3 Evaluation and achievement of objectives
10. Over £800 million was delegated to schools
in Northern Ireland in 2003-04. Clearly the application of such
resources must be justified and schools, Education and Library
Boards and the Department held accountable for their use. We acknowledge
the views of school principals and teachers who believe that LMS
has enabled them to meet local needs and that there have been
more resources spent in the classroom.[30]
However, we were concerned that this did not square with other
data in the C&AG's Report which shows that expenditure on
non-teaching staff had increased to a much greater degree than
expenditure on teaching staff.[31]
The Department told us that, while this was the case, it was important
to understand that a substantial element of non-teaching costs
relates to classroom assistants who play an important role in
dealing with pupils' special education needs and helping in areas
of social disadvantage.
11. In general, our view is that resource deployment
by Boards and schools is less effective than it might be because
it remains focussed on inputs rather than outputs. We were disappointed
that the Department was unable to provide us with any concrete
evidence on whether the investment of resources by schools under
LMS actually added value or delivered intended educational improvements.[32]
In addition, the Committee is disappointed that there is no evidence
that LMS has increased the involvement of parents in schools and
we note the Department's view that it needs to do much more to
have parents fully engaged in schools.
30 C&AG's Report, para 4.17 Back
31
Qq 89-90; C&AG's Report, para 4.16 and Figure 5 Back
32
Qq 57-58 Back
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