Performance metrics, practice, and implications: lessons from academy schools in the UK

This paper presents longitudinal research investigating the role of management in achieving performance metrics within Academy schools in the UK. The findings suggest that those schools most successfully achieving the performance metrics set by the government tend to make eight changes in a particular order that focus on creating a platform for change before focusing on specific performance metrics. This approach is quicker to succeed where there is greater scope for change. Hence, rural and coastal schools appear to take much longer to achieve improvements in the performance metrics than urban and inner city schools. While these management practices are effective in helping individual schools achieve the performance metrics set, they raise questions concerning broader societal impacts, the viability of spreading these practices to all schools, and the long-term sustainability of such practices. The findings highlight the importance of understanding any unintended consequences of setting performance metrics and that these need to be monitored and reviewed over time.