VIEWS


BRITISH EDUCATIONAL SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION (BESA)


To MAT, or not to MAT?


PETER DOYLE, Policy Manager at BESA, examines the current state of the MAT sector.


The MAT sector has recently experienced a period of uncertainty and debate. While previous governments actively promoted academisation, advocating that MATs would deliver substantial improvements to school standards and operational effectiveness, these efforts to establish MATs as the dominant model within the education landscape have encountered resistance.


The Labour Government has significantly tempered the previous strong governmental push towards academisation, shifting instead towards introducing tighter regulations and increased scrutiny of MAT operations through the recently introduced Schools Bill. This Bill proposes greater accountability measures and closer oversight to ensure MATs serve the best interests of their schools and communities.


In response to this evolving landscape, BESA commissioned comprehensive research to explore the reasons behind schools’ decisions to either join or avoid joining MATs. This research reflects and contributes to the broader national conversation about the benefits, challenges, and potential drawbacks associated with MAT membership. Schools opting to join MATs identified multiple motivating factors underpinning their decisions. Foremost was the promise of enhanced financial stability, as MAT membership typically allows schools to benefit from economies of scale, shared procurement, and centralised financial management. Access to pooled expertise, extensive resources, and shared teaching practices, were also highlighted as advantages. Further benefits included opportunities for improved professional development through structured and collaborative training programmes, which often span multiple schools within the same trust. Stronger governance and leadership structures were another key draw.


Other significant motivations for joining a MAT included reducing administrative burdens, enabling schools to focus more directly on educational outcomes and teaching quality. Schools also identified enhanced support for underperforming schools as a decisive factor, with trusts frequently equipped to provide targeted interventions and improvement strategies more efficiently than local authorities.


The declining capabilities and effectiveness of local authorities played a particularly influential role in schools’ decision-making processes. Many school leaders pointed explicitly to inadequate financial support from local authorities, limited school improvement capabilities, and restrictive measures that impeded their operational autonomy.


Reflecting on their post-academisation experiences, school leaders generally reported highly positive outcomes associated with MAT membership. Commonly noted advantages included significantly enhanced collaboration between schools within the same trust, fostering professional networking opportunities and facilitating the widespread sharing of best practices.


Concerns around joining MATs were also raised. School leaders highlighted worries about reduced autonomy, potential risks of cultural misalignment, and perceived threats to maintaining their unique school identity and responsiveness to local community needs. Schools that chose not to join a MAT frequently emphasised maintaining their autonomy and preserving distinctive school cultures as primary considerations. Moreover, stakeholder resistance, notably from teaching staff and parents, was identified as a major barrier to academisation. Many respondents expressed satisfaction with their current arrangements and relationships with local authorities, displaying scepticism about the purported advantages of MAT membership.


Practical issues, including uncertainty regarding trust performance and reliability, concerns about marginalisation within larger MAT structures, and anxieties surrounding staff morale and job security, further discouraged schools from academisation.


There remains interest among non-academised schools in gaining the collaborative benefits typically associated with MATs. However, these schools are actively exploring alternative collaborative models that avoid full academisation. There is a broader need for improved collaboration within the Local Authority sector. Although LA schools prioritised maintaining their distinct cultural identities as a significant factor in avoiding MAT membership, many acknowledged that opportunities for effective collaboration are currently greater within MAT structures.


May 2025 BBC BITESIZE FOR TEACHERS


A little helping hand


Education Today hears from KATE LENNON, Executive Producer at BBC Bitesize for Teachers as Year 6 children prepare to take their SATs and Year 11 pupils get ready for GCSE exams.


Many of you will be familiar with Moodboosters. The collection was launched almost three years ago in partnership with BBC Children in Need and the charity, stormbreak. It is a suite of 40 curriculum-linked resources for primary school-aged children that make physical movement enjoyable and are designed to promote wellbeing. The aim is to provide teachers with accessible activities that will help children feel more positive, energised and ready to learn. Each ‘Moodbooster’ is just three and a half minutes long. They have been designed for use in the classroom itself and require no equipment. The suite of films is categorised into four different themes: recharge to help pupils feel calm and relax; connect to encourage positive relationships with others; boost to increase positive energy; and imagine to encourage pupils to have dreams and be creative. This year, we’ll also be broadcasting a BBC Moodboosters Live Lesson on Friday 9 May. Pudsey Bear will be making a special guest appearance alongside hosts, Rhys Stephenson, Evie Pickerill and mental health expert, Dr Tharaka Gunarathne. It will be available from 9am on the Bitesize for Teachers website, and broadcast at 11am on CBBC and BBC iPlayer. Geography


We have just launched two brand new geography KS2 resources. Created in partnership with the Geography Association, the collection covers two topics: biomes and settlements. Some of you may have tuned into our Earth Day 2025 Live Lesson from the Eden Project that took pupils deep inside its Rainforest Biome to learn all about the water cycle. We have three videos exploring and contrasting the six major biomes of Earth: rainforests, deserts, savannahs, tundras, woodlands and grasslands. You can download a transcript of each episode along with a slideshow of the featured images and a map of the featured locations. There are teacher notes that include key vocabulary used, suggested activities and points for discussion.


Our settlements collection investigates different types of settlements – villages, towns, cities and holiday resorts – and the factors which govern change of land use. Again, each episode comes with teacher notes, a downloadable transcript of each episode and a slideshow of the featured images. History


Ofcom’s Media Nations report for 2024, revealed how 15-24-year-olds are getting back into podcasts. The cohort’s weekly reach hit 24 per cent in the first quarter of 2024.


Since launching in 2023, the BBC Bitesize podcast revision series delivering engaging on-demand audio for GCSE students. We now have brand-new history podcasts in addition to series covering science and English literature. They offer learners an accessible way to study with hosts that bring a subject to life.


Topics covered include Elizabeth I, featuring hosts, Alice Loxton and Anouska Lewis; and Exam Skills; Germany in the 20th Century; the Cold War and Vietnam; the USA in the 20th Century; and the British Empire presented by Datshiane Navanayagam and Katie Charlwood. Every episode is around 10 minutes long and the hosts share useful revision hints and tips to help students remember key facts. All episodes are


available by searching for ‘Bitesize’ on BBC Sounds. And finally, you may have noticed that BBC Teach has a new name. We have joined our colleagues at BBC Bitesize to become BBC Bitesize for Teachers. You can still expect a vast collection of free resources created in association with our brilliant team of consultants. Head over to the website for more information.


To access the full Moodboosters collection and Geography resources, visit www.bbc.co.uk/teach


To access the BBC Bitesize GCSE History revision podcasts, visit www. bbc.co.uk/sounds


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