A constant dance: a study of values-based leadership in Multi-Academy Trusts

This research explores how leaders in five Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) are working to develop their organisations in ways which enhance their ability to deliver a ‘whole education’ for both staff and students. The five case study trusts - Anglian, LiFE, Meridian, Pioneer and White Woods - are all members of the Whole Education MAT leadership network. We interviewed 40 staff in total, including CEOs, leaders from trust central teams, headteachers, and staff working in schools. The research investigated four ‘knotty’ areas for trust organisational development - sensemaking and leadership, structural integration, knowledge mobilisation and boundary spanning, and navigating agency, autonomy and prescription. The findings show that there is not one best way to lead a MAT. Rather, we conclude that trusts must strive to be reliably adaptive. This requires a focus on: shared values, sensemaking, co-construction as a core and continuing process and developing epistemic communities characterised by shared theories, language and tools as a basis for collaboration between staff and schools.