The purchase of new school materials to support student learning is the subject of much discussion among educators. Oftentimes, conversations center on there being inadequate resources in many of our schools. This may certainly be the case in a number of schools, but there are some cases where schools waste the resources that they are given.

School leaders are challenged to ensure that they manage their budgets wisely when it comes to purchasing resources for student learning. Diving into the purchasing of new resources without ample consideration of how these resources will be utilized, both how well and and how much, is not a such great strategy.

If we take subscription services in our schools, do we, as school leaders and teachers, know how frequently they are being used? How much do we chop and change a resource based on teacher preference, or a teacher leaving and their replacement teacher requesting different resources?

If we are on a tight budget, then this would be important to know, so that when making resource purchase decisions, we can weigh up purchasing one resource over another. As leaders and teachers, we need to ensure resources are put to good and sustained use, rather than jumping to the next best thing.

Perhaps creating a resource purchasing strategy that focuses on careful and deliberate decision-making may have a greater impact on student learning in our schools and limited budgets may stretch just a little further.