by | | blog, Reflections on the pressures of increased accountability for school leaders
“Developing a systematic way to help teachers get better is the most powerful idea in education today. The surest way to weaken it is to twist it into a capricious exercise in public shaming. Let’s focus on creating a personnel system that truly helps teachers to improve.” Bill Gates Are we at a tipping point? Have we now reached a time where in our attempts to improve the education system, we can stop putting inspections and numbers first and say that people matter over and above everything else. Sadly, I don’t think we are quite there yet, but I’d like to think that change is in the air. The continual reports on the teacher recruitment crises, increased rates of attrition will eventually cause politicians and policy advisors to hold their hands up and say, “We got it wrong!” I know, not many are prone to bouts of humility, but I remain forever an optimist! There are many in the sector, myself included, who are saying, that politicians have indeed got it all wrong. My voice is one of many, but I have a voice and I intend to use it and make a case for that which I believes matters most in education. In particular, I believe there are 3 key things that have been lost sight of in recent times have been and must be remembered and reclaimed by the profession for the benefit of our children’s futures… 1. We must remember our Humanity How can it be that in this day and age, that the qualities that define our own humanity have...
by | | blog, Maintaining personal and professional well being
Back in June 2017, I was moved to tears. Why? Because I read ‘Out of the darkness’. Not some a novel by an up-and-coming new writer, but Tom Sherrington’s poignantly, heart-rendering account of what happens to Heads when OFSTED decides they are not good enough. “You feel like a fraud, that you’ve let everyone down, that you shouldn’t have done this and should have done more of the other. Regrets? Oh yes, just a few! Anything good I ever did feels like it’s been shredded, tarnished if not erased … and that is hard to reverse.” It is rare to be as open and public as Tom was about his story of pain, loss and regret. In this age of high public scrutiny and personal accountability, it’s understandable. Heads worry. They worry about their reputations, what other people might think of them and whether they’ll ever be able to get a job again. But Tom shared his story and I genuinely believe in doing so, he helped to remind us all that school leadership is a humanitarian endeavour. When Tom talked of feeling, ‘isolated, trapped, drowning…tired; so deeply drained and tired”, he reminded us that Heads are not super-human and their well-being must be properly supported, if they are to fulfil the dreams that they hold for themselves and the communities they serve. In sharing his story, Tom has highlighted what I also believe is a great universal truth and is a pertinent message for our education system today. In the words of American author and researcher Brene Brown; “Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always...