In Search of Strategic Performance

This is a case study which examines how an agreed performance indicator system can be used as strategic management tool to enhance school improvement. Chapter 1 outlines the policy context leading up to and surrounding the use of performance indicators in education, including the development of performance management. The chapter also looks at the importance of design of performance indicators and the question of context. The case study itself centres around the work of a large secondary school's senior management team and explores the managerial change the school has undergone, from a very traditional and autocratic approach to the current open and more strategic style of management.Chapter 2 examines a range of literature relating to performance indicators in order to explore what grounds exist for the use of a performance indicator system to help a school's senior management team to be more strategic. The functions and implications of performance indicators are explored, as well as the differentiation of indicators. The research was conducted using a case study approach. The study outline and the methodological problems encountered, including the combination of methods used is documented in Chapter 3.The next three chapters describe the case study in detail. Chapter 4 examines issues arising from the school's Action Plan and uses them as the basis for agreeing a set of performance indicators. This is followed in Chapter 5 by refining the performance indicators in order that they serve the senior management team in their work. The final chapter of the three focuses on the application of the actual performance indicator system and evaluates it against the related success criteria. This is done to ascertain the effect upon the strategic capability of the senior management team and the effect on the school generally.