Efficiency, effectiveness and the local management of schools

This paper reviews selected parts of the recent empirical literature on the consequences of LMS with particular reference to the latter's potential for influencing school efficiency and effectiveness. It explores three areas: the effects of formula funding, patterns of resource allocation within schools and changing patterns of influence in school decision making. It suggests that LMS may be efficiency enhancing, but the evidence primarily relates to input efficiency, which in some cases may represent little more than economy, while the implications of LMS for effectiveness have been little considered. The paper explores some of the issues involved in examining these concepts more rigorously and concludes that greater consideration needs to be given to the interrelationship between efficiency and effectiveness and considerations of equity.

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