Issues in scaling up from small to medium sized multi-academy trusts (MATs) in England

This paper reports on research conducted in 2017 and 2018 with Chief Executive Officers of multi-academy trusts in England.  The data consists of 55 interviews together with minutes from a series of facilitated regional... [ view full abstract ]

This paper reports on research conducted in 2017 and 2018 with Chief Executive Officers of multi-academy trusts in England.  The data consists of 55 interviews together with minutes from a series of facilitated regional learning sets which were part of leadership development programmes being run for senior leadership teams from secular and Church of England MATs by the authors’ employing organisation, in conjunction with a prominent financial advisory and consultancy company.  Although this was an opportunity sample it had a wide geographic spread, with trusts located within most regions of the country and, in the case of CofE MATs, within a large number of diocesan authorities.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted by two authors of the paper, audio recorded and conclusions drawn from notes made after re-listening to the recordings.   Interview questions were based on four key themes: the purpose and driving force for the MAT, governance, infrastructure and the quality of internal relationships.  Supplemental data came from the series of facilitated regional learning sets run during 2017.

The data illustrate the emerging issues facing CEOs (and other senior leaders) in the scaling up from small (2-3 schools) to become medium sized MATs (12-20 schools).  The main findings were that:

• Many CEOs struggled to establish their new identities and to distance themselves from headship or from the founding MAT school;
• Building leadership capability within the trust was compromised by the need to migrate existing individuals and job descriptions into a future MAT structure;
• There was a general desire to streamline individual governing bodies and focus them on school improvement, rather than maintain their decision-making authority;
• Workload issues were significant for key actors in the MAT (15 hour days were not uncommon) and there were difficulties balancing operational and strategic use of time;
• CEOs considered they were stronger on school improvement than other elements of their role which seemed to take up most of their time and give them most anxiety;
• For CofE MATs the diocesan board of education (DBE) and the diocesan director of education (DDE) were major influencers in the determination of action and planned growth.

Despite these challenges the general feeling for CEOs was excitement as their new role and the planned structure of the MAT was promising them the chance to be focused on school improvement and the liberty to enact their plans.