School Leadership - A Scottish Perspective

  I was intrigued to see on Twitter last week a debate about whether Ofsted should be looking to remove gradings, and especially 'outstanding', given to schools following the inspection process. One person commented along the lines that if a school was performing to a 'good' standard, that should be enough. I tended to agree with them. In Scotland we don't have 'outstanding' schools, we have 'excellent' ones, as this is the top grading awarded in our inspection process. Something for some schools to feel proud of, others to aspire to and everyone else to feel inadequate about. Dylan Wiliam is often quoted as saying that 'teaching is the only profession where we know we are going to come in and know we are going to fail every day.' By this, he is simply pointing out that teaching, and learning, are very complex activities and with so many variables, that we can never get it absolutely right, for every pupil and on every day. W...

A really good question for teachers to ask of their learners is, 'what does it look like when you are learning?' If you give this question to pupils and ask them to draw or write about themselves learning, you will often get a picture of a pupil, on their own, perhaps at a desk, and with a pencil or pen, jotter and books. They might include a computer screen and, if you are lucky, the child in the picture may be smiling. Not so in the example below. If you have not carried out this exercise, try it. You may be surprised at the results. What you get is the child's construct of what learning is, and what it looks and feels like. If you get results like the one above, you can explore this more with the learner and it can give you some remarkable insights into how leaning is perceived by the learners in your class. It can also be a stimulus for some soul-searching and reflection on your own part. I suspect if you were asked to draw learning taking place in your classroom...

As a headteacher for eighteen years now, I have completed and endured lots of professional development. Some of this was truly inspirational and has had profound effects and impacts on my thinking and my practice. Unfortunately, a lot of it failed to deliver the same outcomes. I would say that the professional development and learning that has had the greatest impact have been those identified and chosen by myself, as part of a process of continual reflection and professional development and growth, matched to my individual needs. Why would it be any other way? The trouble is that is not how a lot of centrally organised professional development for leaders operates. It should, but it doesn't. 'Yet!' as Carol Dweck might observe. No, as a school leader you are subject to much learning and professional development, that is identified and directed at you by your employers. When I first began my journey of professional development as a new school leader, I was like a sponge,...

The following are some of my reflections for school leaders already in post, and those aspiring to such roles, on some of the strategies and approaches that I feel help produce the best results for you, your learners and the schools you lead. They are a reflection from my eighteen years as a headteacher, or principal, and are some of the key insights I have gained in that time. The list is not exhaustive and it is personal to myself and my contexts. But, I offer it in the hope it may help some, and stimulate debate or thinking for others. Prioritise people and relationships: It is very easy to get sucked into focusing too much of your time on systems and structures, when in fact it is the people you lead and collaborate with who will make the difference. You can have the greatest systems and structures in place, but if you don't have the right people, or you neglect the people you have, these count for little. It is your teachin...

My last post was about some of the significant aspects of my role I feel guilty about, as I approach the end of my career in schools. This one has a more positive message, as I consider some of the aspects I feel most satisfied with from my career as a teacher and a school leader. As I indicated in the last post, 'Guilty M'lud' , there have been many highlights and lots that I am proud of. Many of these are to do with particular children, parents, members of staff and colleagues, but this is about the big wins I feel I have experienced during my career. From my last post, you will know I have made mistakes, some of which I feel more guilty about than others. What I will say is that I have tried to learn from all my mistakes, both as a teacher and as a school leader. I have always been willing to admit my mistakes to those most affected, and apologise when necessary. Of course, what I consider to be a mistake, may not be considered so by others, and vice versa. Mis...

As many of you know, this is my last term as a Headteacher. Rather like the end of a school year, it has got me looking back retrospectively, not just over one year, but over my career as a teacher and a school leader. There is no doubt that there is much to be proud of and thankful for and I will leave my time in schools with many fantastic memories of all that we have achieved together, and the difference we have made, often in the most challenging of circumstances. I use 'we' because I know I have been fortunate to work with some fabulous teachers and colleagues. I have always believed that you see how great people are when you are faced with immense challenge, not when things are running smoothly and there is a flow to everything you are engaged in. However, like most teachers and school leaders, my mind is also occupied with the failures, the things that I feel guilty about failing to achieve. Because you haven't achieved everything you would like, the...

Perhaps its the Christmas idleness kicking in, but I have been thinking over the last day or two about school inspections. This is probably because of tweets I have read over that time, but it is also undoubtedly linked to the fact that I am aware of at least two schools, pretty near to me, who are being inspected as soon as they return from the Christmas and New Year break. Why would anyone think that is an appropriate thing to do? One school will have inspectors arriving on the first day back and the other the following week. I am sure we can all imagine how these impending visits have impacted on school leaders and staff in the already hectic run-up to the Christmas holidays, and how they may also be feeling during those holidays. It feels to me that schools being inspected in this period, so soon after the break, are very much just seen as fodder for an organisational process that takes no notice of the impact on people of that process. 'We have a number of inspection...