20. Marketing in schools.

The extent of research on marketing in schools reflects a preoccupation with demand-side issues, and in particular with parental choice (e.g. Carroll and Walford, 1997). However, the research of Foskett (1995), Gewirtz et al. (1995), James and Phillips (1995) and Glatter et al. (1996) identifies the relatively undeveloped stategization of secondary schools in relation to the market. They have identified the following:

*         A highly variable interpretation of 'marketing', with a strong 'product-   centered' philosophy as teachers and managers 'struggle to    reconceptualise an alien concept' (Foskett, 1996, p.39).

*         An ad hoc approach to marketing, with an emphasis on project     marketing rather than strategic marketing.

*         A perception of marketing as a crisis management approach to short-term recruitment changes, using 'superficial and short-term solution to problems even when in the long term such strategies may be socially and educationally unhelpful' (Gewirtz, et al., 1995, p. 157).

*         The absence of any coherent form of marketing research.

*         A slow cultural shift towards accepting (pragmatically, but not    necessarily philosophically) the role of the market.

*         Most schools have by default adopted an undifferentiated marketing strategy, seeking to be all things to all people, in which they emphasize community, care, personal attention and pursuit of value added for individual pupils, rather than identifying distinctive factors which set them apart from their 'competitors'. Glatter et al. (1996, p.22) explain this by indicating that popular schools 'have no incentive to differentiate further' while less popular schools seek 'not to sharpen but to blunt any difference and thereby share the mutual benefits arising from being similar'.

Primary schools are often very small organizations and face many of the operational and management issues that small businesses face- small turnover, limited staff numbers, few opportunities for staff management specialization, and a small and precisely defined market. While studies of marketing in primary schools are limited in number (e.g. Stokes, 1996; Minter, 1997), practice appears to reflect that of secondary schools, only to a more market extent. A strong commitment to educational values drives them together with the establishment of strong relationships with the community. The role of word-of-mouth promotion is so important that a selling orientation is of little assistance, so many primary schools have by default, and without reference to the 'canons' of marketing, adopting a strategy that is 'relationship marketing'.