Learning lessons: why choose distance learning in education management?

Examines an increasingly important feature of further and higher education provision: the development of distance-learning opportunities for managers and teachers interested in education management qualifications in the context of a newly marketized education service in England and Wales. Draws on a university survey of prospective distance-learning “clients” who had expressed an interest in postgraduate education management courses – now a major growth area – and analyses their stated needs and concerns. Considers, also, the impact of the developing education market on the professional demand for distance learning, and examines how far quality provision and academic excellence can be delivered and maintained by institutions as the new “value for money” imperative, increasingly driving the “professional development business”, becomes further established in further and higher education. As the balance of relationships in the education service in England and Wales altered following the Education Reform Act 1988, we have witnessed a fundamental marketfocused transition – in schools, colleges and universities – which has progressively begun to drive institutional responsiveness in education towards customer priorities, client concerns and centralized funding priorities. A fundamental part of this new “marketized” orientation (but, arguably one of the less publicized aspects) has been the structural shift in the nature of continuing professional development (CPD) and in-service education and training (INSET) for education managers and teachers. This paper examines the nature of “client demand” in the developing education market – a major focus for those involved in meeting professional development needs. In particular, it examines consumer interest in – and concerns about – distance-learning educational provision; doing so through the lens of interest shown in postgraduate education management programmes (now a major growth area) which result largely from the devolution of funds and administration away from LEAs towards “incorporated” and “selfmanaging” institutions (Caldwell and Spinks, 1988, 1992). It investigates how potential distance-learning students evaluate providers and determine priorities, then briefly considers how the impact of marketization on provider-client relationships in the new “professional development business” raises questions about quality and consistency of provision.