Guidance

School business professionals: training and development

Sources of training and development for school business professionals (SBPs) in schools and trusts.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 25 January 2019
• Last updated: 20 January 2025 — See all updates

Applies to England

School business professionals (SBPs) lead the financial and operational management of schools and trusts. An SBP often has responsibility for a school’s or trust’s:

• operational leadership
• finance
• procurement
• estate management
• marketing and communications
• human resources

They play a vital role in ensuring that the school’s or trust’s focus remains on improving educational outcomes.

Continued investment in their professional development and training is essential.

The Department for Education currently provides training and development to SBPs working in local authority maintained schools and academy trusts.

There are also:

• resources, tools and case studies on school resource management
• peer networks to help schools and trusts work together and share their knowledge
• resources on workload and wellbeing for school staff

Qualification bursaries

We fund bursaries covering 75% of the cost for SPBs to complete the Level 7 Diploma in School Financial and Operational Leadership.

To be eligible for a bursary, you must be employed in a maintained school or an academy trust.

You must also confirm that:

• your employer endorses the training and will allow you the time to complete it
• you or your employer can meet the remaining cost of £915
• you can commit to the full duration of the course (approximately 12 months)

Bursaries are limited. If you wish to apply, email sbp.policy@education.gov.uk for more information.

Training workshops

We fund in-person training workshops, delivered by the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL).

These are available to trusts and regional network groups who would be interested in facilitating a workshop for their SBPs and/or colleagues within their region. The workshops run for up to 3 hours and are available for up to 30 attendees per session.

See the ISBL’s website for details of the current workshops available.

To find out more information on hosting a session, email training@isbl.org.uk or sbp.policy@education.gov.uk.

School resource management webinars

We provide a series of live school resource management webinars. These are free-to-access, hour-long sessions aimed at:

• SBPs
• school leaders
• governors
• trustees

You can view the upcoming webinars and register for the sessions on the school resource management website.

You can also view recordings of previous webinars.

SBP mentoring

As part of the school resource management advisers (SRMA) programme, we offer a free one-to-one mentoring programme for SBPs.

This programme helps to build SBPs’ knowledge, ability and confidence through establishing a supportive peer-to-peer relationship with experienced professionals.

Places are limited. To learn more and determine if this is suitable for you, email academy.questions@education.gov.uk and we will send you further details. 

Further sources of training and development

The following organisations provide training and development for school and trust leaders:

• Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy is the professional body for those in public finance
• Confederation of School Trusts is the national organisation and sector body for school trusts in England
• ISBL represents and supports SPBs and has published professional standards for the profession
• local authorities often offer training in financial management for their local schools and to other schools and trusts too

This list is not exhaustive. Other organisations provide training and support that may meet your needs.

We do not endorse any particular organisation. You should follow your procurement process if you choose to buy any of the services offered.

Published 25 January 2019
Last updated 20 January 2025 + show all updates

1. 20 January 2025

   We have updated this page to reflect our current offer of training and development support for school business professionals, including information on the bursaries, training workshops, webinars and mentoring opportunities that are available.

2. 21 January 2022

   Updated the examples of national professional qualifications and specialist qualifications.

3. 5 November 2019

   Added a link to free training on ICFP for school leaders.

4. 14 February 2019

   Qualifications added to 'Specialist qualifications' section.

5. 25 January 2019

   First published.