MAT CEO: Development Programme

The purpose of this Early Engagement Notice is to inform the market about a forthcoming market engagement event relating to an imminent contract opportunity to translate the Department’s Multi Academy Trust (MAT) CEO Development Offer, designed by an Expert Advisory Group, into a realisable programme for delivery. The Department’s intention is to build a sector-leading MAT CEO training programme.

Background

In the 2030 White Paper, the Department announced the ambition that by 2030 all schools will be in strong MATs or have plans to join or form one. We anticipate both growth in the number of academies and consolidation in the sector in terms of the number of trusts. This will require strong leadership in the executive and in the board, as well as creating a pipeline of new leaders. To support this, the White Paper committed to introduce training and support for trust leaders to equip them with the knowledge, skills, and behaviours needed to be highly effective in their role.

We have therefore begun the design of a MAT CEO development offer. The offer will form a new, distinct, part of the golden thread of teacher and school leader development, enabling participants to make the step up from the National Professional Qualification for Executive Leadership (NPQEL) by preparing them to provide effective leadership of large trusts. The intention is for the offer to increase the quality of leadership in large trusts as part of our ambition to deliver a fully trust-led system.

The Requirement

The successful Supplier(s) will be tasked with creating a deliverable curriculum for potential applicants to the MAT CEO development offer based on the final content framework. Materials will need to be designed for each of the knowledge domains included in the framework, with a combination of taught content and long-term immersive opportunities being the preferred model for effectively delivering professional development.

Delivery

The success of this programme as a sector-leading MAT CEO development offer will hinge on its delivery. The first cohort should begin their teaching in September 2023, with a full programme schedule already in place.

Self-evaluation should be built into the programme to assess the learning experience of participants, ensuring that adaptations can be made where required in future iterations of the offer. Alumni of the course should demonstrate the capacity to grow their group of schools into a large MAT then lead that MAT effectively.