revisit your job description and the notes you made in Activity 1.

Equally, through some of the new developments that are taking place in society, the school itself will need business management in order to best position itself to help pupils, parents and communities.

References

Acknowledgements

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this course:

Course image: BSFinHull in Flickr made available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence.

O’Sullivan, F. et al (2000) ‘Bursars’ expected roles: an overview’, From Bursar to School Business Manager, Pearson Education Ltd.

DfES, (2004) Looking for a Bursar. Crown copyright material is reproduced under Class Licence Number C01W0000065 with the permission of the Controller if HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland

(Various extracts) Davies, B. and Ellison, L. (1999) Strategic Direction and Development of the School, Routledge, Taylor & Francis

Handy, C (1995) ‘The Sigmoid Curve’, The Empty Raincoat: Making sense of the Future, Arrow Books, Random House

Photo, screen 1: Copyright © 2005 JupiterImages.com

Photo, screen 2: Courtesy of Specialist Schools Trust

All other materials included in this course are derived from content originated at the Open University.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

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