Reflections on school leadership

Last night I had the privilege of attending an event to celebrate the recruitment of the first cohort of exceptional heads and deputies to the Talented Leaders programme , which will place 100 headteachers in the areas and schools which most need them. It was an auspicious affair, hosted by the Deputy Prime Minister and Schools Minister in the elegant surroundings of Lancaster House. The event was significant in itself, recognising the contribution great leadership can make to bettering the lives of children and communities who may otherwise miss out. Also significant was the fact that it wasn’t even the only school leadership event of the night, never mind the week. Ian Bauckham, Immediate Past President of ASCL, and Deputy General Secretary, Malcolm Trobe, arrived at the Talented Leaders event fresh from the parliamentary reception where ASCL had launched their Blueprint for a Self-improving School System . It calls for school leaders to be given the autonomy to use their profess...

Being the head of a school that serves a disadvantaged area demands many skills, such as the ability to develop staff and secure great pedagogy. But how will refining business skills – typically the servant of profit – help children, especially poor children, learn more? Changes to the education landscape, started under Labour and accelerated by the coalition government, mean that excellence in educational leadership is not always enough on its own for heads and schools to succeed. Heads increasingly need to master the business skills essential to managing autonomous, complex and sometimes resource-strapped organisations. That's why the education leadership charity I work for, The Future Leaders Trust, recently started offering members of its Headship Institute the chance to study for an MBA. The aim is to provide some stretch for those a few years into headship, preparing to step up to executive headship, or who are already there. Systems leadership Last year I spent an ...

Working for The Future Leaders Trust, I’m more used to mixing with the education twitterati than the TV-presenting celeberati. So, one of the more unusual things that happened to me in 2014 was being told by BBC sports presenter Gabby Logan (on twitter) to “loosen up”. This after I questioned whether commenting on what the World Cup-winning England women’s rugby team were wearing on BBC Sports Personality of the Year was an appropriate response to their incredible sporting success. For me – and presumably for the judging panel who awarded them team of year – the fact that they were in identical outfits was not the thing that made captain Katy McLean and her team-mates stand out. What made them amazing was winning the rugby World Cup for the first time in 20 years, while also holding down jobs in a range of professions, including teaching. That was what they should have been complimented on; not their wardrobe selection. Yet we know that in education also, too many governors wh...