Leadership with a Moral Purpose

Turning Your School Inside Out

Will Ryan, Ian Gilbert

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9781845900847
• eBook ISBN: 9781845904265
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book gives all primary heads - aspiring, newly appointed or those for whom the phrase 'There must be something more than this...!' rings a bell - the ideas, techniques, tools and direction to turn their schools Inside-Out and lead them from the heart and soul. What's more it will help give Heads the confidence to do those things they know are right because they are right for the children, right for the staff and right for the community.

Chapter 1

The Inside Out School Leader

Never doubt the capacity of a small group of people to change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

The Prologue

If You Scratch a Good Head …
You Find a Moral Purpose

Most primary schools are extremely popular. They are served by some amazing people who do amazing things. There are head teachers who will always walk the extra mile for any child, even those who cause them the greatest heartache. There are teachers who care deeply about their class and constantly seek to inspire pupils. When Ofsted arrive positive questionnaires are returned by parents. Research shows that the primary school and the GP surgery are the most respected organisations within a locality. Confidence should be high but too often school leaders live in a world dominated by fear and compliance. Heads fear a drop in results, not meeting their targets (which are often over-inflated anyway), league tables, the call from Ofsted and a media which believes that when results improve the tests are getting easier.

As a head teacher I was once summoned to the telephone to talk to a reporter from the Daily Mail. I answered with trepidation, anticipating that this could only mean that they were chasing a bad news story.

‘Hello,’ said the reporter. ‘Could you confirm that you are the head teacher of Brinsworth Manor Junior School?’ My nervous voice squeaked out the words, ‘Yes, I am. How can I help?’ ‘Well, we are chasing up a story about the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, who we understand is a former pupil of the school.’

I still feared the worst and said, ‘What is it that you want to know?’ ‘Well,’ continued the reporter, ‘We have heard that when he was in his final year at the school he grew rather fond of a girl in his class. However, the girl passed her 11-plus and went on to the grammar school and John Prescott failed the exam and went to the local secondary modern school. We have heard that John wrote her a love letter prior to them separating declaring undying love, and that the girl read it with a tear in her eye, corrected it and sent it back. We need to know if there is still anyone in the school who could confirm or deny that story.’

The event was nonsensical and I still don’t know whether the story was true or false. However, I have no words to describe the sense of fear I felt during those moments. The Daily Mail does not have a reputation for being the best friend to state education in a Labour controlled authority.

This first chapter of this book speaks about the enormous outside pressures placed upon primary schools and their leaders over recent years, and how schools have felt compelled to introduce government initiatives regardless of their situation or the community they serve. Too often this led to a one-size-fits-all model. Excellence and Enjoyment supposedly signalled the arrival of a new golden opportunity of personalisation with its promise to take the burden off primary schools. A government minister, addressing an audience I was a member of, stated that the government should provide cash, support and silence.This terrified me. I feared the teaching profession may not be good enough to cope with the new freedom and autonomy. I shouldn’t have worried. Directors of the Primary National Strategy came and went and government meddling picked up pace.

Most teachers join the profession to make a difference for the future. They are energised by a compelling moral purpose to do the right things for children. It is time to recapture that moral purpose. There is a very real world out there. Unicef reported in February 2007 that British children are the unhappiest at school, more likely to be obese, smoke, drink and have sex at a younger age. This clearly suggests that change is needed. Schools need to consider the holistic needs of their children.

Primary schools have coped with wave after wave of government initiatives since 1988. As a consequence too many schools have become organisations that have been managed rather than led. Head teachers have been managing the implementation of government initiatives rather than thinking about the specific needs of their school and community. The professional life of many of our school leaders has felt out of control. This book is about recapturing control and developing a vision of a brighter future based upon the needs of the community the school is serving. Once the vision is described, it is the job of school leaders to ensure that the journey to a better future is achieved.

This chapter will help you to reverse the trend of everything coming from the outside into your school and start the process of turning it inside out. There are four key steps to take:

Step 1: Take control of your professional life

Step 2: Look at the needs of your children and establish the moral purpose

Step 3: Refuse to compromise your principles

Step 4: Model human excellence

The text urges you to be brave, to do the right things for your community and to make a lasting difference for the future.

Step 1: Take control of your professional life

It is 3 a.m. and it seems as though the whole world is asleep. But you are wide awake and your mind is racing. You are thinking about Mrs Humphries who is still accusing you of picking on her daughter Amber-Louise.

You are thinking about the Local Authority inspector who watched the direst lesson on stressed vowels within word-level work. You are now firmly convinced that stressed vowels are in fact a most uncomfortable medical condition.

You are thinking about whether the layered targets within the Raising Attainment Plan within the Improving Schools Programme are going to enable you to set numeric targets based on average point scores that will help you to reach the Fischer Family Trust D predictions for the boys in the new cohort.

If you lie awake at night swimming against the tide of these thoughts, then stop and think.

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why is it that you decided to join the teaching profession or become a school leader? You are intelligent, creative and talented. Once upon a time, maybe when you were much younger, you chose this job and no other job. All the things which are now keeping you awake were not among the reasons for joining this profession. This is a profession which you should be proud to belong to—a profession that should be changing lives for the better and shaping our future. Too many of our school leaders are experiencing the sensations of outside in school leadership. The influences are coming from the outside, whether it is the Local Authority, Ofsted or the government. They are coming from outside and determining what happens inside your organisation. These influences could be controlling every move you make in your professional role. And now you are being kept awake by these outside forces. Don’t let them drain away your energy and life blood. Stop and think:

Why?

Why?

Why?

What made you join this profession in the first place? The odds are that it was due to a moral purpose that came from deep inside you. This moral purpose formed your principles and values and was truly energising. It may have been so powerful that it made you feel as sharp as an axe. It is now time to go back inside yourself and find that moral purpose once more. Rediscover it and bring it from the inside and wear it on the outside. Stand up and be counted for what you genuinely believe.

Once upon a time a Rabbi was asked what he thought it would be like when he reached the Kingdom of God. He replied: ‘There is only one thing I know about what it will be like when I arrive at the Kingdom of God. I am not going to be asked “Why weren’t you Moses?” I am going to be asked, “Were you fully you?”’

Our greatest school leaders have four great personal traits or qualities. These are interconnected. The overriding quality is passion. This in turn provides energy, self-belief and a desire to create the right bonds. However, these qualities alone will not create outstanding schools. Organisational qualities are also needed. This comes through the development of strategy, a desire to add values and have the clear capacity to communicate, articulate and disseminate information. This is reflected in the diagram below.

Personal traits

1. Passion. Great school leaders have discovered a reason, a consuming, energising, almost obsessive purpose that drives them forward. It galvanises them to become bigger, bolder people and sustains them through difficult times. Inside out school leaders have the passion to make a lasting difference to a school and the people it serves. They are also passionate about the way in which this will be achieved. This passion is driven by the fact that they have a love for their school and community and therefore have a burning desire to do the right thing for them. There has never been a great leader who has been devoid of passion. Outstanding schools are created by passionate leaders. It is passion that will make the head teacher rise early and stay late in order to achieve their goal. And this is a goal that is owned personally by them—and certainly not a goal of the Local Authority or central government.

2. Energy. The passion to create an outstanding school provides energy. People of excellence grab every opportunity to shape things. They have an edge to them, an impression of dynamism that gives them an air of success. Research has shown quite simply that successful people do more than their less successful counterparts. Consider every single person who impresses you and you will see a man or woman or action. The best inside out leaders live as if obsessed by the wondrous opportunities each day may bring and the recognition that the one thing nobody has enough of is time. Great success comes to them from the physical, intellectual and spiritual energy that allows them to make the most of what they have. Strong self-centred people use their energy wisely moving in a clear straightforward manner.

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. Slay your doubts and demons with good old fashioned action.

William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

3. Belief. Whilst great leaders have a passion for change and considerable energy they also need belief. They recognise that nothing is forced upon them and they are not simply at the mercy of government or Local Authority dictate. They pick up the gauntlet of the challenges ahead, and meet the challenges full on, valuing every experience along the way. This concept is not very scientific, but if we believe in magic we will live a magical life and if we believe that our life is constrained by narrow limits then those limits will become real. What we believe to be true about primary education and what we believe to be possible within our school will make it true and make it happen. Whilst many people are passionate about primary education too many of them have limited belief in who they are and what they can do, and therefore they seldom take the actions that could turn their dream into reality. The inside out school leader has absolute belief that they will succeed and will demonstrate resilient perseverance until they do. As Henry Ford said: ‘Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you are probably right.’

In short, inside out leaders:

• Define the goal

• Continually visualise the successful outcome

• Act proactively and create opportunities with the right people

• Anticipate positive responses

• Are bold and imaginative in their approach to reach people and make progress

• Never entertain self-doubt

• Are excited about the inevitable success

4. Bonding power. People of excellence are inspirational. However, they also need access to inspiration themselves. Creating change can be lonely even with strong passion, loads of energy and high selfbelief. People of excellence seek out like-minded people and organisations. They learn from them and build networks where ideas are shared, developed and refined. These networks provide both ongoing and fresh impetus as the school drives forward.

Organisational traits

1. Strategy. Having a passion and genuine belief will never be enough. Passion and belief can propel you towards excellence but a clear operational strategy will always be required if you are to succeed. Passion and belief may launch your spaceship but the danger is that it will start careering all over the heavens. Effective primary schools led by inside out school leaders are built on a clear educational vision backed by a strong strategic plan of how to achieve that vision. They create a path, a clear sense of logical progression and a plan to make the best use of the resources they have available. The purpose of this book is to create the vision.

2. Clarity of values. Values are highly significant to the inside out school leader. Values are specific belief systems about what is right or wrong for our lives. They are often judgements about what makes life worth living. These values become a code of conduct for all that the school does. Inside out school leaders consider what values they want children to have for their present and future lives and also which values they want teachers to have, demonstrate and model on a daily basis. These could include tolerance, kindness, loyalty and self-discipline. The inside out school states explicitly what these values are and develops programmes to ensure that they develop consistently across the schools. There are high expectations that st...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The Inside Out School Leader
• Chapter 2 How to Develop an Inside Out Vision
• Creating a Future for Children
• Creating a Future for Adults
• Bibliography
• Index