Diary of an NQT Keep on running


SCHOOL SPORTS day is always one of the funniest events of the year. In our school we make quite a big fuss of sports – we have four competing houses and normally sports day is the culmination of a year of hard fought competition. However, this year Usain and


co are using our local athlet- ics track in the run up to some (apparently more important) sport- ing event this summer and so we have been bumped a whole half a term earlier. This meant we replaced our usual sun-drenched sports day with running in the rain. This year, the main event was the


addition of the first ever staff relay. The emails had been flying around for months recruiting teachers to run and I had successfully avoided every one of them. The kids even got wind of it and


my form of midgets spent weeks snapping at my heels demanding I participate – still I managed to avoid signing up. Then I got my big break, a shred


of salvation. They needed someone to commentate on the race and after my talent show performance I was asked to be our Tony Gubba. So there I was, warming my vocal chords,


microphone in hand, and watching as the contest- ants took their places. But then, all of a sudden, it became clear that my


house had no-one to run the final leg. Before I knew it, one of the PE teachers was shouting at me to get out there. I had to drop the microphone, put some shorts on and I only just took my place on the last leg as the gun was starting off the first. What’s more, the final 100 metres happened to be


next to the stand, which was packed full of around 1,500 of our screaming kids.


Some incredible running down the back straight


meant that when the baton reached me we were a good 10 metres ahead. Sadly for me, I was up against a colleague who I know from football to be a lot faster than me. Panic took over, I saw the most embarrassing of situations flash


through my mind – him catching me and me being forever known as the world’s slowest teacher. Luckily, the fear of utter embar-


rassment enabled me to find an extra gear and I crossed the finishing line in first place – and helped to bring home


a win for my house. I have to say it was quite an excit-


ing experience as I never thought I would run to the sound of cheering in my life – unless it was chasing and missing a bus. If that is the pressure and adrenaline you feel from a school sports day, god only knows how


Usain Bolt does what he does. It is truly amazing the things that impress kids. I have been slogging my guts out all year preparing the best lessons I can, trying to think up new and innovative ways to make history accessible for students, and have marked with extensive feedback to improve their


performance – and I have not had a single word of praise. But I run 100 metres with a metal stick


and before you know it I am a school hero. I have never had so many compliments and pats on the back before. Still now the pressure is on and next year I am


faced with either training or sticking to the commen- tary. I suppose I better get running.


• Tomas Duckling is a history NQT at Queens’ School in Hertfordshire. He returns next week.


The three types of poor teachers Once a teacher…


SCOTTISH SCHOOLS are co-operative institutions. Management and staff work together. The term “collegial” encompasses the ethos which has improved how Scottish schools operate. Brian McAlinden, former headteacher of


Castlemilk High School, has however put the managerial cat among the educational pigeons. He has suggested that teachers should be on five-year fixed-term contracts. Mr McAlinden was one of


five Scottish heads who served on the cabinet secretary’s advisory group on raising attainment. To his credit, he also suggested that headteachers should suffer the same fate. One appalling consequence


of his proposal was a further, proposal from a representative of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, to introduce “performance-related” pay for teachers. A similar debate is being had in England currently. There are two implications in the


five-year contract proposal. The first is that there are significant numbers of poor teachers – with a sub-plot that they are a brake on improving learners’ attainment. The second is that a culture of insecurity will improve standards. My experience suggests different


solutions to a slightly different problem. There is a small number of poor teachers. These poor teachers do lower aspirations and attainment. They fall into three categories. Number 1: There are the under-confident,


under-skilled but improvable teachers. For them to improve, schools must quickly identify such weaknesses and then to provide the necessary support and professional development which such teachers need. That happens. Number 2: More significant, and intransigent, are


the burned-out teachers who might once have been high quality but have lost their zest. Their lessons are dull rather than poor, their expectations are low, their classroom management is draconian rather than proportionate, their staffroom chat is negative and cynical. They also must be spotted, supported and


developed. That will not always be sufficient. In some cases a move to another school, another setting, can be an opportunity to revive commitment and


enthusiasm. If these strategies don’t work, there is a bigger problem. Number 3: There is a small cohort of very poor


teachers. School managers know them. There are mechanisms, which can lead to dismissal, to deal with such teachers. Providing these procedures are properly implemented, my own experience is that the unions will co-operate with appropriate action, first to support, but second (where necessary), to discipline and dismiss a teacher who does not meet the professional standards. There are two problems with both


the burned-out and the downright poor teachers and ultimately, if the burned- out don’t revive, they also are poor. The first is establishing that they are poor. The consistent resistance by the teachers’ unions to any system of formal appraisal has camouflaged a very small number of incompetents


but allowed a public perception of a much larger cohort. This is where our collegial and co-operative ethos has let us down. It is short on the sharp challenges necessary in a limited number of cases.Our professional review must be strengthened, for


classroom teachers and for school managers, by adjusting the balance


between support and challenge. The second problem is that the process of dealing with such teachers can be endless. The year-long supportive process can be followed, as judgement is about to be passed, by a sudden, prolonged illness. For that small


minority, it must become much accelerated: evidence, review, time for improvement, new evidence, new review, improve – or leave. Given the high quality of the bulk of


Scottish teachers, time-limited contracts would be a hammer to crack a nut. They would set back the very trust and professionalism which we need in our schools to implement the current raft of reforms. Brian McAlinden is a highly respected


educationalist. On this occasion Mike Russell should decline to follow his advice.


• Alex Wood has been a teacher for 38 years. Prior to his recent retirement he was head of Wester Hailes Education Centre in Edinburgh. He is an associate with the Scottish Centre for Studies in School Administration at Edinburgh University.


GOVERNORS A very spec


An effective working relationship between the


headteacher and the chair of governors is vital to a school’s success.Nick Bannister speaks to two such partnerships to get an insight and some best practice advice


of our schools. School governors make up one of the biggest


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volunteer forces in the UK. According to the National Governors Association (NGA), more than 300,000 give their time freely to schools in England. School governance is important – but a non- professional volunteer force can only do so much. They need training and support as well. And since the publication of the 2010 education White Paper, which praised governors as “the unsung heroes of our education system”, that support has been steadily building. Earlier this year the National College for School Leadership and the NGA published a new guide for chairs of governors. The aim of the publication was to help them think about their development and how to make their role as effective as possible. It makes a strong point about the growing importance of the role of governors in the running of schools. It states: “The relationship between the chair and


the headteacher is one of the most important working relationships in the school. An effective working relationship with the headteacher allows the chair to


chools have never been as accountable for the performance of their pupils as they are today. So it is no surprise that in recent


years the role of the governing body has become an increasingly important element in the leadership


and seminars it’s going to be good for our school as well.” Ms Singleton started her governing career by


becoming a parent-governor in 2002 and then chair in 2005. She has helped steer the school through


I think that’s where the challenge comes in.


I am in a leadership role and she provides the accountability with the governors. It’s very


interesting how she can narrow my focus in how I spend time and what I might achieve without these checks and balances. She forces me to delegate and drop things and she is right


act as a critical friend, offering challenge, support, advice and encouragement as required. “A strong partnership will enable the school


to achieve the highest standards of teaching and learning for the benefit of all pupils and staff.” The organisations have also been working


together to create professional development for chairs of governors. This includes a new designation of National Leader of Governance (NLG) and a training programme that promises to develop the leadership skills of chairs and those aspiring to the role. The NLG role is modelled on the National


Leader of Education role awarded to exceptional headteachers who work with their schools to rapidly improve struggling schools NLGs do the same with the governing bodies of


other schools. Caroline Singleton, chair of governors at Sale Grammar School in Cheshire, is one. Although her deployment to support governing


bodies in other schools has yet to start, Ms Singleton thinks the role will be beneficial on a range of levels. She said: “By working with other schools and also getting access to other governors, resources


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a number of status changes: from community to foundation school, then a trust and then, in March 2011, an academy. She is in no doubt of the value a good governing


body can have for a school – and leadership development is a central responsibility: “For us the most important job a governing body has is to develop the headteacher,” she said. “When it came to appointing the head there was no shortage of governors who were happy to take two days out of their working life to help with the appointment.” Regular contact is vital to a good relationship


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with the head, she added: “For several years as a parent-governor, I was in the fortunate position of not having to work so I could have much more face- to-face contact. Recently I’ve moved away from the catchment area but contact is still vital.” The school has developed an intranet which gives


all governors access to a diary, agenda papers and minutes. This is supplemented by constant email and phone contact and a monthly meeting which Ms Singleton holds with headteacher Mark Smallwood. Regular contact is a foundation for creating a good relationship between headteacher and governor – and


SecEd • June 14 2012


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