The profile of the primary headteacher has been changing under our noses. No longer a modest income and a job for life, many primary headteachers are commanding high salaries and either move between schools or collect schools. The post of executive headteacher has escalated since 2010 and continues to look set to grow alongside the concept of the superhead who can bail a school out and then move on.
But is this changing profile really helping schools to improve? Research published in the Harvard Business Review suggests that those leaders employed to make quick changes and improve results may not be the solution in the long-term.
The research was carried out by Alex Hill, Liz Mellon, Ben Laker and Jules Goddard. The four researchers looked at 411 leaders of UK academies. It focuses on secondary schools, although the categories that they identify are just as relevant to primary leadership and a useful method of reviewing primary leadership styles – and the type of leadership which is now most highly rewarded.
They identify five types of headteacher:
- Philosophers: lead by example as senior teachers, like to talk about pedagogy and do not see themselves as managers – paid on average £103,000.
- Surgeons: act decisively to turn schools around. They might exclude a large number of children, remove staff and have an immediate and dramatic impact – paid on average £154,000 and most likely to receive awards.
- Architects: careful planners who begin by working on improving standards of behaviour first and then improving teaching. They value parental engagement, see themselves as working for their community and slowly replace poorly performing staff – paid on average £86,000.
- Soldiers and accountants: for schools needing a financial turnaround. Soldiers try to cut costs, accountants aim to increase the size of the school – paid on average £100,000.
Surgeons
According to the authors, surgeons are brought in to turn a school around and are highly sought after. Their tactics include:
- Removing poor performing students.
- Cutting out non-essential activities.
- Moving the best teachers to the final year.
- Reducing class sizes.
- Increasing revision and test preparation.
Exam results do go up, but at a cost. After a couple of years, usually when the headteacher has left the school, those younger pupils whose education was less of a priority take their exams and don’t do as well. The authors of the research suggest that it took schools up to four years to recover once the surgeon had moved on and that thousands was paid in the meantime to consultants to “help clear up the mess”.
Diane Compton is headteacher at Michael Drayton Junior School in Nuneaton. She has concerns about the extent to which this type of leadership can have a negative impact on inclusion and that it doesn’t always work: “At times they can become unstuck when they realise that their ‘one-size-fits-all’ school improvement model is not working as successfully as it had previously – they then quickly move on to their next project.”
Being a surgeon also comes with risk. The opportunity for control of finances and an autocratic approach has led to some prominent headteachers, applauded in the days of Michael Gove, being party to financial irregularities.
Philosophers
If the researchers are not particularly complimentary of surgeons neither are they of philosophers. They claim that this group of headteachers are the “worst performing leaders in our study, both during and after their tenure”. The add: “Although they talk passionately about the importance of good teaching and get everyone excited, they don’t actually change anything and their schools either coast or decline.”
The majority of primary headteachers would claim to have an element of the philosopher about them. Primary headteachers have usually had a strong link to curriculum development during their career and care passionately about teaching methods and curriculum content.
Soldiers and accountants
Accountants are described by the researchers as trying to grow their schools out of trouble. For them, bigger is better and they will look for new revenue sources and find ways of ensuring they make the maximum out of the school building. Revenue might go up but exam results don’t necessarily go up with it.
Ms Compton warns against the dangers of too much expansion too soon: “With growth can come the danger of taking your eye off the ball. Securing individual outcomes can become lost in the desire to grow.”
Soldiers go for efficiency and order. They like a lean organisation that provides good value for money. They have a management focus and will cut costs, including those incurred by additional staffing. Again, they may make the school run more efficiently but they don’t necessarily boost results. According to the researchers, their savings and thriftiness can lead to low morale among staff.
Architects
It is when we get to the architect headteacher that we can see the real preferences of the researchers. The authors emphasise the importance of architects as the best type of leader and the need to find more of them to lead our schools in order to improve results.
They consider that architects “take a holistic, 360-degree view of the school, its stakeholders, the community it serves, and its role in society. In many ways they combine the best parts of the other leaders, but they make these changes in a different sequence and for different reasons – to transform students and communities”.
Carolyn Jones, headteacher at Springhead Primary School in Yorkshire, considers herself an architect, although is not afraid to declare that she has a strand of the philosopher in her as well.
She explained: “The theory of teaching does inform practice, at least in part. I’d like to think I’m an architect, I have certainly been there for enough years to count, and have definitely built a team around me who can run the show without too much direction now.”
Creating an environment where it is not all about the head is a key factor in developing a good school. Rather than a dependency culture which relies upon a charismatic headteacher, Ms Jones is keen to see herself as increasingly dispensable. Not an easy role for a headteacher to take.
For the future
“The style of leadership,” continued Ms Jones, “depends on the situation the school is in. If you are having to fire fight – you may well have to be a soldier or surgeon type to start with.
“As you stay in a school long enough, you gather people around you who share your values and ethos and begin to drive the school with you. That’s when you can be more of an architect with a longer term, collegiate approach.”
Ms Compton is aware of the need to adjust with time and awareness of your context: “I think I was probably drafted in as a surgeon,” she explained. “I had worked in previous schools to improve standards on a short-term basis. However, I recognised that I needed to build relationships and foundations and that I needed to re-evaluate and reshape my leadership style. We needed to invest in all our pupils, not just those who were due to sit their SATs. My vision is long-term and my ethos is inclusive.”
Whether the research resonates with schools’ and heads’ experiences or not, it does provide an important message that most primary headteachers would agree with – the researchers claim that the incentive structure for English schools is too short-termist.
Roddy Fairclough, headteacher at Newbury Park Primary School in Redbridge, sympathises with those “architects” who are up against the clock: “Leadership is complex. The architect may ‘win’ in the end but it takes time, and it feels like there is no time because if results dip for any reason you are under the spotlight.
“I can see aspects of my own leadership in some of these styles but it is an extremely challenging situation to maintain high standards in terms of results when you are trying to fix many aspects of a school and balance the books.”
According to the researchers, the UK invests the eighth largest amount of 34 OECD countries in education but its outcomes are disappointing. The latest round of PISA results are not encouraging either.
“Our findings suggest that it’s because we’re appointing, rewarding and recognising the wrong leaders,” say the researchers. Instead they suggest the possibility of a different system that would assess a leader’s social and economic impact both during and after their tenure using new measures.
The complexity of the role of headteacher requires a leader who can change their approach as it’s needed. However, a system of accountability is required that reflects this too.
Mr Fairclough acknowledges that whatever your leadership style, headship is not easy: “Emotional resilience is essential in leaders because at some point it feels like digging deep is all you can do.”
“Perhaps I am a hybrid,” adds Ms Jones.
- Suzanne O’Connell is a freelance education writer and former primary school headteacher.
Further information
The One Type of Leader Who Can Turn Around a Failing School, Harvard Business Review, October 2016: https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-one-type-of-leader-who-can-turn-around-a-failing-school