Six in 10 maintained schools are not considering joining a multi-academy trust, according to a new survey of governors.

The finding is contained in a new National Governance Association report, which gauges interest in joining MATs among both maintained schools and single-academy trusts governors. 

The association’s chief executive, Emma Knights, said the report shows there is a slow increase in the desire to join a MAT but warned that the government “still has much work to do to convince” some NGA members that this is the best way forward.

• Multi-academy trusts: Schools White Paper sets 2030 academies goal
• Review: DfE launches review into how MATs will be held to account
• Research: Maintained schools “fear losing autonomy” by joining a MAT

The NGA asked people in governing roles in both maintained schools and single-academy trusts if their school was considering joining a MAT. 

The research came after the government announced earlier this year that it was its aim for all schools to be in or moving towards a MAT by 2030.

Schools’ reluctance to join a multi-academy trust

In the survey, 60 per cent of maintained schools represented said they were not planning to join a MAT.

Overall, 43 per cent of respondents from schools that are not in a MAT have considered joining one.

However, this figure was lower than in recent years, compared with 60 per cent in 2021 and 54 per cent in 2020.

A breakdown of the survey responses shows that among the 1,317 maintained school governors, just 12 per cent were from schools that have decided to join a MAT in the near future. Another 2 per cent were from schools that wanted to join a MAT but have said they cannot find one that suits their school.

The responses show more of an interest in joining MATs among staff in governing roles at single-academy trusts.

Some 25 per cent of single-academy trust respondents said their school was planning to join a MAT in the near future. Another 9 per cent said their school wanted to join a MAT but could not find a trust that suited them.

Another 31 per cent said their single-academy trust had not considered joining a MAT.

The NGA report says the figure representing the interest within schools in joining a MAT is likely to have increased already and will most likely show an increase next year. It adds: “The survey opened a month after the publication of the White Paper. Many boards would have only just started to digest what it was saying and what it potentially means for them as a school.”

The NGA has also provided a regional breakdown of governor responses to joining a MAT.

This shows that London was the least likely region for schools to express an interest in joining or forming a trust. The South West and Yorkshire and the Humber were the regions most likely to have schools exploring becoming part of a MAT.

Just 7 per cent of responses from London governors said their school wanted to or has decided to join a trust. In the South West, the figure was 19 per cent and for Yorkshire and the Humber it was 18 per cent.

The NGA paper also explores some of the reasons given by respondents for wanting or not wanting to pursue MAT status for their schools.

It highlights concerns regarding losing autonomy or not finding a trust with compatible values among reasons for schools not wanting to join a MAT, but says that the DfE’s White Paper has led to some schools now considering it.

One respondent, who was a committee chair at single-academy trust, said: “We prefer our independence but are aware this may not continue to be a choice; we will be researching and revisiting the issue on an ongoing basis and will be alert to local discussions on MATs.”

There were also responses from governors at schools that want to join a MAT but face barriers.

A chair of governors at a maintained school said: “We have a MAT we want to join, and they want us, but deficit issues are preventing it from happening - even though it would best resolve the deficit position.”

The chair of a governing board at a single-academy trust said: “Nothing in the past year but in the two years before [we] engaged with various organisations, including detailed due diligence with one MAT, but found the culture different and not compatible.”

Ms Knights said: “The survey results show an interesting picture of the general willingness of SATs [single-academy trusts] and maintained schools to consider joining or forming a trust from those not yet part of one.

“The appetite is increasing, but slowly. Despite the evidence paper published alongside the White Paper, there is still much work to do to convince many of our respondents that this is indeed the right way forward for the future of their school and pupils.”

The Schools White Paper, published in March this year, led to a new Schools Bill in which the government set out its plans to regulate MATs in the future. 

However, the legislation ran into difficulty in the House of Lords, leading to the government withdrawing a large number of clauses amid concerns that it was attempting to run schools from Whitehall. 

And there are now fresh questions over the bill’s future after Liz Truss became prime minister and appointed a new Cabinet.

The bill was due to appear again in the House of Lords next week but this has now been postponed, and the chamber is due to go on recess until October from next Thursday. It is yet to be debated in the House of Commons.