ABSTRACT
We spent about £15 billion on 6.5 million primary and secondary pupils in 199697 on what is perhaps the single most important job in society-educating the nation’s young. How can schools justify this huge amount of money? Until fairly recently, they didn’t have to. But a succession of legislation since 1980 has ensured that schools, including governors, must show that they make a difference. That is, that they offer high quality education, that they improve the standards that children achieve, and that they offer ‘value for money’.
