Marketing, Parental Choice and Strategic Planning; an Opportunity or Dilemma for UK Schools?

Abstract

Site-based management, rarental choice, and accountability for the efficient, effective, and economic use of public resources in England and Wales were key themes of the 1988 Education Reform Act. The 1993 Education Act opened the way for greater choice in the marketplace by encouraging specialization and/or selection by aptitude/ability in existing new schools. As a result of the 1993 Education Act, schools will now have to make long-term strategic marketing choices. This paper attempts to answer the following questions: (1) As schools in England and Wales face the realities of a second, and potentially radical wave of market forces, will they advertise and sell an increasingly parent-determined product to attract resources in order to survive? (2) Or will schools adopt a philosophy of societal marketing, with a client rather than product focus that will integrate their strategic planning and marketing? The paper briefly considers some of the dilemmas that parental choice presents to a decentralized education service. It suggests a role for marketing theory in exploring the needs and perceptions of parents, and then describes a possible role for strategic educational marketing planning as a means of informing professional judgment and educating parental choice. Preliminary findings of the Parent and School Choice Interaction Study (1993) suggest that schools continue to respond to choice and competition by increasing their focus on promotional activities. Unless schools actively develop a marketing approach that shapes a coherent program of change and educates client perceptions of need, they will increasingly be driven by a middle-class planning agenda, which will further sharpen the divisions within British society. Contains 24 references. (LMI) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************