Outsourcing gets closer to the UK Classroom

An interesting and topical example of outsourcing here, which should get teachers and students into a lively discussion during lessons on operations…

Outsourcing as a strategy has been around for a long time, but it is not associated with the UK education system as closely as it is with, say, financial services and other customer-service operations.

This primary school is outsourcing the teaching / tutoring of maths support to a team of tutors in India. Sounds like the service costs around £3-4k for the support provided, which is a good deal less costly than having a specialist maths tutor physically in the classroom. Is it a good idea? Might we see more of this as schools find their budgets tightening further? How does the school ensure that students are getting the right quality of tutoring?

Students often get confused with the difference between outsourcing and offshoring. The use of India-based tutors above is an example of both.

Outsourcing involves the use of a third party (supplier) to provide services rather than have people employed within the business/organisation to do them. So outsourcing can occur both in the UK (domestically) and overseas.

Offshoring involves the provision of services from a differerent country. That might be by a firm’s own employees, or by a supplier/contractor.