According to DfE census data, the past three and a half years have seen an increased trend towards switching MIS amongst schools in England.

The headline story is that SIMS market share has dropped the most, from a huge 77% to a still healthy 60%, and three main challenger MIS have emerged, between them winning 27% of the market: Bromcom and Arbor across all phases, and Scholarpack in primary schools. There are also plenty of other challengers – each of them gaining ground in their own way (I’d recommend checking out Joshua Perry’s Bring More Data blog for details and analysis).

 

 

What’s behind this trend and is it set to continue?

 

The reasons schools choose to move in the first place are varied.

 

• Many convert to academies and sometimes they join a trust where a different MIS is in use, so they switch as part of the joining process. Other times, they’ll use their change of status to academy as an opportunity to look at the MIS options available to them now that they are no longer under LA control.

 

 

• Maintained schools are switching MIS too. For many, the traditional model of them being able to buy into an LA-purchased and supported MIS has disappeared. Councils in England are rarely able to retain budget or mandate solutions, and the largest MIS supplier (ESS SIMS) has taken the decision to ask all their schools to contract with them directly instead of via an LA licence, for a three-year period¹. For many, this change in terms prompted a market-testing exercise which led to a new MIS being selected.

 

 

• Schools, academies and MATs are increasingly aware of the cost and efficiency gains they can make by switching MIS. Schools are looking to save money on multiple systems and save time on back-office processes, and MATs are looking to centralise more data and operational workflows. This is a huge driver and one that is likely to increase over the next few years.

 

All these factors are ongoing. Academy conversion continues to happen, and single academies are increasingly joining larger, more established MATs.

SIMS schools who wanted to go to tender for their MIS but felt they didn’t have time to complete a proper procurement exercise resulted in a large group of them seeking legal advice on the matter which is now being investigated by the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA).¹

There are countless case studies of schools and academies who will tell you about the huge improvements moving MIS supplier has brought about, almost always accompanied by big cost-savings.

It looks like change is set to continue. The question is: how fast?

 

 

How likely are schools to switch MIS supplier in the next 12 months?

 

In Spring 2021, The Key sent a survey to all primary, secondary, special schools and pupil referral units in England on the subject of MIS which produced some fascinating insights, including (amongst other things):

 

• What’s most important to schools when looking for an MIS, and how likely are they to move supplier
• How effective MIS are at saving schools time, and how well schools supported
• How intuitive are MIS solutions for new users, and do they give schools the right tools for the job in terms of collaboration and data?

 

The Key sent out a similar survey in Spring 2022 so, using these results, we’ve been able to compare how opinions on MIS have changed and gain some insight into what schools might do in the future.

 

 

The survey asked schools how likely they were to consider changing supplier in the next 12-months. The results indicate that almost 16% said they were either ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to move in the next 12 months which is around the same as last year – if this is a reflection across the whole market then we can expect the trend of switching MIS to continue in the next year or so (you can find the full results plus analysis by supplier in The Key’s blog post “What do schools feel about their MIS?”)

 

 

 

 

While the distribution of results was broadly similar to 2021, the trend compared to the previous year showed some polarisation towards either end of the scale. More respondents said they were ‘very likely’ to move than last year, but an increased number of respondents said they were ‘very unlikely’ to move too. There could be a few reasons for this:

 

• A sizeable group of schools have switched MIS recently so the appetite amongst this group for them to switch again will be very low; it usually makes sense to embed a new MIS fully and explore everything it can do before deciding to change again.

 

• A lot of schools will be in a multi-year contract with their MIS so moving MIS may not be an option they could consider in the short term. (However, some suppliers do give schools the option to switch to them mid-contract without double-paying, e.g. Bromcom and Arbor )

 

• At the other end of the scale, the increase in appetite amongst schools for moving MIS will likely be for the reasons outlined at the very beginning of this blog: when a new contract is required (be that through the school’s academisation, or an existing contract coming to an end with an LA or supplier) it prompts the need for a fair and rigorous tender process – even if that school, academy or trust is pretty happy with the incumbent supplier. There are a number of frameworks in place to help schools and MATs through this process e.g. G-cloud, Everything ICT, etc.

 

• Finally, the increase in schools saying that they are very likely to move MIS in the next 12 months could purely be down to the fact that they are not happy with their existing supplier. This could be down to the way it works (or doesn’t work) for them, the support they receive, cost, customer service, or any number of other reasons.

 

We’ll be exploring what’s important to schools, academies and trusts in future blogs – subscribe to stay up to date.

 

 

 

 

¹At the time of publishing this blog, the CMA has stated that they need further time to investigate and has not yet announced the action they intend to take.

 

How successful has the government’s 10-year school rebuilding programme been?  There are 100 school rebuilding projects currently underway, with a third set of 61 schools announced in July, so:

❓ Has it created an effective digital infrastructure?

❓What would/should the direction of government policy on school building and refurbishment under new political leadership?

❓What effect has it had, if any, on pedagogy?

With questions such as these, how do you assess the ongoing rollout and implementation? We’re pleased to be involved in the Westminster Forum Projects ‘Next steps for school buildings in England’ online conference tomorrow where delegates will do just that!

I’ll be speaking on understanding and maximising the benefits of improved facilities on educational outcomes.

The speakers and delegates will also look at issues around support for schools that have not been accepted onto the programme; how can their needs be met?

Chaired by former Minister for Schools & Learners, Rt Hon Lord Knight of Weymouth, there are some great keynote sessions from Jane Balderstone and Rory Kennedy from the Department for Education; Robert Gould, Partner at Barker Associates, and Associate Director Matt Robertson of LocatED. The conference will examine the future of school buildings and the development of the schools estate in England – including improvement of estate quality, the school buildings market, and maximising the benefits of improved facilities.

 

The agenda looks at:

• improving the quality of the schools estate in England – key priorities moving forward – effective digital infrastructure – developing facilities fit for the long term
• the school rebuilding programme – policy priorities – rollout – lessons learnt so far
• the current school buildings market – strategies for land acquisition
• environmental sustainability and energy efficiency – school buildings for the future – role in contributing to net-zero – cost of running school buildings amid rising energy prices
• benefits of improved facilities – impact on educational outcomes – teaching quality – maximising community use

More info and booking details can be found here.

It should be a thought-provoking day with lots of opportunities for discussion, we’re looking forward to it 😊

Our next fireside chat this year is with education thought leader, Sue Macgregor of Alps Education.

Sue brings a wealth of sector experience to our chat, having had a long and varied career in teaching and leadership, before moving to Alps Education to lead the Education and Product Development teams.

At Alps Education, their focus is on providing the right analytical tools to schools so they have the power to help every student achieve their full potential. Their platforms provide KS4 and KS5 performance insights that help teachers and leaders to celebrate strengths, action any gaps and drive-up student achievement.  

It’s a great fireside chat, and Sue provides loads of insight into:

• Her background in education, the trials and tribulations of Ofsted (and the pride in obtaining ‘Outstanding’ rating), her move into the world of edtech, and why she works at Alps Education
• Her role at Alps Education leading teams including many other former education leaders, and the context and experience that brings
• How tech has to work for the people who use it – not everyone loves data so it must fit in with what they need. Data can’t solve your problems but it can flag potential issues.
• The value and importance of asking the question “So what?”
• The ways assessment policy has changed, and how schools can work without baseline data (as a result of covid lockdowns)
• Given what we’ve all learned through the pandemic and homeschooling, how assessment policy might look in the future; it’s a wasted opportunity to simply return to what we’ve been doing for the last 50 years.
• How Alps methodology is different, and their mantra of “what’s next?” and allowing students to move forward
• What edtech companies should be thinking of when developing new solutions for educators and leaders, both now and in the future.
• The importance of being transparent, and empowering school leaders, teachers and staff
• Future plans for Alps Education, and developments and innovations the education community can expect to see in the coming months and years.

 

We’ve split the interview into three shorter parts for you to watch and listen to – enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Our first fireside chat of the new academic year is with education thought leader, Duncan Baldwin. Duncan brings a wealth of sector experience to our chat, from teaching positions and his time at Capita SIMS (now ESS SIMS), to influencing government as Deputy Policy Director at ASCL and his current Headship at The Castle Rock School, part of the Apollo Partnership Trust.

 

In part 1 of this fireside chat, we discuss:

• Duncan’s background (including his encounter with Margaret Thatcher!) and how he has come to hold such a variety of posts across education
• His focus on outcomes, data for improvement, and how he’s helped people understand the asset they have in MIS software.

 

In part 2 we cover:

• How he’s utilised his breadth of experience within his Headship role
• Government initiatives and how data is used to show they were working
• ASCL policies and initiatives
• His project with SISRA and encouraging school-to-school collaboration

 

Part 3 focuses on:

• What are the better performance measures out there?
• Duncan’s work with SMID and askEddi on identifying trends
• Why Christmas jumper day is not always the fun thing you think it might be for many pupils!

 

 

In part 4 we discuss:

• Unearthing insights by collaborating with other schools on data
• The challenges of MFL – especially when pupils move to secondary school – and the challenges of transitioning from Year 6 to Year 7 in a global pandemic
• The impact of the SixIntoSeven project, developed in partnership with school leaders in response to Covid-19 school closures and cancelled SATs in 2021

 

And finally, in part 5 I ask:

• What’s next for Duncan, his school and his Trust?
• As an outward-facing education thinker, would he be willing to collaborate with schools and industry further?

During lockdown, Nick took the opportunity to have a virtual get together with Phil Neal to talk all things MIS.

Really interesting views on everything from the inception of SIMS, the future of the market, the role of support teams, the big questions MAT leaders should be asking and a great deal more.

We’ve split the full interview into parts to make it a bit easier to digest – enjoy!