Education MATs v Business MATs

Nearly every school tells me they want a non-hierarchical, flat structure MAT than ‘being told what to do by people we don’t know’. For me, that discounts business MAT’s run by people who don’t know the beating heart of the school, don’t know what makes children learn, don’t know what parents want and don’t know what their staff look like despite being employers.

Most of the top slice in a business MAT goes to paying salaries for Trust central roles – CEO, CFO, other Directors. For me, that money, or the greater part of it, should be directed to Teaching and Learning and resources for children. How many governors have ever taken expenses?

Education MAT’s run by people with a skills set but who are volunteers attempt to put as much money into T&L whilst still running the business side of the MAT effectively. My own does so as there is no absolute need to create a MAT where most if not all Directors are paid a salary. This has created negative publicity which then means that all MAT’s get tarred with the same brush and people who are against academies use this to justify their stance. Generalisations never work so comparing business MAT’s with education MAT’s just doesn’t work. We have created successful non-hierarchical, fiat structure MAT’s where virtually every penny of the total GAG is used for T&L. If you want it to succeed, it will but always know that you can build a MAT – with the right partners – that resembles what you want, not what is dictated down to you.