The boss of a prominent academy chain fears the government鈥檚 new trust quality descriptors could become the 鈥淥fsted handbook鈥 of the MAT world. Tom Campbell, the chief executive of E-ACT, said the sector could 鈥渕iss a lot of innovation and diversity鈥 if leaders stuck rigidly to the Department for Education鈥檚 definition of trust strength. The guidance surfaced in last year鈥檚 schools white paper, with ministers basing it around five 鈥減illars鈥 to help potential expansions. Their definitions were fleshed out in April, with MATs told they would be expected to support flexible working, operate collaboratively and 鈥渢ake action to promote equality and diversity鈥. Tom Campbell Officials use the descriptors for commissioning decisions related to academies. But speaking at the on Wednesday, Campbell said the descriptors 鈥渄on鈥檛 sit easy with me because surely it鈥檚 up to a trust to define itself鈥. 鈥淪ome trusts run all schools the same鈥ther trusts, like E-ACT, think of schools as their own school and make decisions that relate to their context. 鈥淚t鈥檚 quite difficult to find a catch-all set of descriptors鈥 welcome some clarity, but I鈥檓 nervous about it becoming the Ofsted handbook of MATs.鈥 Trusts ‘evolve’ Campbell reasoned that his 28-school chain had 鈥渆volved鈥 and changed the way it defined itself since its launch 16 years ago. He was concerned 鈥渁 lot of innovation and diversity鈥 would be missed if too much time was spent 鈥渢rying to build our trusts to these descriptions鈥. They should be used as a 鈥渃onversation starter鈥 instead. Rowena Hackwood, the chief executive of the Astrea Academy Trust, said she had used the guidance as a loose framework when talking to regional directors. Rowena Hackwood But they should not be used to judge the 鈥減erformance鈥 of an MAT. The five pillars are: high-quality and inclusive leadership; school improvement; workforce; finance and operations; governance and leadership. When the DfE published more details seven months ago, it said the guidance 鈥渞epresents a clear and ambitious vision for the academies sector鈥. It also hoped it would help to 鈥渋nform trusts鈥 improvement and capacity-building priorities鈥. Anita Notta, the chief executive of the Khalsa Academies Trust, said the descriptors helped her two-school chain after it was issued with a financial notice to improve. This culminated in the notice 鈥 imposed before Notta started running the trust 鈥 being lifted in May. 鈥淲e had a visit from a regional director who said 鈥18 months ago we wouldn鈥檛 consider you, however now, we are actively having conversations with local authorities to say is this a trust you would consider [for expansions]鈥.鈥 Indicators not a ‘binary checklist’ Responding to Campbell鈥檚 concerns, David Withey, the chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, insisted the indicators were not聽 鈥渁 binary checklist鈥 but a 鈥渞eally helpful鈥 guide, particularly for smaller trusts. David Withey 鈥淲hat we鈥檝e tried to do 鈥 is play back to the sector the sorts of things we are looking at. They are really helpful as a bit of a guide for people, particularly in smaller trusts. 鈥淭he organisation has found it really helpful because they allowed them to have clearer conversations with trusts about the sorts of things we鈥檙e thinking about.鈥 New commissioning guidance published by the DfE during the summer sets out how regional directors should assess 鈥渟trategic need鈥 and trust quality before ruling on academisation plans. The document said the five pillars would underpin decisions. Regional directors would link various evidence to each pillar, including 鈥渉eadline metrics鈥 鈥 drawn from MAT performance tables 鈥 which would then be used to 鈥渇orm a hypothesis about a trust鈥檚 quality鈥. These include phonics pass rates, the percentage of 鈥榞ood鈥 and 鈥榦utstanding鈥 schools in a chain and attainment trajectories.