Leading Edge LeadershipConference

Leading the System

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Leadership Panel: How do we best lead the system given the current opportunities and challenges?Daniel Belcher, Senior Education Lead SSAT

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Moral leadership in an age of

accountability

Dan Belcher, SSAT

Leadership as a moral act is a struggle to do the right

thing according to a sense of values and what it means

to be a human being.

Sergiovanni, 2005

Excellent leadership

1. creates a clear and inspiring vision underpinned by core

moral principles about the value and purpose(s) of

education

2. develops leadership in others to create a culture of

sustainable success

3. ensures that great management and operational

excellence support the delivery of the vision

Why?

How?

What

?

Simon Sinek

Start with why

The morally confident leader can…

• Demonstrate causal consistency between principle and practice

• Apply principles to new situations

• Create shared understanding and a common vocabulary

• Explain and justify decisions in moral terms

• Sustain principles over time

• Re-interpret and restate principles as necessary

West-Burnham, 1997

Successful heads share certain attributes and hold

common core values

• A strong sense of moral purpose and a belief in equal opportunities

• A belief that every pupil deserves the same opportunities to succeed

• Respect and value for all people in and connected with the school

• A passion for learning and achievement

• A commitment to pupils and staff

NCTL, 2010 ‘Ten strong claims about successful school leadership’

Four-fold typology of schools

1. Confident

2. Cautious

3. Concerned

4. Constrained

Higham and Earley (2013)

Significant factors:

School size, phase and

Ofsted judgement

Small primary schools

particularly vulnerable

Percentage of good and outstanding secondary school places by

local authority

Proportion of good places Number

80 to 100% 46

60 to 80% 70

40 to 60% 26

20 to 40% 7

0 to 20% 2

Total 151

Source: DfE, Single department

plan 2015-2020

System leaders share:

• a value: a conviction that leaders should strive for the success

of all schools and their students, not just their own

• a disposition to action: a commitment to work with other

schools to help them to become successful −

• a frame of reference: understanding one’s role (as a person or

institution) as a servant leader for the greater benefit of the

education service as a whole

Hargreaves, D. (2010). Creating a self-improving schools

system.

Leadership Panel: How do we best lead the system given the current opportunities and challenges?Leora Cruddas, Director of Policy and Public Relations, ASCL

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ascl.org.uk

Leading Edge ConferenceLeading the System

Leora Cruddas, ASCL Director of Policy and Public Relations

@LeoraCruddas

Follow us: @ASCL_UK

ascl.org.uk

Our blueprint sets out a vision for our education system -

…a system in which all children and young people achieve.

This will involve acts of imagination, courage and collective action.

At its heart is capacity building - leadership capacity, pedagogical capacity and the capacity for creativity and action.

ASCL’s “White Paper”

ascl.org.uk

The context

Austerity

AccountabilityAutonomy

ascl.org.uk

Changing the context

Austerity

Lean thinking and Design

Flipped

Accountability

Connected

Autonomy

ascl.org.uk

Matching the context to leadership behaviours

Collective moral purpose

Capacity-building

Collaboration

ascl.org.uk

Leadership Panel: How do we best lead the system given the current opportunities and challenges?Stephen Morales, CEO National Association of School Business Management

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Leadership resilience and developing a peripheral vision in the context of managing multiple and complex disciplines

Stephen MoralesChief Executive, NASBM

Resilience

• In the face of change and crisis, the resource we need most is our resilience

• Resilience is often described as a personal quality that predisposes individuals to bounce back in the face of loss

• Resilient leaders, however, do more than bounce back—they bounce forward.

• Some leaders are so risk averse that they put on blinders to avoid seeing the truth of precarious situations. Others are so pessimistic about any turn of fortune that they ignore opportunities for growth.

Allison, E. (2011/2012) The Resilient Leader. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec11/vol69/num04/The-Resilient-Leader.aspx

Resilience risks –1. Top leaders stop learning

• When things are going well, change is the last thing some school leaders want to do, so they skimp on learning.

• When things aren't going well, some leaders make the dangerous mistake of believing they can't afford to invest in professional development. This is a risk strategy in an ever-changing environment.

Resilience risks –2. People blame everything on the budget

• Schools often make poor decisions when cash flow is strong, which sets stage for blame when budgets shrink.

• During times of economic fluctuation, non-resilient leaders may resort to making unplanned cuts without regard for strategic deployment of resources, ROI or economies of scale opportunities.

• This creates vulnerabilities in the system, which often undermine success.

Resilience risks –3. Leaders ignore critical indicators

• Key metrics provide essential feedback about how to refine and revise the work of a school.

• In addition, leading indicators help forecast future trends and reveal weak areas.

• Strong leaders use this data to identify risk, invite discussion and planning—hallmarks of resilience.

Resilience risks –4. Too many initiatives drain people

• Time spent putting out too many fires today undermines high-leverage action and therefore creates crisis situations tomorrow.

• Schools sometimes load their system with too many different activities, often adopting new initiatives without discarding old ones; thus, they overload people and give them no break.

• Leaders who complain about being overwhelmed need to claim their priorities and let go of initiatives that don't fit those priorities. Leaders who bounce back possess a sense of self-efficacy rather than powerlessness.

Resilience risks –5. Success goes uncelebrated

• During times of strife, it's easy to succumb to fear. When leaders fail to celebrate success, they lose the opportunity to learn lessons that could provide key breakthroughs that might alter current challenges.

• Resilient leaders celebrate even small wins—anything that shows more of what the leaders desire—to understand how the system creates such victories.

CEO

School Improvement

COO/FD HR Director

Leadership convergence

Head of

learning

Head of

learning

Head of

learning

MAT executive

team

Local

school

level

SLTBusiness

supportSLT

Business

supportSLT

Business

support

External

Things to consider

Leading

education

delivery

Leadership Panel: How do we best lead the system given the current opportunities and challenges?Steve Munby, CEO, Education Development Trust

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Grown Up and Restless Leadership

Grown up and

Restless

Immature but set

in ways

Wise but ground

down and losing edge

Enthusiastic but make a

lot of mistakes

Immature

Grown Up

Stagnant Restless

Leadership Panel: How do we best lead the system given the current opportunities and challenges?Ani Magill, CEO, Xavier Education Trust

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How is your school supporting leadership development?

Questions for the panel