Introduction
Through the analysis of the data, from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives, the following conclusions and recommendations have been made about the importance of the school prospectus as a valued and successful tool to communicate intended messages, market the school, and serve as a reference guide for the school’s stakeholders. Using the consolidated analysis as a guide, the conclusions will be presented firstly through the research questions and the recommendations will be made after each research question to either of two parties: firstly, the parent body and secondly, the prospectus producers.
Why do New Zealand schools produce a prospectus?
There is an indication from the data that the importance of the school prospectus maybe in decline. Although the question was not asked in the questionnaire, 20 parents stated that their preference was to use the school website. Additionally, while the school prospectuses have some importance, “word of mouth” and school visits appear to be a more powerful advertising tool.
The research concludes that the school prospectus is an excellent public document that should be providing a means to articulating the school’s goals, curriculum statements and all the basic information to their local community. They do need to be well presented, with photos and images that are an ‘honest’ representation of the school’s ethos. However, it is clear that the school prospectus is a document that stakeholders feel contributes to the school image and serves as a useful reference for their community. It is a document that is also used for multi – purposes for schools as a means to provide information to prospective applicants.
If the school wants to be viewed in a positive image, then a well presented publication can clearly be utilised to promote this. Whether this is an ‘honest’
Consider that out of the 19 school prospectuses analysed, each one talked about their high and excellent standards that they provided. If we were to look into all 19 ERO reports of these sample schools, claims of academic excellence could be debated and would likely be contestable.
In the commercial world in which we live, competition has become embedded in our society. Schools need to vie for positive attention and announce their wares in the marketplace. The school prospectus has traditionally been the vehicle for this and will, for the present, continue to be produced.
The recommendation from this research project is:
• Parents need to be aware that as the prospectus is a promotional document, the information in it needs to be verified by the user as to whether it is an honest reflection of the school.
• Prospectus producers need to be aware that parents want a prospectus to be produced. However, they want a prospectus that is cost effective, well presented and is indicative of the value placed on the quality of education service provided by the school.
What are stakeholders’ expectations of the school prospectus?
Stakeholders want clear information about the delivery of the service offered in their school. Although the sample size in this study was too small to prove the results statistically, there was a difference in what the schools and stakeholders see as important information. This conclusion was also drawn by Brett, Mansfield, Palm and Rollins (2005) who strongly indicate that school prospectus production teams need to consider stakeholder input into the content of the school prospectus. None of the sample schools invite their Boards of Trustees to participate in the construction of the school prospectus.
Even though a study by Behony and Deem (1994) suggest that there are issues as to the input by school governors into the school prospectus, one of the conclusions of this research study is the importance of Boards of Trustees as representatives of their local communities to have their say.
The recommendation of this research study is:
• Parents want a prospectus that contains basic information for their needs as well as the needs of their children for a good start in their education career.
• Prospectus producers need to include messages from all stakeholders in their community to contribute to the prospectus, the Board of Trustees being representative of the parents of the school.
Is the school prospectus a useful communication tool?
If the school prospectus is to be a useful tool for communicating their intended messages to their stakeholders, the creators of the prospectus need to be aware of what they want to communicate. The variety of prospectuses in the marketplace, containing such a diverse range of information for each community does not provide stakeholders with an ease of contrast and comparison for school selection for their child.
The prospectuses have a professional presentation, more photos and “imply that schools are more purposeful in managing their public image” (Hesketh & Knight, 1998). If the message is about presenting image, then the school prospectuses communicate this well. If the prospectus is about providing information to its public, then due to the wide range of content, it can be argued that it does not communicate this well.
The recommendation from this research study is:
• Parents need to be aware of the diversity of information provided by schools. The research suggests that parents use other avenues of information to verify and check the validity of information presented in the prospectus, for example ERO reports.
• Prospectus producers need to consider carefully the image they want to present, and to whom they want to present the image.
• Prospectus producers need to examine if their prospectus includes information parents require and consider especially the language used in the prospectus; the language needs to be much simpler which is more likely to be user-friendly.
How do schools judge whether their prospectus has been ‘successful’? The current markets that exist in our society have created schools that are more eagerly sought after by stakeholders than others. As school prospectuses are noted as the ‘public image’ of the school, this will impact on the cost of producing them. Their apparent ‘success’ will lie in their presentation, even though parents comment that glossy publications do not necessarily make a good school. There is comparison between presentations, as one principal stated that one of their school’s image projections was in presenting a reasonable prospectus. Their view was that it had currency in the marketplace.
The ‘success’ criteria that have been used in this study are as follows: • as an external marketing strategy;
• attraction and retention of students;
• communicating the intended school image; and, • parental approval and increased parental involvement.
The recommendation to school prospectus producers is that the school prospectus has a better chance of being a successful publication if it becomes an effective guide and reference mechanism for all schools. It would be a useful instrument of communication between the school and its public and if parents contribute to its content.
And finally, the study recommends that new research should be considered on how to help schools understand marketing techniques to provide a professional publication without compromising the content of the prospectus, thus producing effective school prospectuses.