LEADERSHIP
Who are you looking for?
Are you thinking
about your
recruitment
needs for
September? Margaret
Adams offers some key
questions to ask yourself
as you embark on this
process
he SUmmeR term may barely
T
be underway, but you are probably
already thinking about your school’s
staffing needs for September.
Perhaps you are also thinking
what you will do if certain people
resign before the end of may. You
may even have got as far as thinking about which
posts you intend to respecify, which posts you might
like to amalgamate, and where you probably need to
create new jobs.
as you start to formulate jobs and job descriptions
– even if you are only doing so in your head at the
moment – are you also thinking about the people you
will be looking for to fill the posts?
are you thinking about the person specifications
that will sit alongside each of those job descriptions
you are working on, and how these specifications are
changing, just as the jobs you are recruiting for are
changing? it is a good idea if you are.
You have probably been looking to recruit team
players, good communicators, and people who
understand the world beyond education for quite Communicating with local residents about the
some time, because you recognise the value of impact of your new build on the quality of their
Taking the lead: HTI
these abilities, and you know they are often in short lives and on the value of their homes requires a
supply. different approach to communication, and different
however, have you considered if you need even communications skills than those often needed in
more of your staff to have these abilities in the future? classroom situations.
Use the following questions to help you to decide. do your staff have these skills? do they have a track
CPD that really counts
record of using them effectively?
Do we need more team players?
as you think about your staffing needs, consider
Years ago, heads tended to look for talented individuals, how many of your staff are comfortable with a variety of
Anne Evans
does present a compelling case not just for CPd, but
CPd which makes a difference where it counts.
experts and subject specialists first, and for people who approaches to communication and are also comfortable
could work well in a team later. communicating with different groups, especially groups
says that in these
Now let me present you with another set of
statistics from one of the world’s leading electronics
This approach made a lot of sense. The majority of outside school. does your review lead you to believe and entertainment companies. The top 10 in-demand
teachers worked alone, behind the closed doors of their that you need more good communicators?
challenging times,
jobs in 2010 would not have existed in 2004. The
classrooms, teaching their discipline. Working well in a amount of new technical information is doubling
team was a desirable element of the job, but it was by Do we need more people who are familiar
no means essential.
cutting back on CPD is a
every two years. This means that half of what
students learn in the first year of a technical degree
Today things are different. Schools looking for new
with the world beyond education?
staff are just as likely to be looking for people who can do you currently have enough people who are familiar false economy
will be out-of-date by the time they graduate.
The message for all educators is that you are
lead, motivate and direct teams, or work well within a with working environments beyond those found in preparing young people for jobs that don’t yet exist,
team – as in any large organisation. school? The media have made depressing reading over using technologies that haven’t been invented to solve
School leaders know that delivering the modern Setting up and managing diploma programmes, for recent weeks, not just because of the global financial problems we don’t yet know are problems. So as
curriculum requires teachers to be able to deliver their example, entails developing a good working knowledge crisis, or the fact that the UK is caught in the grips of well as impacting on the quality of teaching to make
subject, work as part of a team of specialists, and of relevant industry sectors. developing teaching and the worst recession for decades, but because of a raft a difference to young people, CPd must also take
complement the efforts of other teachers, so they look learning interventions on such programmes requires of alarming statistics highlighting too many ways in account of a future that has never been less certain.
out for these abilities when they recruit. teachers to have the ability to produce work-orientated which we are failing our children and young people. in difficult economic times, when budgets and
as you review your staffing, think about the assignments and work-focused programmes. Can Now i know that the media have a tendency to resources are under pressure, it’s not surprising that
current spread of these abilities. do you have people enough of your staff do this? What are the implications latch onto the negative, but the message delivered by the outcomes from teacher learning should come
working in all parts of your school who have a track of your analysis? the combination of these statistics cannot be ignored. under intense scrutiny. it would be a big mistake,
record of effective team-working or a predisposition to do you need to employ more people who have We had news from the Child Poverty action however, to cut back on CPd. it’s a false economy.
collaborative working? worked in industry or in the areas of the public sector Group that Britain is one of the worst places in as well as being key to excellent teaching, it’s
if you find there are gaps in the availability of relevant to the programmes you are offering? do europe to be a child. Our country came in 24th of 29 also a strong motivator both in terms of retention and
these skills, you may need to look for more people you need to take on more people who are committed states judged against health, education and housing advancing the teacher’s own development.
who know how to support others, work flexibly, to keeping up-to-date with what is happening in the standards. how can it be, after more than a decade What is crucial is that CPd achieves what it sets
and fit in with other people’s ways of working as particular industries your curriculum addresses? of the “education, education, education” mantra, that out to achieve. Where it works really well is when
you begin to recruit for September 2009. in other do you need to find more teachers who can the UK finished so low in education? Why do we still CPd is linked seamlessly to the school improvement
words you may find you need to look for more team work comfortably with people from the sectors and have so many young people dropping out of school planning framework, performance management and
players. specialisms relevant to the work-focused elements and failing to get jobs despite? school context. The whole local community profile
of your programmes? do you need to seek out more Linked to these findings is the news that record can have an influence on attainment and achievement
Do we need more good communicators?
people who can help to bring your school and the world levels of young people are not in employment, and this is where extended schools also play their
it is acknowledged that teachers are good at of work closer? education or training. This situation is hardly likely part in driving CPd priorities. CPd cannot exist in
communication. They spend their lives working with a to improve as the country struggles through the isolation. dipping in and out of courses that take
range of communications media so, of course, teachers
Conclusion
recession. in the meantime, the cost to taxpayers, and the teacher’s fancy is a fast way to waste CPd
communicate effectively. in the end, the answers to these questions are likely to the life chances of these young people, is immense as investment. The same applies to CPd where there
however, there are lots of different types of be based on simple calculations. how many people they drift from scheme to scheme failing to get proper is no attempt to measure the impact. Time must be
communication and many different types of audiences with the skills outlined here do you need? Where in qualifications and skills. The prospects for children in allowed to evaluate what has actually changed as a
that people in schools now need to communicate your school hierarchy do you need those skills? do you care are even bleaker, with over 50 per cent of looked- result of CPd investment.
with. Therefore, a wider range of communications have enough people with the right skills in the right after children leaving school with no qualifications. it took a long time for the importance of CPd to
abilities is needed in schools today than in the past, places right now? Then we hear from the institute of Fiscal Studies be recognised in the teaching profession. it is now
and increasing numbers of your staff need to possess Take the opportunity to think about which of the that bright children from poor homes are failing to widely available. The challenge, in these difficult
these abilities. skills considered here you believe you will need more get into university because of underperforming state times, is to channel it in ways that ensure every child
do you have enough people who can communicate of in September 2009. Then, when you come to recruit schools, rather than class bias. benefits from the best possible quality of teaching
well with adults – not just parents, but with the local new staff in the summer you are more likely to be and finally, children taught by the worst teachers and thus confine these statistics to history.
community, local employers, the local press, and the clear about the expertise you need, and who you are get at least a grade lower pass mark at GCSe than
various departments in the local authority? do you looking for. SecEd those taught by the best, according to the Royal • Anne Evans OBE is chief executive of HTI, an
have enough people who can adopt different styles of economic Society. it’s not really rocket science is it? independent social enterprise working to develop
communication and match their ability to communicate • Margaret Adams is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute Nevertheless, alongside the rest of these findings it exceptional school leaders. Email a.evans@hti.org.uk
with the expectations of different adult groups? of Personnel and Development and a former teacher.
SecEd • May 7 2009 13
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