Baxter, Jacqueline and Floyd, Alan
(2019).
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(Accepted Manuscript)
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| DOI (Digital Object Identifier) Link: | https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3550 |
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| Google Scholar: | Look up in Google Scholar |
Abstract
Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) are now a common feature of the English educational landscape. yet numerous high-profile failures indicate that they present substantial challenges in terms of leadership and governance. One of areas that most exercises school leaders and boards is the setting of strategic direction for the MAT. This includes elements such as its expansion. This paper draws on 30 interviews with school leaders and trustees from 6 MATs and 10 interviews with National Leaders of Governance in looking to respond to the research question: What are the principal drivers for strategic expansion in MATs? The paper begins by contextualising the research in light of recent policy, then moves to consider why theory on strategy as narrative was chosen in preference to other strategic approaches, and how it was employed to analyse data. The paper concludes that within this sample there are a number of drivers for MAT expansion and that these fall under six principal categories: Opportunities, values, pressures, feelings, risks and resources. It also concludes that resources and business viability play a substantial part in decisions to expand, and that strategy appears to be an iterative learning process. As such it contributes to theory on the governance of multi-level organisations and to practice in terms of the Department for Education focus on MAT growth.
| Item Type: | Journal Item | ||||||
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| Copyright Holders: | 2019 British Educational Research Association | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1469-3518 | ||||||
| Project Funding Details: |
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| Keywords: | governance; strategy; multi-academy trusts; accountability; politics of education; management | ||||||
| Academic Unit/School: | Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) > Business > Department for Public Leadership and Social Enterprise Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) > Business Faculty of Business and Law (FBL) Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS) > Education, Childhood, Youth and Sport Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS) |
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| Research Group: | Citizenship and Governance | ||||||
| Item ID: | 62052 | ||||||
| Depositing User: | Jacqueline Baxter | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 20 Jun 2019 11:05 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 12 Dec 2019 21:14 | ||||||
| URI: | http://oro.open.ac.uk/id/eprint/62052 | ||||||
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