School vision – Why headteachers and leaders need time to dream
Dr Paul Heery explains why school leaders should feel able to lose their heads (in the clouds) when all about them are keeping theirs…
As exercises in futility and blind optimism go, it’s hard to beat that of a headteacher setting out a detailed plan of their day at any point over the past year.
Even the modest task of clearing a few emails would be scuppered by a colleague calling in to say their 7-year-old had been sent home from school with a persistent cough, and that they wouldn’t be back for a fortnight.
If not that, it would have been the issue of how to get laptops out to self-isolating disadvantaged pupils or, god forbid, a phone call from the HSE, demanding you explain your plan to maintain social distancing in classrooms filled with 30 10-year-olds…
Headteachers were arguably better off simply scrawling ‘DEAL WITH STUFF’ in large letters on every page of their diaries. This crisis management was exhausting; at the end of each day, we’d often feel no further forward than when we started.
School leaders in Covid-19
My hat is therefore off to everyone who experienced this and succeeded in rising to the challenge.
School staff running low on physical and emotional energy might understandably prefer not to consider the bigger picture right now – but unfortunately, we know from experience that neglecting the bigger picture doesn’t cause us to stay still, but rather go backwards.
The agency schools have to set their own trajectory will be lost if it’s not used. The ability to stand aside from the fray, scan the horizon and set a course is one of the most important aspects of school leadership, and one we can’t afford to lose sight of.
Motivating and inspiring our teams to deal with challenges in the here and now requires us to have a vision of how things will be better in future – but in order to craft that vision, every so often we need to have our head in the clouds, rather than always in the game.
I concede that saying that risks dismissing the very real day-to-day pressures that many school leaders are currently under – but it’s ultimately down to leaders to seek out and seize upon new opportunities.
Post-COVID, we should examine what we’ve learnt that can make us stronger. What should go into next year’s hypothetical improvement plan (assuming we get the time to write it down)?
Values and vision
The first thing I’d suggest is building your team. The generosity and selflessness of our colleagues has been humbling, but it mustn’t be lost.
What strengths have we identified in our people? Which colleagues have demonstrated talents we’ve never suspected? Who’s ready for greater leadership responsibility? Is there an opportunity to study structures and systems, and possibly consider more collaborative leadership approaches?
Next, redesigning the curriculum. This has happened in almost every school, at staggering pace and scale. Given the hours many have already spent developing an online or blended curriculum model, there’s now scope to consider what we’ve learnt and what to keep.
Evaluate what’s worked, and embed this in your curriculum and instructional techniques.
Then there’s building of communities. Schools have arranged home food deliveries, offered advice and counselling, and provided places of comparative calmness and safety.
Having learnt more about those crucial parts of our local communities that often slip beneath the radar – food banks, care homes, delivery services – how should we redefine our values and vision in recognition of these community links? How can we continue working with community champions and teaching our children to give something back?
Finally, we need to develop an understanding of the wider world. Over the past year, children’s senses of curiosity have been working overtime. We have a generation of young people who are highly engaged with political issues, not least because of the direct and profound impact that government policies have had on their lives.
If this crisis doesn’t therefore lead to a significant boost in students studying power structures in social sciences, learning about global interconnectedness in geography or showing curiosity in the spread of infections in science, we’ll have missed a huge opportunity. Let’s build on that natural interest.
I hope everyone’s return to normality goes as well as possible – but I also hope that every now and then, you allow your attention to drift to the next few years ahead…
Dr Paul Heery is CEO at The White Hills Park Trust; for more information, visit whptrust.org or follow @whptrust.
