The word ‘bursar’ has always been synonymous with one word: busy. Indeed the autumn 2000 issue of the ISBA’s Bursar’s Review tells the story of John Shearne Thomas who was bursar of Marlborough College from 1860 to 1897:
“When he died in 1897, aged only 62, he had been bursar for 37 years, but the modern associations of the word entirely fail to suggest what he had been doing. To start with he had organised the huge amount of building which had gone on continually during his time, liaising between Council, Master and architects. Then he had supervised the enrolment of boys, and undertaken all the correspondence and meetings with parents. He was also college accountant; when on his birthday in 1868 it was announced that the College’s debt had been liquidated a party of boys called on him spontaneously to congratulate him. And he arranged the hiring, housing and paying of staff, and managed the college estates and its catering. He was also from his arrival until his death a form master. In total he did the jobs which at least five people would do today, not to mention their secretaries. As for Thomas’ outside activities, he was at one time or another a county councillor, on the board of both Marlborough’s railways and chairman of the East Wilts Liberal Association”.
But whilst the bursar’s role may have always been a full one, the 21st century bursar’s job description has arguably seen the most transformation of any other in school. What’s more, this significant change in role and responsibilities has come about in a relatively short period of time. In 2005 the ISBA’s then general secretary Jonathan Cook may not have realised how prophetic he was being when he wrote “looking ahead, the outlook seems to be nothing but more legislation”.
John Thomas may well recognise the variety in the role of today’s bursar but he would surely be surprised by the sheer weight of regulatory and legislative responsibility on that bursar’s shoulders. And that is to say nothing of the greater accountability he/she also now has to pupils, parents, staff, local community, the media, regulatory bodies such as the ISI and the Charity Commission and, not least of all, to his/her own senior management team.
Analysis of ISBA membership shows that 40% of bursars today are women. They, along with their male colleagues, work in a wide range of schools (boarding/day, prep/senior, small, large) with different levels of team support. Some bursars, by the very nature of their role and school size, are forced to truly act as a ‘Jack of all Trades’ whilst others benefit from dedicated support teams comprising HR, finance, estates managers and more. At its annual conference in May the ISBA held a session entitled ‘The 21st Century Bursar – a Jack of all Trades?’ examining the transitioning nature of the role and the skills needed to run the multi-million pound labour intensive businesses that we call independent schools. What makes a successful bursar? And just as importantly what equips him/her to continue to achieve in such a demanding and fast-moving sector? In advance of this session, the association interviewed delegates by survey and the results have provided a unique insight into the realities of life for today’s independent school bursar.
Perhaps unsurprisingly more than 51% of respondents said they did not fully understand the role and responsibilities of bursar when they took on their first appointment. One commented that, in their school, there is an “expectation to have responsibility for everything and anything” and that you have to be “ready to learn fast as you go”. Another added, that their experience has been “too much feeling my way”. Many reading this will also identify with another who said one of the pre-requisites for the job is undoubtedly “common sense and a sense of humour”.
A huge number - some 90% - said that leadership and management skills were crucial in their role as bursar, with nearly 80% citing financial skills as important along with time management and organisation (63%), communication, collaboration, relationship building and empathy (57%), and commercial and business skills (56%). Suggestions for necessary attributes a bursar must possess included optimism, resilience, general management, HR, legal knowledge, versatility and the ability to make quick decisions. Knowing when to delegate and when to outsource dedicated external expertise were also cited as crucial competencies for a successful bursar.
More than 76% of those questioned believed that they required additional training to meet the changing management and leadership needs of their role. Some favoured MBA level training and those with MBAs prior to taking on the role have said they found them to be extremely useful. Attendance at ISBA training scored highly in the responses, with bursars also requesting further master class training and shorter, subject specific residential training with formal qualifications.
With the landscape schools are operating in evolving at such a rapid pace, respondents were asked whether they believed the key challenges for bursars had changed since the ISBA’s survey the year before. In 2014 the key issue was pupil numbers. This year some 58% of those questioned said that priorities for bursars had since changed, and that regulation and compliance had now become the number one challenge. Personnel and staffing are also becoming a higher priority for schools as, of course, is safeguarding and fundraising – with schools looking to reduce sole dependency on fee income. Many also felt strategic planning to be a key issue and an overwhelming 100% of respondents said they wanted this to be a subject covered in the session held at conference, along with HR issues and discussion of the bursar’s role within (and interaction with) the school’s senior management team (SMT).
With the bursar’s role such a key part of that management team, the leadership style and management environment of the school was also a focus of the survey. Bursars were asked whether the leadership style adopted by their school is more traditional (with a top down hierarchy) than collaborative (with a collective team working well at governing body and SMT level). 58% believed that their school’s SMT worked collaboratively with 59% saying that their governing body operates in this way too. One respondent commented that a younger governing body has meant that their school has naturally adopted a collaborative leadership style. Another felt that there is a risk that if the governing body becomes too collaborative the lines between strategic and operational can become dangerously blurred. Whilst so many of the factors at play here will be individual characters and personalities, and relationships amongst the senior management team, it was generally felt that the longer the head/governing body has been in post the more traditional the leadership style is likely to be.
Andy Blair who chaired the session at conference, perhaps sums it up best when he says: “Behaviour is seen and heard. People will judge your leadership on what you do; what they see and what they hear. They will not judge your leadership on your thinking, your intention or your strategy”. Being visible in the school and being seen as an important part of the school’s day-to-day life can make or break the bursar. So go to the assemblies, be present at the school plays and allow yourself a moment or two to wander around the grounds with the sun on your face. With a heavy workload and responsibilities on your shoulders it can be easy to forget the reason for all your efforts and hard work. But whether it’s the 19th century for John Thomas or the 21st for all of us, there can be nothing more rewarding than a party of children spontaneously congratulating you to remind you why you do the job in the first place.
To read a write up of the ISBA conference please visit: https://members.theisba.org.uk/member-tools/news/2015/conference-2015-reflection.aspx
