Written by

Miriam Hussain

Director & Teacher of English, Teach First Ambassador and Regional Lead for LitDrive. Former Assistant Headteacher & Chair of Governors

I have been privileged enough to attend two Step Up Network events. One of which I spoke about the data linked to School Leadership in England and the other event being online and focused on getting the not only a leadership role but the right role in the right school. Vivienne Porritt’s session really made me reflect on not only on finding the right role but what school cultures should be. It made me think about why are there more schools that we hear of with poor leaders and poor practice rather than leaders who provide safety, security, and real development for their staff. Anecdotally, I mentor several women in my spare time, I hear reoccurring story after story of toxic schools, poor leaders, and a lack of leadership pathways for staff and women who are hugely underpaid (Employment Labour Market, 2022) despite working outrageous hours alongside only applying for roles that they are overqualified for (Harvard Business Review, 2019).

It made me delve into research on creating healthy school cultures and how that’s done. It’s important because staff who ultimately are our most important resource need to feel valued and developed within their place of work but also obviously for retention within schools. Joe Kirby’s blog (linked below) deeply explores how school leaders create great staff cultures through, clarity, involvement, safety, conversations, and learning. In my experience SLT say that they may have all these facets of creating a thriving school culture, but staff do not know the substance underpinning these elements. We need to build the knowledge for school leaders to provide these conditions rather than thinking that they have them. Needless to say, this supports with building retention. In my experience of being a Senior Leader, creating a culture for all staff to thrive is through servant leadership providing the conditions for all school stakeholders to thrive. I liked how in Phil Denton’ blog (linked below) uses these approaches but also explicit in how powerful kindness is in this model of leadership. This is split into, leading by example, listening, and emphasising, supporting professional development, providing resources and guidance, fostering a collaborative environment, recognising, and celebrating achievements. These aren’t just arbitrary buzzwords but have a detailed layer of substance of exactly what these behaviours are and how they can be seen in schools. The granular detail is crucial to creating a successful and thriving environment. It is why leaders leading by example is so critical to a schools’ success. Staff need to see the model of what to do, be it on threshold, implementation of curriculum within lessons, watching transitions but also the stock phrases that are said whilst these pivotal moments occur during a school day. Supported by staff practicing this through deliberate practice during CPD. This is powerful for students but even more effective for the students we serve. A sense of urgency to lessons, safety within the school, predictability of transitions and unstructured time but fundamentally allowing teachers to teach without any disruption so that students achieve the outcomes they deserve.

This blog has really made me reflect that it is pivotal for school leaders to provide flourishing environments underpinned by school policy that is enacted every day and followed through supported by clear systems and processes. Leadership needs to be visible. In Headstrong (Coates, 2015) it discusses that school leadership is like being on a bus and that everyone if driving towards the same destination its about placing individuals in the right roles on the way to that destination. Ultimately, school leaders need to ensure that staff are in the right roles to create the conditions of a school that achieves the very best for the community it serves.

References

Headstrong. 11 Lessons of Leadership by Dame Sally Coates How can school leaders create great staff culture? | Joe Kirby (joe-kirby.com) https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2022 The Power Of Leadership In Schools. (kindnessmatters.co.uk) You Don’t Need to Meet Every Qualification to Apply for a Job (hbr.org)

Further reading

Building culture by Lekha Sharma Leadership | Professional development, implementation and asking better questions – Kat Howard (wordpress.com)