HEADTEACHERS VIEWS OF HOW THEY ARE SUPPORTED AND CHALLENGED Sue Swaffield University of Cambridge 22

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HEADTEACHERS VIEWS OF HOW THEY ARE SUPPORTED
AND CHALLENGEDSue SwaffieldUniversity of
Cambridge22nd ICSEI, Vancouver4 - 7 January
2009www.educ.cam.ac.uk/lfl
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???

• What are school principals views of support and
  challenge in countries you know?
• To what extent do the issues raised by English
  headteachers resonate with the situation
  elsewhere?
• What are the new directions we should explore in
  the support and challenge of school principals?

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CONTEXT

• Contribution to School Effectiveness and
  Improvement
• Pressures on headteachers
• Isolation
• Recruitment and retention
• Supportive and challenging relationships with
  external professionals
• England - primary and secondary schools

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TERMINOLOGY

• Headteacher School principal
• Primary (Elementary)
• Secondary High /Secondary
• Maintained/state school Public school
• Local Authority (LA) District
• LA Adviser Dist support staff
• Board of Governors (School Planning
  Council / PAC ?)
• Chair of Governors (Chair?)

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SUPPORT
CHALLENGE
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SOURCES OF SUPPORT CHALLENGE

• Governors
• The Local Authority
• School Improvement Partners
• Consultants
• Professional Associations
• Headteacher colleagues

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METHODOLOGY

• Interviews -gt QUESTIONNAIRE -gt interviews
• NATIONAL SAMPLE, stratified by region and school
  type (primary/secondary performance)
• 34.5 RETURNS (138/400) - proportional
• VARIETY OF QUESTIONS - fixed choice, Likert
  scale, prioritisation, open short answer
• Headteacher REFERENCE GROUP contributed to
  interpretation

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MOST VALUED SOURCES

• SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PARTNERS
• 62
• LOCAL AUTHORITY ADVISERS
• OTHER HEADTEACHERS 30
• NO ONE 5

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• One in 20 headteachers in England feel there is
  no external professional to whom they can turn
  for support and challenge

I have no-one really. I am very much
alone. Fellow heads and a LA friend. Its very
lonely. (Male primary headteacher with 14
years experience)
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Balance of support challenge from different
sources
More support Other headteachersthan
challenge Professional Associations
Both support SIPand challenge LA
officers Chair of Governors (also more
support)
More challenge few headteachers identifiedthan
support any group but 18 said SIPs
provide more challenge than support
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Frequency of experiencing support and challenge

• Chair of Governors (most frequent)
• Well known headteacher colleague
• Less well known headteachers
• School Improvement Partner Local
  Authority official
• Professional Association (least
  frequent)

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Focus and balance of support and challenge (1)

• Both support and challenge
• Analysing student attainment data (57)
• Conducting school self-evaluation (51)
• Leading school improvement (50)
• More challenge than support
• Analysing student attainment data (34)
• Improving student attendance (25)
• Conducting school self-evaluation (20)

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Focus and balance of support and challenge (2)

• Little support or challenge
• Managing your workload (59)
• Handling personal relationships (48)
• Delegating responsibility (46)
• More support than challenge
• Dealing with staffing issues (33)
• Managing student behaviour (29)
• Working collaboratively with other agencies
  (27)

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WHAT DO HEADS VALUE?

• Challenge that is appropriate, realistic,
  constructive, non-judgemental
• Knowledge - of school, context, wider issues
• Understanding of demands on headteachers
• Someone who has had similar experiences
• Respect Trust Confidentiality Professionalism
• Independence Alternative perspectives
• Thought stimulation Direct advice
• Interpersonal skills Accessibility

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Someone who

• Shares good practice
• Helps extend my thinking
• Acts as a sounding board
• Gives me feedback
• I can speak to in confidence
• (At least 95 of headteachers thought the above
  were valuable or very valuable)

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• Each headteacher needs at least one external
  professional whose discretion s/he trusts
  completely
• For in-depth professional dialogue an external
  professional needs to understand the schools
  context
• Provision of support and challenge must take
  account of the realities of being a headteacher

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HindrancesLack of professionalism?

• Lack of respect
• Doesnt treat me like an equal
• Basic contempt for staff
• Out for themselves
• Something to prove
• Condescension Patronising
• Being dictatorial
• Judgemental attitudes

• Insincerity
• Talking of their experience not mine
• Saying I used to
• All talk without understanding
• Making inappropriate suggestions
• Platitudes
• Over familiarity
• Negativity / Pessimism

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Differences among headteachers

• More secondary heads than primary contact their
  Professional Association
• Male headteachers are more likely than female
  heads to Contact other heads in wider
  networks Say they experience little support or
  challenge from these colleagues Say they
  experience more support than challenge from
  their School Improvement Partners

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• The job is fantastic and the opportunities to do
  well for children are many, but the present
  obsession with statistics is killing any sense
  that this is a profession which cares about
  education. We are doing severe damage to many
  childrens prospects by not focusing on learning.
  The government does not listen ever and is
  getting it all wrong.
• (Secondary male headteacher 8 years experience)

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• The most frustrating part of headship is the
  ridiculous amount of red tape around health and
  safely, finance, policies etc. I spend at least
  50 of my time on stuff that is nothing to do
  with teaching and learning.
• (Primary female headteacher 4 years experience)

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• You cannot effectively manage challenge because
  there are too many challenges, too much
  ridiculous administration which hampers progress.
  The government is ruining a noble profession with
  accountability, Human Rights legislation, and
  change that is pointless.
• I cant wait to go.
• (Primary male headteacher 10 years experience)

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???

• What are school principals views of support and
  challenge in countries you know?
• To what extent do the issues raised by English
  headteachers resonate with the situation
  elsewhere?
• What are the new directions we should explore in
  the support and challenge of school principals?

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Sue SwaffieldUniversity of Cambridgeses42_at_cam
.ac.ukwww.leadershipforlearning.org.ukwww.educ
.cam.ac.uk/lfl