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The mature MAT model: success, innovation and challenges in the trust system

Charting the academy trust system’s evolution, progress and priorities for the future.

Research
17/10/2024
vision of the future straight road

For the first time, in 2024, the majority of state schools are now academies. A majority of pupils had been educated in academies for some years, but this landmark cemented the trust model’s majority position. While the mixed economy picture remains a defining feature of our sector, with thousands of LA-maintained schools still serving millions of pupils, the balance has now shifted.

Research overview

This report follows two previous ¾«Æ·SMÔÚÏßӰƬ studies, in 2019 and 2021, charting the trust system’s evolution with a particular focus on governance. Once again, this report draws on ¾«Æ·SMÔÚÏßӰƬ’s extensive engagement with trusts as the national body for trustees, governors and governance professionals.

Download the report to explore the following themes:

  • The mature academy trust
  • The resources to deliver
  • The right groups in the right places
  • Accountability and consent in the mature trust system

The mature MAT model - Full report

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The mature MAT model - Key findings

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Key findings

This report identifies four priorities for the trust sector:

  1. Trusts need to continue to work to harness the valuable benefits of both localisation and centralisation.
  2. Trusts need the resources to deliver for pupils, in terms of funding, staff and volunteers.
  3. We need the right groups in the right places – combining sufficient scale to harness the benefits of the trust model; geographical coherence to facilitate support and avoid isolation; and stakeholder buy-in.
  4. The wider system architecture needs to evolve to reflect the reality of the system – it is no longer justifiable to build inspection, accountability and local oversight around structures designed for a purely maintained system.

Trusts are more than the sum of their parts. At their best, they transform the opportunities available to their schools, staff and pupils. As a sector, we need to share best practice in the running and construction of MATs, ensure those trusts are properly resourced, and build an effective system architecture. We look forward to being part of the conversations about how this can be achieved.

  • “Many trusts have learnt what works from bitter experience – their successes and failures and those of their peers – and acted accordingly. Trusts that have survived and prospered are those that have fully embraced the ideology of formal collaboration and managed to harness its benefits.”

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