MAT CEO: Development Programme

THIS MARKET ENGAGMENT IS NOW CLOSED

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.

Additional information: The following information provides an update on the Department's proposals to deliver a MAT CEO Development programme.

The Department would like to thank those organisations that participated in the market engagement exercise which has closed.

The Department considered the information provided during the market engagement, as well as looking at what options it has to deliver the programme, including accessing existing framework agreements, and an assessment of the delivery model options, which included providing funding via a bursary model, in-house delivery, or appointing multiple providers.

Following this assessment, the Department has concluded that appointing a single provider to deliver the programme offers the best solution. In reaching this decision, it took account of various factors including anticipated costs (including sourcing), timings plus availability, quality and capacity of the market. A key consideration was the relatively small size of the cohorts which we felt would be best supported by one provider to ensure that delivery was consistent and financially viable.

This decision also recognises the tight timelines required to develop the offer in conjunction with expert partners across the sector for programme rollout in early 2024 .

The Department is required to comply with the requirements of Managing Public Money which includes details on policy framework for public procurement. When it comes to sourcing, the Department's commercial policy is that is should seek to access an existing Framework Agreement wherever possible and appropriate, as this approach allows the Department to contract with a qualified provider efficiently and compliantly without incurring the costs associated with a procurement process and thereby ensuring the whole life costs are minimised and value for money is maximised. It also helps ensure that the Department conducts business with suppliers in the most cost-effective way for them.

Taking account of the above, the Department has decided that it will access the Framework Agreement for the National Institute of Teaching, and contract with the School-Led Development Trust (SLDT) to deliver two cohorts as part of their overall scope of requirements to deliver the golden thread of teacher and leadership development in the education sector.

We'd like to thank all those who participated in the market engagement exercise for the MAT CEO Development programme. We look forward to their continuing involvement in market engagement events as we value the market information that is provide to us.