LEADERSHIP in association with
www.usethekey.org.uk
With a new year
upon us, deputy
head Paul
Ainsworth
discusses how you lead
your team and differing
styles of leadership
HE START of the new academic year
T
presents us all with an opportunity to
reconsider the way we perform our
roles in schools by asking ourselves
the question, how can we do it better?
You might think about your
behaviour management techniques,
the way you use your interactive whiteboard, and, if you
are a middle or senior leader, how you lead your team?
You could log onto Amazon and buy yourself
a leadership book, check out the National College
for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services A new
(formerly NCSL) website and read an article there,
or maybe read on and think which of these leadership
styles you would like to use or develop this year.
This article looks at four leadership styles: heroic,
laissez-faire, transactional, and transformational.
Perhaps while reading you might consider which styles
either you or your colleagues currently use.
Heroic leadership year’s
Heroic leadership is immediately recognisable and we
may well have worked with people who display these
traits. These are the leaders who rule by the authority of
their hierarchical position and we tend to think of these
characters as the headteacher. (No More Heroes, Issue
220, July 9, 2009).
However, there are many middle leaders who also
use this style. There can be a temptation to announce to
leader
staff that a certain course of action is what we are going
to do, especially if you have the backing of the senior
leadership team – an example of heroic leadership.
You may have analysed the situation perfectly and
conducted reading on the situation. The solution may You may become instantly aware of this if a group team support at the beginning of the process but this be very difficult to persuade senior leaders to support
even be the best one on offer, but when delivered in of middle leaders or teachers mutiny against one of can disappear at such a point. This can be particularly this proposal.
such a style it is unlikely to work to its full potential. your proposals. You may have had senior leadership frustrating if you have observed other colleagues present
initiatives in a similar style where these conflicts have
Transformational leadership
not arisen. The transformational style of leadership has received
Leadership: Key issues
However, as one of my colleagues commented: much positive research in recent years. People who
“Heroic leaders are memorable but hard to emulate as exhibit this leadership style often have a strong set of
any teacher knows who has tried to copy the classroom values and ideals and use these to motivate people to
What are functional skills and when will they be
management style of a revered colleague and failed work with them.
miserably, only to experience success in an independent What makes transformational leadership more
introduced nationally?
way.” accessible is that it can be broken into four groups
You may be luckier and are working with a member (Bass & Avolio cited in PG Northouse’s, Leadership:
of staff similar to those of one colleague who famously Theory and Practice, 2007), sometimes known as the
FUNCTIONAL SKILLS are those skills which we • The complexity of situations and activities. said: “Just tell us what to do and we’ll do it!” However, four “I”s, and you may find that one of these fits with
use every day out in the big wide world, specifically • The technical demand associated with these in the long term, such initiatives are unlikely to survive your personality more closely than the others.
relating to English, maths and ICT. activities. in this climate, especially if you move roles. The first is idealised influence: leaders who use
The Department for Children, Schools and • A learner’s level of familiarity with the task or their charisma to act as strong role models so that
Families (DCSF) sees them as “vital in development activity.
Laissez-faire leadership
others wish to follow them. You may be one of those
of effective communication, presentation, team- • The level of independence with which a learner If you do get your fingers burnt when introducing a legendary teachers in the staffroom with excellent pupil
working, and problem-solving in any context”. can complete the activity. proposal, you may be advised that the answer is to discipline and it might be these characteristics which
‘
The most important change that Healthy
Included are presentation skills, using the The DCSF is continuing to work with the exams consult staff. You take on the advice, consult and find your colleagues recognise and so want to become a part
internet for research, setting a personal budget, and regulator Ofqual and others on ways to improve the there is no apparent consensus. of your success.
understanding weights and measures. assessment of functional skills within the GCSE, so In such circumstances, it is easy to take a laissez- The second is inspirational motivation, where a
Schools has achieved has been an increased
The intention is to introduce functional skills as that a more integrated approach to assessing what faire attitude and just allow colleagues to get on with leader communicates their high expectations to others.
part of reforming the secondary curriculum over the every child can do is possible. their own thing. The problem that can arise is that Perhaps you are the teacher who can deliver really high
recognition and wider understanding of the
next few years. you compensate for a lack of organised approach and quality training sessions to staff that inspire them.
They will be incorporated into the
Timetable for introduction
replace it with lots of your own work. The third is intellectual stimulation, where the leader
important links between health and attainment
new GCSEs, Diplomas, Foundation September 2009: Specifications for One example is the middle leader who runs a uses creative and innovative ideas to challenge the
’
Learning Tier, and Apprenticeships. functional English, maths and ICT whole gamut of extra-curricular revision sessions when beliefs of others. It may be that your greatest strength
They will also be available as standalone qualifications and reformed they perceive their team is not doing the best for the is your ability to research proposals and then develop a
standalone qualifications for young GCSEs (incorporating functional skills) children. While you are providing opportunities for the logical process of improvement.
people and adults. to be issued to schools, colleges, work- children, this is a bolt-on method and is only sustainable If this is the case, do not rush to tell your colleagues
The DCSF anticipates that schools based and adult providers. through your own personal efforts and is likely to be the proposals, but instead take your time to explain why
will incorporate the teaching of November 2009: Final regulatory unsustainable by the school as a whole upon your they have been developed and what evidence you have
these skills into normal lessons. The criteria scheduled to be published by promotion or absence. found to indicate they will be a success.
assumption will be made that students Ofqual in early November. The final behaviour is individualised consideration.
achieving higher GCSE grades will, in September 2010: Functional English,
Transactional leadership
This describes the leader who provides a supportive
practice, have demonstrated functional maths and ICT, and reformed GCSEs Another solution is to look for a reward that you may climate and listens carefully to those they are trying
skills at Level 2. available nationally. be able to offer staff to support you in your leadership. to lead. You may recognise that your best method of
August 2011: Results published for Many middle leaders will buy gifts for their team at developing projects is by working with individual staff
The functional skills pilot
the first GCSE cohort taking functional Christmas and the end of the school year, and there or with small groups. As a middle leader you might
A pilot scheme involving 12 awarding bodies began English and ICT. is no doubt that colleagues are always pleased to be try and work with a new teacher to your department,
in September 2007 at 1,000 centres. The pilot August 2012: Results published for the first GCSE thanked for their hard work. or if you are working on a whole-school project you
was recently extended by the Qualifications and cohort taking all three functional qualifications If you are leading a whole-school project, perhaps do not have to rush to develop things with all the staff
Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) to include together – English, maths and ICT. you can gain a budget which you can use to provide but instead chip away at individuals with the aim of
the academic year 2009/10, and it is planned that the September 2012: Sixteen-year-olds with functional some funding for subject areas which support your reaching a critical mass of advocates which then creates
reformed GCSEs and functional skills qualifications English, maths and ICT proceed to further learning or initiative. This is a practical example of transactional a tipping point for a change of whole-school ethos and
will be available nationally from September 2010. enter the workforce. leadership. culture.
The QCDA website has very comprehensive The realities are though that such a budget is likely
support materials available for schools including • Answer by Fe McKerrell, a specialist curriculum to be small and hence will not persuade your more
Conclusion
draft criteria, a guide on using the standards, and researcher with The Key, a national guidance and recalcitrant colleagues to support you. In addition, those Leadership is one of the most fascinating aspects of
assessment principles. support service for school leaders in maintained who do work with you would have been likely to have a promoted teacher’s role. There are certainly some
schools in England. The service provides tailor- done so anyway. individuals who are born leaders just as there are
Testing functional skills
made, practical answers to questions on all aspects If the monetary exchange does influence some natural teachers, but many of us have to work on these
Skills will be tested at Entry Level, Level 1 and Level of school leadership and management. This answer individuals, it is unlikely to do so in the long term. One skills and the new school year is one of the best times
2 of the qualification framework. The QCDA says was generated after a query from a school leader in of the most powerful rewards that you can offer staff is to do so! SecEd
that the level of functional skill recognised will be Wiltshire. For more information or to activate a free the time to develop a piece of work. However, as we
determined by: trial membership, visit www.usethekey.org.uk all know, time off timetable is one of the most precious • Paul Ainsworth is the deputy head of Belvoir High
commodities in a school, and as a middle leader it can School in Leicestershire.
SecEd • September 10 2009 13
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