Insights

Over the past few years there has been much change across the Education sector as it has sought to deal with the fallout from the pandemic, address the energy crisis and manage wide ranging inflationary pressures. Adding to this, the education sector has a profound skills shortage and the opinion drawn from conversations with sector leaders over the past six months, is that the difficult recruitment market shows no signs of abating.  With no sight of additional funding or support on the horizon, the next 18 months could be troublesome for many.

Increasingly, we are seeing more professionals make the transition into the highly rewarding (personally and professionally) non-executive work environment. Making the move, however, is not always easy, but with the right approach, effective due diligence and a commitment from the outset it affords those that engage greater control of their longer-term career aspirations.

Attracting commercial skills to certain parts of the education/public sector will continue to be a key priority, as the need for transformational change, financial performance and strong leadership is increasingly important.

In today’s education landscape more than ever, reading the market and predicting outcomes is a difficult task. We face tumultuous times with significant shifts in the political, economic and social paradigms that challenge many of the strategies and business models that worked so well previously.

Over the years Dodd Partners has interviewed, recruited, assessed and counselled many leaders from Chairman to Chief Executives and beyond. Here we give some frank and forthright answers to question around leadership drawn from over 25 years of experience.

The Education sector is changing rapidly and it’s becoming increasingly clear that those colleges with foresight, commercial instinct and boldness of approach have an opportunity to significantly improve their prospects in the future.