Sharing Good Practice
SUPPORTING SCHOOL LEADERS;
OUTSOURCING SPECIALIST SERVICES IN THE
21ST CENTURY SCHOOL
BY CARMELLA HUNT
T
he focus in modern schools
on offering the best learning
opportunities for children
and young people means that
change is afoot. As someone involved
in school marketing and governorship,
I am aware of the challenges and
changes facing school leaders as they
strive to focus on their core business
and support services. That support
now includes the outsourcing of
specialist services. As cost pressures
and competition increases in the United
Arab Emirates and beyond, school
leaders are turning to outsourcing
some services in order to focus on their
core purpose without overstretching
budgets.
What is Outsourcing?
“Outsourcing’,
‘contracting
out’,
‘remote workers’ and ‘off-shoring’ are
terms that describe a cost-reducing
or efficiency-driving practice used by
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organisations. Such practices are far
from new but are being adopted by
schools wanting specialist services that
are part-time, seasonal or irregular in
requirement on a permanent or fixed
term basis. Activities can either be
carried out on or off site and relate to
specific tasks, jobs or entire operations.
British State schools now actively look
at outsourcing to replace some of the
services that were available to them
from Local Authorities. These are not
always affordable in-house and may
require specific technical know how or
valuable experience. From a cost point
of view, they help to reduce potential
over-manning of the core business.
One UAE school leader told me that
their core in-house positions (after
teaching) include finance, maintenance
and
landscaping,
procurement,
accommodation, government relations
officer (GRO), PR, marketing, HR and
Class Time
front line administration staff to deal
with parents and visitors. They added
that, “as long as it is efficient and
cost-productive”, these jobs would
continue to be undertaken by salaried
staff. Is this a rational strategy?
With school leaders focusing on the
strategic direction of teaching and
learning, some of the skills they lend to
decision-making in support functions
are inevitably lost. Administrative staff
may, therefore, be mis-informed about
what’s expected of them, lack the
experience or skills required or can be
expected to carry out additional tasks
not expected of their role. Outcomes
may be less than optimal.
Schools as Outsourcers
Traditionally, schools have outsourced
legal services, transport, uniform
supplies and catering, in view of the