When is a headteacher not a headteacher?
Easy – it is when they are a headmaster, headmistress, principal, head of school, executive headteacher, executive principal, or CEO.
Depending on the school (or Trust), these job titles are used to describe what I always like to call the headteacher.
Head-teacher, it does what it says on the tin. The head of teaching, the person in charge of a school and the individual who Michael Fullan would call the lead learner in an organisation.
The role of the head has changed significantly over the past 10 years, particularly since the world of academisation has transformed the way in which our schools are structured.
I have been a headteacher for three years now and even in that short space of time I have witnessed a huge amount of reform, not just to education in the wider context, but also to the specific role of the headteacher.
Recently, a close colleague of mine in a neighbouring school resigned from their position as headteacher because they had become disillusioned with the way in which the job was taking them further away from the classroom and closer to the accountant’s office. The frustration I heard in their voice as they described the situation made me reflect on the way in which I work and whether or not I too am on a similar trajectory.
For me, teaching has always been my passion and I have accepted that as I moved higher up the leadership hierarchy in a school, the less teaching I would do. Last year was the first time in my career when I did not have any lessons at all on my timetable. My school was on the verge of experiencing unprecedented change and I felt that I needed to give this transition my full attention. I also did not want to disadvantage the students in my class as I knew I would be spending significant time in meetings both inside and outside of school. It was the right call to make but it felt strange not having a regular class and I really missed it.
I have often thought that in order for senior leaders to have credibility in their school, they must walk the walk as well as talk the talk. I need senior leaders in my school to be highly effective classroom practitioners and balance their teaching commitments with their leadership responsibilities. Leadership is about setting an example and in a school context this means teaching consistently brilliant lessons; this for me is as important for the headteacher as it is for the deputy or assistant heads.
If we take Fullan’s three-pronged depiction of a successful headteacher, that of lead learner, change agent and systems player, then for me I would say the role of lead learner comes most naturally. Leading learning in a school is an incredibly powerful way of setting the tone for what your school culture is going to be based upon.
If you want to establish a culture where all stakeholders engage in lifelong learning, where everyone adopts a growth mindset philosophy and where there is a thirst for knowledge and a desire to grow, then the headteacher acting as lead learner is absolutely critical.
I have spoken recently with a group of aspirant headteachers about how being a head is, in my opinion, genuinely the best job in the world. It is a privilege to lead schools full of wonderful young people and passionate staff, but we should never underestimate the importance of keeping teaching and learning at the heart of everything we do.
School life and headship in particular is full of distractions and the vision leaders can quite easily become clouded and blurred, their attention diverted from the things that really make a difference.
I’ve learned a lot of lessons in my first three years of headship, but none have been more important than retaining a sharp focus on continually improving classroom practice, particularly my own.
- SecEd’s headteacher diarist is in his third year of headship at a comprehensive school in the Midlands.