Schools are becoming less differentiated. This is bad for choice, bad for the independent sector and will lead to further school closures.
Over the past three years we have seen more single-sex schools converting to co-ed, more faith schools becoming non-denominational, and more selective schools becoming mixed-ability. Similarly, there has been less emphasis on excellence in sport, music, performance or other endeavours.
It won’t be long before location becomes the major point of difference in the independent sector, as it is in the state sector. As we know, with commoditisation comes consolidation.
To be fair, schools have never been that great at marketing. They haven’t needed to be. Up until 2019/20 they enjoyed benign economic and sociographic trading environments without really having to commit to a proposition that sets them apart from other schools; a proposition that aligns, motivates and justifies. If one school offered something new as a facility or as part of the curriculum, so others would ape it, a lemming path to be everything to everyone.
To put it into perspective, it’s hard to think of any sector where businesses don’t differentiate. Even on the High Street, food retailers differentiate by their menus at least; Indian, pasta, pizza, Chinese, burgers, brasserie, kebab, fish & chips. Even pubs differentiate by beers and ambiance.
So how have we got here?
In three ways.
First, reduced government spending over the last 10-20 years has squeezed the curriculum in state schools. There are also more demands on the school budget, such social care by proxy.
For independent schools it’s the imposition of VAT, business rates, Teacher Pension Scheme contributions among other cost increases such as energy. Sometimes these cost increases can be passed on to the fee payer, but in most cases not. Which means the schools cut back on aspects of the wider curriculum; minor sports, drama, music, classics and foreign languages for example. As well as training and marketing budgets.
Second, the rise of groups. At the time of writing 46% of state primary schools and 80% of state secondary schools are part of multi-academy trusts. As for the independent sector, 53% of mainstream prep schools are now de facto junior divisions of senior schools. 31% belong to larger school groups. Though there is overlap between school groups and all-through schools the bottom line is that 29% of all mainstream preps are standalone; about 280 schools. The very essence of a larger group is to achieve efficiencies in overhead costs and promote a ‘boiler-plate’ provision that can be rolled out to new settings. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t help differentiation or adaptation to local conditions.
Thirdly, a low degree of marketing influence. Schools exist to educate. The culture is teaching, not business. Worthy. But this is a brave new world. If parents who use Schoolsmith are any barometer, then they want to know what a school will do for their child and why they will do it better than the school down the road. Just like any other business, schools need to be razor sharp with their strategy and marketing.
How schools differentiate
If the last fifteen to twenty years have demonstrated anything it’s that schools have aped trends rather than offer a stronger, more focussed proposition that differentiates.
Take sports facilities, the most obvious example, where an ‘arms race’ has led to a distracting series of investments over time such as the introduction of 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G all-weather pitches, and depending on budget, MUGA or water-based hockey pitches. Sports halls are another case in point; 2-court, 3-court, 4-court. Some with viewing galleries, others with fitness suites, dance studios, physio rooms, and scoreboards. Some smaller schools have doubled up their sports hall with a performance space, with or without retractable raked seating. And then there was the rush for pavilions.
There are countless examples with facility evolution. Twenty years ago parents needed persuading that the new wi-fi technology wouldn’t fry their children’s brains. Since then we’ve had networking, computer trollies, IT suites, PCs, laptops, Chromebooks, iPads, Microsoft Surfaces, Bring-Your-Own-Device, dedicated devices, remote teaching, and hybrid learning. Even technology specific to subjects such as music, languages or DT. And that doesn’t include the evolution of education management software, learning and collaboration apps, or AI.
What is striking is that schools fix on a particular element of provision, say, Forest School, allowing, or not allowing, phones in school, STEM, ‘thematic’ curriculum, a school ‘Baccalaureate’, trips and then tell parents that they ‘do that’ or ‘have that’.
But there’s a world of difference in the provision of each of these. For example, Forest School can be for all pupils, or just the very young, be integrated into subject lessons or standalone, and be facilitated by a small muddy clearing or ramshackle hut, or a full-blown military grade assault course. It’s the detail that points to the differentiation.
Transparent and specific propositions
Why do parents choose independent schools? Because they have an ambition for their child. It’s more than paying money so that the child can ‘be the best they can be’ or, grimly, ‘futureproofed’. Ultimately, schools will have to adopt more transparent and specific propositions to justify their fees. Propositions such as; ‘We take your child and improve their likely (measurable) outcomes in academics, sports, arts by X’. Or ‘we will work with you to get your child into…Y school’. Those are propositions, propositions that inform all school activities and policies, measurables and yardsticks, and that align staff, children and parents. They might also save money wasted on downtime, conflict and peripheral activities.
At Schoolsmith we track differentiation across 50 different measures, including sport, the curriculum, teaching, facilities, results, even the parent body. Get in touch if you want to compare schools in your area, or, if you’re a school leader, how to differentiate your school.