As a new Head, I know that I need to understand better what is expected of me. It is surprisingly hard to get an accurate impression of this from teachers or other school leaders, or even from being a teacher previously. There are always a lot of positives and there are usually people who will say them, but that rarely tells you what you should do next. When you are a teacher, you may hear grumbling about a Head who is demonstrably successful. When you are in leadership, you may here excuses or evasions from all sides. Separating true expectations from those daily grievances is a difficult task and one I want to solve by researching successful Headteachers and the standards they set.
I have been interested in the National Standards for Teachers for some time, so when a leading online bookseller recommended in my feed Roy Blatchford’s “A Practical Guide: National Standards of Excellence for Headteachers” (2015), the quick buy button was put into service. Having skimmed through most of the book, I can testify to its value. I hope to solidify my learning from the book by writing critical chapter reviews informed by my own practice.
The introduction, which starts with the preamble to the standards, is interesting in its commentary on the development of the standards. Blatchford then describes the format so that heads of all levels of experience can get something out of the book. After my ‘at a glance’ read, I knew that the whole book was essential reading for me.
Starting therefore with Chapter 1 was slightly underwhelming, perhaps as I have the more experience of the international perspective than of any other area of the book. Blatchford’s international perspective consists of standards from Scotland, Australia, North Carolina and a challenge from Massachusetts. All are valuable and interesting. Scotland is resolute in using the terminology ‘Head Teachers’ to describe the workings of their school leader and for me this is a reminder that my own classroom practice has to be kept in good working order. Australia sets the principal in a wider context, sets out leadership requirements and then professional practices, then it encourages Plan and Act, Review and Respond- a very familiar diagram to those involved in teaching. North Carolina is similar to the UK in its moral foundation and emphasis on competencies.
As a teacher in a large East Asian country and previously in Africa after leaving the UK, I would say that Scotland, Australia and two US states is quite a narrow definition of an international perspective. In my current country of residence, Heads are hugely respected figures in communities, in the social elite and in the political elite of the governing party. At a business meeting with a young entrepreneur recently, an older man was sitting to the side of the successful youngster. When I was speaking the entrepreneur was interacting with me in a friendly and positive way, the older man was relatively expressionless and occasionally asked questions that brought out a sweat as I marshalled my answers. At the end of an answer, the young man and the old man shared a glance and I saw trust and clear and honest communication in the glance. They knew what the other meant to say but couldn’t say in front of me. The older man was the retired head of one of the most successful national schools in the city and the entrepreneur had been a pupil.
It was clear why the older man had been a successful head and a respected member of his community and it was clear that he would always manage to be respected in that capacity. While there may not be written standards for heads in my current country, qualities like the ones I describe above are part of the social and cultural expectation and understanding of headship. They are not as explicit as a ‘standards’ document, but they are just as clear to people where I live. I think Blatchford would have been well served by seeking out expertise on headship from a non-western perspective, especially in a Chapter called ‘International Perspective’.
Nevertheless, the chapter provides context for the UK’s National Standards. It is clear that when writing Chapter 1 that Blatchford is working towards the UK’s standards. A full international perspective on heads and principals, it is not. A way of putting the UK’s own standards into context, it is.
I look forward to discussing Chapter 2 with you tomorrow.