Reflections on school leadership

In three years at The Future Leaders Trust (TFLT) I have been fortunate to visit scores of “challenging” schools and to work with hundreds of inspirational school leaders. Each has brought their own experiences and perspective, but all have been united by a shared commitment to transforming schools and closing the achievement gap – a commitment I will always share. As I leave TFLT to take up post as Director of Southwark Teaching School Alliance, I can think of no better tribute to the incredible leaders I've worked with than to capture and share some of what they’ve taught me. There are no great revelations here. As is often said, improving schools isn’t rocket science; it’s about simple things done consistently and well. The challenge is that that simple isn’t necessarily easy! Lesson 1: Great leadership starts with a compelling vision and values The most powerful leaders are driven by a moral purpose and passion that recognises and addresses the needs and aspirations of every ch...

Superman fans may recall the scene where the pant-sporting hero flies up to catch Lois Lane as she falls from a skyscraper. He reassures the distressed damsel, “Easy, miss. I’ve got you.” Lane stammers “You – you’ve got me? Who’s got you?” I’ve been wondering the same about multi-academy trust (MAT) boards. Since becoming a trustee in the autumn, I’ve been trying to understand how accountability for pupil outcomes flows through the MAT and how the Standards Committee I chair fits in. I was lucky to join a trust that had recently undertaken a governance review and already had a clear scheme of delegation, but the visual learner in me needed to see it in diagram form to really understand it. It’s taken us a few months, but a diagram now exists which shows a ‘golden thread’ of accountability from headteachers to the board of trustees. I would urge anyone involved in MAT governance to attempt this task, as the process led us to some useful streamlining and refinement of ro...

Our boys don't need Carnegie Library. We've been going since they were babies enjoying Wriggle and Rhyme, but they could probably live without it. Our shelves are bursting with books which they devour at such a rate that we've had to get a Kindle as well. We also have a variety of ways to connect to the internet, and a computer and quiet space for homework. We are lucky. Other children and families are not as lucky. I'm acutely aware of this because throughout my career I have worked with some of the country's most deprived schools, including a number in Lambeth. For some of the children in these schools, homes are filled not with books, but with chaos. It can be difficult for these children to find a quiet space to read, think and do school work, or an adult with the time and inclination to encourage them to do so. Sometimes home is not a safe place to be, the lives of those in them blighted by abuse, violence and addiction. That is why libraries, ...

First published on The Future Leaders Trust Insights blog on 13 November 2015 (no longer available). Generation Culture , a new campaign to improve creative and cultural education for pupil premium children in London is asking schools to “do just one thing” to boost their cultural offer. I’m not convinced that doing “just one thing” is enough. The Chair of A New Direction (AND), Maggie Atkinson argues, “cultural education is a right not a privilege”; but what exactly is cultural education and why is it important?  The definition of cultural education proposed by Darren Henley, Chair of the Arts Council, is a shopping list covering everything from archives to the built environment to dance to museums to poetry to the visual arts (though missing food).  The definition I prefer was offered by Smita Bora of Westminster Academy, who suggested it should be about “generating a love of unfamiliar experiences” (which might be as much about introducing Eton boys to stree...

First published on The Future Leaders Trust Insights blog on 20 October 2015 (no longer available). Yesterday morning, Policy Exchange and ASCL conference hosted a conference on the future of the teaching workforce. I went along because we know from our network of nearly 150 heads and 450 senior leaders – as well as the CEOs we’re working with on our Executive Educators programme – that teacher supply is a huge issue. The shortage is a major disincentive to senior leaders considering headship, especially in rural and coastal areas and contributes to the other (perpetual) “crisis” in the school workforce around the supply of great heads. In our world of high-stakes accountability, a head’s job is dependent on the ability to hire quality teachers – so a shortage in their supply is one more disincentive to taking on headship. The reasons for the shortage of teachers were well-rehearsed at the conference. They include increasing demand from pupil numbers and curriculum change...

First published on The Future Leaders Trust Insights blog on 1 October 2015 (no longer available). In the 2014-15 academic year, 62% of Future Leaders securing primary headship were women, as were 50% of those appointed to secondary headship. Overall, 53% of teachers supported to headship by The Future Leaders Trust were women. This is the first time the proportion of female Future Leaders has been above even 40% and bucks a trend which has historically seen few women in headship positions in the UK. I talked to some of our 2015 Future Leaders female heads to find out how they did it and what advice they would offer to those hoping to follow in their footsteps. Some common themes emerged – around the importance of role models and coaches; adopting explicit confidence-building techniques; drawing on their moral purpose to keep going in the face of setbacks; and the need for a network of family and friends offering practical support with balancing work and family. ...

First published on TFLT Insights blog on 25 September 2015 (no longer available). Schools across the country face the challenge of student behaviour on a daily basis – yet we still hold on to old-fashioned preconceptions of who can manage the problems in our schools. I recently visited two Future Leaders who have just taken up headships in challenging secondary schools in the North East. In their first couple of weeks, both have focused on raising expectations around pupil behaviour. Neither has done anything revolutionary; they have chosen first to enforce the behaviour policies already in place. Rigorously and consistently. Every day. And they are already considering how to further raise expectations from there. The impact is already evident on pupils and staff alike. Both schools were calm and pupils clearly knew what was expected of them, even if they weren’t yet meeting some of those expectations without prodding. Staff were positive about the change of atmosphere, a pr...