Our March magazine has landed!

The March edition of Education Executive magazine is now live and ready to read!

Happy March! The daffodils are here, Easter eggs are filling up shelves and British Summer Time is on the horizon. I don’t know about you, but that’s certainly enough to put a spring in my step! 

This issue features a series of articles centred on the theme of SBL self-belief and the value of the SBL role. Andrew Blench starts things off by looking at the reasons why SBLs need to make themselves a priority, and recognise their value. Laura Williams gives her advice on why you should stop comparing yourself to others, Phil Burton looks at the steps you can take if you are feeling undermined by your team and, after posting a tweet asking why so many school business leaders are leaving the profession, Val Andrew was overwhelmed with responses – with many citing the feeling of being undervalued as one of the main reasons for leaving the role. Turn to page 36 to read Val’s thoughts on this. 

We also look at a range of other hot topics this month. Stephen Mitchell explores how putting philosophy into practice could help SBLs deal with the daily ethical dilemmas they face, and Sue Birchall explains why investing time and energy into effective staff appraisals could help to combat the current recruitment and retention crisis in schools. Simon Hepburn wants to know if you consider yourself an extrovert, an introvert or an ambivert? He explores the difference between these three personality types and discusses how schools can engage better with those who class themselves as introverts – a somewhat overlooked group in schools, he feels. 

We have not one but three IT experts on hand in our ICT MATTERS section, ready to give their advice on three diverse topics. Neil Limbrick gets the ball rolling by looking at how you can get a grip on your crucially important IT service desk, and Nigel Milligan closes the section by explaining why, as the time approaches to renew your IT support contract, it’s really important to not disregard your IT technicians. Sandwiched in between is an article from Gary Henderson focused on a topic that is currently dividing opinion – ChatGPT. Gary discusses the benefits and drawbacks of the AI bot that has been the centre of many recent heated debates – read to the end of the article to discover the twist!

As always, we’d love to hear any suggestions you have for the magazine. If you’d like to get involved with EdExec, or if you’d like us to cover a certain topic, please do let us know. Contact [email protected] or tweet @edexec with ideas, opinions or success stories.