How to be an Amazing Middle Leader

Caroline Bentley-Davies

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781845907983
• eBook ISBN: 9781845908331
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Today the myriad skills needed to be an amazing middle leader in schools can seem mind-boggling. What's more Middle Leaders are taking up the leadership reins after gaining experience for far fewer years than ever before.Whether you are new to this role or are more experienced and aspiring to become a school leader, this book will give you the vital information you need in order to understand what is really important about your role and how to improve your key skills.

Section II

Leading a Team and Getting the Right Things Done!

Chapter 4

What’s the Difference Between Leadership and Management?

What is the difference between leadership and management? This is the classic interview question for middle leaders. Why do many schools now call their teams the senior leadership team, rather than the senior management team? Have managers morphed into the new leaders? And does it really matter what you are called?

Personally, I don’t really think it matters what you are called, but what does matter is how you see your role, and, most importantly, what you actually do and what you achieve for the pupils in your school. Years ago heads of department, year heads, year coordinators (call them what you will) appeared to focus very much on the management side of things: ordering resources, books, arranging things, sorting them out. It was said that a manager was somebody ‘who got things done’. They were known for their efficient tick lists and for being a ‘completer/finisher’. You could trust a manager with getting things ordered, filed, sorted and organised. Leadership, well that was something else.

Managers are people who are efficient, who follow directions, who ensure if you are going on holiday that everything is securely and carefully packed, all ticked off on an Edexcel spreadsheet; they’ve got the map, they’ve got the tickets and they ensure that everybody’s on time and that the car has been serviced and that there’s plenty of petrol …You get the picture. Managers, it seems, are invaluable.

What about leaders? What’s their role? What’s the difference? Well the manager might have everything carefully packed, but it is the leader who has decided that a trip needs be taken in the first place. They have envisaged what type of trip the family needs, they have weighed up their aspirations and made the best choices from the available budget. They have chosen the destination! Yes, the manager might have everybody strapped in the car with enough clean underpants to last them the fortnight, but it is the leader who has decided that they should all go on holiday; they have a clear idea of what they hope to get out of it and why it is the best destination.

In previous years, the term ‘leader’ was exclusively reserved for head teachers, rather than deputies or even heads of department. This was because it was thought that only the head teacher could set the direction for their school. After setting the path and having the all-important vision, they would instruct the deputies and then the heads of department about what their route was. It was the job of these middle managers to pack the car, secure the house and make sure that they had made enough sandwiches for the trip! Now, it is still understood that good leadership of a school is reliant on very clear direction and leadership skills from the head teacher; however, all areas of the school, including governors and middle leaders, have a role in shaping and leading – ‘distributed leadership’ is the buzz phrase.

We want heads of department/heads of year/heads of pastoral not just to be the person who marshals resources, but the one who inspires, sets a clear direction for their team, who leads with the end point in mind, so that their subject or area can flourish under their leadership. Filling the car with petrol is very important and so is ensuring that your staff have the right resources to do their job well, but setting the right course and agreeing on the direction should come first. We want to get to the right place, for the right reason, not just any place.

The current educational climate also reinforces the need for leadership, rather than management skills at every level in school. Schools in the UK are evaluated and judged by Ofsted and their evaluation schedule for school inspection increasingly places emphasis on the role of the middle leader, as opposed to manager. This isn’t designed to be a book about Ofsted, or just how to get a gold star on your inspection – although it will undoubtedly help, this book is about developing the skills of being a great leader and achieving the best for your pupils. However, where relevant and helpful, I will make reference to Ofsted’s concerns and link these with effective leadership advice.

The 2013 Ofsted Evaluation Schedule, for example, explains the importance of leadership skills in its choice of vocabulary: ‘leaders focus relentlessly on teaching and learning and provide focused professional development for all staff and lead by example. They base their actions on a deep and accurate understanding of the school’s performance and of staff and pupils’ skills and attributes.’ Here not only is the language based more on leadership attributes but also the implications. The manager might sort through and offer staff a choice of different day INSET courses to attend for their professional development, but the leader correctly identifies and analyses what the pupils’ and staff’s needs actually are and then devises the best continuing professional development (CPD) for them. This may be a one day course, but it might include training groups of teachers at school, setting up coaching cycles or devising other types of CPD. A good leader sees the ‘big picture’ and the ultimate aim – they don’t see running a team just as a set of tasks to complete.

Chapter 5

Starting Points: Where Are We? What’s Working? What Could be Better?

Being a leader involves really thinking about the outcome you want and planning strategically to achieve this, rather than just completing daily tasks. I remember, as an inexperienced middle leader, realising that the team did not use as much ICT in their teaching as they might. I arranged for individuals to attend separate, eye-wateringly expensive one-day training events in London and was subsequently surprised when their practice wasn’t magically transformed. Although I felt I could tick off ‘attend ICT training’ on their performance management targets, the actual practice in the classroom hadn’t improved. The desired outcome of having all staff being efficient users of ICT to help pupils progress would have been more successfully achieved if I had organised central training for the whole team or had organised a ‘buddy system’ (whereby staff who were more proficient at ICT taught others). Being a leader is about imagining the desired outcome and ensuring it happens in the best way – not just any way.

Arranging the timetable, buying resources, starting new exam specifications, organising special events, planning interventions for groups of pupils all have aspects of management to them; they need to be well planned and organised. But, first of all, the leader needs a clear rationale as to why they are happening and a clear idea of what they hope to achieve.

You might like to look at Ofsted’s criteria for outstanding leadership and management below – it isn’t designed as a tick sheet but does provide some of the expectations and actions that are required. We will be addressing these areas throughout the book. It has been accessed from the Ofsted website and some of the key areas most pertinent to middle leaders have been listed. You are advised to review the website as Ofsted regularly makes changes and additions to what is expected from leaders.

• The pursuit of excellence in all of the school’s activities is demonstrated by an uncompromising and highly successful drive to strongly improve, or maintain, the highest levels of achievement and personal development for all pupils over a sustained period of time.
• All leaders and managers are highly ambitious for the pupils and lead by example. They base their actions on a deep and accurate understanding of the school’s performance, and of staff and pupils’ skills and attributes.
• There are excellent policies underpinning practice that ensures that pupils have high levels of literacy, or pupils are making excellent progress in literacy.
• Leaders focus relentlessly on improving teaching and learning and provide focused professional development for all staff, especially those that are newly qualified and at an early stage of their careers. This is underpinned by searching performance management that encourages, challenges and supports teachers’ improvement. As a result, teaching is outstanding, or at least consistently good and improving.
• The school’s curriculum promotes and sustains a thirst for knowledge and a love of learning. It covers a wide range of subjects and provides opportunities for academic, technical and sporting excellence. It has a very positive impact on all pupils’ behaviour and safety, and contributes very well to pupils’ academic achievement, their physical wellbeing, and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• The school’s actions have secured improvement in achievement for those supported by the pupil premium, which is rising rapidly, including in English and mathematics.
• The school has highly successful strategies for engaging with parents to the benefit of pupils, including those who find working with the school difficult.
• Staff model professional standards in all of their work and demonstrate high levels of respect and courtesy for pupils and others.1

Developing your vision

As a middle leader it is very important to have a clear vision. You need to know what it will look like if your Design and Technology department/Year 1 team/Year 10 tutor team are exceptional. It is important that as the leader you can visualise in detail what it would be like to have the best provision possible (what is being offered to pupils, such as the curriculum) and what the outcomes would be. What would the pupils say, do and achieve if things were really outstanding in your area of the school? How would other teaching team members and non-teaching staff know that this team was outstanding? What would be the indicators? What would they be doing? How would they feel? What about the senior leadership team and the governors? What sort of outcomes would they be hoping for? What sort of feedback would you be hoping for and expecting from parents and the wider community? How would Ofsted know that they were dealing with an exceptional leader?

This might all seem somewhat overwhelming, until it’s broken down. It is important to consider these questions and to think about what you are hoping to achieve before you start leading. In many of our experiences we simply hope to replicate the actions of our predecessor. They ran it this way, so we will. This can be a starting point if we are taking over an already successful team, but we also need to look outwards as well as inwards to continue and further develop our success.

In this section we are going to look at the strategies you shoul...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction: How to be an Amazing Middle Leader in Schools
• Section I: The Skills of an Amazing Middle Leader
• Section II: Leading a Team and Getting the Right Things Done!
• Section III: Monitoring, Marking and Making Improvements
• Section IV: From Monitoring to Measurable Improvements
• Section V: Managing Change Steps to Success!
• Section VI: Leading a Team to Success – Avoiding Pitfalls
• Section VII: Training and CPD
• Section VIII: From Rock Star to Honey Bee
• Section IX: How Team Members Know that You are a Great Leader
• Section X: The Important Art of Delegation
• Section XI: Preparation for Inspection
• Section XII: Making Time Work for You! Key Time Management Tips
• Section XIII: Middle Leader Challenges and Next Steps
• Further Reading and Resources
• Index
• About Caroline Bentley-Davies
• Copyright