The education landscape has shifted dramatically over the last ten years. Governance and community expectations of schools and school Heads has created a number of challenges for schools.
From MMG Education’s experience, the following have been identified as current challenges facing independent schools:
Learn how MMG Education’s research informed feedback, best practice methodologies and our analytical processes and research instruments can help your school to embed continual
- Achieving 'school of first choice' status with prospective parents, noting that prospective parents submit enrolment applications to an average of 2.8 different schools
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) – School use, policies, parent awareness, education, school initiatives, risks, opportunities and resources
- Awareness, understanding and dissemination of the School's Strategic Plan
- Current fee levels and fee increases impacting access and affordability
- Curriculum offerings that will best prepare students for their next stage of life
- Effective management of multi-campus structures
- Establishing differentiation with the School's value proposition
- Excessive parent focus on, and reaction to, media coverage of school league tables, including ATAR and NAPLAN results
- Funding, sustainability and development, including the availability of funds for master planning, facilities and resources, in the context of increased staffing costs and pressure on fee levels
- Increased expectations from parents in areas such as academic standards, quality of teaching, student wellbeing, communication, feedback, facilities and resources
- Leadership changes, including visibility and engagement with parents, staff and students
- Managing and coping with change, such as timetable and curriculum changes, in the context of heavy and diverse workloads for teaching and non-teaching staff
- Meeting parent expectations regarding value for money
- Pressure and stress on teaching staff, with increasing administrative tasks being one of the main causes of workload stress and anxiety
- Provision of academic pathway options and opportunities for students
- Provision of school-wide, holistic student wellbeing initiatives, structure and programs
- Recruitment, retention and development of quality, experienced staff
- Staff professional development, including its effectiveness and the extent to which it is tailored
- Staff welfare, health and anxiety
- Student attrition rates, which are typically approximately 4%–6% per annum
- Teaching staff turnover, including the increasing use of substitute, inexperienced and part-time teachers to fill vacancies