Your guide to joining a school business professional network 

As schools continue to change and evolve, where can school business professionals find a professional network for development and knowledge-sharing?

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on gov.co.uk

The government’s School Business Professional Network Directory describes how business professionals working in schools can join or create a school business professional network to help professionals to connect and share information.

The School Business Professional Networks Directory includes groups that provide peer-to-peer support to help with a broad range of work-related activity, including buying for schools.

You can find potential networks by regional group – however, inclusion in the directory does not constitute a recommendation by the Department for Education (DfE). All levels of staff can benefit from being part of a network because a network offers many opportunities, including:

• sharing experience and best practice between members and the wider schools sector;
• creating an on-call community to resolve problems quickly, saving time and money;
• getting better value for money through buying together;
• sharing local benchmarking data;
• linking to wider local, regional and national networks;
• supporting innovation;
• being a communication channel between school business professionals, professional bodies and the DfE;
• promoting local opportunities and providing peer support for members.

You can use the School Business Professional Networks Directory to:

• find groups in your area;
• get peer-to-peer support for school business tasks, such as buying for schools;
• contact peers to join your local network.