Policy

If we are going to build a school system in which schools are part of a group in a single governance and accountability structure, we need to be explicit and eloquent about what constitutes a strong trust. We offer this narrative paper for discussion and debate.

Trusts have become a central part of the English education system, providing the core of school-to-school support, improvement and governance. This means that it is increasingly important for us to know what high quality looks like in a trust. In this paper we have reviewed the evidence from four countries: England, the US, the Netherlands and Sweden. The latter three countries were chosen as they have somewhat similar (though by no means identical) systems. This literature review draws on a search conducted using several evidence bases, websites of government agencies, and a general google search. We also drew on the references to other studies in those sources.

In this pamphlet, CST chief executive Leora Cruddas CBE sets out the case for the school trust, and a trust-based system. It attempts to set out why a trust-based system might be our best bet, and explains why a group of schools working together in a school trust is so much more than simply the changing of the legal structure of the school.