Leadership challenges facing the school system 2 February 2006

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Leadership challenges facing the school
system2 February 2006
Steve Munby Chief Executive National College for
School Leadership
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The state of school leadership in England
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The leadership of the headteacher was deemed to
be excellent/very good in 60 of secondary
schools, 57 of special schools and 48 of
primary schools. The Annual Report of Her
Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools
2004/2005
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Q Which, if any, of the following professions
do you think provide particularly good examples
of leadership?
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...the challenge of dealing with some persistent
weaknesses in our education system - such as the
underachievement of many of our most vulnerable
young people and the variation in standards
achieved from one school to another - should not
be underestimated. HMCI Annual Report
2004/2005
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• Too many schools still failed to appoint a new
  headteacher after their first advertisement the
  position, especially for secondary schools, has
  deteriorated significantly during 2005. In all
  sectors, the ratio of re-advertisements to
  advertisements exceeded 33 for the first time
  for all sectors.
• Howson Report 2006

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The vision and key leadership challenges

• The implications of the Children Act the
  balance between the standards agenda and the
  whole child agenda
• System leadership developing capacity within
  the school and leadership beyond the school
• Sustainability and succession planning
• Leading a school in the 21st century
• Relentlessness, complexity and accountability

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Challenge One
The implications of the Children Act - the
balance between the standards agenda and the
whole child agenda
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• In the past being a head was like playing
  football I knew my place on the pitch, I
  understood the rules and knew what I had to do
  now its like orienteering, you dont know either
  of these things so you have to rely on your wits
  and on other people.
• It is scary, but under the surface its actually
  what we are interested in.
• Two headteachers, ContinYou/NCSL conference 6,
  London

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Key challenges as identified by schools

• Community
• Defining community need and establishing the
  school at the heart of the community
• Inter-school Collaboration
• Purposeful collaboration and networking with
  schools
• Multi-agency Partnership
• Collaboration with cross sector agencies the
  childrens professional
• Sustainability
• Ensuring sustainability through
  entrepreneurship, local political acumen,
  capacity building, governance, accountability
  and the demonstration of impact.

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Challenge Two
System leadership developing capacity within
the school and leadership beyond the school
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• Without an effective headteacher, a school is
  unlikely to have a culture of high expectations,
  or strive for continuous improvement. It will
  probably not undertake the kind of honest
  self-evaluation that would help it to identify
  and tackle emerging problems. Schools are
  vulnerable where a formerly good headteacher
  becomes less effective over time, or where a
  strong head teacher leaves the school without
  having developed a confident and effective
  leadership team that can lead the school while a
  new headteacher is recruited and settles in.
• Improving poorly performing schools in England
• National Audit Office, 2006

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Leading challenging Schools

• We will ensure that high quality programmes are
  taken forward by the College, working in
  partnership where appropriate with the National
  Strategies, to develop the leaders of our most
  complex and challenging schools those facing
  multiple disadvantage, Academies and in
  federations.
• We will encourage the growth of federations and
  other partnership arrangements which ensure our
  most successful school leaders are used to best
  effect and are able to support our less
  successful schools.

Higher Standards, Better Schools For All
October 2005
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Developing school leaders into national leaders
8.30 The National College for School Leadership
is already undertaking a radical revision of the
existing leadership development programmes to
ensure every school leader benefits from more
tailored provision to fit their current and
future needs. 8.31 In addition, we will ask the
College to identify, with the help of a range of
partners, a new group of national leaders of
education, drawn from those who are succeeding in
our most challenging leadership
roles. 8.32 These top headteachers will work
closely with the College to influence the
direction and targeting of leadership provision
across the school system. They will also be able
to advise Ministers on the future direction of
education policy on the basis of their expert
experience.
Higher Standards, Better Schools For All
October 2005
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Challenge Three
Sustainability, succession planning and growing
tomorrows leaders
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• The majority of headteachers are positive about
  their leadership role nine in ten say they feel
  confident in what they do and enjoy it (91).
• Follow-Up Research into the State of School
  Leadership in England
• MORI Social Research Institute (2005)

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Leading challenging Schools

• 8.26 We will help existing school leaders to
  bring on the next generation that will succeed
  them. We will look to the National College to
  help schools make more effective succession
  planning arrangements and to work with governor
  associations and other key partners, including
  local authorities, to develop advice to governors
  on recruitment, selection and succession
  planning.
• 8.27  And we are recasting the fast-track
  programme as a leadership development programme
  for serving teachers

Higher Standards, Better Schools For All
October 2005
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A new mix amongst school leaders

• 8.28 We will support schools who wish to bring in
  a much wider field of professionals. That will
  enable people with expertise in, for example,
  human resources, estates management, or finance,
  to contribute to the strategic and operational
  direction of the school and its effective and
  efficient administration.
• 8.29 We shall develop clearer career paths within
  the school system for talented administrative and
  other staff from a non-teaching background. We
  will work with our partners on how we can support
  more minority ethnic teachers to become school
  leaders and ensure mainstream leadership
  programmes address issues for black and minority
  ethnic pupils more centrally.

Higher Standards, Better Schools For All
October 2005
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Challenge Four
Leading a school in the 21st century.
Relentlessness, complexity and accountability.

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Headteachers

• are now teaching fewer regular timetables lessons
  (55) and spend significantly more time coaching
  colleagues (54) than they were three years ago
  (62 and 30 respectively).
• perceive the greatest changes in recent years to
  have been
• increased administrative demands
• a greater emphasis on assessment of performance
• a greater dispersal of responsibilities within
  leadership teams.
• Follow-Up Research into the State of School
  Leadership in England
• MORI Social Research Institute (2005)

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And its best if you know a good thing is going
to happen, like an eclipse or getting a
microscope for Christmas. And its bad if you
know a bad thing is going to happen, like having
a filling or going to France. But I think it is
worst if you dont know whether it is a good
thing or a bad thing which is going to
happen. Mark Haddon The Curious Incident of
the Dog in the Night-Time
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• By being an effective gatekeeper

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• By working collaboratively with others

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• By holding on to our moral purpose a
  relentless focus on ensuring the
  best outcomes for the children and young people

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• By maintaining a sense of unfailing optimism

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• By taking some risks and being prepared to make
  mistakes

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• We cannot wait for great visions from great
  leaders, for they are in short supply We must
  learn to light our own small fires in the
  darkness.
• Charles Handy

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The Role of the National College for School
Leadership
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The distinct College Focuses on core business.
Clear moral purpose. Everyone knows what it
stands for.
The self-evaluating College Focusing on outcomes
and welcoming external challenge.
Our College Much greater school ownership.
Inclusive. Collaborative in style.
Overall vision for the College
The responsive College Flexible in approach.
Commissioning. Connecting theory with practical
realities. Personalisation.
The National College Leading edge and informing
future policy and practice.
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Michelangelo once said Sculpture is a
wonderful thing. Inside every piece of stone is a
beautiful statue all you have to do is to get
rid of all the stuff that is in the way.