Roman Catholic priest, working for diocese running three MATs, pens scorching critique of trust system
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Academy chains should not be spending “eye-watering sums” on executives and offices, but rather on the poor of England’s education system: its teaching assistants, suggests Father David Cain.
A Roman Catholic priest, working within a diocese which runs three multi-academy trusts, issued a scorching criticism of this set-up, questioning whether it is “fit for purpose” and appearing to suggest that schools would be better off without such organisations.
School leaders should be left alone to run institutions themselves, suggested Father David Cain, instead of being overseen by trusts which spent “eye-watering sums” on executive salaries, office buildings and administration. Executive salaries should be “re-directed” to teaching assistants, he indicated.
He also questioned whether the diocesan education service and its academy trusts “have the moral authority to act in the name of the Catholic Church”.
The intervention by Father David, in the form of an open letter sent on behalf of his deanery, came backed with a host of Biblical references, during a multi-faceted controversy over the way in which one of the three trusts in particular has been run.
That trust has been approached for comment.
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By Warwick Mansell for EDUCATION UNCOVERED
Published: 19 June 2026
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Amen
Well done that priest. Absolutely correct that what has run through the MAT system is greed (one of the deadly sins!). We hear this again and again (from you Warwick!) about the absence salaries that are justified in the same language that CEOs in business use. Education has been perverted by the Neo-liberal and capitalistic sea in which so much else in England swims. There is as much sh*t in the education system as in the water companies!
I read this article, with tbh, some relief that the move by the Catholic Church to circle wagons has been called out. I always say I used to be a practising Catholic but now I am perfect and have sat on several RC boards. However, I have always felt that the Dioceses do not have the breadth of knowledge needed to steer such a large number of schools. When they had the support of the LAs, they were able to ensure that a Catholic education was supported... I went to a Catholic primary school in the days of 46 pupils in a classroom and onto a Convent for Secondary, and whilst there was an element of challenge by pupils, the role of family support was played out by staff, perhaps in a quieter way but it was still there. One of the things that has really worried me with MATs has been the dumbing down of leadership skills, having had to shortlist and interview for SLT roles, it was shocking to our Bursar that candidates did not understand how to balance a budget and to me, as a safeguarding governor, that they could not walk through a simple safeguarding task. Both of these are basics for HTs, but they have been stripped away through delegation to other functions within the MATs; like calculators, you should only use them when you understand your times tables and long division, so you can check if the answer is correct. And to keep it biblical, my response to Fr. Cain would be, Matthew 25:23, "'Well done, good and faithful servant! "