Trevor Male
it is now over a year since I returned to my position as Director of Academic Studies at the London Centre for Leadership in Learning after 13 months as Interim Director. Obviously my new day job keeps me busy, but I have been able to produce a good number of publications during the last year, with 2 peer reviewed journal articles, 3 conference papers and 2 unpubllished papers along with 3 chapters and an authored book in press.
I am still focusing my research on Multi-academy Trusts (MATs) in England and will be submitting work to journals duing coming year. I am also leading on two research projects (one still at review stage), so I don;t miss the day to day challenge of the director role at all!
Phone: +44 (0)7743 402789
I am still focusing my research on Multi-academy Trusts (MATs) in England and will be submitting work to journals duing coming year. I am also leading on two research projects (one still at review stage), so I don;t miss the day to day challenge of the director role at all!
Phone: +44 (0)7743 402789
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Papers by Trevor Male
The programmes combine three residential modules supplemented by facilitated regional learning sets, a range of practical tasks and assignments and the opportunity for participants to engage in online and self-directed learning through use of a dedicated VLE site. Data is being collected from 34 participants through development process in order to examine the emerging issues pertaining to system leadership within academy trusts.
This is a mixed methods approach that is predominately qualitative. Much of the enquiry is based on open questions in the first instance with little use of a priori coding. This approach is particularly true of the individual interviews which has led to the initial analysis being based on the process of open coding in order to identify categories which would emerge as the data was examined. Face to face interviews were conducted individually with Chief Executive Officers which were audio recorded and professional transcribed. Subsequent analysis was undertaken through a process of open coding in order to develop categories of leadership issues, challenges and behaviours that were evident in the establishment and continued growth of the medium size MATs.
This paper reports on the first stage of research into leadership within MATs which explores the issues and challenges they face as they take on the strategic ambitions of central government in this emerging era. The data that informs the findings from this research are being gathered from semi-structured interviews with a voluntary sample of participants from development programmes being run by the UCL Institute of Education for executive leaders in MATs. Two programmes have run since November 2016, one aimed at senior teams in small to medium size MATs while the second is aimed at Chief Executives in Church of England trusts.
The concept of a national system of state funded schools is undergoing radical change at the moment in the face of a concerted government policy to develop academies (and free schools) as the bedrock of a school led self-improving system. In this context the notion of a national school system becomes concentrated into more localised collaborative structures and, in particular, to MATs. The project seeks to investigate how leadership is enacted within MATs and thus corresponds to the general tenets of systems theory, which are based on the principle of self-regulating systems formed of a configuration of parts connected and joined together by a web of relationships.
MATs could be seen as relatively closed systems as they are intended to enjoy a high degree of independence, certainly from local government, but as state maintained school provision they will be open to the wider social environment and be expected to interact with other agencies and providers. Consequently, this research will seek to understand how leaders interact both within MATs and within the wider social context of England.
Methodologically in the first instance the research will consist mainly of individual or group interviews during the programme, with the possibility of some follow up work over the succeeding months. We will also make use of reflective comments made by participants in personal portfolios or blogs as part of the programme. The project proposal is currently under review by the UCL Research Ethics Committee with approval expected in the near future and before the start of the executive development programme.