Schools are reluctant to join multi-academy trusts despite the government’s ambition for every school to be part of one, research suggests.
In a National Governance Association (NGA) poll, just 12 per cent of respondents from local authority-maintained schools and single-academy trusts said their school had decided to join a MAT in the “near future”.
This figure was down from 15 per cent last year and is the lowest since 2020.
Just over a third of LA-run schools and SATs said the government’s had prompted discussions about joining a trust.
The findings come eight months after Labour set out its ambition for every school to join a “high-quality” trust, although the government has not set a deadline or introduced a requirement for schools to join.
The White Paper has done little to change the minds of governing boards that had already considered academisation, the NGA says, adding: “Schools are not rushing to join MATs.”
“If the government was hoping that the White Paper would have accelerated the move to a fully trust-based system, our findings suggest they will be disappointed,” the report says.
Schools fear loss of autonomy
Governors who opposed joining a MAT cited fears about their school losing autonomy and identity, and also the quality of available trusts.
One respondent said: “We have been discussing it for years and always circle back to not wanting to pursue further for fear of losing our identity and culture.”
Other respondents said that where schools are having conversations about joining a MAT, this is being driven by financial pressures and falling pupil numbers rather than government policy.
Vlog analysis previously found that full academisation of the school system could take at least another 16 years at the average conversion rate over the past decade, or until 2048 at a slower pace.
Small and rural schools have highlighted the challenges in joining a trust, particularly where schools face financial difficulties and few suitable local trusts exist.
Meanwhile, 57 per cent of MAT respondents in the NGA survey said their trust planned to grow in the near future, down from 65 per cent when the question was last asked in 2024.
Just under half said the White Paper had prompted discussions about trust growth, but the NGA said there was no evidence this had led to greater expansion.
Fewer governors willing to become chairs
There is a record low proportion of governors and trustees willing to take on the role of chair, the survey found.
Just 25 per cent said they would consider becoming chair, down from 41 per cent in 2016, when the question was first asked.
Willingness was lowest among LA-maintained school governors (22 per cent), compared with 29 per cent of MAT respondents.
Workload, time commitment and the stress and responsibility of chairing were the most common barriers cited. Others questioned whether the role should remain voluntary.
The chair of trustees at Lift Schools previously told Vlog that paying trustees in MATs would improve scrutiny and help to hold boards to a higher standard.
There is also an ageing governance workforce, the NGA survey shows, with 53 per cent of governor and trustee respondents aged 60 or over. This is up from 35 per cent in 2017.
Nearly two-thirds of chairs and co-chairs were aged 60 or over.
The Department for Education had previously told governance leaders there was no funding for a national governor recruitment campaign after support for the Inspiring Governance programme ended in 2024.
The NGA has called for a sustained national recruitment campaign and fully funded induction and development for governors and trustees.
Attendance a big priority
Elsewhere, half of the secondary school governors surveyed named attendance as a top priority, while 68 per cent said special educational needs and disabilities and high-needs provision were a leading budget pressure.
Just under a quarter said their school or trust had an AI policy in place.
Vlog previously reported that the survey had found that levels of trust in the MAT system were at an “all-time low” after rising for several years.
And findings revealed ahead of today’s report launch show that Ofsted’s latest inspection framework was seen as “brutal” by governors, although most agreed that the watchdog produced fair outcomes.
The online survey was conducted in June and received more than 3,000 responses.
