Multi-academy trusts are not automatically better than other models, but in a system under strain, purpose-led trusts may be our best chance, says Gemma Lavin As we await the schools white paper, the conversation feels familiar. Behaviour. Attendance. SEND. Workforce. Standards. Accountability. Each matters. But together, they point to something deeper than a list of policy challenges. They describe a system operating under sustained strain – a perfect storm of rising need, shrinking capacity and public expectation, and an increasing risk that we mistake activity for progress. It is tempting to ask whether our current ways of organising schools have lived up to their promise. The honest answer is: not always. Scale in itself guarantees nothing. Pretending otherwise weakens the case for system-level reform. But it would equally be a mistake to conclude that the underlying idea – that schools are stronger when they work together – has failed. Organisational maturity Multi-academy trusts are the primary way this collaboration is realised at scale, providing a structure through which shared capacity, collective responsibility and mutual support …