The Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) has announced that it is evolving to become the Centre for Education Operational Excellence (CEOE), broadening its work to support schools and trusts to operate more effectively, sustainably, and at scale.
At a time of increasing complexity across the sector, with schools and trusts navigating financial pressures, workforce challenges and rising expectations, there is growing recognition that how organisations operate is critical to sustaining and building on educational success.
At the heart of this evolution is a clear principle: operational excellence enables educational excellence.
Approaches to areas such as procurement, finance, workforce deployment and data use can vary significantly, even between otherwise similar organisations, highlighting the need for a more structured and consistent approach. This bold new initiative builds on more than three decades of ISBL’s experience to bring greater coherence to what can often be a fragmented and inconsistent landscape of operational practice.
CEOE will operate through an interconnected model built around four core hubs:
ISBL as a practitioner-focused Professional Excellence Hub: continuing ISBL’s commitment to high-quality professional standards and development by delivering the high-quality, cutting-edge professional development offer that members know and value.
Solutions Hub: delivering practical, high-impact support and services, including its Operational Excellence Framework and diagnostic model that helps schools and trusts identify strengths, prioritise improvement and access tailored support. This hub also brings together a network of trusted partners, ensuring access to specialist expertise where it is needed most.
Research Hub: generating robust, evidence-based insights to inform best practice, shape policy thinking and drive innovation in education operations.
International Hub: extending its reach globally, enabling knowledge exchange and collaboration to raise operational standards across education systems worldwide.
These elements work together as an interconnected ecosystem, linking insight, delivery, capability and evidence to drive sustained improvement.
By strengthening operational foundations and providing a structured approach to improvement across areas such as resource planning and deployment, productivity and cost control and more, CEOE aims to support more consistent and scalable practice, and improve efficiency, resilience and sustainability.
Stephen Morales, Chief Executive, said: “Schools and trusts are achieving a great deal in increasingly complex circumstances. What is becoming clearer than ever is that strong operational practice is critical to sustaining that success.
“Our evolution into the Centre for Education Operational Excellence reflects the next phase of our work. It allows us to move beyond supporting individuals alone to also supporting whole organisations to operate more effectively, fully aligning operations with educational outcomes, financial sustainability and long-term success.
“CEOE works as both a standard setter and an enabler, defining what good looks like while supporting schools and trusts to achieve it in practice.
“This is about creating the conditions in which great teaching and leadership can thrive — because operational excellence enables educational excellence.”
