Investing in Leadership
D J Ettinger, Headmaster, Cokethorpe School
There is a saying that teachers are born not made. There is a lot of truth in that, in the ability of good teachers to enthuse pupils about their subject. But it is less true for all the other roles and responsibilities that a teacher may take on as they climb the professional ladder. During a teacher’s career they will need to be aware of curriculum development, for example, of techniques in classroom management, or how to be an effective line manager. Some will eventually need to know how to lead an organisation that may have well over 100 employees, many hundreds of pupils, and an annual budget in eight figures.
Those who work in other industries will know that not all of these skills are intuitive. They have to be learnt. Consequently, one site on the internet lists a score of professional development courses for teachers, including risk assessment courses, financial management courses, peer monitoring and leadership courses. Teachers may need to update their subject knowledge. There are also ones that truly reflect modern times, such as ‘gamified learning’ (who knew that gamified was an adjective). There are also countless other professional learning networks and, for those that seek the ultimate prize, there is now a National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH).
I bet no one suggested to Mr Chips that he needed such courses, before the Governors eventually gave him leadership of Brookfield. But then the whole point of that story is that Mr Chips remained at the same school for over 40 years, and presumably acquired his many skills by a process of osmosis. That is not entirely unknown today. In my first school, I had a colleague who arrived straight from his PGCE course, and retired as Deputy Headmaster of the same school many years later. But nowadays these examples are the exception.
This opens up some interesting contrasts between education, and specifically Independent education, and other kinds of business. In many other industries, money invested in professional development is in the hope that many of the skills acquired, often at great expense, will go on to benefit the company, not its rivals. One might imagine that Independent schools would have the same expectation. After all, what is the justification of using parents’ fees to train someone who will then go on to work elsewhere? There is no doubt that the annual turnover of colleagues can be unsettling for the school community, and sometimes unnerving for parents. I often have to explain that teaching is a particularly fluid profession, and for good reason. An ambitious young teacher may want one day to lead a subject department, or to be Head of a House or Head of Year. Many schools now have Assistant Heads as well as Academic and Pastoral Deputy Heads, and these are seen as pathways to eventual Headship. To support this, most Independent schools will have a line in the budget for professional development. Although many schools do not achieve the full amount, the recommended figure is 2%. But of course, it is not just about money, and no school could afford to fund all the ambitions of every teacher. It is as much about encouragement and providing opportunity, despite the simple fact that many of the steps on the ladder will require teachers to move from one school to another. Having worked in just three schools in my career makes me something of an exception. Another colleague from my first school eventually went on to three separate headships alone. This fluidity is both inevitable and essential, and I would go so far as to say that headteachers have a professional responsibility not only to support colleagues to develop their skills, but also, in due time, to encourage them to move on to further their careers.
For independent schools, therefore, investment in leadership has to be viewed through a special lens. At the risk of sounding a little high-minded, it is a lens that recognises the profound social importance of what education seeks to achieve, and the part that all educators must play to help every child realise their potential. In a sense, education may quite readily be compared with the medical profession, in its focus on the well-being of all members of society. At the same time, we also need to remember that even those who have a vocation will often have a family to care for, and a mortgage to pay. Therefore, ambition in the profession is also for a personal sense of achievement, and for teachers to improve the quality of life of their families. In that sense teachers are like any other professional.
Education is the seed ground for the success of almost every other endeavour. For lawyers to ensure that justice is done, for doctors and nurses to improve health, for the success of businesses that profit the nation in so many ways, the starting point is people with relevant skills. Furthermore, for a society to be happy and settled, it needs to be made up of people who have the tolerance that comes from learning, and the contentment that comes from realising their potential. In a special way, then, the focus of anyone who enters the profession must be on the intrinsically noble goals of the profession as a whole. It is no surprise that the role of teachers, like doctors and nurses, is often spoken of in terms of a vocation. The task transcends a particular time and place, and those who control the purse strings have responsibilities that must not focus solely on their own school.
