Small schools and multiple criteria

The county of Devon, where I live, has many areas where there are small villages and few towns. The population is concentrated in the towns and cities, but a significant number of people live in the villages and commute, or work locally. Today there has been some discussion about the provision of education for children and a report about Devon has identified several primary schools with fewer than 30 children in the whole school (age 5 to 11) and one secondary school with less than 500 children. The report raises the question about the viability of such schools, based on the cost per capita. Fairly obviously, education is an area where there are economies of scale -- you need a couple of teachers at least in each school, you need buildings and these must be heated and lit whther there are 10 children or 50.

So should small schools be closed and the pupils transferred to larger ones, where the cost per child will be smaller? I suggest that this would make an interesting question for an examination on multiple criteria optimisation or soft systems. There are other factors than the cost per capita to consider. Schools in small communities are a social focus for those communities. Families and children belong to them. What are the effects on children if they have to spend an extra hour at each end of the school day in travel?

Listening to the radio discussion this morning reminded me, once again, that operational research needs to be multidisciplinary. The figures matter, but behind those figures are people with needs and aspirations that cannot be measured.

Spreadsheets and O.R.

The journal Interfaces from the U.S. O.R. Society (INFORMS) is one that I have always enjoyed reading. It describes itself as the "Journal on the Practice of Operations Research" and has often published detailed descriptions of case studies. Older members of the O.R. community will recall that for many years it was edited by Gene Woolsey, and he contributed anecdotes about his practical experience; it wasn't always the received wisdom of O.R. academics, but it was based on genuine experience of getting ones hands dirty doing our discipline.

The March-April 2009 issue of Interfaces has arrived (it takes time to cross the Atlantic) and includes an article "How Electronic Spreadsheets Changed the World" (Rick Hesse and Deborah Hesse Scerno). There was a great deal to which I could relate, as we ran a spreadsheet modelling course in the degree programme in Mathematical Statistics and O.R. at Exeter University. (From the launch of the programme, we taught students to write simple programs in Fortran, then Pascal, Simula and Smalltalk. I recall telling applicants that we expected them to use computers as a tool to help them solve problems, so we stressed a thoughtful approach to programming, and the willingness to use computer packages sensibly.)

Spreadsheets came on the scene in the 1980's -- and provided many companies and individuals with a reason for buying a personal computer. Then spreadsheets were used in schools, with the result that university entrants and others joining the job market had a basic knowledge, often of Excel. But that basic knowledge did not extend to much model-building. We found that we needed to share ideas from computer programming with students in order to help them build appropriate models. As the article emphasises, spreadsheets are wonderful -- used in the right fashion. And O.R. people need to recognise that their fashion is different from that of other professionals, and so their spreadsheet skill set needs to be honed suitably. And that takes time!

How did you get started in O.R.?

For many O.R. scientists in the U.K., the route to that career was a simple one. After a first degree (3 years) with a BSc (Bachelor of Science) or BA (Bachelor of Arts) one took a one year Master's degree as a conversion course. That one year led to an MSc or MA (abbreviations as above). There were several universities offering such conversion courses. Funds for the twelve months often came from a government body, a grant-giving research council. They did for me.

Over the last few years, this funding has declined. And now it is to cease altogether. The research council argues that it should fund research, not training. But the O.R. profession has depended on the conversion courses. What will happen?

It looks as if, in the short term, the courses will continue. There are overseas students who want the British training programmes. There are a few students who will borrow money to follow the course. There may be businesses who will sponsor a recent graduate through the degree, but possibly as a part-time programme.

All in all, the route that I and thousands of other U.K. O.R. profssionals have followed is about to die.