Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
May you live in interesting times!
In the ever-demanding world of school leadership, we are entering a period of unprecedented complexity. New national directives and frameworks, The Curriculum Review, and the new OFSTED Toolkit require leaders to reframe their educational offers. As every school leader knows, an audit of existing practice is only the first stage of this process. Setting the pace for change, so that conceptual and pedagogical shifts are properly understood and accepted, is critical. This demands investment in the professional growth of leaders at all levels over time.
Wider societal changes are further increasing the pressure. Daily news stories illustrate how, as a nation, we are wrestling with our values. This is evident at the micropolitical level as well as the macropolitical level. School leaders are always on the front line as they tackle local community manifestations of a changing society. Both the curriculum offer and school systems must respond to racial tensions, to substance misuse, to restricted access to healthcare, to the dangers of social media, to the rising cost of living, to the housing crisis, to mental health issues and to complex special needs. This requires informed and compassionate leadership and the necessary depth of understanding within a school community is not achieved incidentally or overnight.
Neither can school leadership teams look away from global issues and the changing geopolitical landscape. The climate crisis, international unrest and rising conflict bring the importance of the education of the next generation into an even sharper focus, as leaders strive to future-proof the planet. The potential and the risks of artificial intelligence also loom large on the horizon, both within the world of schools and on the global stage.
How best can school leaders manage change when it is everything, everywhere, all at once? Research warns us of the dangers of burnout and disengagement when schools attempt too many changes concurrently.
Overlapping change agendas can also result in conflicting priorities. Sometimes choices are rushed in an attempt to control workload. These quick fixes may ultimately be detrimental to progress if they need to be unpicked later.
Surviving the Change Onslaught
Inhale, Exhale, Read, Reflect
Don’t leap before you look, listen and learn. Pressure can lead to superficial responses that never gain traction. Protect time for research, reflection and conversation. Investment in your own understanding isn’t a luxury. It’s essential if you want to make well-considered, evidence-informed and ultimately impactful decisions.
Order! Order!
Give proper thought to sequence as you manage change. Nothing is more demoralising than realising you need to pause an initiative because an essential preparatory task is not complete. Time invested in route planning is never wasted.
Beware Special Offers
It is a cliché to say that each school community is unique. However, consideration of uniqueness is critical both to the choices that you make and to the strategies you use to drive change. Publishers are quick to sense need, even panic, in the sector and offer tempting “ready meals” which they claim will work in any school. Look at these generic commercial options with an analytical eye before investing in them. You can end up spending more time adapting someone else’s design than you would crafting a bespoke response to serve your school community.
Identify Two for One Deals
Consider where there might be common ground in competing school initiatives or where leaders might support each other, blending tasks and moving things forward for their mutual benefit. These workstream intersections are important timesavers and enhance the sense of manageability in your whole school planning.
Share Out the Load
LongTo Do lists are daunting and it is tempting to go straight to members of your team who have managed change effectively in the past. Multiple changes offer new opportunities for staff development, however, so take the chance to further invest in your distributed leadership.
Commitment and Progress
Be really clear about success indicators. Check in frequently with teams when change is in motion. Make sure everyone feels noticed and that all progress, however small, is acknowledged.
Professional Partnerships
In “interesting times” school leaders should never be too busy to seek support from colleagues. Schools in similar circumstances or facing similar challenges will be able to share tried and tested approaches which will reduce workload and accelerate progress.
Catherine Worton
School Improvement Officer
Teaching, Learning, Curriculum and Leadership
catherine.worton@northtyneside.gov.uk
