The changing role of the headteacher in England post academisation

Jack Lewis, Deborah Outhwaite, Claire Tupling, Mark Gibson and Giuliana Ferri

Abstract

The schooling landscape in England has changed significantly in the past decade as a result of ‘academisation’. Academy schools have moved from being locally administered to being independently run, and directly funded by national government. Conversion to academy status has been encouraged by the government on the premise that headteachers are afforded more autonomy over their schools with more effective lines of accountability. Such schools are frequently grouped in Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), more recently called School Trusts, which has consequences for leadership practice. The research in this study presents the perceptions of policy impact on the role of the headteachers working within a MAT. The participants include two primary headteachers and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the trust, a role which has emerged as a leadership position over the last decade. This article shares the leaders’ views on education policy trends, particularly how this has changed the central team, the MAT, and how collaboration within the trust has changed the role of the headteacher. This unique research examined a trust that has gone through that process and records the altering dynamics of a leadership team as a consequence.

Lewis, J., Outhwaite, D., Tupling, C., Gibson, M. and Ferri, G. (2023) The changing role of the headteacher in England post academisation. Educationalfutures, [online] Vol. 14(2). Available at: https://educationstudies.org.uk/?p=25069 [Accessed 28 Apr, 2024].

Creative Commons LicensePublished under Creative Commons Attribution, Non Commercial Licence https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Keywords

Academisation, Academy Schools, CEO, MATs, Middle Tier, Multi Academy Trusts, School Leadership

Volume

Volume 14(2) 2023

Full Text

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