Assessment of School Image

Abstract

There seems to be a gap in the literature on educational management that focuses on school image and its assessment. This paper addresses this issue by reviewing the state of the art regarding school image and communication with the public.School image can be defined as the overall impression and mosaic synthesised from numerous impressions of individuals of school publics (pupils/students, teachers and deputies of school management, parents, and other stakeholders). School image is not what the headteachers understand it to be, but the feelings and beliefs about the school and its educational programme that exist in the minds of the school publics. The present study contributes to the literature by providing an overview of school image and by providing a practical application of a useful tool for assessing the content of corporate image. Semantic differential scales are used for marketing purposes and as a useful technique for measuring and assessing school image. Communication with publics and the development and sustainability of a positive school image influence not only the marketing of the school but also the educational process in the school. Today, shaping and maintaining a school image is even more important because of the curriculum reform, focusing on higher study process outputs, quality assessments, and accountability. The findings of this study have important implications for school marketing experts and researchers, headteachers, education policymakers, as well as teachers at schools.

Keywords

• public relations
• school image
• school management
• selfassessment
• semantic differential