Diversity in school leadership case studies: Nigel Best

"You have to go the next step up"

Nigel Best is assistant headteacher at Djanogly Academy in Nottingham. He has worked within the education sector for 13 years. In 2010, he took part in the Aspire to Headship programme.

Before becoming a teacher, Nigel worked for 16 years as a postman and, in his spare time, worked with young people in schools and as a DJ.

After one successful school session, a headteacher asked Nigel if he’d ever considered teaching. Nigel dismissed the thought but, when a few days later, he saw a huge poster advertising for teacher training applicants from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds, he decided to look into it.

Nigel successfully completed an access course and went on to qualify as a teacher. Even at university, Nigel’s leadership skills were evident and he became the student representative.

When asked why he decided to seek senior leadership, Nigel said, “You can’t change things as much as you want from the middle. You have to go the next step up. I also want to bring others with me.”

Nigel on Aspire to Headship

“Aspire offered me the chance to meet other people in the same boat as me. I love networking. It really worked for me – sharing good practice and stories with other people – what a fantastic programme for aspiring BME leaders.

"In Nottingham there aren’t enough BME leaders. My school is over 53 per cent BME pupils and I’m the only person from a BME background in my school leadership team of 15. The statistics presented on the first day of the programme showed how big the gap is for Nottingham city.

"At the end of the first day, I thought, wow! It was such a good programme and such a good day. I left buzzing – on a high. It made me think more about people. Leadership is about people. If you look after your staff they look after you. To me, it’s also about being fair, giving staff opportunities to move up if that’s what they want.

“The programme made me think about my leadership style and the feedback confirmed that some of the things I was already doing were right. The theatre group input and learning triads at the development centre made me reflect on my feedback style. It made me want to be more involved with leading and managing staff.

“I’d advise people thinking of going on an Aspire programme to go for it with their eyes wide open. When you share your stories, you realise you’re not on your own. It’s not just you. We don’t do that enough.

“Meeting my leadership tutor was great. Even though he was from a primary background, there were still connections. As an ex head, he had already done it – got to leadership. He had been through a lot of the things I was going through, especially in the early days. He gave me lots of tips and advice. He encouraged me to pause, step back and think in difficult situations, rather than get angry or take it personally. I think it made a big difference that he was a black man like me. I could identify with him.

"We focused on time management in the coaching. I used to find it really hard to say no. If you are really good at your job, people tend to put more on you. It’s not just about saying no; I delegate in school a lot more now.

"This experience, and the training I’ve had as a leadership tutor for the second Aspire cohort, helped me become a coach at school. The approach of not giving advice all the time and letting people work out their own solutions is now a part of how I work with my teams.

"I run the school council and a lot of the work I did on Aspire I’ve passed onto the students. I’ve also learnt how patient I am and now coach five people at my school. I had lots of requests!

"Aspire allowed me to reflect a lot more than some of the other programmes I’ve done. The people I met on Aspire had a similar mindset and faced the same barriers as me, and it was good to be able to talk openly – that was the difference.

“The 360 degree leadership report confirmed pretty much what I knew about myself. Those who completed my 360 know me really well. It’s good to do assessments so you can find out your strengths. I’m definitely a people person – managing teams came back as very good. Development for me was time management. The WebEx on this was really helpful.

"I got promoted to assistant head since going on Aspire and I used lots of the things I learned on the programme at interview.”

Nigel's progression route

1992 – completed access course
1997 – completed BEd degree
1998 – achieved Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
2000 – promoted to head of department
2010 – promoted to assistant head