LEADERSHIP A recipe for effective leaders


Dan Belcher considers the qualities that make for effective school leaders in the 21st century


serving heads aged over 50, the search is on for the next generation of school leaders. Excellent schools require excellent leaders. For over


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10 years, The Schools Network leadership programmes have been supporting leaders to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. So what have we learned about effective school leaders? What are they like? What do they do? Here is what research tells us:


chool leadership has never been more exciting or more challenging – the rapid pace of change, combined with increasing school autonomy and accountability requires a broader set of skills for any potential leader. With more than 50 per cent of


• There are strong links between personal characteristics and leadership success.


• There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach. • They have the greatest impact in schools with the greatest learning needs.


• Those leading in challenging circumstances need particular qualities. The table below, adapted fromQualities for Effective


School Leadership (Northern Ireland Assembly, 2010) provides a summary. This may come as no surprise, but what does this


look like in practice? To illustrate these points I will offer five observations from working alongside many leading headteachers.


Leaders of teaching and learning


It may appear obvious, but an effective school leader must focus on students and high quality teaching and learning. They should not only be excellent practitioners themselves, but create the conditions in which excellent teaching and learning takes place. Whether the headteacher themselves teaches or


not remains a matter for the individual but I have been interested to note increasingly how many outstanding headteachers at secondary level teach. Done well this


can add credibility among colleagues (and students), especially when working with a difficult group or C/D borderline maths students.


Walk the walk


A great way of establishing and reinforcing standards in many aspects of school life is frequent informal “learning walks”. This is not just a good idea for a wet Wednesday, or focus week, but can provide an excellent barometer for gauging the tone of the school. Spending time in classrooms, speaking to


students and staff, and engaging in activities builds relationships and identifies excellent practice and areas for development. Being visible and getting into classrooms to help also sends a strong message about the values of the leader.


Litter picker!


I have lost count of the times when I have seen headteachers pick up litter from the corridors of their schools or even other schools they are visiting! This seems to be deep in the DNA of many headteachers and reveals more than one might think. First, the headteacher recognises the impact of the


environment on learning and behaviour, and second, humility – they do not consider that this is the responsibility of someone else but recognise that all members of the school share responsibility for their environment. One very successful headteacher, who shall remain nameless, is famous for patrolling the school site with his litter picker!


EI the new IQ


School leadership is exciting and rewarding, but it comes with its fair share of pressures and expectations too and a good sense of humour really helps. Managing your emotions and intelligently responding to those of others is a gift some naturally possess but which all can develop. It is not always easy in a job which includes


demands as diverse as handling bereavement, staff disciplinary proceedings, discontented parents, celebrating success, and managing the press. Winning hearts and minds and getting the best out of staff, students and parents requires emotional intelligence. In his book, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman


Freddie ate my hamster Independent thinking


MANY TEACHERS in both the state and independent sectors are feeling pretty bruised and battered at the moment. Recent media surveys have focused on the low


esteem in which the general public in the UK hold teachers, comparing this unfavourably with the high regard they enjoy in many other countries. Pronouncements from the Ofsted chief inspector and government ministers continue to assert that teaching in many of our schools is just not good enough. Endless new initiatives are still being


rained upon us, some of them not well thought through and showing scant evi- dence of first-hand experience of the 21st century classroom. Meanwhile, pension contributions have gone up, the retirement age has been raised and the value of our pensions has been reduced. In secondary schools throughout the


country, the temperature rises this term in more ways than one. The final push is on to prepare our students for their vari- ous public examinations; final controlled assessments and coursework are submit- ted and marked; practice questions and papers begin to dominate teachers’ and students’ lives. Most students become incredibly


focused and demanding, realising that they have very little time left to pre- pare themselves for the final reckoning. Teachers are working extremely hard right now and are certainly “going the extra mile” for their students. This did not stop a large number of staff


from our school giving up their own time during the recent school holidays to accompany students on trips. We had foreign language exchanges to Sèvres in France and Montepulciano in Italy and a study course in Nice. Sixth-form geographers did fieldwork in South Wales and religious education students studied at Walsingham. Almost all of our year 9 pupils visited the


First World War battlefields. Silver and Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award participants undertook their expeditions, in spite of the freezing cold nights and relentless rain.


On the day before term resumed, other staff ran


a rounders’ coaching and refereeing course for our PE students and an intensive seminar day for pre-U English. We have an amazingly dedicated staff – but I am sure that we are not alone in this. We had a regular after-school meeting of staff


representatives from our Southwark Learning Partnership schools this week, too. We have a wide range of schools in the partnership, some independent, some state-maintained, some academies, some faith schools, some co-ed and some single-sex, some with much less advantaged pupil intakes than others. Yet, what is very clear when


we meet is that all of us have our students, their education and how to improve their prospects for the future, as our main con- cern. We work together and use one another’s strengths and assets for the good of all our students, sharing


whatever we can. Such things rarely hit the headlines


or are reported in the media. First, rivalry, conflict and competition are so much more newsworthy than co- operation and caring for one another, and second, good news is regarded as universally dull and not what people apparently want to hear: “Freddie ate my hamster,” sells newspapers, whereas “Freddie looked after my hamster really


well” is a non-story. Such is modern culture. It is true that we have the Teaching Awards, but too rarely do we hear about the many good things that teachers and staff in our


schools do and the enormous impact they can have on young people’s lives. Well done and thank you are not said to teachers


often enough, though we all try very hard to make sure that we say these things to our students. Praise and encouragement make a real difference – can the teaching profession have some now, please?


• Marion Gibbs is head of the independent James Allen’s Girls’ School in London. She returns in two weeks.


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www.voicetheunion.org.uk SecEd • May 3 2012


argues persuasively that EI is every bit as important as IQ in any leader's success.


Look up and look out


Effective leaders always have an eye on the bigger picture – seeing the “helicopter” view and developing a coherent set of strategies to raise standards. They look outside their schools to learn from best and next practice locally, nationally and internationally. They network and build strong partnerships – with


their local community, other schools, organisations and businesses. And they are aware of forthcoming changes in


education policies and how these could affect their schools, not rushing into knee-jerk responses but taking a reflected and calculated view.


SecEd


• Dan Belcher is head of leadership programmes at The Schools Network. For details, visit www.ssatrust.org.uk/leadership


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