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    • What are new models and partnerships?
    • Case studies
    • The National College's work on new models and partnerships
    • Why change your leadership structure?
    • Creating your own model
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    • FAQs

Why change your leadership structure?

Research into alternative models of leadership indicates there are five common drivers, combined or in isolation, which cause schools to re-examine their existing leadership models. This article examines each in turn.

Addressing workload, capacity and succession issues

The work-life balance of a leader or leadership team is an important, but often neglected, consideration. Research has shown that leaders in schools can find themselves in difficult situations where the pressure goes beyond ‘challenging’ to ‘unrealistic’. Approaches such as clear distribution of leadership and increasing the roles of non-teaching support staff are possible solutions in these situations.

A number of schools are using school business managers (SBMs) to support workload issues. Research shows that qualified SBMs can increase capacity, enabling heads and teaching staff to focus on the core business of teaching and learning whilst also helping increase value for money. This role is well-established in the secondary sector but less embedded in primary schools due to cost and capacity issues. Research for the National College suggests that shared appointments can deliver high-quality advice and improve work-life balance affordably, and this has been identified in case studies.

For further information see:

• Role of the school business manager
• Succession planning

Improving outcomes for children

Often, when schools explore alternative models of leadership, concerns arise about whether a proposed leadership approach will actually result in improved outcomes for the children of the schools concerned. And, after all, that’s what improved school leadership should be about.

Our comprehesive list of case studies of a range of reorganisations and models of leadership have consistently demonstrated that improved outcomes for children result from well planned remodelling.

For further information see our case studies.

Meeting the needs of children across an area

For organisations involved with providing services to children - from hospitals and schools, to police and voluntary groups – collaborating in new ways, sharing information and working together can help to meet the needs of children across an area. The partners involved in such collaborations have a range of agendas and priorities that can be complex to unravel, but where there is a genuine commitment to partnership the results can significantly influence the chances of children.

For further information see:

• Helping every child success

Responding to local challenges and priorities

Local challenges and priorities will depend on the particular context, but schools may reorganise due to falling rolls or the shift from three-tier systems to two-tier ones.

When responding to local challenges, it is important that schools effectively capture the views of parents when planning change. Though challenging in itself, this listening and engagement process will prove immensely beneficial in the long term. Governors, especially parent governors, have an important role to play in enabling others to have a voice and making sure it is considered.

Implementing a different model of leadership