School business management demonstration projects

Demonstration projects were undertaken across England in 2008-9 to explore the practical implications and impact of advanced school business manager (ASBM) and school business director (SBD) roles. The focus of the demonstration projects was on the following settings, and all took place in a range of geographical contexts (for example, rural, urban and inner city).

Groups	School type
Primary	Large or a mix of large and small schools Groups of small schools
Cross-phase	Linked primary, secondary and special schools All age and 3-16 campus schools, including extended services
Secondary	Groups of secondary schools 14-19 clusters or partnerships Extended services

The projects were externally evaluated to enable us to determine:

the existing roles and responsibilities and which roles are most effective in which contexts
the qualities, skills and attributes that make for successful ASBMs and SBDs
training requirements both for internal and external candidates and the skills and attitudes that heads and school leaders need to enable the roles of ASBM and SBD to succeed
the impact of school context on the roles
the contractual and governance arrangements that best enable impact
successful approaches to business change

Timing of the demonstration projects

Demonstration projects commenced in a series of five waves throughout 2008-09.

For further details about each of the 35 projects, please see the School business director demonstration projects directory, which provides a short description of each of the demonstration project's specific aims, the schools involved and details of how the school business manager or school business direcetor operated within the project. This was launched at the Achieving world class schools conference in June 2009.

Press coverage

The demonstration projects have received significant national and local press coverage. A selection of articles are listed below.

School Matters - Conquering the Paperwork Mountain - Teachers TV programme about one of the College's demo projects
SBMs providing vital role - Education Executive, 20 March 2009
School business managers benefitting schools - Education Executive, 10 December 2008
Demonstration project led by Westwood College - BBC Radio Stoke, 15 October 2008
This audio clip comes courtesy of BBC Radio Stoke - you will need Real Player to access it.·Download and install Real Player.
T wo new leadership roles are trialled - Sec Ed, 9 October 2008
New Business Manager Trials - Education Executive, 2 October 2008

Evaluation

An overview of evidence showing the development and future of the role of school business managers and the impact they have on schools.

Financial benefits evaluation – first interim report

Final evaluation: the executive summary, key information and statistics can be found in the following publications: