MTM IN THE NEWS: Are we nearly there yet?

How do you know where your school’s heading if you don’t know where you are now? Daniel Cohen of education market research specialists MTM Consulting has the road map.

The road ahead has rarely looked more uncertain than it has in 2020, a year full of unexpected bumps, twists and turns. Few people saw a global pandemic on the horizon, but the good news is that the vast majority of world events are fairly predictable, particularly if you are in possession of the facts and the skills to analyse them, and to compare them over a period of time.

This is certainly true of the business of education. If you’re in a role that requires you to make decisions on how best to prepare your school for success in the future, you’ll want to make sure you know where that success might lie, and how to reach it from your current position.

Market research is the only sure-fire way to plot your school on the map with any degree of accuracy. It can tell you where your school sits in today’s market, how its roll stacks up against its competitors’, and what current and prospective families already know, like and dislike about your school. It can also look ahead, and tell you where your future students will live, and how – and what – they will want to hear about your school. It can flag any local changes – new housing developments that could bring more families to your school gate, employers that are increasing or decreasing their staff, changes to the road and rail infrastructure that might mean students from another part of the country could reach your school a little easier.

This information is crucial when it comes to plotting A and B, and also to putting in place a strategy to give your school the best chance of getting from one to the other. Determining the methods, resources, budgets and timescales to propel your school towards its intended destination is much more effective too.

So, before you make decisions on how to drive your school forward, take the time to find out where you are now, where you want to be, and why – then plan your road map to success.

To find out how MTM can provide your organisation with the information needed for fact-based decision-making, please chat to the friendly MTM team – email Daniel Cohen or call Dan on 01502 722787