Mike Pettifer, CEO of the Woodard Academies Trust, on what years in government taught him about running schools
This week on Heads & Tales, we're joined by Mike Pettifer, CEO of the Woodard Academies Trust and a former senior civil servant at the Department for Education. With over a decade at the Education and Skills Funding Agency – formerly responsible for deploying £40 billion each year – Mike brings a dual perspective on both policy and practice of education in the UK. He played a key role in the government's COVID response before making the move from Whitehall to the school system, where he now leads the MAT juggernaut.
Mike's career encompasses frontline teaching, refugee education, national funding strategy and leading a schools trust. His leadership approach is grounded, unflashy and driven by a undying belief in the importance of education to transform lives. In this episode of H&T, he discusses candidly the limits of centralised systems, the illusion of "silver bullet" solutions and why 'socioeconomic diversity' – not social mobility – is the framework we should aspire to.
🎙️ Episode highlights
Mike shares stories from his civil service days, including leading a national team restructure using Monopoly-style cards.
He reflects on leading the DfE's COVID response and why it ultimately pushed him to leave the civil service.
Mike gives a sobering reflection on the school funding crisis and why efficiencies alone won't solve it.
He discusses the challenge of running a trust whilst new curricula, Ofsted frameworks and DfE interventions models spring up.
He reveals why "the class system is the single biggest inhibitor of progress" and we should be talking about 'socioeconomic diversity', not 'social mobility'.