School Business Directors

The Innovation Challenge

The role of a school business manager is now widely recognised as being an integral part of enabling schools to make better use of their resources and facilities, as well as freeing up Headteachers and other senior staff members to focus on leading teaching and learning.

Research carried out for the National College for School Leadership (NCSL), suggested that improved school business management could save up to one third of Headteachers' time, hence the need to formalise the role, training and professional development it requires.

Our Approach

School business manager training opportunities have now been designed by NCSL and the Training and Development Agency (TDA) to provide individuals with core skills and competencies to enable them to work effectively. There are currently two core programmes in place.

NCSL wanted to explore the potential of two new roles in primary schools; Advanced School Business Manager (ASBM) and School Business Director (SBD).

The ASBM role is being tested across small groups of primary schools (or a large primary school). The higher level SBD position would operate in larger groups of schools (e.g. federations) and would provide strategic business leadership.

The Innovation Unit supported NCSL to identify and recruit 24 demonstration projects, across a range of settings and contexts e.g. rural, urban, federations, single schools.

The demonstration projects are exploring a range of issues, including how procurement can be spread over a number of schools, the generation of income, how the role could assist schools' leadership teams and development of shared infrastructure. The Innovation Unit supported each demonstration project with expert induction to the programme and acted as a critical friend during the process, providing in depth advice and support.

Outcomes

The University of Manchester is conducting an evaluation of the impact of the role's in the demonstration projects and an interim evaluation was presented at NCSL's International Conference, held in June 2009.

The demonstration projects themselves are ongoing and the school business manager role continues to be developed by NCSL.

Project contacts

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