Consideracions and implications on the necessity of increasing efficiency in the public education systemthe new public management (NPM) and the market orientation as concepts for reference concepts

Resumen

Education is considered to be one of most important public services. It is an area whose extra value added to the economy and whole society has been demonstrated to be vital. However, as in case of a number of other public services, Public Administration has been accused of destining little resources to this service or either managing them poorly. Bearing in mind the aim to increase the efficiency of the management of the public sector in general and the public education in particular, this article specifically aims to become an element of consideration at stimulating discussion on the need of managing the resources of the Public Administration more efficiently ¿or, at least, in a more responsible way¿ and focusing its activity towards the real needs of the citizens, by considering the criteria of social and geographical equity. So, considerations based on the New Public Management (NPM) and market orientation, they both considered as complementary guidelines, will become elements of key importance. Inside this framing, concepts sustaining both applications are briefly commented, the difficulty of measuring the real yield of certain public resources is estimated, and finally main implications for public education management are discussed.