PROFILE
Three years ago, the government looked to
develop an online service that schools leaders
could use to answer their questions only for
the credit crunch to strike and the project
to be abandoned. However, Fergal Roche, a former
headteacher, did not give in. Susan Elkin explains
heN iT comes to leadership, Ten lifestyle Management, however, has negotiated
W
the fast-talking 40-something the right to run it as an independent service. and it
Fergal Roche is a man shows every sign of being a success.
worth listening to, not least around 2,000 english schools are subscribers – a
because of his impressively figure which has doubled in the last six months – and
diverse CV. around 70 new ones are signing up every week. The
he was head of service is accessed 4,500 times per week.
Northbourne Park in Kent, where he had taught english, The Key works closely with organisations such
and then of St andrew’s School in eastbourne. as ofsted, the Training and Development agency for
he left the latter in 2002 when he became education School, the General Teaching Council for england, the
strategy and services director for GeMS, the large Specialist Schools and academies Trust, the teaching
international chain of private schools headed by Sunny unions and almost any other education body which has
Varkey with 12 schools in england. Two years later he information and expertise relating to teaching, learning
was business development director of BT’s education and managing schools, including SecEd.
Key
and Skills division. it is also in partnership with many local authorities
Today Mr Roche is managing director of The Key, including Tower hamlets, Shropshire, east Sussex,
the education division of Ten lifestyle Management Somerset and more because often a policy developed
which alex Cheatle and andrew long founded in by a local authority can help a school leader with a
1998. problem in another part of the country.
Mr Roche has 16 staff working directly under So how does The Key actually work?
his leadership while services such iT and finance are “a school leader whose school is registered asks a
to
shared with the company’s other two divisions. question online although his or her name and the name
The Key is an independent service which supports of the school is never published,” explains Mr Roche.
school leaders by providing practical, researched “if the question is answered by one of the 1,900
answers to questions as wide ranging as “how do i cope articles already written then we direct the questioner
with an outbreak of headlice?” to “what is in the latest to it. if it’s a question new to us then we produce an
White Paper and how will it affect my school?” answer within three days.”
success?
The Key launched in 2007 as a Department for of course, as i listen to all this i wonder whether
Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) project managed The Key lives up to Mr Roche’s hype. The DCSF
by Ten lifestyle Management until March 2009. dropped it, after all.
Then, having been developed, piloted and evaluated, When i get home i impartially try out some of those Going it alone: Despite the government giving it up, Fergal Roche has kept faith in The Key
it fell foul of credit crunch related public spending cuts 1,900 articles whose content subscribers can browse as
and for the want of a mere £5 million or so – a fleabite well as asking new questions. learning, Pupils and Parents, admin and Management, – according to a survey of 1,000 subscribers to The
in government terms – The Key was axed. The main headings are Staff, Curriculum and and School improvement. i click on Pupils and Parents Key carried out last year by FDS independent Market
which takes me to more headings from which i choose Research.
Pupil-led initiatives, thence to Pupil Voice where i find Tellingly, The Key’s iT people can see who is
Union address: NUT
eight articles. accessing the service and when. Too many school
i read the one answering this question posed by a leaders are using the site, asking questions and studying
medium-sized urban secondary school in the east of answers around midnight – a clear sign of the workload
It is time for a change
england: “how can we gather student perceptions of and stress in this profession – although the commonest
individual departments?” time is between 2pm and 3pm.
The answer briefly describes departmental evaluation But how reliable are the answers to the questions?
work by students using online survey websites such as it is, surely, asking a lot to expect a school leader to pin
The NUT and
deprivation on pupil achievement is on average three Yacapaca and Survey Monkey in schools in Suffolk, all his or her faith – and maybe reputation – on a few
times greater than any other type of discrimination Stoke-on-Trent, liverpool and Plymouth – with links hundred words on a website?
NAHT are
experienced. for more information. There are also links to relevant They are written, Mr Roche tells me, by young
Governments now and in the future have to articles in Teaching Expertise and other publications. graduates of very good universities who quickly become
drop their deeply engrained habit of naming and had i needed this information for professional expert researchers. They can pinpoint information fast
balloting for
shaming schools as their principal method of school purposes it would all have been at my finger tips in and assemble it in a user-friendly, jargon-free format
improvement. Parties’ election manifestos should just a few moments, uncluttered by the usual pages of with links to sources and additional material.
industrial action over key
contain the commitment that they will initiate a irrelevant academic verbiage. “our researchers can find the right information far
fundamental, independent review of the way and it is that time-saving element which Mr Roche more readily than the average school leader because
stage 2 SATs. Christine
schools are evaluated on criteria that success should stresses most. research is their area of expertise,” added Ms allan,
be celebrated and any weaknesses targeted with “heads suffer from dreadful information overload who began in the company herself as a researcher. “But
Blower
guidance and support.
explains why
and they get very anxious because, given the volume we offer guidance and information – not advice,” she
it is time for a change; this waste of our children’s of material which lands on their desks every day, they continued.
education, with all the unnecessary stress and some often have no way of telling which bit really needs “We actively encourage our staff to become school
children being labelling as failures at an early age is a attention and which can be put to one side,” he said. governors because it’s such a good way of finding out
The NaTioNal Union of Teachers (NUT) and national disgrace. it is unacceptable that some young Mr Roche and The Key’s communications manager, what goes on in schools,” Mr Roche said, adding that
the National association of head Teachers (NahT) people start their secondary education already feeling Catherine allan, tell me that a school leader reckons employees get four extra days a year off if they become
have now decided that the leadership members of academically inadequate. This is not a positive start, to save five hours each time he or she asks The Key a governors.
both unions will be balloted for industrial action for either secondary teachers or their pupils. new question and three and a half hours by accessing Mr Roche himself is acting chairman of governors
with a view to boycotting this year’s key stage 2 tests We are not against assessment. What we want an existing answer to a previously asked question at Charles edward Brooke Church of england Girls’
in english and mathematics. is assessment that is meaningful, assessment that is School at Camberwell in the london Borough of
This is not strike action, schools will be open and more accurate and assessment that focuses on what lambeth. all researchers, including the ones which
children will be taught. This industrial action relates children can do, rather than stigmatising them as
to the effects of the tests on the terms and conditions failures for the things they can’t do.
of leadership members. it has been necessary to We want all political parties to accept and promote
take this decision because of the lack of a positive assessment by teachers which arises out of children’s
response from government to the clear alternatives learning. it would be a message greatly welcomed
to SaTs outlined by the NUT and NahT. by teachers in all phases. it would relieve pressure in ‘
are not yet school governors, visit schools twice a
Heads suffer from
term and Mr Roche actively sets these visits up with
headteachers.
dreadful information
Well, i’ve left the bottom line until last. What does
it cost to subscribe to The Key? at present it’s £480 per
The abolition of key stage 3 SaTs was an the system, lead to better outcomes for teachers and
overload and they get
year, although this may soon rise by 20 per cent or so.
“We reckon it’s equivalent to a single day’s external
admission that the current testing system has failed. children and, we believe, have parental support. course with supply cover,” Mr Roche argues, pointing
For too long, english, mathematics and science The government says we need SaTs to give
very anxious because,
out that the service actually costs about 47p per hour
teachers in secondary schools found themselves parents, teachers and the public the information they if three people use it in school (that’s the average) 2.5
skewing everything to enable their pupils to jump need about the progress of children and primary
through a series of unnecessary hoops.
given the volume of
times per week for 39 weeks of the year.
schools. There are more appropriate ways of Some local authorities contribute to the cost for their
We would like the government to understand that choosing a school and seeing how it is doing than
the whole testing system needs fundamental change. looking at league tables, such as talking to other
material which lands on
schools and Durham pays for all new heads to have it.
Mr Roche, meanwhile, jokes that he is so committed
The unanimous votes to boycott SaTs at the NUT parents, reading the school’s inspection report, or
and NahT conferences, together with the justifiable visiting the school.
their desks every day,
to what The Key is doing that he is thrilled to be
working in shabby offices behind Topshop at oxford
anger felt by the many teachers i’ve spoken to since, The NUT and NahT believe that parents can Circus with tiny carpet-walled, smelly, 1950s lifts
is a clear indication that teachers believe enough is get the most accurate and up-to-date information
they often have no way
(protected by a preservation order) – rather than in the
enough and are more than ready to stand up and be from their child’s teacher as SaTs do not assess glassy, prestigious workplace at the consultancy he was
counted in the battle for a quality education. children’s achievement across the whole curriculum.
These tests do not drive up standards they Secondary schools also know this, which is why
of telling which bit
about to sign a contract with when Mr Cheatle (“a very
persuasive, driven and passionate man!”) talked him
just cause additional stress for pupils’ teachers they often retest children when they enter year 7. it
and parents and are used to create school league is time our children had the education they deserve really needs attention
into taking this job.
i wonder where he’ll pop up next? SecEd
tables. it is absurd to think that somehow a narrow and i hope the government acts to make this the last
set of tests can be used as a proxy for evaluating year of SaTs.
and which can be put
• Susan Elkin is a former teacher and now a freelance
the success of schools. every piece of data and education journalist.
research evidence shows that however hard teachers • Christine Blower is general secretary of the National
and school communities try, the impact of social Union of Teachers. Visit www.teachers.org.uk
to one side
’
Further information
www.usethekey.org.uk
12 SecEd • March 11 2010
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