Why change your leadership structure?
New models of leadership research 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 and provides links to specific resources and case studies that elaborate individual scenarios.
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.
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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.
However, case studies of a range of reorganisations and models of leadership have consistently demonstrated that improved outcomes for children result from well planned remodelling.
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Meeting the needs of children across an area
The Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda encourages organisations involved with providing services to children - from hospitals and schools, to police and voluntary groups – to collaborate in new ways, sharing information and working together for children’s benefit. 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.
Moreover, Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and the Primary Capital Programme (PCP) offer chances for schools and local authorities to think strategically about the provision of education and other services across a locality, with clear implications for the leadership and governance models that will best support that provision. And, by looking ‘across phases’, an increasing number of all-through schools are working to serve children in more coherent ways throughout their entire compulsory education.
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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.
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