In my role at The Key, I regularly run focus groups and decision-maker surveys, including in multi-academy trusts. Our research reveals that many trusts are seeking to expand, 54 per cent said they are actively in the process of trying to grow, 28 per cent said they would expand if the right school came along, and 12 per cent were planning future growth but were not currently in a position to do so.
Economies of scale
Unsurprisingly, academisation has created a strong desire for schools to achieve economies of scale – and this is a major driving factor for growth for many trust leaders. We asked trust leaders to pick the top strategic priorities (up to three) for their trust over the coming academic year:
- 53% said that “improving our budget situation and/or raising income” was a priority
- 51% will be focused on “consolidating the curriculum offer across the trust”
The third most common priority is “adding new schools to the trust and/or merging with another trust” (39%), closely followed by “centralising services” (38%).
Benefits
For staff already working within MATs, the sharing of ideas and best practice in the classroom was a major benefit of being part of their trust. More than 92 per cent of those surveyed found this to be a clear benefit. A CEO of a trust comprising six to 10 schools agreed with this assessment, adding that it made them feel: “... part of a bigger team, enabling greater sharing of good practice and innovative pedagogy.”
As well as career development opportunities (81 per cent) and opportunities to work across multiple schools (59 per cent), 44 per cent said that a reduced administrative burden was a significant benefit of trust membership.
Many have already implemented multi-academy trust software to help HR and finance staff to ease the burden of paperwork and excess administrative tasks, allowing them to spend more time on activities that can add genuine value, such as teacher well being or pupil-focused tasks.
Access to technology
Interestingly, 45% of the trust leaders we spoke to believed that school office staff benefit from reduced administration as a result of better “access to technology.” This links to research by The Access Group which shows that introducing multi-academy trust software can help school business support staff to reduce admin tasks.
Our report shows that trust leaders have a highly complex job and put a huge amount of work into finding a balance between growth and maintaining their ethos. However, with the continuation of academisation, our findings do show that there are clear benefits for trusts looking to grow.