A survey I undertook into the interaction between school business leaders and their governing body has shed light on how few SBLs work with their governors to monitor standards and outcomes for pupils. Worryingly, a significant number of SBLs reported ‘irregular practices’ in their school or academy trust ranging from concealing bad news from governors …
Continue reading "Survey sheds light on SBL and Governor relationships"
I read two things yesterday that both moved me to respond to them – but they contained such different views that the only place I could start was Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and it’s famous opening lines: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age …
Continue reading "A school business leader’s cry for help"
Much has been written about how the academisation of schools is ‘privatising education’ Every couple of weeks, the TES and Schools Week seem to feature a story where connected party transactions or CEO wage inflation are causing concern. However, there are also good examples of where the structural change of academisation has prompted a root and branch review …
Continue reading "Are we privatising knowledge, not schools?"
A brief leadership story drawn from the 1996 Everest Disaster Stephen Morales wanted to use lessons from a disastrous climbing expedition in 1996 to illustrate the perils of pressing on too high, too far, too soon as NASBM transitioned to institute status. He was unable to deliver the presentation to conference as planned on the 16th November 2017 and …
Continue reading "Everest: a lesson in leadership"
This is the text of the opening address I gave in place of Stephen Morales at the final NASBM Annual Conference (NASBM becomes the Institute of School Business Leadership tomorrow). It has had minor edits to make it suitable for reading but is 98% ‘as delivered’. The slides appear in the text at the …
Continue reading "Professional Prominence: opening address from the last NASBM conference"We launched the new logo for the Institute of School Business Leadership at NASBM’s final national conference this morning.
Continue reading "Proud to be a trustee of the new Institute of School Business Leadership"
NASBM is supporting the Department for Education by deploying forty Fellows as efficiency advisors for schools and academy trusts facing financial difficulty. In a move endorsed by Ministers, senior school business leaders will provide free of charge support to schools wrestling with budget deficits and problems with financial management. These experienced school business leaders have been …
Continue reading "School Efficiency Advisors: a financial friend for schools in need"
Earlier today, NASBM issued an update concerning the status of apprenticeships for school business professionals (SBP) The text of that update is produced below. I hope you will take the time to read it. At first glance it might seem a little dry but it contains some important points. On the plus side, there will …
Continue reading "Apprenticeships for SBLs – good or bad?"
The National Association of School Business Management has announced the list of new membership grades which will apply when it converts to the Institute of School Business Leadership at the end of November. The new institute, which will quickly become known as the ISBL, will have five professional membership grades when it launches. Existing full NASBM …
Continue reading "Professional Membership Grades Revealed"A while back, I created an image of a medal that echoed the New Year Honours and tagged folks on Twitter I thought should be recognised for the support they have given the school business leadership profession. We had a bit of fun and, via the medium of Twitter l, got to say thank you …
Continue reading "Oscars for school business management"