Middle Management in Action

Practical Approaches to School Improvement

Mr Eric Ruding, Eric Ruding

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2002
• eBook ISBN: 9781134579495
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Administration

This book covers all aspects of the roles and responsibilities of middle managers in all types of schools and is divided into two parts. Part 1 is based on all the elements contained in the National Standards for Subject Leaders, published by the Teacher Training Agency. Part 2 complements this, covering the practical aspects, including checklists and training exercises, for the professional development of middle managers and their teams. By covering the generic issues of middle management, the book can be used in primary, secondary and special schools, by heads of department, subject coordinators and by those aspiring to such positions. Senior managers should find value in the book in establishing agreed roles for their middle managers, and for use in school-based in-service training. The scarcity of existing publications in the area of middle management in schools means that the book should also be of value to others involved in the training and development of existing and aspiring middle managers.

Part 1

School Improvement Strategies

MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE (Supplement P3)

There are several methods by which organisations, largely commercial and industrial, have sought to improve practice through a planned process of change. These methods have increasingly been used by schools in order to deal with the growing quest for quality in education such as is outlined in the Parents’ Charter. The series of Education Acts, culminating in the Education Reform Act 1988, has meant that schools have moved nearer to the clients they serve. Central government, in its own words, has sought ‘to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools by the introduction of market forces, choice and competition into the education system’. This has led to schools being more accountable as a result of:

• the diminished role and function of LEAs in line with the increasing transfer of decisions to schools;
• the introduction of Local Management of Schools (LMS) by the end of 1993 through which schools’ delegated budgets are largely determined by pupil numbers;
• the publication of league tables for external examination and test results;
• OFSTED inspections and the subsequent publication of the findings, including the naming of ‘failing schools’;
• benchmarking and target setting for schools and their pupils;
• a revised scheme for teacher appraisal which is likely to be further strengthened by the introduction of new regulations on pay and performance review;
• the publication of national qualifications or standards for teachers;
• the National Curriculum and its assessment arrangements;
• open enrolment, leading to a need for managing parental choice procedures;
• increased competition for pupils and the money they generate.

Schools are therefore much in the market place, where parents* who are pleased with the ‘product’ will continue to choose and support certain schools and so these schools will generate income. On the other hand, schools appearing to produce an ‘inferior product’ will lose or fail to gain pupils and the money that comes with them.

Most teachers welcome change when it adds variety to some of the daily and annual routines that they face and when they are involved in the decisions on, or processes of, such change. However, in recent years the imposition of many radical, external changes has made teachers’ lives difficult and, to some, has been quite threatening. This situation has been worsened by continued external criticism and a lack of appreciation of the problems involved, in spite of the enormous progress made. Now, sadly, any positive attempt at improvement through further change is likely to elicit immediate resistance to that change.

What has proved much more successful has been the management of planned change, where schools/teams:

• recognise and understand the need for change;
• assess the timing of, and their readiness for, the change;
• prepare for the planning process;
• are able to resource the planning and the innovation;
• anticipate problems in any transition phase;
• review the planning process;
• monitor implementation of the change;
• evaluate the innovation.

Where schools/teams have long-term ideas for significant change, the change needs to be broken down into smaller, but interdependent changes. Success is more likely with smaller, shorter-term changes and such success often provides the impetus for continuing with the changes. In most planning for change there tends to be periods of uncertainty and frustration where teachers/teams need support and encouragement. Change can be damaging to confidence, so reassurance must be given if the impetus for change is to be maintained.

In planning for change, care must be taken to consider involving appropriate support staff in the school, particularly where the change will have an impact on their work for the school/team. There are instances where it will be valuable to include them in the discussions and planning as their views may add important perspectives to the change. The pupils and their parents also have a part to play in the process and their perceptions can be sought by questionnaires such as those given in Supplement TL6.

In considering the planning for change, the following points should prove valuable:

• Change is likely to be successful when people agree with it and/or see that there is a need for it;
• As people tend to mistrust or misunderstand anything which is threatening, there is a need for support, help, reassurance and recognition of success;
• Success is more likely if those affected by the change are involved in the decision to change, in planning the change and subsequently in implementing it;
• Whilst a consensus approach is ideal, change often generates conflict which will need to be managed as a part of the process;
• Hindrances to change must be recognised and taken into account during the change-planning process;
• Change is, of necessity, a slow process and continued enthusiasm and commitment must be encouraged;
• As there is to be continued external demand for change (e.g. the National Curriculum in Key Stages 1 and 2 in the year 2000 and a revised system for pay and performance review), the culture of the school and the teams within it need to accept and maintain change as a way of life.

QUALITY ASSURANCE INITIATIVES

Initiatives such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and BS 5750, which are used by industrial or commercial organisations, have begun to find their way into the educational sphere. These consist of a philosophy by which the organisation can produce quality goods and/or services through either quality control or quality assurance. Quality control means inspecting outputs and rejecting anything which falls below a certain standard; school inspections and school self-evaluation techniques are examples of this approach. Quality assurance, on the other hand, involves designing systems to deliver quality before the event; initial and in-service training of teachers is one aspect of quality assurance.

One of the essential bases of TQM is the concept of Kaizen. This is derived from two Japanese words, kai meaning ‘change’, and zen meaning ‘good’ (for the better), i.e. improvement though change. One of the leading exponents of Kaizen, the Chairman of the airline SAS, once said that he wanted the airline to be better by 1 per cent in a 100 ways, rather than 100 per cent better in one way, and that the 1 per cent improvement had to be continuous. This amount is suitable for any complex organisation, such as a school, where there are many interacting factors, all of which contribute to the organisation’s success (or lack of it).

A quality assurance process for teaching would work backwards from any teacher with any class to find out the prerequisites to ensure that:

• the teacher is suitably qualified, experienced and knowledgeable;
• it is an appropriate group of pupils;
• appropriate material is being taught;
• sufficient and relevant teaching and learning resources are available;
• the time is appropriate;
• the teaching space is appropriate.

Each of these would be checked to identify what was necessary for there to be a high expectation that it would be fulfilled. The key element is ‘right first time’ and as little as possible would be left to chance.

(Adapted from Fidler 1996)

Using this approach, quality assurance should be the essential feature of all development planning in schools. In summary, quality assurance is about:

• fitness for purpose;
• shared understanding and purposes between all partners;
• regularly questioning and challenging assumptions;
• turning rhetoric into policies for action;
• planning and making decisions based on accurate information;
• empowering teams and individuals.

The features of quality are:

• Quality is easy to aspire to but difficult to define;
• A concern for quality is everyone’s responsibility and attention to detail matters;
• Consensus about quality may be difficult to achieve;
• Shared values, philosophy, culture and purposes are vital to a sense of quality;
• Quality is not achieved merely by describing it on paper;
• Narrowing the gap between rhetoric and reality is a major concern;
• Other audiences will determine many aspects of perceived quality.

The features of quality in school and middle management are:

• The quality of pupils’ learning is at the heart of effective management;
• All management should be focused on this;
• All teachers are managers;
• School management practices should be free of bias and discrimination;
• Effective school management should emphasise:
  • shared mission, vision and values;
  • consultation, participation and teamwork;
  • accountability;
  • a concern for quality.

Aspects of quality assurance in relation to working with teams are given in Supplement S3.

Other quality assurance processes which will be familiar to schools are:

• Staff development (see Supplements P1 and S2);
• OFSTED inspections of schools (see page);
• School Based Review mechanisms, including GRIDS which is widely used in primary schools and is a process model using instruments to undertake investigation;
• Management Competencies, which attempt to identify the skills necessary in jobs and whether these are apparent in practice; the tasks/skills/attributes approach is used in the training under the Headteacher Leadership and Management Programme (HEADLAMP), the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) and the Leadership Programme for Serving Headteachers (LPSH) and is also in all of the National Standards documents (TTA 1998);
• Investors in People, which provides:
  • a framework for ensuring that all members of a school are familiar with its aims and know the part that they play in the process;
  • a means of development for individuals in order to help them in this;
  • accreditation for the school, which may also contribute to development by providing a form of ‘kite mark’ of quality.

THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPMENT PLANNING, REVIEW AND EVALUATION (Supplements P1–P9)

Before any effective planning can take place there are three vital prerequisites:

agreed mission, vision and values;

leadership;

teamwork.

Mission, Vision and Values

It is important that, under any of these headings, there is a shared and agreed approach to the philosophy of the work of the department/year group/team which, of necessity, must reflect the mission, vision and values of the school. Similarly, where the overall intentions of the school are expressed as aims and objectives, the team’s aims and objectives must always concur with these. Examples of statements of a mission and a description of the vision are given on page.

The planning of all developments must be underpinned by the mission and vision and should reflect the culture of the school and the team. This process involves attempting to answer all of the following questions:

• How would you like it (school, department/team or issue) to be?
• What do you really want to achieve?
• Can you picture a better situation?
• In what ways would the situation be better?
• What are the future possibilities?
• Is there agreement about what is needed?

Leadership (Supplements KE1–KE3)

In identifying the core purpose of the role of subject leaders, the Teacher Training Agency (1998) sets out a leadership function for those responsible for teams which applies equally well to the role of all middle managers in schools and to all teachers in the context of their particular roles. Evidence from OFSTED (1993–97) shows that the single most important factor in school effectiveness is the quality of leadership at both senior and middle management levels.

The role of the middle manager can be described under the following four headings:

• teacher;
• leader;
• manager;
• administrator.

It could be argued that this is true for all teachers but the most significant role for all school managers is that of leadership. The relationship between the roles of leader, manager and administrator, adapted from Warren Bennis’ work (1969), is given in Supplement KE2 and is further described in the National Standards in Supplement KE3.

It is often the practice for the head of department/year/key stage or the subject coordinator to be the only person with the leadership role, and in some instances this is a weakness in the system in schools. There is always so much work for the team as a whole to do that it cannot be handled by one person, bearing in mind the teaching commitment that middle managers have to undertake. In the best organisations all staff are expected to adopt a leadership role for parts of the work of the team. This not only spreads the work load but also provides opportunities for professional development and involvement of others in the team. Difficulties arise when a single teacher has subject responsibility and it is important to involve other staff whenever possible (e.g. a member of the school management team, staff from a related subject or others, where the organisation of the school has even a loose faculty structure or grouping of subjects).

Teamwork (Supplements KE3 and S3)

Modern management theory propounds the view that teams must form the basis of the process of the management of change or innovation. This allows for the empowerment of members of the team to share in, and therefore take ownership of, the process of development. Again, where one teacher has sole responsibility for a subject or area of work of the school, it is important that there is some way of sharing the task and ideas for development, or at least of using some form of second opinion as the work progresses, possibly through a ‘faculty’ arrangement, by using a member of the school management team, the LEA Adviser or a colleague in another school.

The Planning Process (Supplements P1–P7)

This involves inculcating the view that the process of planning is more important than the plan itself (a good plan may well change but a good planning process should not). The preparation phase provides an excellent opportunity for the involvement of the staff who will have to implement and follow the policies and procedures which are established. It requires a strategy for sharing, and therefore some ownership of, the writing or re-writing of the documentation. This should ensure that everyone has a role to play and a clear remit, including time-constrained targets to be met, through the process of empowerment (Supplement S1). The planning process is cyclical in nature and at its simplest has the stages shown in Figure 1.

However, Figure 1 merely summarises a complex process and, in this form, the four stages tend to have a deal of overlap. Figure ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Figures
• Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part 1
• Leadership and Management Areas
• Part 2
• Curriculum and Assessment
• Teaching and Learning
• Staffing Issues
• Other Management Issues
• National Organisations
• Further Reading
• References