Examining the competencies required for leadership of multi-academy trusts. Implications for a case study trust

ABSTRACT This paper examines competencies required for leadership of multi-academy trusts (MATs) to identify the learning experiences needed to make the transition to executive leadership (a concept perceived here as having accountability for multi-part organisations). As part of national government(s) drive to reduce the influence and control of local government over state-funded schools in England policies have been enacted, particularly since 2010, to create academies which were directly answerable to the Secretary of State for Education. Formed as a not-for-profit charitable company, each trust is composed of Members who act as guardians of the governance of the organisation, which is then given strategic direction by a Board of Trustees and executive leadership by a CEO. MATs consist of multiple academies, working to a single trust, and are the organisational model preferred by the Department for Education. In this paper MATs are equated to the concept of loosely-coupled organisations, formed of numerous constituent academies and held together much more loosely than a hierarchical structure would tolerate. Leadership competencies encompassed in the centrally National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership (NPQEL) are considered inadequate generally and for the case study MAT explored here, leading the trust to introduce additional expectations of future senior leaders.