MAT Leaders’ Survey and Webinar Round Up

A summary of our survey and webinar which sought to understand key challenges MAT Leaders’ are currently facing.

In the Summer of 2022, Strictly Education proceeded to organise a nationwide survey intended to gain insight into the business management and operations challenges faced by multi-academy trusts. The survey was largely in response to the publication of the DfE Opportunity for All White Paper in March 2022 which encourages trusts to scale and grow into a minimum of 10 schools or 7,500 pupils by 2030.

Our initial survey sought to further understand the obstacles encountered within the Education sector, focussing on areas such as leadership, capacity and resourcing, legislation and regulation requirements, administrative burdens, and reporting. The results of the survey were later compiled into the MAT Leaders’ Survey Report 2022 and formed the basis for discussions in our MAT Leaders’ Survey webinar which took place on 27th September 2022.

Key Challenges

It is evident from the survey and webinar discussions that to achieve the DfE ambitions, more support and guidance could be provided, especially with the challenges the education sector are facing at present. A number of our respondents explained their concerns about MAT expansion, especially around resources and associated costs.

“We have strong leadership team to be able to expand and
create a MAT. However, the associated costs of the restructuring
and aligning with other schools is a significant challenge which
the DfE do not appear to be providing any tangible support for.”

Resourcing and capacity is extremely limited with many already struggling to keep up with their day-to-day roles without the added pressures of due diligence, finance and legal requirements involved with onboarding new schools. The MAT Leaders’ Survey 2022 found that 89% of respondents said they felt stressed at work, and with personal workload increasing significantly across the board in addition to many processes becoming extremely time consuming, it is not difficult to see why this figure is so high.

Adding to the pressures of capacity and increasing workload, almost 2/3 of the survey respondents were unable to undertake any form of external CPD in the last year. Investing in employee training can help upskill individuals and provide options for career progression to assist with job satisfaction, as well as better support the business. However, with employees already overworked and under resourced, the struggle comes when trying to find availability for employees to complete external CPD and find extra resource to fulfil their duties.

So, what were the key takeaways from the survey and webinar?

Be proactive.
Having an operational model that has capacity to support your growth journey alongside implementing robust strategies and processes which are continuously evolving as the trust grows is imperative for success; as you grow you have better systems in place and more staff whom can share responsibility and become specialists in certain areas of the process. Likewise, having access to accurate data to manage people-related challenges can also alleviate some of these pressures and support you with your people and growth strategies.

Be clear.
Making sure an acquisition is the right fit for both schools and academies is a hugely important aspect of growth; aligning cultural values assists in the transition and helps with the acquisition and avoids any unnecessary problems. Trust-wide communication is also an imperative to ensure you maintain and/or improve positive employee engagement ongoing.

Don’t rush.
Have a vision and strategy for growth implementation. Taking your time with the due diligence and onboarding process is hugely important for those looking to grow their MAT and provides real value for future acquisitions. If you rush the process things get missed and can pose real issues further on down the line.

Invest in wellbeing. Implementing wellbeing initiatives, improving communication, and providing support to employees when they are struggling can help manage stress and grow within their role.

Couldn’t make the webinar?

To further understand the challenges faced in the education sector and be part of our discussion, our webinar and MAT Leaders’ survey report are available to view and download here.

Watch Recording

Download Report