Key role of mission statements in post-16 education and training

Citation

(2003), "Key role of mission statements in post-16 education and training", Education + Training, Vol. 45 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2003.00445eab.002

Key role of mission statements in post-16 education and training

Key role of mission statements in post-16 education and training

The use of mission statements as a strategic tool is seriously under-rated in post-16 organizations, a report from the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA) claims. Based on a survey of schools, colleges, work-based learning providers and local learning and skills councils, its purpose was to assess the value of mission statements, to discover how learning providers communicate their mission to staff, and the extent to which they use it to drive change and plan ahead. The report offers extensive guidance on how organizations can develop, communicate, implement and review their missions, and how mission statements can be used to drive day-to-day business operations. It also includes a step-by-step guide to organizations on how to plan and develop their missions.

The report, Provider Missions and their Development, was commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to support strategic area reviews, which aim to ensure that the provision of post-16 education and training meets the needs of learners and the local economy. One objective is to match the missions of learning providers and local learning and skills councils with area needs. The report offers guidance on linking institutional mission to area strategies.

The main findings are:

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  The value and significance of missions are recognized by providers but their utilization is, at best, uneven and sometimes only lip-service is paid to their existence.

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  Colleges and work-based learning providers are more likely than schools to specify the nature of their organization in terms of products, services, markets and customers in their mission statements. Schools are more likely to focus on learners, and to specify beliefs and values, often in the form of mottos.

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  Colleges are more likely than schools and work-based learning providers to review and amend their mission regularly as part of strategic planning and quality-assurance processes.

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  Work-based learning providers tend to focus on meeting customer needs rather than on highlighting their own distinctiveness in their mission statements.

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  Local learning and skills councils pay little attention to mission statements and regard outcomes as a higher priority. The focus is more on the mission of colleges than on work-based learning providers.

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  While governors were satisfied that the mission statements of their institutions reflected the core business, there is some uncertainty about the processes of implementation.

The survey also highlighted examples of how mission statements helped to achieve progress and change. One college claimed a massive turn-around in recruitment, retention, achievement and staff satisfaction as a result of changing its mission statement. Work-based learning providers also see their mission statements as a way of communicating the purpose of their business to the outside world.

The report makes a number of recommendations. The mission must involve all major stakeholders (not just internal staff), drive the operations of the organization, be reviewed regularly, emphasise the distinctiveness of the organization and help to plan locally and regionally. Finally, all employees must sign up to it – a task that requires time and effort by management to ensure that the mission is shared by all.

The report can be obtained, free of charge, from Information Services, LSDA, Regent Arcade House, 19-25 Argyll Street, London W1F 7LS. Tel: +44 (0)20 7297 9144; E-mail: enquiries@LSDA.org.uk