SSAT on Leading

What leadership is needed in the school-led system? Are multi-academy trusts (MATs) the best way forward, and what should be their key features? What lessons might school leaders learn from other sectors? Sue Williamson starts this pamphlet to address these crucial issues by reaffirming that we at SSAT would agree that collaboration is essential if England is to have a world-class system of schooling.

She outlines the progressive, and changing, challenges that face leaders in education as they develop within a school, to head a school, and then a group of schools. However, while such status hopefully indicates a system leader in education, Sue is clear that heads and middle leaders in individual schools can also be system leaders.

The pamphlet includes in-depth comments by school leaders at different stages, with their evaluations of different approaches and routes to leadership and ways to tackle the challenges. Together, these help to clarify the constantly shifting educational scene.

An issue that has become ever more vital is: where can system leaders acquire the wider range of skills they need as they progress in this more complex environment? Sue addresses the need for business skills, which she concedes is a difficult subject for many school leaders “– but I do believe that we can take lessons from the business world and shape them for MATs and single institutions.”

The pamphlet goes on to show which business skills are needed, and why: for example, for central services, planning for growth, due diligence, financial risk management, data capture systems and processes, and the development of flexible growth plans. Not to mention political acumen and interpersonal skills in managing adversity. So leadership programmes need to engage with sectors outside education to bring the very best practice and ideas into the schooling system.

Sue Williamson ends this pamphlet by setting out “who needs to do what” in leading education.