Where can school leaders, especially those who are new to the role, turn to for support? Dr Glenys Hart and Christine Pollitt consider the range of options

No man – or woman come to that – is an island. Headship can be a very lonely experience especially for teachers in their first years of leadership. Many schools are realising the importance of developing distributed leadership and benefiting from the synergistic gains of collaborative working.

Headteachers understand that working with leaders at all levels within the school can be the key to continuous successful improvement. But collaboration with leaders beyond the school is less well developed. This article provides information about a range of people, places and organisations that are available to support senior leaders in their quest for higher standards through extensive collaboration and learning.

People

There exists a multitude of school improvement experts, consultant and executive headteachers, ex-local authority advisors, retired headteachers and inspectors who have extensive knowledge, and practical experience from their working with a great number of schools. Senior leaders have a deep knowledge of their own organisation but the nature of their job means often they do not have such a breadth of knowledge.

This is where consultants fit in. Their overview of many different schools creates a clear perception of the progression of education skills and knowledge across the whole age range with a wide subject base. Consultants can act as critical friends – to provide support and challenge in different situations, for example to provide an objective view of the school; to secure robust target setting; to create the opportunity for school leaders to engage in professional dialogue; to act as a sounding board for discussing innovative ideas and solutions to support the school in their monitoring and evaluation of development plans (including joint observations of teaching and learning); to work as facilitators at governor meetings, staff meetings or in multi-agency meetings; to deliver training to governors and senior leaders.

Support for school leaders can be classified into a number of areas: teaching and learning including curriculum, inclusion, leadership, safety (often important for new heads), finance and business management including marketing, school improvement/managing change, management and governance (documentation – policies, procedures), personnel and collaboration.

For example, specialists in teaching and learning are able to provide guidance and expertise in many aspects of pedagogy and methodology. They are able to suggest successful up-to-date ideas about what the school could do next to improve pupils’ engagement with their learning so that pupils know how well they are progressing and what they need to do next in order to succeed further.

Elsewhere, authorities in social inclusion and looked after children support SEND provision. They should have worked across many authorities and can share options for effective practice. And of course finance and business managers can obtain advice about such matters as sourcing additional funding (through networking, collaborative relationships), identifying successful business managers locally able to support the school, and sharing best practice within the area.

Consultants can perhaps support new heads and their governing body to ensure the necessary policies and practices including health and safety are in place and well understood, and help more experienced heads review school documents and financial solutions to help them manage their time and resources.

Governor support is particularly effective when consultants work with the chair of governors and headteacher to discuss issues specific to their school. They can discuss the structure of the governing body and the senior leadership team to ensure the new head has the support needed to move the school forward.

The Society of Education Consultants has more than 100 quality-assured consultants with an extensive range of experience both in the UK and across the world.

Other sources

There are many places online where senior leaders can get excellent help. The National College of Teaching and Learning have materials from former National College leadership programmes that are freely available to support leadership training. Clusters of schools hold networking meetings and senior leaders benefit from visiting a number of different schools. Leaders can encourage their clusters to vary their venues in order to share best practice. Attendance at conferences, preferably with another member of the leadership team or a governor can also be beneficial. Joint attendance offers the opportunity for detailed discussion of innovations which will ensure more effective implementation of ideas.

Partnerships

An increasingly popular group is PiXL (Partners in Excellence), a growing partnership of schools whose membership includes in the region 200 primary schools. It arose from the London Challenge in 2007. The work that PiXL undertakes has a clear focus on leadership, with strategic, detailed use of data, and the application of educational principles to identify need and provide suitable intervention.

The Institute for Effective Education (IEE) conducts high-quality evaluations of programmes and practices used in schools and early years’ settings, as well as interventions focused on the home learning environment.

Five schools across England will become focal-points of education research in their region after winning part of £2.5 million of funding from the Education Endowment Foundation and the Institute for Effective Education. The new Research Schools will build networks between large numbers of schools in their region and support them to make better use of evidence to inform their teaching and learning. The five Research Schools are: Aspirer Teaching School Alliance, based at Ash Grove Academy, Macclesfield; Huntington School, York; Kingsbridge Community College, Devon; Kyra Teaching School Alliance, based at Mount Street Academy, Lincoln; and Shireland Collegiate Academy, Sandwell.

Quality marks

One of the quickest ways to effect improvement is to have a set of standards to work towards, such as quality marks. It is particularly important for both newly appointed senior leaders who want a clearly defined focus and a system to collect evidence of their own achievements. Inter-related action planning is an integral part of these initiatives. The measurement of targets and success criteria rewards staff and pupils at regular intervals and the interweaving of action plans effectively supports whole-school improvement.

The process of preparing for assessment for quality marks enables staff to make careful self-assessment in a specific area decided on by the school, and to check that self-evaluation is taking place systematically. After the demise of the self-evaluation form (SEF), schools need effective self-evaluation tools to document their journey of improvement to share their successes and to provide suitable evidence for Ofsted.

There are many quality marks for schools to work towards. These include: Continual Professional Learning Development (CPLD) which encourages schools to stand out in their provision of CPD to all staff and in doing so improve the learning outcomes for young people; the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) was established in the UK in October 2004 with the objective of supporting schools to become truly inclusive; the British Dyslexia Association has a Dyslexia Friendly Quality Mark for schools; the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge provides for the first time a national award combining the essential elements of provision – learning and safety – into one easily identifiable and trusted accreditation scheme for all types of learning outside the classroom.

Then there are investors in pupils as well as careers and research marks. Subject quality marks, meanwhile, include the Artsmark and standards for basic skills (numeracy and literacy), geography, ICT, science and sport.

Community interest groups

A new approach is demonstrated by the Schools of Tomorrow which is a community interest company owned and directed by school leaders. Every member is a shareholder. Members elect a council each year who appoint the directors. Their strategy is built around the Schools for Tomorrow Framework which comprises of four segments: highest levels of achievement; wellbeing; preparation for adults and working life and family and community engagement. Truly outstanding schools address all four quadrants of the Framework.

Schools of Tomorrow supports their vision with a series of publications, school-based research and a linked programme of activities and events. Working with their partners, Momentum World and SSAT, they have created a new approach to quality assurance and offer Leadership for Tomorrow Development Programmes.

Elsewhere, recently #WomenEd was set up as a grassroots movement to connect existing and aspiring leaders in education. Even though there are more women in the workforce in all sectors of education, gender inequalities, particularly at senior leadership level are evident.

This also applies to BME leadership. #WomenEd is campaigning and using its collective power to make improvements and aims to create a more equitable balance in terms of gender and ethnicity at leadership level across all sectors of education.

Charities

There are a range of charities that can help education leaders. A well known example is the National Education Trust, which harnesses their wide-ranging national and international experience to bring about advances for learners across the age range, helping education leaders maintain success and confront underperformance.

Their knowledge and expertise allows them to lead and support policy reform, based on what works in the classroom. Among their publications are high-quality books on self-improving schools, practical guides to Pupil Premium, and national standards for headteachers.

Meanwhile, charities offering support related to improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils include Achievement for All and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

The EEF is an independent grant-making charity that aims to improve knowledge and extend the evidence-base of what works in order to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils in schools in England.

EEF projects are thoroughly evaluated by independent experts in educational research and its ever-expanding (and free to access) Teaching and Learning Toolkit provides a wealth of advice and inspiration for school leaders when it comes to approaches, strategies and interventions in the classroom.

Unions

Don’t forget the importance of unions: professional associations such as the National Association of Head Teachers are useful for publications, policies, pay and conditions and human resource management all of which are kept up-to date.

  • Dr Glenys Hart and Christine Pollitt are independent education consultants who advise school leaders in the UK and abroad. Dr Hart is also chair of the Society of Education Consultants.

Further information

Quality marks