Next in our series of thought leader interviews is this Q&A session with Jeff Marshall.

Through J&G Marshall Ltd, Jeff’s core business is helping schools to convert to academy status. They cover everything a school needs to become an academy: legals, project management, finance system as well as post-conversion services for accounts, HR, School Improvement, governing body training plus much more.

They also conduct MAT Growth Audits to ascertain where a Trust is, where it wants/needs to be and how to get there through step-change growth. It’s this knowledge and expertise that I wanted to tap into to understand a little bit more about the specific challenges MAT leaders face.

Some of the things we discuss include:

• What’s the background to your education experience, and what do you find so attractive about working in education?
• What’s your approach to supporting a MAT; what do you feel are the greatest pain points in the first 6 months and what conclusions have you come to regarding what is required to get it right and wrong, as the first 6 months are very important?
• What do you think is important when looking at edtech solutions across a MAT? What issues do you find?
• Do you feel that there is enough innovation in Edtech, how would you like to see this tackled?
• What do you think is missing from what Edtech companies offer, do they act like strong partners in your opinion? What could they do more of or differently?

We’ve split the interview into three parts to make it easier to digest. Enjoy!