Its report, The Growth of Academy Chains: Implications for Leaders and Leadership, warns that rapid expansion can lead to senior managers’ focus switching to newly recruited academies at the expense of existing members of the chain.
Meanwhile, the study found that "experience from other sectors suggests that it will need only one project to go wrong for a chain’s reputation to be damaged, potentially irreparably".
According to the National College, chains sought to avert such pitfalls by having clear lines of accountability and management structures, and ensuring the chain has sufficient support staff in place.
Good practice included making sure support functions and bureaucracy were reviewed regularly to assess their ability to cope with more schools joining the chain.
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