percentage of monetary GPf- has fluctuated9 recurrinn expenditure, has been risinq.
L UNIT COSTS Preliminary remarks
This sub-section should more riahtly be headed 'unit expenditures' because it
dealsonly with actual excenditure of funds directly on the educational services. It
has however become, the custom to use the phrase 'unit costs1 and that phrase is used here ir, spite of the fact that the full economic implications are not dealt with.It is also possible to consider using the cost per teacher or the cost per class.
Usually the teacher element in the recurring cos.; ^ so impc/tant that changes in the salary profile of the teaching force can make an appreciable difference to the costs of running educational services5 and even when the cost per student is used the teacher element within it has to be calculated on the basis of the total teacher costs built up according to their salaries. The cost oer class could only be used if the schools were structured and staffed on the basis of classes.
Information Heeded
Statistics of expenditures, teachers and students should be summarized and analysed to give the followinq information.
Recurring costs Costs of teachers Preferably:
1. The stock of teachers of each qualification by sex in each sector of the educational services on each point of each salary scale.
If this standard is not possible*
2. Estimated average salaries of teachers of each qualification in each sector.
At a cruder level this serves as the basis for the calculation of costs of teachers in projected teaching forces.
Won-teacher costs Preferably:
3. Average non-teacher expenditures per student enrolled by major element of expenditure, by sector.
If this standard is not possible;
4. Average totals of estimated non-teacher expenditures per student enrolled.
This forms the basis for an estimate of corresponding rates to be applied to projections of enrolments for the purpose of projecting non-teaching costs.
Capital costs
5. Scales of accommodations furniture and eouipment in schools, by sector:
(a) scales of rooms by purpose9 and by floor and super area;
(b) scales of furniture and eauipment,
6. Costs of construction of schools per unit of area9 by sector.
/. Cost of furniture and equipment per student pi ace9 by sector.
8. Differentials to be applied to 6 anrf 7 for each area.
RECURRING UHIT COSTS Preliminary remarks
From the methodological point of viav: the important thinr about the recurrinn unit cost is not so much its total but rather the behaviour of the elements which no to make it up, because factors which cause changes in it usually do not affect all of its elements. A revision of teachers' salaries affects only the teacher element; a channe in the standard of students' meals does not affect the teacher element. It is nenerally r.^sed that the teacher element, benin usually the largest sinole element, should be separated:, likewise it U obviously necessary to try to separate the costs of the boardin? element in boar-din.! schools. One very important consideration is, of course, whether one can net the information classified in a manner which will enable separation ?/c all.
It is su^ested that a basic division which should be aimed at is as shown below:
(i) Teachinci costs, separated into (a) teacher costs, and (b) other
teachino costs.
(i i) Adtui nistration
(iii) Maintenance of premises and equipment.
(iv) Students' livin^ costs, beino all costs attributable to boardin<~ in
a hoarding school, and costs of meals supplied to day students.
Further sub-divisions which minht be considered are (a) the separation of costs of personnel in (i) b9 (ii), (iii) and (iv) of the previous paragraph; (b) separating from (i)b costs of books and equipment; and (c) particularly in cases where schools have their own transport, either a transport item or an attempt to allocate transport costs as accurately as possible to the other items a task which sometimes calls for arbitrary decisions. This implies a reasonably hinh standard of accounting which may not always be possible.
Cost of te?.cii3rs
If the well kept, one should be able to project survivors from the stock in each future year to which can be added projected annual additions of new teachers ^
annual projections of teacher's to enable detailed and fairly accurate costing.
Tl.t non-teacher elements
In some contrias hoarding facilities for students are completely separate from the schools; in such cases it is an easy matter to separate unit costs for board inn;
facilities from those for the schools. In others, however, boardin^ facilities are completely integrated into the schools* which presents more difficult problems when one is trying to isolate elements which make up the unit cost.. So as to illustrate a methodology for this more difficult situation, let us assume that the boardinq schools with which we are dealing are so integrated, and that the secondary general schools D.T2 e mixture of boardini and day schools.
Since there are more buildings for a riven nmmber of students in a boarding school than there are in a day school, we would expect that the maintenance costs per student would be hinher in the boardin^ school. Likewise there would be more administrative work, and we would expect that the element also would be higher in
the boarding school. We must therefore fine separate rates for those o"o elements for boardino and da" schools, in addition, of course, to findinc the direct costs of running the boardinn facilities are' feedinc students.