How successful headteachers survive andthrive –FOUR PHASES OF HEADSHIP, FIVE USES OF TIME, SIX ESSENTIAL TASKS AND SEVEN WAYS TO HOLD ON TO YOUR SANITY

Once again, RM has the privilege of being able to publish a bookby Tim Brighouse on the art of teaching and good schoolmanagement. This is the follow up to ‘Essential pieces – thejigsaw of a successful school.’ Inside Tim imparts his knowledgeon what makes a successful head teacher.

By Professor Tim Brighouse

©Tim Brighouse. Please feel free to copy, paste, cut, email, photocopy,post on your Web site, intranet, or VLE any part of this book. There isno charge for this book, but as it was written to honour Ted Wragg and if you have enjoyed reading it, you can make a donation to theTed Wragg Memorial Fund at www.rm.com/successfulheads

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Once again, we havethe privilege of beingable to publish a bookby Tim Brighouse onthe art of teaching andgood schoolmanagement. Lastyear, we helped Tim

publish The Jigsaw of a Successful School,where he identified 15 characteristics of asuccessful school. In this, his latest book,Tim is imparting his knowledge on whatmakes a successful head teacher.

Education is at the heart of everything wedo. That is why we have key educationalthinkers like Tim Brighouse and MikeTomlinson on the RM board – to advise andsteer us and to make sure our educationalthinking is sound. I find myself repeatedlyhumbled by their wealth of knowledge,experience and good ideas.

At the top of Tim's list of characteristics of asuccessful school are shared values, a visionof the future and the ability to tell stories.These are characteristics that apply as muchto a successful business as they do to asuccessful school. And at RM we aim toshare our values and a vision of the future.Our vision is about helping teachers toteach and learners to learn; our values areabout being a moral and purposefulorganisation.

While education standards are probablyhigher than they've ever been, policymakers,education managers and classroomteachers remain committed to improvingthem further. It's a moral duty – as Tim

Brighouse would say. You can't have afree society without educated people –but it's a pragmatic duty too. Economicsuccess in the 21st century will require ahighly educated workforce that iscomfortable with technology.

The UK has pioneered the effective useof ICT in the classroom and RM isproud to be part of that tradition. Butthings don't stand still, especially in theworld of technology.

Things like social networking andblogging will soon find a role ineducation too. As Professor StephenHeppell said recently, “Whatever kidscome to school with in their pockets, wemustn't expect them to power-down toget on with their learning.” And that ishow we think at RM. Technology has thepotential to transform teaching andlearning, but only when it's part of alarger and successful education vision.

We printed and distributed Tim’s lastbook free of charge and suggested thatanyone wanting to show theirappreciation could make a donation tothe Ted Wragg Foundation. This raisedover £2,000. We’d like this book to dothe same, so again if you would like tomake a donation, you can do so viaour Web site at www.rm.com

I hope you find Tim’s wisdom andexperience as inspiring as I do.

Tim Pearson, RM.

Professor Tim Brighouse is Chief Advisor to London Schools andVisiting Professor for Institute of Education. One of the UK's mostrespected educationalists, Tim has probably observed every aspectof teaching practice during his 46-year career to date. An expertvoice on school improvement, Tim is regularly on radio andtelevision and has spoken at many national and internationalconferences.

About the authorAbout RM

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Preface ........................................................................................................................4

Introduction ................................................................................................................7

The six tasks of headship ..........................................................................................9

The four stages of headship ....................................................................................12

Uses of time ..............................................................................................................15

The five time expenditures ......................................................................................19

Delegation ................................................................................................................26

Work-life balance ....................................................................................................28

About the author ......................................................................................................35

Contents

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The qualities of head teachers and how theydeploy their competencies are widelyacknowledged to be the key ingredients toschool success. Without the rightcombination of them, researchers agree thatthey’ve never come across a truly successfulschool.

A vivid experience in Oxfordshire in the1980s brought this home to me. Wesuddenly started getting complaints aboutwhat we thought was one of our bestprimary schools. The staff were the same,except for the head teacher, whose haplessunsuitability must have been instantly evidentto the staff, who soon lost energy and pride.What followed was an all too familiar andpainful exercise: trying, at arm’s length, tochange the leadership of the school beforetoo much damage was done.

Personal qualities, especially in the area ofwhat we now call ‘emotional intelligence’are necessary. But alone they aren’tenough. A head teacher needs a certaincompetence across a range ofmanagement and leadership skills. Threeof these have always struck me as key:–USE OF TIME; DELEGATION; and theCAPACITY TO MANAGE AND LEADCHANGE.

This booklet addresses the first of these indepth and the second to the extent that’suseful. The third was covered very briefly inthe booklet: ‘Essential Pieces: the jigsaw of asuccessful school,’ and anyone keen tograpple with the subtleties of leading andmanaging change could do no better thanread some of Michael Fullan’s short andaccessible books.

Xenophon described the required qualities ofthe elected general as:

‘ingenious, energetic, careful, full of staminaand presence of mind…loving and tough,straightforward and crafty, ready to gambleeverything and wishing to have everything,generous and greedy, trusting andsuspicious.’

PrefaceMy booklet “Essential pieces: the jigsaw of a successful school”

(also available www.rm.com) provoked interesting and useful

debate. I hope this follow-up will do the same.

A head needs a certaincompetence across a range ofmanagement and leadershipskills.

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The military is perhaps an inappropriateanalogy for headship. Would Napoleon,both decisive and prepared to add to andmodify plans if somebody came along witha better idea, have made a good head? Thepoint is that heads have to handle’ambiguity’: once they are comfortable withthat, they will relax into the job – not, assome people say a lonely one, but full ofrelationship building and maintenance…andso busy, that there’s no time to feel alone.

As I was completing this piece, the DfESpublished the valuable independent studyinto Headship carried out byPricewaterhouseCooper. The NationalCollege, too, have just published anintriguingly, titled piece of work entitled: ‘Alife in the day of a head teacher – a study ofpractice and wellbeing”.

Both of these will be worth reading…. butthis booklet is intended for the overly-busyschool leader, who needs something shortand easy to read. It’s written with practicalintent, just as the first booklet was too.

Enjoy.

Tim Brighouse

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FOUR PHASES OF HEADSHIP, FIVE USES OF TIME, SIX ESSENTIAL TASKS AND SEVEN WAYS TO HOLD ON TO YOUR SANITY

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One person, wise in long years of valuableexperience, commented that the majoromission in my booklet, ‘Essential pieces: ajigsaw of a successful school,’ was theimportance of the head teacher. “Surely,”she said “once you’ve got that right all therest will follow?” Of course, I acknowledgedher point and, in my defence, argued that itwas so well known that it scarcely seemednecessary to mention explicitly.

But the exchange set me thinking once againabout an elusive issue, that has alwaysintrigued me: that if we could simply observeand write about what truly successful headteachers do – how they spend their time,how they do what they do, what time theyspend on different tasks – we would havediscovered yet more in our search for thesecrets of school success. In fact, there hasbeen no major research….and very little hasbeen written on the subject.

So how have the really successful headsspent their time? Are there commonelements? If so, what are they?

Well, I believe the answer is ‘yes’.

The changing challenge of contextThere are common elements, but of coursethey are performed in very different waysaccording to the personality of a headteacher; the context of the school which theyare leading; and the length of time they’ve

been there. These are important variables -and must act as a health warning on whatfollows.

Quality relationships – especiallywith staffAmong the many stakeholder groups –parents, students, government, staff,community leaders – all the very successfulheads I’ve known have confessed to givingabsolute priority to staff. “After all,” said one,“I have 200 members of staff, teachers,teaching assistants and other supportingstaff. The time, and the quality of the time,each of them gives to the students is whatmakes a difference. I can do only so much,of course. I model behaviour I’d want themto copy.

“So I do believe passionately that everystudent can succeed and that staff knowthat. And I make my assemblies and theteaching I do (which is inevitably preciouslittle) as rivetingly good as I can make it. Butin the end, it’s the teachers, who in fivelessons a day provide the importantexperience for the pupils. So it’s the qualityof 1300 lessons a week in my five formentry school which makes the difference.Along, of course, with how students interactwith all staff in the corridors, the office, theplayground and on their way in and out ofschool. Students follow the model set by thestaff.”

Introduction

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This head’s comment underlines thatenviable time when the head clearly truststhe staff. Mutual trust is a constant feature ofsuccessful schools.

Energy, enthusiasm, hopeWhether one’s leading in a classroom, in afaculty or the whole school, it’s essential tohave ‘energy enthusiasm and hope’. We usehope not optimism, because there is thepromise of delivery: it’s a matter ofdetermination not opinion. When someonesaid that teachers and head teachersneeded ‘unwarranted optimism,’ that’s whatthey were getting at. Leaders will regardcrisis as the norm and complexity as fun.They will experience a lot of both. They needan endless well of intellectual curiosity tofeed speculation about what’s possible, tokeep asking questions rather thancontinually providing the answers. This isstimulated by their listening, reading andwriting habits: neglect any and you areputting your leadership standards at risk.Finally, they need a complete absence ofparanoia and self-pity.

Making coherenceAs a leader, whether of maths or the wholeschool, you are credited with seeing furtherand wider on that topic than others. Youmake coherence. To make coherence of theleaders of maths or English etc, a headneeds to listen. They need to put their expert

knowledge about maths or English togetherin a coherent whole, while simultaneouslymaking sense of the context – the localcommunity, the national changes, theturnover of staff and pupils, the availabilityof resources. Vitally, they fit this into a viewof the future, that translates into a collectivevision for the school community.

Inevitably – however much the process isshared, as it should be – the leader in alarge organisation cannot be in continuoustouch with the various stakeholders. They willmake regular systematic contact – repletewith acts of unexpected kindness andthoughtfulness – but the contact cannot beconstant. It is essentially important, that attimes of crisis, the leader digs deep intodetermination and doesn’t fall prey to self-pity. So, without more ado, let’s proceedto the six key tasks of headship.

Leaders will regard crisis as thenorm and complexity as fun. Theywill experience a lot of both.

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One: create energyA head’s own example – what they say, howthey behave, who they are – is one ofindomitable will and a passion for success.They don’t talk about staff. They ask ‘what if’speculative questions. They are fussy aboutappointments, taking care not to fritter timewith ‘energy consumers’. Because they arefull of hope they look for optimists – thosewho say “how we could” rather than “whywe can’t.” They show interest in every aspectof school life.

Two: build capacityHeads set an example. They teachthemselves and are observed by staff doingso; or they take over a class to let othersobserve somebody else’s practice. Theyrotate the chairing of meetings to grow theskill of others. They ensure young staffmembers are involved in a ‘schoolimprovement group’ and act on theirsuggestions. They have a programme forstaff development, that considers the betterfuture of individuals, as well as of theschool. They know and cherish all theinterests of all staff – especially those whichthe staff used to do in previous jobs or in theworld beyond school. They use the collectivefirst person pronoun “we” rather than thesingular “I”. They take the blame when it’snot their fault and they are generous withpraise to others for collective success. Theyset an example of learning, for example, byadopting an annual learning plan. They

read and share articles, and encourageothers to do the same.

Three: meet and minimise crisisAt a time of genuine crisis, they find causefor optimism and hope, for points oflearning. They stay calm. They acknowledgetheir own mistakes. They are ‘pogo-stick’players: they can simultaneously be in thethick of things, yet still be seeing the widerpicture. A present crisis is the source for vitallearning and future improvement. Theythemselves show willing to be a ‘utilityplayer’ – one who ‘in extremis’ will turn theirhand to any task.

Four: secure and enhance theenvironmentThey ensure classroom teaching andlearning materials are well-organised and inplentiful supply. They make sure themanagement arrangements are seen by staffas ‘fit for purpose’ – right in detail andserving the needs of staff and pupils alike.For example they often review meetings toensure that ‘transactional’ or ‘business’meetings are minimised. The staff handbookis repeatedly updated. The computer systemworks and provides a useful database forstaff, each of whom have laptops. Studentsand parents have access to lesson plans,homework tasks, reports and progressgrades, both at school and remotely, by theInternet. They improve the staffroom and thewhole environment of school – visually andaurally.

The six tasks of headship

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Five: seek and chart improvement Heads themselves use comparativebenchmarking, comparing data from theirown and other schools. They are keen on‘benchmarking,’ but they do it in a climateof encouraging risk.

They ensure there is a proper mix of‘appreciative enquiry’ and ‘problem solving’.Appreciative enquiry involves finding andcelebrating what’s good and engaging on asearch for what’s outstanding – by visitingother practitioners and finding out whatresearch tells us – before deciding on a planof action to deliver excellence. This is aprocess of ‘energy creation’! Problemsolving, on the other hand, concerns staffwith barriers and problems that havecropped up. They require analysis and thecreation of possible solutions, beforedeciding on a plan of action. This is afrequently necessary process – but itconsumes energy, more in some people thanin others. So the successful leader, consciousof this, seeks to create a climate of muchappreciative enquiry to handle the energyconsumption – of necessary problem solving.

Genuine successThose who seek and put improvementcelebrate genuine (it must be genuine)success. And they know the best of ‘genuine’is an improvement on past practice –whether individual or collective. But theycelebrate other social events too – creatingthe climate in which energy, capacity andultimate success depend. So governors andstaff meetings, awards ceremonies andbriefings are crucial to that.

They are, above all, good at ‘collective’ asopposed to ‘individual’ monitoring.

Six: extend the vision of what’spossibleClearly, this involves being both historianand futurologist. Any leader wishing toextend the vision of what’s possible is deeplyaware of this double requirement: thepresent dominates so much of school life.And if sometimes that present seemsoverwhelming, the energy levels drop. Sotelling stories which remind people of pastsuccess and keeping predecessors and theschool happy are both things wise leadersdo. But they are also forecasters of theweather and describers of future possibilities:they confidently describe a path from thepresent to the future. They are good listenersand readers. They write ‘future’ pieces fortheir community. They ask “why not” aloudand “why” silently in their heads.

Heads themselves use comparative benchmarking,comparing data from their own andother schools. They are keen on‘benchmarking,’ but they do it in aclimate of encouraging risk.

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These six tasks have to be carried out atwhatever stage of headship you happen tobe in. I believe there are four:

One: InitiationFirst is the INITIATION stage. Thenewcomer is trying to establish, with eachand every one of their stakeholder groups,that ‘what they say’, ‘what they do’ and‘who they are’ match up. People alwayswant early proof about the first two – andnone more so than pupils and staff, whohave very well-tuned antennae for the bogusor the uncertain of purpose.

Increasingly, nowadays, there are importantother stakeholders, that new heads need topersuade of their trustworthiness, not leastgovernors, parents and the wider communityinterests. Initial contacts are crucial…the firststaff meeting, the assembly and the tone ofthe introductory letter to parents. For thedeputy promoted internally, there are otherchallenges – not least proving that you cancarry off the subtly different role withcolleagues who knew you as deputy. Despitethe differences, the process is the same. TheINITIATION stage will last for different timeswith different stakeholder groups – althougheach will be telling others of theirimpressions.

Tragically, some heads never get beyond theINITIATION stage, because they don’testablish themselves. That is the prelude fora very painful period, as their mismatch withthe school they have joined becomesapparent to all. Some – thankfully few –people leave headship with a bitter taste intheir mouth.

Two: DevelopmentSecond is the DEVELOPMENTAL stage: whenthe head is known and when the definingnature of the head’s chapter can proceedwith certainty of sufficient support to have afair chance of carrying it to a successfuloutcome.

All stages of headship have their hazardsbut none more so than the third. The firstfive to seven years have seen the completionof the initial aims; a plateau is reachedwhere there’s the need to take stock andpause to draw breath.

Three: StallHere, then, is the risk of the STALL – whereit’s all too tempting to think that you canallow the school to run on autopilot. PeterMortimore’s research evidence is that headsare at their best between the third andseventh years. That doesn’t mean to say thatthey can’t then change gear and startanother DEVELOPMENTAL stage – indeedmany do – simply that it’s easy not to do so.In this third period bad habits can creep in.

The four stages of headship

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You stop giving time within the school andcan become too pre-occupied with mattersoutside.

Four: DeclineFinally, there is the DECLINE: you haveannounced you’re leaving and the ‘lameduck’ period beckons. Best to make thisshort, rather than telegraph it over a longperiod.

In all these four periods, however, the sixtasks I outlined earlier have to be attendedto – that requires the careful expenditure ofthat precious commodity, time.

What follows, then, is a brief and sketchyanalysis of how heads use time.

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“It’s all very well to look at Belbin and MyersBriggs,” my colleague remarked ominouslyone day, “but I think the infant teacher couldteach us a thing or two about what to lookfor in a leadership team. After all sheassesses her charges’ progress in ’listening’,‘speaking’, ‘reading’ and ‘writing’ and whilethey are doing it, she looks to see whetherthey are thinking and learning. If we couldget that right in our team.” she concludedwith a smile, “we would be doing all right.”

She was referring to our practice of puttingevery new member of staff through theMyers Briggs profile of preferred leadershipoperational styles, and then inviting anexternal coach to talk to us about ways inwhich we could improve our collectiveefforts. Nothing too unusual in that: mostschool leadership teams do somethingsimilar. They use coaches, assess the profileof preferred operational styles of leadershipand work at the gaps. They rotate chairingof meetings and encourage departments todo the same. It’s standard practice.

But I never quite forgot my colleague’sremarks. The more I thought about them,the more sense they made and I realisedhow easy it was to neglect one or theother of the four activities of ‘listening’‘speaking,’ ‘reading’ and ‘writing’. Itcertainly provides a very useful compass inlooking at how successful head teachersspend that precious commodity… time.

Time to think

Think about itFirst, there’s the obvious point about themuch misunderstood ‘time to think’. As onehead, dismissively told me:“I do my thinking all the time. It occupiesevery waking moment. When I want to focusthe sum total of my thinking, I spend anevening writing or” he added, “speak with agroup of colleagues. Out of that comes myown or our collective refreshed direction orthe solution to a problem.”

Secondly, if you analyse what you do eachday, it can be broken down into ‘listening’‘speaking,’ ‘reading’ and ‘writing’. Mostforms of human activity, apart from sleeping,usually involve one or more of these four.

Uses of time

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Thirdly – and this is surely the key for thesuccessful head teacher – you can only readand write in isolation, whereas you needpeople to listen and talk. That’s presumablywhy another successful head said to meforcefully:

“I never look at my computer – the e-mail orwhatever – between eight in the morningand half past five in the evening. Nor do I doany paperwork then either. I can do all ofthat before and afterwards, because I dothat alone. The time the school’s in session isprecious. The whole community is there. Andit’s therefore time for the pupils, the staff,governors and other members of the widercommunity.”

She went on to say that if she ever foundherself inadvertently backing away from thatguiding principle and staying in her office,she knew she was on a very slippery slope.

So preciousTime is so precious, that some people saythat learning to use time wisely and to besteffect is the key skill for a head teacher tomaster. That’s why the ‘listening,’ ‘speaking’‘reading’ and ‘writing’ overlay on the use ofa head’s time is so useful – it helps them toguard against wasting time by being aloneduring the school day. Indeed, it has ledmore than one head, I know to share anoffice with deputies, so that when they are inthe same place together, they are alsosharing ideas (or for that matter agreeing)an approach to a difficult immediate issue.They claim there’s never a problem about aroom to themselves for a private meeting.“Schools are places where there can neverbe too much of the senior team beingaround the place and lending a hand.”

So what do successful heads do?

Two cautions and a heath warningWell, just before embarking on a briefdescription of the five main forms of activitywhich use up their time, I should add twopoints of caution and a health warning.

The first is pretty obvious: namely that headteachers, whether they are successful or not,are deeply conscious of the fragmentednature of their days: they flit from oneactivity to another, sometimes spending veryshort time spans on any one activity beforemoving on to another. The successful headsknow this to be a tendency, but guardagainst life becoming ad hoc: they knowthat over a day, they may not achieve theallocation of time to plan that they want, butthat over a week or a term, they can andwill. Distraction is inevitable – but in thelong run, it can be defeated.

Secondly, you will find that when we add thetime spent on the five they add up to morethan 100%, whatever the notional total ofhours. That’s because the key starting pointis that successful leaders use time twice orthree times over. They have mastered theskill of doing things simultaneously ratherthan sequentially – not in everything, ofcourse, but in many tasks. While they aredoing their regular ‘daily round’ of theclassrooms, they may also be doingbusiness with a visitor, or reinforcing a

Schools are places where there cannever be too much of the seniorteam being around the place andlending a hand.

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‘singing from the same song sheet’ messagewith staff. There are legion possibilities and Ishall return to some later. Quantitativesurveys of the use of time, of which there aremany, may serve solicitors, architects andaccountants for cost allocation to chargeclients…. but they are a dangerouslymisleading way of measuring head teachers’time.

And that brings me to my health warning. Iused the words ‘dangerously misleading,’because the great problem with successfulhead teachers is that they are so committed.They worry that if only they had devotedmore time to this or that person or activity,then the outcome in their private andunvoiced opinion would have been better.They, too, will quickly feel guilt regarding thecontested issue of how they use their time.Indeed, as an antidote to guilt, it is probablyas well to say that whatever the pattern oftheir time, successful head teachers needtime off – not particularly to think, but todraw breath and recharge. That won’t be ona daily or weekly basis, but it will be taken indollops every now and then.

So here are the five time expenditures.

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One: ‘They sit on the wall not thefence’The morning is important in anyorganisation. Nowhere more so than inschools, where the teacher’s every move canaffect a child’s disposition to learn. You havea personal crisis? The shopping needs to bedone? The car’s on the blink? Your ownchild’s off-colour? Despite all this, the goodteacher forces herself to find time to greetcolleagues and pupils cheerfully in the walkfrom the bus stop or car park to the schoolbuildings. She knows that how she is withher class or tutor group is going to influencethe day for many of her youngsters. Soavoiding a pre-occupied – or worse still, agrumpy or even hostile – appearance is apriority for the teacher.

It’s no different with heads. The morninghabit of many a primary head teacher is tosit on the wall or stand at the school gate,where they can be seen having a cheeryword with all and sundry as they run intoschool. “It’s the chance for parents to nobble metoo, and,” she added reflectively, “how themajority do that helps to set the tone for theawkward few parents, who otherwise couldstorm into school to vent their own frustrationwith life on me. Either I or the deputy doesthe same at the end of the day too.”

A successful south London secondary headin a large school does something similarwhen he stands everyday in the entrancefoyer for half an hour from about a quarterpast eight, so that entering staff canbuttonhole him and ask for a word later inthe day. “And I’ll always make sure that I get back tothem the same day. It’s my interpretation ofan ‘open door’ practice, because I am neverin my office except for meetings”Another head, can be seen on the City Roadin Birmingham of an afternoon supervisingbus queues and waving to parents in carspicking up their children.Such heads are deeply conscious of theirneed to be accessible to all the schoolcommunity, if not at once, at least at somepoint during the day. The head knows onlytoo well, that the less time spent in the officethe better.

The school walkIn the same spirit, therefore, of beingaccessible, the practice of the ‘daily schoolwalk’ is key. It means visiting all (and notavoiding some) phase or faculty areas,talking with kitchen or catering staff andhaving a word with cleaners, as well as allthe other school staff – learning mentors,teaching assistants, ground staff, and theback–up administrative staff – who comprisethe management engine of the school.When using the word daily, I am notimplying that all of these ‘people

The five time expenditures

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interactions’ happen every day, but that timeis built-in, so that they do happen withplanned regularity. Another successful headhas devised what I would call a variant onthis, by engaging in ‘pupil tracking’ – that isaccompanying a couple of pupils throughouta school day – at least once a term. ”Youcan learn a lot in a day about what isworrying kids – and, of course, it reduces theneed to do as much formal monitoring oflessons that way.”

‘Sitting on the wall’ also symbolises the needfor the head to be at the edge of theorganisation – as it were, the main conduitto the world beyond the school. Solunchtime patrols of the local community, theshops, the streets, enable the head andleadership colleagues to take the pulse ofwhat is happening, as well as visit fellowworkers in the local health clinic,neighbourhood office or advice bureau.

‘Not sitting on the fence’ is a caution notto equivocate or procrastinate too often.Schools are places where people are quickto detect whether a delay to give dueconsideration to a difficult issue or to secureconsensus about something is genuine ormerely a device to conceal a head’s lack ofmoral backbone and failure to be consistent.It’s as well not to dwell too much on thenegative, so it’s probably not sensible toprovide examples. All of us can bring themto mind.

But the head who becomes ‘invisible’ to thecommunity, by spending too much time inthe office or outside the school, is in dangerof not sitting on the wall often enough andthereby forfeiting the confidence of staff.

Sitting on the wall in its many manifestations– school walks, lunchtime tours of the localarea, pupil pursuits – can take up 25-30hours a week.

Two: ‘They are ‘skalds’ not ‘scolds’The word ‘skald’ is reserved in Scandinavianfolklore for the poets who told stories towarriors before battle. The stories werealways positive and reminded people ofpast great deeds, as well as impendingfuture triumphs. I suppose in our cultureShakespeare’s construction of Harry’sspeech before Agincourt is an equivalence.It’s the same with heads. There is a touch ofthe ‘skaldic’ about all the successful ones.They use awards days to reflect out loudthat:“Last summer’s results at GCSE were thebest ever however you look at them. But thisyear’s year 11, who are with us tonight, arethe best year group we have ever had, sowe know that next summer will be betterstill. And when I look at last summer’s KeyStage 3 results and talk with the head ofyear 10 we know this trend will continue”

Assemblies are the same with tales ofsporting and other success achieved andimpending. And staff briefings are occasionsto tell of the brilliant way a member of staffdealt with a pupil in the corridor andfollowed by a low-key apology formentioning it “because I know it’s

The art of the head teacher, asskald or story teller, encompassesimagery, metaphor, simile, analogyand an unerring sense of timingand occasion.

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something that all of you do…but I was justreminded of the quality of our staff when Isaw it.” The art of the head teacher, asskald or story teller, encompasses imagery,metaphor, simile, analogy and an unerringsense of timing and occasion.

Key opportunitiesAssemblies, staff meetings, parents’evenings, concerts, plays and majoroccasions are all key opportunities not to beeasily passed up. Outside the school, too,the canny head repeats some of the beststories as, in an accumulating receivedwisdom, do other members of staff. Theyknow that the perception of more goodthings than bad things happening is one ofthe vital factors in school success.

The good outweighs the badThe dictionary definition of ‘scold’ is “touse undignified vehemence or persistencein reproof or fault-finding”. It is a quickand certain way to lose goodwill toemphasise the negative on public occasions.That way failure is at your elbow in no timeat all. Yet heads can so easily fall victim tothe habit. They are stretched and pulledevery which way and, of course, they areoften dealing with crisis or instances when‘singing from the same song sheet’ hasbecome discordant or totally ignored. That’sthe time to remember that more good thanbad things are happening, or if they are not,that a positive ‘can do’ spirit will ensure theydo. In ‘The jigsaw of the successful school,’we referred to the need to heavilyoverbalance in favour of what we describedas ‘appreciative enquiry’…i.e. finding whatis good in ‘what is’. If the head isn’t an

energy creator in their interactions, thennobody else can fully compensate.

Being a ‘skald’ probably takes up three/fourhours each week:…and not being a ‘scold’a lot longer! It should not be confused withtalking which happens all the time – but itdoes embrace both speaking to large andsmall groups and telling stories.

Three: ‘They teach, learn and assessfor most of their time’The PricewaterhouseCoopers study intoschool leadership envisages a time whenprincipals of schools or groups of schoolswill not have had teaching experience. Thatseems to me an improbable recipe forsuccess: after all, even Education Officers inlocal authorities were expected to have donesome teaching. Certainly, it’s the perceptionof those heads who have been verysuccessful – and of their staff – that part oftheir credibility comes from their expertinterest in teaching and, of course, fromlearning and assessment. “If I’m not seen asa reasonable practitioner, I’m simply notcredible in the staffroom,” is how one headput it, as we reflected on the desirability ofbeing seen to do playground duty or takeover the teaching of a year 9 class on aFriday afternoon. There are many ways ofdemonstrating their interest in teaching.

Regular teaching?How they demonstrate their teaching is adifferent matter. Probably it’s not sensible forthe head to have a regular teaching slot.(Mind you: ask any head of a two or threeteacher primary school and while they mightagree, they will comment that “chancewould be a fine thing!”) In a large school

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however, apart from anything else, the headwill get dragged away too often to be fair tothe pupils. Of course, school assembliesneed to be stunningly brilliant occasions inthe very successful school and the head mustbe seen as a good performer and to taketheir part in circulating to every tutor group,where there is a difficult issue to talk out withpupils and where the intimacy of the tutorgroup is the right vehicle for doing it.

My preference for how to demonstrate aninterest and competence in teaching lies withthe example of the head who, with herdeputies, earmarked three Tuesdays andWednesdays each term and ‘gave’ them inrotation to faculties. Members of staff couldpursue lesson observations, either within theschool or in visits to comparable schoolswith known interesting practice. As the headobserved, it had the added benefit ofenabling the leadership team to comparenotes and discuss issues afterwards, so thatfaculty reviews were better informed.Another always does a short course withyear 7 in order “that I can get to know theirnames quickly and ensure they know the‘legacy’ of the school, which, they areinheriting and to which in due course, theywill contribute”.

From pupils to adultsTeaching pupils is one thing; teaching adultsanother. Yet like the good teacher, thesuccessful head teacher, by the use of‘appreciative enquiry’, is an excellent coach.Conversations with staff seek to identifywhat’s good in their practice and how itmight be extended, by supporting themember of staff’s assumed ambition forexcellence. So they facilitate visits and show

interest in the outcomes. They encourageteachers to have videos of their ownpractice. They celebrate the faculty, whichhas created a bank of videoed key lessons,so that pupils who miss lessons – orunderstanding the point at the time – canrefer to them later. In their teaching, theyknow that they have to model excellentexplanation and story telling and highquality questioning. Indeed, it’s worthadding as an aside, that they are better atasking the right questions, than inhurrying to provide answers, temptingthough it is to do so.

But ‘questioning’ raises the issue of theheads themselves providing an example ofbeing a learner. Respecting the expertknowledge, of the subject specialist is theobvious everyday way of doing so. It’s thehead’s job to bring all this expertknowledge together so, coupled with theirown greater understanding of what ishappening beyond the school, they canmake for a greater sense of the whole. Inthat sense they are what Michael Fullan hascalled ‘knowledge creators’. They may evenhave a research project of their own andthey certainly encourage further studyamong their staff. They find articles to sharewith individual staff. They rotate the role of‘chair’ in meetings of the senior team andencourage faculty leaders to do the same.Informally, they ask speculative andgenuinely enquiring questions and formallythey may even have a shared ‘learningplan’ for the year. Their interest inassessment shows not merely in theirregular 360 degree feedback exercises, butin their often demonstrated commitment toimproving on their own previous best. They

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are interested in the changes in externalassessments and, of course, keep abreast ofOFSTED changes in inspection practices.It’s worth commenting here that a recentOFSTED inspection of a London secondaryschool rested almost entirely on the HMIobserving a head’s observation and debriefof a randomly-chosen member of staff’slesson! So successful heads practise‘formative’ assessment for staff and areactive in the review of pupils’ progress,which is at the heart of ‘assessment forlearning’.

These activities can take up anything fromtwo to ten hours in a week.

Four: ‘They spend their eveningsweekends and holidays….working…. socialising and being member of a family’If reading and writing are best done alone,it follows that they will happen outsideschool days and terms. The arrival of e-mailis a sore test of that. Add to that theavalanche of promised change in paperform and through Web site access, and itmeans that any head, needs some system tokeep on top of the task of ‘seeing wider andfurther,’ while dealing with the sheer volumeof ‘day-to-day’ business.

That’s why one head, who has claimednever to use her computer during schoolhours, explains how she makes it happen.She has an agreement with her PA andoffice manager to spend 15 minutes eachmorning after they are first in, with anequivalent session each evening, in pickingup her folder of items and post. The post

that they have sifted is dealt with either athome or before everyone arrives the nextmorning. “My selected e-mails are markedas unread and the urgent ones in red and Ideal with them on my laptop out of schoolhours”.

But that does mean that successful headsget up and arrive early and leave and go tobed late. They know that those are the timeswhen they wrestle with the strategic and withdownright boring or painful chores. Intricatepersonal, legal and budgetary matters canbe incredibly time consuming. Judicious andskilled delegation will take you so far andneeds to be mastered. Indeed, in manymatters of appeal, they are essential and, inthe end, there’s no avoiding a lot ofapparently unproductive time.Governors’ meetings are outside schooltime, as are the many school sportingfixtures, musical events and celebratoryoccasions.“Showing interest in something I was notoriginally or naturally much interested in isone of the first unexpected things which Idiscovered in headship” was how one headwho had overcome a lifetime’s lack ofinterest in sport, put it.

It’s in the evenings – well those that are freeof school engagements – while the familyare watching television, that heads readarticles, or alternatively, in the earlymornings before the rest of the house isawake.

Eating either at working breakfasts or inrestaurants in the evening can often also bepart of the rhythm of the heads of larger

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schools. Taking on the tradition of the 19thcentury legends like Arnold, their familieswill sometimes be ensnared in school,related activity. Some parts of the holidayare not sacrosanct either. One successfulhead spent at least half her three weeks inFrance last summer putting together a veryimpressive “So you want one day to be ahead?” course, she then ran for 17volunteers from the staff on Fridayafternoons.

Time outside school on these sorts of taskwill vary widely. Sometimes it’s very heavy:at others it’s blissfully peaceful.

Five: ‘They spend two hours a weekin acts of unexpected kindness’One of the most overlooked aspects ofsuccessful leadership involves what might becalled the ‘personal touch’ – not justremembering people’s personal concerns,but in acts of unexpected kindness. Beforeexamining these in particular, it’s perhapsworth remarking, that the present concernwith ‘personalisation’ must involve themodelling of it from the head. Unless youknow people, you are lost. It’s why it’s muchmore difficult to be a successful head in yourearly days, when you don’t know people.

That’s also why those destined to besuccessful heads spend the months beforetaking up appointment with photos and thepersonal files of staff, so that when theyarrive they have a flying start. I know onehead who took this to the lengths of lookingat the photos of year 7 and year 9 pupils”since they are the ones who, when I arrive,are going to make the most difference tohow my early influence on the school is

perceived”. One may disagree with herselection or even her motivation, but it ishard to fault her reasoning, intentions orcommitment.

Feeling specialThis last and most important element of‘expenditure of time’ derives from a head’scommitment to people and realising thateveryone needs to feel special. So birthdaysare remembered and emergencies in staffprivate lives catered for. Privacy is respected:so the hand-written note, or the word in thecorridor expressing thanks for some smallcontribution made by a member of staff,provide the energy which sustains collectivespirit. One head told me she keeps loads ofcards for birthdays and other events anddoesn’t leave on Fridays without sittingdown and reviewing the week. Even anemail will sometimes do! Most successfulheads confess to practice like this and mostwill say that, however spontaneous it mayseem to recipients, it requires a system - notleast in order to avoid the impression thatthere are ‘favourites’ and ‘outcasts’.

So, if those are the five main definitions ofexpenditure of headteacherly time, what ofthe other key skills that enable them tosurvive with some semblance of sanity andwhat is now called ‘work/life’ balance?

First, the need for delegation.

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Nine levels of delegation

1 Look into this problem. Give me all the facts.I will decide what to do.

2 Let me know the options available with the pros and cons of each. I will decide whatto select.

3 Let me know the criteria for yourrecommendation, which alternatives you haveidentified and which one appears best to youwith any risk identified. I will make thedecision.

4 Recommend a course of action for myapproval.

5 Let me know what you intend to do. Delay action until I approve.

6 Let me know what you intend to do. Do it unless I say not to.

7 Take action. Let me know what you did. Letme know how it turns out.

8 Take action. Communicate with me only if action is unsuccessful.

9 Take action. No further communication withme is necessary.

The list sets out possible positions whendetermining how and when to delegate.Clearly, as we relax or revert to type, we will allhave our preferred stance, but will have learntthe skill of deliberately deciding where to be onthe spectrum. So you may feel that someonenew in a job will require some support as theyadjust to new surroundings, but later be capableof deciding that they are at, for example,number 7, 8 or 9 for most things. Indeed, you’dbe bothered if you needed to be at 2, 3 or 4 –

and desperate if you needed to be at 1!Being consciously aware of this spectrum istherefore a helpful guide to the need forextended professional development for others –or oneself.

One final word of caution about delegation.The surest way of consuming energy anddemoralising and disempowering staff is to tellthem you are at number 7 in the box but at theheight of a crisis or external matters regard it toolate and tell them subsequently you were reallyat number 5!

Finally, these days it’s necessary to considerwork/life balance. I confess at once to leadingconversations with the heads, whose practiceshave led to the writing of this pamphlet. I haveprejudices! I can remember being alarmed,when the voluntary body with which I wasconnected, appointed a new chief executivewho, at the first meeting, presented a papersetting out his values and practices. Included in itwas the phrase, “I work to live, not live to workand expect staff to do the same.” Alarm bellsrang about his commitment. My initialmisgivings turned out to be justified, so myprejudices are even stronger now. It isn’t that Ihaven’t sympathy with the idea and need forwork/life balance; after all, there are times whenfamily must take precedence. But there are alsotimes when the reverse is true. Handling thattension is one of the challenges of headship andthis short pamphlet has, I hope, contributed todiscussion about how both needs might be met.

Delegation

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There are seven ways of holding on toyour sanity when all around you are losing theirs:

One: Manage your diaryThere is little chance of surviving – let alonebeing successful – as head with all thesecompeting demands made upon you withoutdiary management. This can be achieved inmore than one way. But to those new toheadship it will often be a new experience if,as is often the case, the lesson bell andtimetable have dictated the use of time foryou.

Whatever method chosen, the role of the PAis vital. She or he must know your everymove. Whether you carry your own diary ordeliberately don’t – and both seemlegitimate methods if the views and practicesof successful heads are accepted – the PAmust have the master copy, so she canprotect your time. In order to survive, mostexperienced heads build into their diaries‘down time’ when they can choose what intheir judgement they need to do to. In doingso, they stop themselves becoming prisonersto events. Such practice requires a codeshared with the PA, so that others don’t lookover the shoulder and see a blank spacewhich they think they can fill.

Build ‘lungs’ of time into your diary once afortnight. Make sure that every half termyou use one of these lungs to go off siteand talk with another friend oracquaintance doing a similar job.

Two: Find alliesIf you do things as a loner you have to runthe risk of losing followers. So make sureyou have enough allies in and out ofschool. In any case, friends andacquaintances among other heads help youhave a better chance of making sense of theexternal agenda of change - as well, ofcourse, as getting the chance to talk incomplete trust with someone else running aschool.

Three: Have a 7-10 year service!After 7-10 years either:- have a half term or term off with the

purpose of coming back refreshed, seeingthe school with new eyes and setting offon another chapter of development or:

- leave and move on perhaps to a secondor third headship, when you can start allover again with not such an impossiblyextended stakeholder group. (After all,there will be the chance to build that upmore gradually)

Four: Stop doing one of yourregular tasks for a term to allowsomeone else to do them. Keep outof their hair and review things onceat half term and then at the end ofterm.

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Work-life balance

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Five: Remember to be the ‘Jack’or‘Jill’ of all trades and master ofnone. You need to be the utility player, who can fillin to do a leadership task in an emergencyand you need to grow that capacity inothers. Being the ‘expert’ can be verydisabling for others and exhausting foryourself.

Six: Become an expert ‘driller’ and alepidopteristOnce a year, drill right down on a particularissue, that will allow you to see the wholeoperation of the school from differentvantage points. It’s amazing how when youdo, you can find the things which causeirritation and loss of energy, both for youand others. As for being a lepidopterist,that’s a reference to the ‘butterfly effect’ –the need to be able to spot small things thatmake a disproportionate difference – whatDavid Hargreaves calls ‘high leverage andlow effort’ practices, which help the school alot. (The annual ‘drilling’ of course shouldexpose the reverse – ‘high effort and lowleverage’ practices, which you might be ableto abandon.)

Seven: Collect hyacinthsFind your ‘hyacinth’. It’s necessary to explainthis by recalling the story, which Alec Clegg,the Education Officer of the West Ridingused to tell as justification for getting properbalance in the curriculum. As a teenager, hewould visit his aunt in Grantham, where theyoung Margaret Roberts (later Thatcher)

would take her private extra languagelessons. On the wall was a sampler whichread as follows:-

‘If of fortune thou be bereft,And of thine earthly store have leftTwo loaves, sell one and with the doleBuy hyacinths to feed the soul.’

Successful heads avoid stress and burn-outin themselves and their staff by being keenlyaware of their hyacinths and ensuring theyhave enough of them.

Most successful heads, like their staff, relateto the following quotation from GeorgeBernard Shaw:

‘This is the one true joy in life, the beingused for a purpose recognised by yourselfas a mighty one; the being a force ofnature instead of a feverish, selfish littleclod of ailments and grievances,complaining that the world will not devoteitself to making you happy….I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whateverI can.I want to be thoroughly used up when I diefor the more I work the more I live.I rejoice in life for its own sake.Life is no brief candle to me it is a splendidtorch which I have got hold of for themoment and I want to make it burn asbrightly as possible before handing it on tofuture generations.’

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The second and last sentences seem toresonate with the very successful headteachers whom I have met and whoseobservations and examples have led to thispublication. And when you are next grounddown by an interminable and complicatedappeal or suffer some other unfair blowwhich might tempt you to ask “Is it all worthit?” remember the piece by Shaw – perhapshave it framed on the wall – and resolve tofind your hyacinth at once.

FinallyA final word….successful heads have to varythe above according to whether they arenew, or in their developmental phase, orpausing for breath on a plateau before thenext phase. It will vary too according to sizeand situation. And of course once they havebeen around a long time, they are a trustedbit of the furniture and can afford to beabsent more – though not too often.Otherwise the plateau will appear to bestall. And that way, as we have seen,disaster lies! That would be a pity, for to bea school head teacher is one of the mostimportant jobs in the world.

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Once again, we havethe privilege of beingable to publish a bookby Tim Brighouse onthe art of teaching andgood schoolmanagement. Lastyear, we helped Tim

publish The Jigsaw of a Successful School,where he identified 15 characteristics of asuccessful school. In this, his latest book,Tim is imparting his knowledge on whatmakes a successful head teacher.

Education is at the heart of everything wedo. That is why we have key educationalthinkers like Tim Brighouse and MikeTomlinson on the RM board – to advise andsteer us and to make sure our educationalthinking is sound. I find myself repeatedlyhumbled by their wealth of knowledge,experience and good ideas.

At the top of Tim's list of characteristics of asuccessful school are shared values, a visionof the future and the ability to tell stories.These are characteristics that apply as muchto a successful business as they do to asuccessful school. And at RM we aim toshare our values and a vision of the future.Our vision is about helping teachers toteach and learners to learn; our values areabout being a moral and purposefulorganisation.

While education standards are probablyhigher than they've ever been, policymakers,education managers and classroomteachers remain committed to improvingthem further. It's a moral duty – as Tim

Brighouse would say. You can't have afree society without educated people –but it's a pragmatic duty too. Economicsuccess in the 21st century will require ahighly educated workforce that iscomfortable with technology.

The UK has pioneered the effective useof ICT in the classroom and RM isproud to be part of that tradition. Butthings don't stand still, especially in theworld of technology.

Things like social networking andblogging will soon find a role ineducation too. As Professor StephenHeppell said recently, “Whatever kidscome to school with in their pockets, wemustn't expect them to power-down toget on with their learning.” And that ishow we think at RM. Technology has thepotential to transform teaching andlearning, but only when it's part of alarger and successful education vision.

We printed and distributed Tim’s lastbook free of charge and suggested thatanyone wanting to show theirappreciation could make a donation tothe Ted Wragg Foundation. This raisedover £2,000. We’d like this book to dothe same, so again if you would like tomake a donation, you can do so viaour Web site at www.rm.com

I hope you find Tim’s wisdom andexperience as inspiring as I do.

Tim Pearson, RM.

Professor Tim Brighouse is Chief Advisor to London Schools andVisiting Professor for Institute of Education. One of the UK's mostrespected educationalists, Tim has probably observed every aspectof teaching practice during his 46-year career to date. An expertvoice on school improvement, Tim is regularly on radio andtelevision and has spoken at many national and internationalconferences.

About the authorAbout RM

How successful headteachers survive andthrive –FOUR PHASES OF HEADSHIP, FIVE USES OF TIME, SIX ESSENTIAL TASKS AND SEVEN WAYS TO HOLD ON TO YOUR SANITY

Once again, RM has the privilege of being able to publish a bookby Tim Brighouse on the art of teaching and good schoolmanagement. This is the follow up to ‘Essential pieces – thejigsaw of a successful school.’ Inside Tim imparts his knowledgeon what makes a successful head teacher.

By Professor Tim Brighouse

©Tim Brighouse. Please feel free to copy, paste, cut, email, photocopy,post on your Web site, intranet, or VLE any part of this book. There isno charge for this book, but as it was written to honour Ted Wragg and if you have enjoyed reading it, you can make a donation to theTed Wragg Memorial Fund at www.rm.com/successfulheads

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