This year's model?

Dorothy Lepkowska takes a closer look at a new scheme that helps leaders considering 'new models' of leadership to explore the options.

With three heads retiring in quick succession, and plans taking shape for a collaboration of 11 schools locally, headteachers and governors in one part of Nottinghamshire needed advice and help quickly.

“We needed a flavour of how this was going to work for us,” said Jenny Lane, head of Everton Primary School, near Doncaster. “We have three heads retiring, so we have been looking at succession planning, and one of the options available to us is a collaboration of the three with an executive head at the helm.

“At the same time, these three schools are part of a group of 11 in the area – including a secondary and a special school – looking to form a cluster. So we needed to look closely at how we could take this forward.”

The schools have been meeting with Barry Bainbridge, one of the National College’s national associates working within the Leadership Models and Partners programme (LMAP).

The scheme has evolved following two years of research into new models of school leadership by the National College. “Our remit as national associates is to promote and inspire the development of new models of leadership which will help schools to sustain progress in the coming years,” says Barry, who covers school and local authorities in central England.

“The next few years will be an interesting time for schools. As the impact of the recession moves into the public sector we will need to look increasingly at ways of working in federation and partnership to support each other, and the drive to improve teaching and learning for pupils, though the main driver must be the education of the children, rather than finance.

“We encourage heads to explore the options available to them. There is now a lot of specialist evidence to show that schools working together achieve more and work better than those who exist in isolation.

“We work closely with schools on succession planning to ensure that they are aware of LMAP and what we can offer.”

The giving of impartial and objective advice to schools and leaders is now more vital than ever following the publication of the government’s white paper last year, which encouraged wider collaboration and schools to look more closely at the range of leadership models and structures available to them.

Essentially, there is no standard model of good practice when it comes to restructuring but already many exciting and effective examples of partnership, collaboration and federation have sprung up around the country in response to local reorganisation. For many schools the traditional model of ‘one school, one headteacher’ will continue to be the best and most appropriate one, but times are changing – and the change is rapid.

New guidelines being published by the National College in March will provide further information on federations, collaboration and job-sharing among headteachers which will be available on its website. These will help schools, governors and local authorities explore change with the full knowledge of the legislation.

What schools need to remember, however, is what works for one setting, will not necessarily work in another. They need to examine all the alternatives before deciding which one best suits their requirements.

Nor is it the case that the National College is offering a range of models from which schools should take their pick. Every decision must be considered against the backdrop of what is required locally and how best the needs of children and young people can be served.

The role of the national associates is to outline the options and allow schools to make decisions based on informed choices, which are appropriate to the local context.

Liz Talmadge, who covers the northern region, said most of her work so far had been with local authorities and she had recently been involved in organising a series of nine regional conferences for emerging federations to give them a more detailed understanding of the options available to them.

“We want to make sure that people understand the implications of the different models that are out there and how to get a process for change in place,” she said.

“We don’t tell people what to do as that is not our job, but we can offer them the knowledge we have and examples of other practice in other areas where change has already been successfully implemented. We help them come to a view about what is right for them.”

The National College’s Exploring Models of Leadership Toolkit allows schools to make those decisions, as Maggie Farrar, the College’s Strategic Director for Policy, Research and Development, explained.

“It is very important that the model chosen should meet local needs and local contexts, so what is needed is school-to-school dialogue so that the best outcome can be achieved,” she said.

“The toolkit walks schools through some of the questions that they need to ask. For example, they might need to consider why they are going down this particular road, and be clear about what the motivation is. Is there a compelling need for a restructuring?

“They need to examine the whole range of reasons why they are considering such a move. These might include a need to raise standards of achievement, or to share headship, or to better deliver 14-19 provision.

“It is also important for them to ask themselves who should be part of the partnership and involved in the consultation process, and who doesn’t need to be.

“The National College can also give them access to legal requirements and what is permissible and what is not.”

Maggie added that there were no right or wrong answers in the process of restructuring.

“It is all about deciding what is right for your school and locality,” she said. “But asking these questions and finding the answers together will certainly help schools to find the right solutions and as a result achieve better outcomes for children.”

Meanwhile, back in Nottinghamshire, the meeting between headteachers and Barry Bainbridge has already reaped benefits.

“This kind of advice is often as good as the person who gives it, and we found it extremely useful for someone like Barry to paint the bigger picture and provide us with the background information that answered all our questions,” Jenny Lane said.

“We are currently in an information-sharing process with big decisions needing to be taken by people who are historically more used to working in isolation.

“We also need to wade through the legal aspects and terminology, so he has certainly been able to help us with that. “We found our meeting with him to be extremely beneficial because of the clarity he was able to bring to the table.”