The State of Independence: Key Challenges Facing Private Schools Today

David James, Jane Lunnon, David James, Jane Lunnon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781351139465
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Exploring the most significant challenges facing independent schools today, this book asks leading figures from education, economics, politics, philosophy and the arts to give their views on how independent schools can adapt to rapidly changing markets which see them scrutinised as never before.

Acknowledging the independent sector as a vital and growing part of the global education system, this book explores how schools are to respond to financial, moral, pastoral and academic challenges, and so ensure their own survival, and the futures of the children they educate. Breaking a complex and varied field down into ten clear areas of analysis, essays written by leading education experts tackle the key challenges faced by independent schools around the world. Commentators consider the issues created by the upward trend of educating international students, question the extent to which independent schools have echoed societal movements towards greater access, diversity and gender fluidity, and provide first-hand insight into the experiences of staff, pupils and parents involved in the everyday functioning and longer-term development of the independent sector.

A health check on this most controversial of sectors, this book will enlighten and inform not only those working in independent schools today, but anyone interested in education, and will make an important contribution to a bigger debate about the place of independent schools at a time of political, economic and societal uncertainty.

Chapter 1

The pastoral challenge

Introduction to the pastoral challenge

Anybody working in schools today, whether they are in the maintained or independent sectors, primary or secondary, will surely acknowledge that there has been a significant change in how teachers view children’s mental health. If, as an adult, you attended an independent school in the 1980s (or earlier) you would have had little knowledge of what today we may term ‘emotional wellbeing’. Indeed, such a phrase would have been effectively meaningless in schools before the 1990s. But, as Anthony Seldon observes in this chapter (with only a modicum of hyperbole) everything changed at the turn of this century. It was at that point in time that schools began to recognise that they had a responsibility not only to the academic success of their pupils, but also to their emotional success. And this change was not limited to schools in the UK: partially fuelled by American authors such as Carol Dweck, Martin Seligman, and Howard Gardiner, trends developed across educational systems that put emotional intelligence at the heart of educational debate.

Prior to this, schools of course engaged with issues that have always been an intrinsic part of dealing with the complexities of growing up. But increasingly, the language used, and also the growing awareness in all staff – not just those who were paid to deal with emotional problems – has resulted in pastoral support now typically attracting as much resource as academic teaching.

Of course, many would argue that even to divide a school into the ‘pastoral’ and ‘academic’ is in itself a false dichotomy that is, ultimately, reductive and self-defeating. After all, happy pupils tend to be more academically successful, and pupils who are academically successful tend to be happier than those who are not. Of course, creating such a virtuous circle is easier written about than done.

But we have moved very far, very quickly, and although there is, as Dick Moore argues in this chapter, still much to do, it feels as if there is far greater awareness of the pressures our young people suffer today, and they should be supported if they find themselves in difficulty. The surprise is to realise that none of this is really new: Harvard,¹ among other institutions, has been researching the happiness of its students since the early twentieth century. It has taken over 80 years to move from the Ivy League universities to the classrooms and staff rooms of schools, and that protracted process of absorption could be viewed as necessary if time (always a school’s most precious intangible commodity) is to be dedicated to addressing the issues such awareness reveals.

Rachel Kelly begins her essay with worrying statistics about the level of depression and anxiety-related issues affecting young people in UK schools today (and it is probably a fair assumption that it would be a similar story in similar schools in similar societies). But in the understandable rush to help our young people, Kelly also introduces a necessary note of caution. She argues that ‘the reduction in stigma around mental health now means that more teenagers are talking about their mental health. We must be careful not to be alarmist in this new environment’. In other words, the mental health ‘crisis’ that we regularly read about in our schools is a result of educational professionals being better trained to spot issues and report them. This must surely be met with muted applause as it clearly indicates some progress is being made, even if the causes underlying the issues remain.

Why is this any different in independent schools? Well, in many cases it isn’t: the issues affecting young people today, be they perennial ones for all adolescents, are to be found in as many fee-paying day schools as the nearby comprehensive. The distinction appears when we take into account boarding schools: their duty of care is different in kind, and time, to those that day schools face. Their 24/7 care in term time creates unique questions as well as very considered answers, and it is no doubt true that the work done by professionals in these institutions could be better made use of by all those involved in the safeguarding of children. Boarding schools are now, thankfully, very different places to those that haunt the popular imagination, and legislation and accountability have played significant roles in making them more transparent. That said, there will always be a level of expectation which independent schools cannot always satisfy. Increasingly, fee-paying parents assume that they are paying for their child’s happiness as much as their academic success. Neither of these things should be monetised, nor can they be guaranteed by any school, no matter what they say at open days. Growing up can be a messy and turbulent business and no school (no matter how high the fees, nor how insistent the parents) can provide a consistently rose-strewn path through the 14 or so years of formal schooling. Nor should they. The very business of confronting and learning from difficulties, the development of grit and resilience and the adoption of effective coping strategies when challenges arise, are an increasingly critical part of schools’ pastoral programmes.

Perhaps, though, we are forgetting something important when it comes to wellbeing in schools. Yes, the focus has to be on the children themselves: they are the reason the schools exist, and they are the bedrock of a society’s future. And if schools produce unhappy young people then, eventually, society will have to pay in one way or another for that unfortunate outcome. That said, and Julie Johnson refers to it in her essay, the mental health of staff working in independent schools is too often sidelined. Demands are made by senior management teams and governors, as well as parents who expect a service commensurate with their outlay, that increasingly adds to the pressures of the job. And as fees rise, and the desire for ever-higher grades intensifies, so too will the demands. Schools should be happy places, and let us not forget that our independent schools are, in general, places where our young people enjoy being (the market would soon decide if they were not). But unless the adults who run them are themselves fulfilled, respected, appreciated, and rewarded, then the happiness we seek can only ever be partially met. The smile that the teacher has in front of a class on Friday morning should not be a veneer, a mask that hides the worry and exhaustion of the week, but something sincere: an outward sign of inner health. The pastoral challenges of the future will continue to evolve, and, although it is a truism to say that every child matters, it is no less true to say that every adult does as well.

Julie Johnson

The pace at which many independent schools operate matches that of corporate business. This is exacerbated by expectations from parents who are used to being treated as valued clients: for example, expecting an immediate response to emails and phone calls. It can be stressful dealing with ‘helicopter parents’ who hover anxiously over their children, or ‘curling parents’ who want to remove every obstacle in their child’s path, acting as though their child is the only child in the world. Added to that, there can be pressure from within the school itself, related to academic outcomes, involvement in extracurricular activities, client satisfaction, and the provision of increasingly broad and diverse programmes. Over the last ten to 15 years, pastoral staff have seen an exponential rise in responsibility related to issues such as: safeguarding, the challenges of the digital world and its impact on education and the mental health issues that affect up to one in ten pupils and also one in four members of staff.

To add to these pressures, staff in independent schools are passionate and committed to excellence in their teaching and care of pupils, which results, more often than not, in self-imposed pressure and long working hours. Though staff in independent schools may have long holidays, research on wellbeing has shown the importance of maintaining a continual work/life balance. If this does not exist, the health benefits following a holiday will disappear within one or two weeks!

Independent schools with packed timetables, homework, testing and exams from an early age face numerous challenges. There’s a danger that staff and pupils alike are constantly looking forward to the next school stage rather than flourishing and enjoying, moment by moment, the journey of education.

The key influencers of young people are first parents, then teachers and the communities that they are growing up in, and it is essential that, if meaningful progress is to be made in wellbeing, schools work with pupils and parents. But it is interesting to step back and ask: what is being modelled in the fast paced, highly competitive world of independent schools? Is it possible that their culture may be a contributing factor in the deterioration of pupil mental health? With research showing that pupils’ wellbeing relates closely to that of staff, maintaining staff wellbeing is an area of vital importance, not simply to the staff, but to the pupils too.

Because of the rise in young people suffering from poor mental health, many schools now employ one or more counsellors or have access to them and refer young people out of school. Though this is a positive development, the approach of the professionals can be problematic. Many counsellors or therapists see the young person with whom they are working as an autonomous individual. This may be a vital part of the therapeutic alliance which meets a core need for teens by giving them a sense of choice and control. However, they are also part of a family and a school community and this can be forgotten or compromised by the therapeutic context.

I recently spoke at a conference for teachers about wellbeing in the twenty-first century. A large number of participants voiced their concerns about just this experience in their own schools. It is a concern often echoed by parents, who recognise that their child or teen needs help, but then feel shut out of the process and end up with a sense of powerlessness at just the point when they might be feeling most vulnerable as a parent.

As human beings, we have a core need to be part of and to be supported by communities: our families, our schools and our peers. Rather than adopting a systemic and holistic approach that recognises this, too often, the child or teen is worked with in isolation. And this is not just about staff or parents being marginalised. This can lead to counsellors being less effective, as they are unaware of something happening at home or at school which the teen may not choose to share and which has not become clear because there is no appropriate system or mechanism for the sharing of information between all parties involved.

Many schools run parenting seminars, seeking to equip parents in nurturing and bringing up their children in the twenty-first century. As we know, it takes a village to raise a child and these seminars, workshops, and courses are of vital importance in addressing not only the predictable issues such as ‘the party scene’, alcohol, and drugs, or building resilience, but more in-depth topics like developing mindfulness and fostering emotionally intelligent children. One-off seminars can be effective, but they need to be supported by longer parenting courses that address such issues and talk openly with parents about how to avoid the dangers of helicopter and curling parenting.

In my experience, many parents seem to lack confidence in their parenting skills, even though they are respected and confident in their professional arenas. They are uncertain as they seek to parent in an increasingly complex, competitive and digitally-driven world, and feel suddenly out of their depth. The western world is an individualist society; families are no longer bringing up their children in broad communities where they can seek the advice, help, and support of older and wiser parents when difficulties arise. There are many areas in which this seems to have an impact on children’s and teens’ development. One key area is the already mentioned helicoptering and curling approach to parenting, which can be detrimental to the development of emotional and social intelligence and resilience. Both are vitally important in general wellbeing and can be predictive factors in mental health. Perhaps there is the potential for the school to be the new community, but that would need a change in approach so that pupils, staff, and parents all work together to foster collective and individual wellbeing.

At a recent mindfulness course (in which 50% were fathers), many attendees felt that their lives were simply too busy. They wished to reset them for their own wellbeing and that of their families. They spoke about feeling as if they were on a never-ending treadmill. One mother had been sent by her son who, having recently experienced a mindfulness course at his school, felt she would benefit from it.

In the evaluation at the end of the course, it was notable how many expressed a sense of not being alone, and how they valued knowing that other parents were experiencing similar issues. These parents left feeling better equipped and with a new sense of confidence in their parenting skills, which can only benefit their children and in turn, the schools which their children attend.

In conclusion, it is time to take a long, hard look at the culture we are creating in schools today. Many may already be doing this with wellbeing programmes, school counsellors, parents seminars, courses and pastoral days, staff wellbeing programmes and so on. But are we merely adding these onto already crammed school programmes, thereby simply increasing the pace of life and thus expectations on all? There is a very great risk that this is the case. What is required instead is a whole school review; we must ask ourselves: what are we doing well? What do we need to do differently? And this may mean a radical re-think about the culture, nature, and above all the pace of school life. Are we following a driven, corporate (doing) model, a ‘burn out’ model or a ‘sustainable, flourishing’, and caring educational model? A good question, perhaps, for all schools to contemplate at the start of the school year.

Rachel Kelly

Hardly a week goes by without another worrying headline about the mental health crisis affecting young people.

A few examples make the point. In December 2017 we learned that the number of young children in England seeing psychiatrists rose by nearly a third over a 12-month period.²

In 2016, 93 per cent of secondary school teachers in the United Kingdom reported an increase in rates of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression among their pupils over the previous five years. ³

These statistics are about the child population in general, but are echoed by specific data from independent...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• About the editors
• About the contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The pastoral challenge
• Chapter 2 The academic challenge
• Chapter 3 The junior challenge
• Chapter 4 The financial challenge
• Chapter 5 The access challenge
• Chapter 6 The diversity challenge
• Chapter 7 The gender challenge
• Chapter 8 The innovation challenge
• Chapter 9 The international challenge
• Chapter 10 The political challenge
• Conclusion
• Index