We all talk about income in
education. Income, income, income. That’s all I hear. And there’s a good reason
for that. There’s no doubt that in education, as in all public sector
organisations, Government doesn’t want any public perception of fat cat principals,
or directors of training providers with huge bonuses. So income it is. But
thinking about nothing more than income often leads education providers to
debate the wrong topics. Let me explain what I mean.
No fatcats here - just a very large fish! |
Let's learn from business and think in margin and cost base terms - not just income! |
If we think in margin terms, we can reinvest that in our learning environments, such as our recently launched Construction Extension - that'll then help develop even more students! |
The second reason we’re unable to answer the question of what margin is acceptable, is that we simply don’t know the answer. Yes, I hear you cry, we do. Well, we should, because hopefully the Institute for Apprenticeships is looking into the cost base of each framework, and then feeding that information into the sector. But they aren’t. Or at least, if they are, they certainly aren’t letting the sector know.
So we have a two pronged problems. We don’t know what the margin is, and worse than that, we can’t even really talk about margin. I think things need to change. Ultimately all education providers have the same goals to enhance and serve their community. We can only do that, if, like business, we examine the opportunity to grow and develop our own offer. And we’ll never be able to do this until we start speaking openly and honestly about the margin we all need to do that.
So let’s stop just thinking about income, and let’s start demanding action to understand the true cost base of each Apprenticeship framework, so that we can start understanding the potential margins that we can reinvest for them.