The “massive need” for more academy trustees

The English education system’s move towards a structure of multi-academy trusts seems to me to be placing huge pressures on the supply chain of people who will perform the role of academy trustee.

The scale of the challenge

Data from 2016 show the number of multi-academy trusts (MATs) rising from 391 in 2011 to 1,121 last year. Sir David Carter, the national schools commissioner, has said that “a further 1,000 new MATs will be needed by 2020 with smaller chains having to grow to accommodate more schools”.

Given that a small MAT of five schools should have at least six trustees, and larger ones up to 12, then it can be seen that there will be a massive need for high quality trustees over the next few years. I have no idea of the actual number of trustees in MATs at the moment, but it must be in excess of 5,000.

The organisation Academy Ambassadors, set up in 2013 is, I feel, a highly effective body which helps MATs with the right-skill set and of the right calibre to apply. However, the organisation is only as good as the people who apply. In my experience, the majority of people I interviewed as a MAT chair did not have the necessary skills to become good trustees; I was told there were plenty of good quality applicants in London, but Academies Ambassadors said they were struggling to find them in the West Midlands.