School business managers in England: negotiating identity

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of group identity formation amongst school business managers in the English school system. Design/methodology/approach Data were generated via a research project that employed semi-structured interviews with school business managers as a means of exploring their experiences as a relatively nascent group, carving out their own territory within a school system traditionally led and managed by trained educationalists. Findings The findings provide insight into the enabling and inhibiting factors encountered by school business managers in establishing and negotiating a distinguishable group identity within the wider school workforce including their variable career trajectories and motives, the suitability of their qualifications and the diverse composition of their roles. Originality/value The paper throws light on the identity formation of a cohort of the school workforce in England who are not directly involved in educational leadership or classroom practice but nevertheless play a crucial role in the ecosystem of the school. While the research reported is situated within England, the issues raised can be applied to education systems in other contexts given the universal importance of financial and organizational management in schools.

What future for school business leadership? Recent change and looming possibilities

“…Further, it means having opinions about policy, practice and future initiatives. School business leaders are inextricably involved in all these facets of leadership and are increasingly influencing these agendas and demonstrating they are not passive when it comes to having a view (see for example, Armstrong, 2018;Starr, 2017aStarr, , 2017b.…”

“…Along with the above developments, school business leaders report their work now requires a higher investment in time. New work tasks accrete such that average working hours have increased as they have for principals and systemic leaders (Armstrong, 2018;Starr, 2012aStarr, , 2017bStarr, , 2018Grieve, 2014;Marchant, 2018). The expectation is that school business leaders will invest the hours necessary to see their work completed, meaning most incumbents work many unpaid hours.…”

“…School business leaders constantly have their attention diverted from one task/situation/meeting/phone call to another -the work spans an enormous range of responsibilities and activities and is continually interrupted. Current job descriptions -where they exist -do not represent the full range of tasks undertaken by school business leaders (Armstrong, 2018;Starr, 2012a). These recent common changes are a backdrop to current trends and looming issues that portend further change expectations for the school business profession.…”

An exploration into the opportunities and constraints for career progression into leadership roles for School Business Managers in the state sector in England

“…Both of these issues demonstrate the need for SBMs to step up into more senior leadership roles. Finally, given the increasing importance of the SBM role in the school sector and the existing paucity of research into SBMs (Armstrong 2016;Starr, 2012), this research adds valuable knowledge. Gronn (2002) argued that training for headteachers delivered by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) had conflated the headship role with leadership resulting in the headteacher being perceived as the single heroic leader.…”

Barriers to joined-up school leadership in times of austerity in England

“…Armstrong (2016) suggests there may be work to do to raise the profile of the SBL profession as a viable first career. A clearer understanding of the diversity of responsibility and scope of the SBL role might help those from teaching backgrounds to better understand the value of this cadre of leaders with finance and operations expertise.…”