Lucy Powell's appointment as Secretary of State for Education comes at an important moment for the school system. We warmly welcome her to the role and wish her every success as she works alongside the Prime Minister to shape the Burnham Government's education agenda.
The new Government understandably wants to focus on tackling the crisis of one million young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) and ensuring every child has the opportunity to succeed. Achieving that ambition, however, will also depend on the strength of the organisations expected to deliver it.
Schools and trusts will play a central role, but they are operating in an increasingly complex environment. Financial pressure, population changes, workforce challenges, technological transformation and growing expectations around inclusion all require organisations that are resilient, well led and capable of sustained improvement.
We need to set schools and trusts up for success by creating the conditions in which they can thrive. Operational systems should do more than avoid becoming a barrier to improvement; they should actively enable leaders to focus their time, energy and resources on meeting the needs of individual children and young people.
That is why operational excellence must be part of the Government’s thinking from the outset.
For too long, operational leadership has been regarded as a support function rather than a strategic discipline. In reality, every sound financial decision, effective governance process, well-designed system and investment in people or infrastructure creates greater capacity for what matters most: improving outcomes for children and young people.
This will be particularly important as the Department for Education develops its anticipated trust inspection framework. Any meaningful assessment of trust strength must look beyond educational outcomes alone. The quality of operational leadership must be recognised as one of the defining characteristics of a strong trust because it underpins everything from financial sustainability and governance to workforce capacity and long-term improvement.
How a trust is run is just as important as what it achieves. Sustainable educational improvement depends on both.
Strong trusts are characterised by effective governance, financial sustainability, capable leadership, robust risk management, a clear workforce strategy and the systems needed to support improvement across every school they serve. Operational excellence is therefore not separate from educational excellence. It is one of the conditions that makes educational excellence possible.
The strongest trusts already understand this. They bring together educational and operational leaders around a shared purpose, recognising that strategy, finance, people, estates, technology, governance and school improvement cannot be treated as separate conversations.
This joined-up approach will also be essential if the Burnham Government is to turn policy ambition into lasting change. Whether the priority is inclusion, workforce development, accountability, technology or ensuring public investment delivers maximum value, delivery will depend on the organisational capability of schools and trusts.
At the Centre for Education Operational Excellence, we are building an evidence base for what strong operational leadership looks like through research, professional standards, Operational Excellence Reviews and our organisational maturity framework.
We look forward to continuing to work closely and constructively with the Department for Education, ministers and officials as the new government develops its plans.
As the new Government begins to shape its reforms, operational excellence cannot be an afterthought. It must be one of the foundations on which lasting change is built.