Study of School Business Managers

The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) have followed up on their earlier (2003-04) study of School Business Managers (SBMs) to explore how business management is currently carried out in schools so as to inform future developments. Click for links.

Key findings:
- There has been a 21 per cent increase in the number of business managers employed in schools, with 91 per cent of secondary, 49 per cent of primary and 31 per cent of special schools now employing SBM's.
- 81 per cent of SBM's are female.
- 72 per cent of SBM's come from the following four sectors: finance, education, government and industry with the biggest increase between 2004 and 2007 being in finance.
- There is a shift in the number of minimum qualifications held by SBM's. 38 per cent gained their highest qualification at school, 32 per cent hold FE level qualifications and the number holding bachelors and masters degrees has remained constant between 2004 and 2007.

There are three career categories emerging:
Emergent role – professional development specialises in one of the school business management responsibility areas
Established role – often hold Certificate in School Business Management or Diploma in School Business Management, HE certificates, foundation degrees or bachelor's degrees
Expert SBM's – usually hold doctoral or masters qualifications, NBA licentiate or other executive diplomas from professional associations.

Recommendations:
- Provide further management training for key skills e.g. project management, reports writing, negotiating skills, team development and customer awareness.
- Develop higher level courses in response to the complexity of the educational environment in which school business managers operate and facilitate access to a consultant leader programme linked to that of headteachers.