We Need Brave Leadership For Our Difficult Times

Covid shouldn’t be blamed for everything.

We must be careful not to assume everything pre-pandemic was sweetness and light. Of course, there was much to celebrate and admire, but equally there were many things causing concern.

At Independent Thinking we have been posing questions about the best direction for our schools for many years. We do not have magical answers – and beware those who say they do – but we have always believed that not to question the way education is arranged is a dangerous complacency. It is all the more dangerous when it justified by the fact that it used to work in the past.

We have found that one of the best things we can do to help school find the right direction is to ask the right sorts of questions. Back in 2016, our CEO & founder Ian Gilbert wrote these provocations for a group of school leaders that I was working with. See what you think when you apply them to your school:

Provocations

• Can the best school have the worst results?
• Do you have to have been a teacher to be a school leader?
• Do you have to have been a good teacher to be a good school leader?
• Are good teachers born not made?
• Is it OK to help a student get an A in a subject even though, in doing so, you kill off that student’s love of that subject?
• Is teaching from a script acceptable?
• Should teaching from a script be compulsory if it gets better exam results?
• What are they learning while you’re teaching them?
• What is the purpose of education?
• What is the purpose of school?
• If the two answers are different, how do you reconcile that?
• Is there a place for learning technologies in school?
• If you have to choose between rejecting learning technologies because they don’t fit the school model or changing the school model, which would you choose?
• Should schools be measured on the quality of the adult they produce, years after they have left school?
• If a student gets a string of top grades but then goes onto have mental health issues at university, has that student been let down by his or her school?
• Do you agree that primary teachers teach children and secondary teachers teach subjects?
• Do your A grade students get their grades because of you or despite you?
• If all my D-grade students get Cs and so do my B-grade students, am I due a performance-related raise?
• Is ‘Don’t smile till Christmas’ sound advice to give a new teacher?
• Can you be an effective teacher if you don’t really like children?
• Should schools have a zero-tolerance behaviour policy towards all children?
• Should behaviour policies be differentiated for young people in the way that learning can be?
• Should we have a Relationship Tsar instead of a Behaviour Tsar?
• Is it a school’s job to get young people to think?
• Is it a school’s job to get young people to not think?
• Is it anyone’s interests having young people thinking for themselves?
• Could it be argued that the child who does what they are told with the least resistance is the most useful to that school and the least useful to the planet?
• Do you think that teaching is more of a science than an art?
• Is failing school the best thing some children can do?
• Should the Rs of reading, writing and arithmetic be replaced, as Sugata Mitra suggests might be useful, with the three Cs of comprehension, communication and calculation?
• Does a chid fail school or does the school fail the child?
• Is a national curriculum better than a local curriculum?
• Should there be a global curriculum?
• Is the same amount learned as is taught and, if not, can you explain the difference?
• Is ‘efficiency’ the worst possible goal for education?
• Why do they need a teacher when they’ve got Google?

These were valid questions long before the world heard of Covid. They ask us to consider what we believe is important for our school system. In the answer to these provocations lies the skeleton of a new, more relevant educational system.

Even though the underlying issues highlighted by these questions remain, the challenges in our schools have become even more acute and increasingly packed with a toxic mix resentment and anger too.

The evidence I am seeing from working with school leaders from a variety of backgrounds and phases of education is that questions of this nature have been ‘parked’ while we recover from the global crisis. I suggest this is a very dangerous course of action. I get it and I understand it – we are all exhausted and simply trying to survive each day – but ignoring the problems that were there before cannot be an option and will be a missed opportunity if we let it happen.

Post Pandemic

During the pandemic school leaders have been called on to fill a vital community role. They have often been required to become experts in;

• delivering digital content
• in procuring hardware (and software) for their families to use
• in administering Covid tests
• in managing bubbles and social distancing
• in trying to explain government policy on assessment & isolation
• in trying to fit a diminished number of teachers into an already stretched timetable

Is it any wonder that when I look into the eyes of many school leaders, I see a deep and desperate weariness?

“Ask the Head, they’ll know” echoes around the corridors of schools across the world. Yet why should you know? Which part of your NPQH or MA helped you decide what constitutes a keyworker? Or the effectiveness of wearing a face mask to reduce the spread of infection?

I have spoken with several Heads recently who have reported that their staff now seem to have different expectations and needs to those they had pre-pandemic. I have heard the terms ‘dependent’ and ‘needy’ used by Heads in relation to some staff in their school. Is this really a surprise? Headteachers have had to fill an information void, and thus have become the ‘giver’ of facts and instructions.

During these challenging two years, staff have looked to their leadership team to provide the answers. In doing so the role of many heads has shifted. Some of the maturity of leadership has disappeared. Rather than staff expecting to be part of finding a solution to any problem, it seems like they now expect someone else to decide what they should do.

As a result, I believe we face a monumental task over the coming five years. Not only do we need to continue the debate about what type of education will best suit the needs of our young people over the coming decades, we also need to reignite the passions and motivation of our staff.

Next Steps

There is real danger in focusing on the concept of ‘Catch-up’ as often espoused by politicians. It implies we are on a race with a clear destination in mind and a more accurate metaphor might be trying to follow old breadcrumbs through an overgrown forest. Before we try to ‘catch-up’ shouldn’t we all agree where we are going? It is vital that we do not allow ourselves (or our staff) to become obsessed with getting back to where we were.

The good news is that I believe we can address both the issue of an out-of-date education system and a need to reignite the passions of those working in our schools at the same time.

Start by looking at the notes from your last leadership team meeting. Does it deserve the title ‘Leadership’ Team? Would a more accurate descriptor be Management Team? Did you spend much of your meeting planning class bubbles, examination preparation and curriculum ‘delivery’? Do not be over critical on yourself if this description matches your school. Of course these things need to be done, but we do need to consider if it is the best use of your time?

I would suggest your team is most efficient when it lifts its gaze from the short-term issues to the long-term direction needed for the young people in your school. A good starting point is to get a photograph of the youngest student in your school and place it on the table at the centre of your meeting. Let’s call that student Sam. What do you want for Sam? What skills will most benefit Sam in adult life? What attitudes and traits will help Sam succeed in the challenging world ahead? What would constitute essential learning for Sam?

When you have this list of skills for Sam, widen the conversation amongst your school staff, with the governors and parents in the school. Start to clarify & express the community vision for the school system in their area.

This must become the absolute focus for your school. Any other government objectives and initiatives must take second place to this community vision.

You are probably answering, “we did all this 5 years ago – we have other more pressing things to focus on now”. I would argue nothing should be higher priority than this. Even if the process was thoughtfully done in the past, the likelihood is that the practicalities of dealing with a pandemic have hidden that good work. Look at your values statement, whether it’s on your web page or your shiny printed brochure. What does it say your school is all about? Do you honestly feel this is reflected in current day-to-day practice?

How many words are in this values summary? Have you, like many schools, had a values session with your staff and ended up with a long list of statements/words, the first letters of which spell out the name of your school? I have seen many of these, most of which make a superb backdrop to the direction of the school but they all suffer from a basic problem – we find it difficult to easily remember more than three things. When I ask a headteacher what their school is all about and they reach for a piece of paper, or start spelling their mission out on their fingers, I know there is little chance these fine words will be truly embedded with the staff and students.

I am not proposing that you destroy all the hard work you undertook to produce your statement of values, but I do suggest you try to summarise it in three words, values, attitudes or skills. You can describe this as your ‘way of being’ – a simple summary of the three key aims for the school. Involve the whole school in this process, the staff, governors and pupils. But do not be tempted to produce a long list to keep everyone happy. In the end, you must decide on the three words that you will use every day to describe the journey you are on. These three words become the focus for reigniting your vision for the school.

Embedding

Once you have your three words share them, share them and share them again. Make it clear these are your ‘heart’ words. You can not overuse these. Have them displayed at the school entrance, in the corridors and even outside if possible. They are far more useful than an ‘Outstanding’ banner! Use them in every briefing and every meeting. Reward staff and students for demonstrating the identified traits. Use the words when you need to discourage unwanted behaviours (of students and staff). For example, if a student barges past another in the corridor, call them over, touch the appropriate word on the nearest poster and point out “That isn’t ……. is it?”. A member of staff is spreading rumours, use the poster of your ‘way of being’ as the third participant in the conversation. Ask them to reflect on their behaviour and how it fits with the three words stated in the vision. “Isn’t this what we agreed we wanted for our school?” is usually all you need to say.

Don’t underestimate the importance of the embedding process. Referencing the vision words again and again is the best way to keep them in focus. When staff are allowed to believe that the keywords are just for show, they will lose trust in the leadership. Low levels of trust will usually result in far more serious outcomes.

In Summary

Heads across the world have done an amazing job trying to keep their communities safe during the challenges of the pandemic. I understand totally why many of them may feel they deserve a rest (which of course they do). However, I believe now is the time for school leaders to be central to the conversations about the next stage of the journey. We must not allow ourselves to the pawns in the plans of others. We should be encouraging everyone to remember what they want their school to achieve and to believe education is the solution and not the problem.

About the Author

Dave Harris is an educational consultant who has been the Client Response Lead for independent Thinking since his retirement from full-time work in school. Dave was a headteacher for over 12 years working across all phases of education, spending most of his career working with communities in areas of high deprivation. He is also a part-time member of staff at the Nottingham based, award winning alternative provision; Stone Soup Academy.