In my 30 years working in educational leadership, I’ve had the opportunity to learn from many inspirational leaders. Putting it into practice isn’t always so straightforward…
Inaction Speaks Louder Than Words
Anyone who has taken over a new leadership position will know that feeling of nervous excitement as you contemplate what you are able to do now that you finally have the opportunity. In most cases, you will have learnt from the work of others, and have developed your own ideas of what to do and…
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Head Hunting – Managing the Interview Minefield
The motivation to write this blog article came from the occasional requests for advice I get from colleagues who are about to be interviewed for a headteacher post, and one in particular I received recently via twitter. Whilst I don’t claim any particular revelatory insights, it’s fair to say that I’ve observed the process at…
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100 Not Out! My century in teaching
As we come to the end of the autumn term 2021, the realisation has dawned on me that I am on the verge of completing my century in teaching profession – 100 terms since I walked into my Year 5 class in the London Borough of Islington, gave out the Scottish Primary Maths workbooks, and…
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Confessions of an Imposter
I’m sure you will be familiar with the Imposter Syndrome phenomenon – it’s commonly felt by someone following a promotion, and is the inescapable feeling that they have somehow succeeded in getting the job under false pretenses. At any moment they fear they could be found out and sent back to their rightful position. Head…
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The value of sharing bad practice
Several years ago, I was given the task supporting a school in an Interim Headship capacity that had recently been placed into Special Measures. The teachers were hardworking and keen to improve but the school was in a challenging context, and over time inconsistency in the quality of teaching had led to entrenched low outcomes.…
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The Three Little Words that no leader should be afraid to say
We all have an image of a great leader – usually someone who is wise, fair and inspiring, who we turn to in times of need. When we go to them with a problem, they provide the solution. They know stuff, and when they tell us, we can put our trust in it. The problem…
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If you can lose your head when all about you are keeping theirs…
As an exercise in futility and blind optimism, it would be hard to beat the example of a Head Teacher setting out a detailed plan of their day during 2020. Even the vaguest idea of clearing a few emails, writing a letter to parents, and contacting the Chair of Governors is likely to be scuppered…
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The school leaders Covid dilemma: ‘With limited power comes great responsibility’ (as Spiderman didn’t quite say)
In normal times, the English education system runs on the principle that schools and school leaders are given the freedom to make and take action and are then held accountable for the impact of their actions. Our Head Teachers are among the most accountable in the world. There are multiple levers – Ofsted, performance tables,…
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Failure – delay, not defeat
I moved to the East Midlands at the end of 1994 with my wife to take up my second deputy Headship in a large primary school. It was a time when rapid promotion was possible and by this point, after an eventful first six years in teaching, I had taught in three schools – primary…
Keep readingSame Difference
The problem with research is that sometimes it discovers things that are inconvenient. This is particularly irksome when someone takes a detailed, analytical look at something into which you’ve invested quite a lot of time, energy and faith, and discovers that the evidence says that your investment is based on inaccurate information and so is…
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Dr Heery 