Leading in your new school

Introduction
This unit could perhaps be one of the most important for you in the whole Programme. We are going to ask you to imagine (or perhaps it is reality) that you have been appointed to a school in a leadership role and you are seeking to make preparations for the time when you are “in charge”. We will look at leadership at different levels from a middle manager’s viewpoint to senior management and headteacher. Whatever your role at the moment, each of these perspectives will be valuable for you.

If you are a middle leader such as a level head, head of department or a senior teacher who is not in a senior leadership team, it is possible that the management of other staff is a new experience for you and you may be daunted by the prospect and worried whether you will cope and “get it right”. In these sections we will take you through the steps so that your first weeks and months will be successful. It will be useful for you to read the sections for senior leaders and the headteacher because, no doubt, some day you will be in that position and you can empathise with them.

If you are joining an established senior leadership team, your responsibilities will be great and your accountability for what you do considerably increased. Although you may not be the headteacher, you will need to support him or her. That is your principle role and it must be carried out seriously. Reading the sections on middle management and the headteacher will help you to understand the leadership role from their point of view.

Finally, you may have been appointed to the school as a headteacher. The school may be well established and successful or run down and needing much improvement. It may have been in operation for a long time or you may be fortunate to become the head of a brand new school. In fact, your promotion may very well be in your current school. Each of these will be a challenge and will be different requiring a different approach. We will look at each of these situations and try to assist you through the process. Of course, we can do no more than point out some of the “do’s and don’t” – some of the essential activities and also the pitfalls. However, it is not this unit that will give you all the information you need but this whole programme. Keep it by you as you progress through the various stages of leadership and use it regularly as a reference guide.

Individual study time: 3 hours

Learning outcomes
After working through this unit, you should be able to:

§ rationalise your emotions about your new job.
§ understand the effects you will have on others.
§ feel more confident about being a middle leader, member of a senior leadership team or headteacher.
§ develop strategies for getting to know and understanding your staff.
§ make an impression in the first few weeks.
§ understand better the importance of good relationships with your supervisor and other staff.
§ use your own experience to date and that of other staff to your best advantage.
§ be clear about the advice we give you on what you must and must not do

Preamble
Our comments, observation and advice in this unit are based on many years of experience of working with teachers at all levels, who take on a new role. Not everything will be applicable to everyone as there are so many combinations of situations, levels of school and background information. So, what we offer will be general in nature, with opportunities, through the activities, to make it more personal and suited to your own circumstances. For the purpose of this module we are going to assume that this is the first time you have taken up a leadership role at this level (whatever it may be).

So, you have a new job?
This is where you use your imagination or perhaps your new job is a reality. Let us assume that the job you have been appointed to is one level higher than that in which you are currently employed; or you may imagine that you have been appointed to the job to which you aspire in your next post.

For you, this will be a significant promotion with a considerable increase in responsibilities (and let’s hope – salary). This improvement in your status as a teacher will bring with it certain emotions, which you will have to deal with.

Activity 4.1
In this role-play of a new post........

1) Firstly decide what your new job will be, where it will be and what will the responsibilities be that are different from your current work.
2) Secondly, describe how you feel and how you will deal with those emotions
3) Lastly, articulate any anxieties you may have about your new post and why you think those worries exist?

Comments
For the purpose of this exercise, we hope that you have chosen a job with significant challenge in which you will be able to use the skills you have developed throughout this programme.

You may find that you experience negative and positive emotions simultaneously. Congratulations from family and well-wishers may be offset by the fear of the unknown. This will depend very much on your personality – whether you are a pessimistic or optimistic person and whether you take things in their stride or worry about them. One of the skills of a leader is to be able to deal with your own emotions, particularly negative ones. Now would be a good time to start.

No matter how much we try to imagine something new, we rarely are accurate in our assessment and it is only “getting started” that will give us a feel for our new role. The ability to face your anxieties at this stage and to deal with them will stand you in good stead for the future as you will certainly face many more. The skill is to turn them into positive energy, deal with them and create a plan to move on.

So, how do you think you might feel? Do you recognise any of the following?

Positive

§ positive about the future
§ curious about what it will be like
§ elated from congratulations of colleagues and well-wishers
§ pleased with your performance
§ feeling the promotion was well deserved after your hard work
§ keen to get started
§ pleased to be leaving your current post
§ happy to be working with new colleagues
§ looking forward to the preparationready for a challenge

Negative

§ anxious about what it will be like
§ worried about whether you have made a mistake
§ concerned about the preparation
§ apprehensive about whether you are up to the job
§ hesitant about meeting new colleagues
§ uneasy about the greater workload
§ concerned that the challenge will be too much
§ wondering if you will like your new employersafraid that your new colleagues may not like you

Firstly, it is only natural to feel some of these. In fact, we would be worried if you did not. Be aware that it is likely that many of these feelings will persist well into the job. You will need to capitalise on the positive and banish the negative if you are to succeed. Whatever you feelings, it is best to confront them by writing them down, saying why you feel like that and, if it is negative, find a solution. Look at the section on problem solving and interpersonal relationships. This will be good practice.

What will others be feeling about you?
This is something that often people do not think about. Conversely, some people become obsessed by it once they have started the job and make many mistakes trying to be the friend rather than the leader / manager. Do not fall into this common trap. You will need to find ways of separating the personal from the professional. Both are possible within one relationship but they are different facets of it.

Bear in mind that others will also be apprehensive about your presence especially if you are to be their supervisor and the higher up the promotional ladder you go, the more likely this will be the case. They will want to know how your presence will affect them. Many may be thinking on the following lines:

§ Will I like him / her?
§ Will s(he) be competent?
§ Will I have to work harder?
§ Will s(he) be reasonable?
§ I hope s(he) won’t notice my weaknesses.
§ Will there be greater expectations of me?
§ I am happy for the change.
§ Will there be many changes?
§ I am quite comfortable at the moment. I don’t need anyone to make my life more difficult.
§ S(he) must be better than the last person, or maybe s(he) will be worse!

The fact is that you cannot know what they are thinking and so you should dismiss it, unless it affects you personally by what they say. Part of the role of a leader is that others will talk about you. It is not likely that everyone will like you, agree with you or be happy about the changes you make. Nevertheless, you have a job to do. If most are satisfied, you should be satisfied. If most are dissatisfied, you nearly always need to make changes in your approach but not necessarily your actions, if you are convinced they are right. For example, in a school where most teachers are regularly late, you will not compromise on your expectations but you might spend some time getting the teachers to understand why punctuality is in the best interests of the children.

Ultimately, persons will talk about you in the staffroom. This is normal and goes with the job. It can help sometimes though if you have someone who will warn you when there is unrest.

Activity 4.2
As a new Head of Department, your friend and colleague who you have been friendly with for years and who is in your department, takes advantage of the situation and regularly fails to hand in Notes of Lessons despite your reminders. She tells you that you can overlook it because you are friends and go back a long way.

1) How would you handle this?
2) Would you be prepared to lose the friendship?

Comments
This is where the good inter-personal skills come into play. It would be unprofessional of you to allow the personal to interfere with the professional because the children would suffer. You must insist that the work must be done (in the nicest possible way) and be prepared to lose the friendship (but hopefully not!). Please face the facts that if she takes advantage of you like this, she is neither professional nor a true friend.

Middle leaders
This is often a challenging situation because usually you have been promoted from the ranks either in your own school or another and your relationships with other colleagues have already been formed and established. When promotion is in your own school, those relationships will change within the school but, if they extend beyond the school gate, you will have to work on keeping them the same if that’s what you want.

The biggest challenge for the new middle leader is to establish a professional rapport with colleagues that is going to gain you respect both professionally and personally. Although the latter is not essential, the former certainly is. Perhaps for the first time, you will be giving instructions, making demands and coaching teachers and you must be confident in doing so. We cannot stress enough here, the importance of self preparation and being knowledgeable about what you say, do and expect others to do.

You will need to be clear about your role and your expectations of the teachers you lead. Whilst you would not want to be overbearing about your demands in the first few days, you might want to “drip-feed” them over a period of time but make it clear at the beginning that there will be reasonable expectations and they will be held accountable to you for what they do. This is the theory but you would not want to say it to them like that or you would antagonise them.

Think for a moment how you would get this message across in your first meeting with them without offending or unduly worrying them.

Comments
Firstly, you would carefully prepare what you are going to say - not a script or you will appear lacking in confidence but the main points. Secondly, you would put yourself in their position and hear yourself speak the words. What would be your reaction? If you would feel uncomfortable, you may need to modify what you say. Lastly, you would deliver your message at the meeting but you would give everyone the opportunity to comment and ask questions so that they would go away feeling they had been consulted rather than directed.

Alternatively, you might use the opportunity for some training. You could ask them some pertinent questions and direct their thoughts towards the points you wish to make. When it is their idea, they are much more likely to accept it. Later, you would be able to say “Last month we agreed that……)

Senior leadership team
Almost all that we have written about middle leaders also applies to new members of a senior leadership team. Since the move to decentralise the MOE, senior leadership teams have been expected to take on a greater role in the management of schools. Led, by the headteacher who is ultimately responsible for the school, the SLT will make joint decisions about its future and policy. As part of this, you will have a grave responsibility to the children and to the headteacher and must not take your role lightly.

As a new member of the SLT you will have many eyes on you because your influence as part of the leadership of the school may help to change its direction. You will need, therefore, to ensure that you are a good role model because what you do, others will emulate. This is not just about professional behaviour such as dress, attendance and punctuality but also about your ability to perform in the classroom and do the best by the children. You will want to avoid criticism and give a good impression when you take up the post. Attention to detail, such as lesson preparation, delivery and evaluation are essential.

You may be joining a newly established team or one which has just been formed. The former is more difficult because professional relationships will have already been created. You will therefore want to spend some time listening and working out how you fit into this new situation. Make this clear to the rest of the team. You do not need to jump in with an opinion on every topic but will take your time to understand the group dynamics and what your new role will be. When eventually you have “put the pieces of the jigsaw together” you will make a much stronger contribution because you will understand the way others think and act in certain circumstances. However, do not allow this “getting to know” process to go on too long.

It is quite possible that teachers and children will either consciously or subconsciously try to test you and your reactions to certain situations. It will help to have a clear knowledge of the contents of this programme. This will give you a head start. If you have specific responsibilities, ensure you re-read the modules and units pertaining to that responsibility. Dealing with the children ought not to be an issue, as we are sure that you will have the skills already or you wouldn’t have been offered this post. When dealing with the staff, it is a good idea to have evaluated your relationships and actions in your previous post. You will, like everyone, have had successes and areas where you feel you need to improve. Use this as an opportunity to start working on the latter.

Headteacher
Just as in the previous two sections, almost all applies except that you are now in charge of the whole school and do not have the luxury to sit back and observe too much as your leadership will start in the first hour of the first day!

Preparation prior to taking up the post is essential. You will have a “honeymoon” period when some considerate individuals will keep issues away from you at first, will not seek too many opinions of you in the first few weeks and will allow you to settle in. Others, however, may bombard you from the first day, seeking your response and action, ahead of others, in areas that are “close to their heart” and which they feel you will be able to deal with. They will want to influence you to suit their own needs. The most common forms of influence are juxtaposed to each other. There are those who will seek change and those who will seek to avoid it. Until you have done a thorough analysis of the situation, it is best not to fall into the trap of making promises but defer your judgements on all matters until you have the evidence you need to make informed decisions.

The “honeymoon” period will end of course. We do not need to tell you how you will know this has happened. You will know!

Having said that you are likely to be in great demand from the start, this does not mean that you should feel pressured to make ill-informed decisions. You should try to separate those day-to-day issues that require immediate attention and those for which you have a little more time. Depending on the size of your school, you may wish to rely heavily in the first few weeks on your SLT and delegate certain decisions to them whilst you become more accustomed to the way things work in the school. They will appreciate your trust in them and they will have a better understanding of the current needs of the school.

However, one area that you cannot delegate is the obligation for you to make clear your expectations of the staff as soon as you get the opportunity. Look again at the comments section for middle leaders for further advice in this area. It is important to prepare, be very clear about them and to have a prepared answer to any question or comments that might be made.

Activity 4.3
You are chairing your first staff meeting as head, and having observed that punctuality amongst some teachers is very poor, you make it clear that this will no longer be tolerated because of the affect it is having on the children’s education and other staff.

1) What will be your response when a group of teachers challenge you about the rain, the unreliability of the bus service and the need to get their own children to school on time?
2) How will you placate those teachers, who in the same meeting, who are always on time who complain that the lateness of some staff is having a negative impact on their lessons?

Comments
In our view, such a discussion is not appropriate for an open staff meeting. As head, you should point out that, although you understand that, in a few limited circumstances, teachers may be late, they also have a contract and are being paid to do a job of work which requires their presence at a certain time. You would tell them that you would monitor the punctuality of individual teachers and would see them personally to discuss the issues and how they can be resolved.

The teachers who arrive on time could be used to the benefit of your argument. They are making it clear that the behaviour of their colleagues is unacceptable. You would allow them to speak.

The following advice applies to the first few weeks of a leadership post whatever the level.

The context of your new school
Of course, circumstances will affect the way you operate. If you are promoted to a new school, you have a clean slate in which to operate. All of the systems that you set up will be new and you will probably have little time to put them into place. You must be prepared for trial and error and you will probably lean much more heavily on your colleagues as you will not be able to do everything yourself. Nevertheless, you cannot do everything at once and you must prioritise. Again, it is essential to differentiate between that which is day-to-day and that which can wait. Failure to do this will mean poor systems and resource management. It is better that your teachers have chalk, chalkboards and exercise books than a fully developed assessment scheme in the first week.

Being promoted in your own school could have its complications. Whilst some may feel you are deserving of the post, others, who may feel they are also worthy of it, may feel resentful. You cannot be responsible for their feelings and must work towards gaining their confidence and support. It is better to talk these matters through with the persons concerned than allowing resentment to develop. In this way you will be able to better support them to achieve the promotional goals they aspire to. On the other hand, people are less likely to think that change will happen with someone they know. Remember that if change needs to take place, you must ensure it does.

Getting to know your staff
Our advice here depends on the circumstances of your appointment, how much time you have to prepare and whether you have access to your new school ahead of your first day. The sooner you are able to get to know the staff for whom you are responsible, the better. Ideally, you would meet with them all individually prior to your appointment with a series of questions which would be the same for everyone. Alternatively, if time does not allow or you cannot be released from your current post for visits to the new school, you would do this as a group and possibly soon after you have taken up the post.

Think for a few moments about the types of questions you might ask of all the staff.

Comments
For the most part you would practise your listening skills rather than commenting on everything they say. It is a good idea to take notes and you should point out that you will be doing this. You will need to tell them that what they tell you will be completely confidential and is for your own use to get a picture of the school / department. You would encourage them to be frank with you with no repercussions. Here are some questions you might consider.

1) What do you feel are the strengths of the school?
2) What do you consider are the weaknesses of the school?
3) If you were headteacher / senior teacher/ HOD / level head, what would be your priorities for development?
4) Comment on standards within the school / department etc,
5) What are the barriers to progress in the school / department etc?
6) State two or three strategies that you feel would raise achievement in the school / department.

When you have seen everyone individually or in groups, you may wish to feed back to the staff as a whole the common themes without, of course, referring to any individual comments. This will provide useful evidence for what needs to be developed as well as that which needs to be sustained. Be clear with staff also that you are seeing the school / department with different eyes as an outsider. You will not have the opportunity to be able to do this beyond the first few months once you become accustomed to the school.

Having an impact in the first few weeks
You may wish to remind yourself of the characteristics of leaders that we stated earlier in this module in order to guide your actions as you become more familiar with your post. It is possible that you may be taking over from a highly efficient and charismatic leader or you may be bringing a new efficiency to the job. Whatever the circumstances, you will need to make your own mark and ensure that others know that it is now you who is in charge. One way of doing this is to set up some systems or initiate short term changes which will be a sign of your authority which will not make persons feel threatened by huge change. In other words, you would be taking a step by step approach to development and would make the first steps early on.

Your relationship with your line manager or supervisor
This will depend on the post you have been offered, whether head, SLT or middle manager. As head, your immediate line manager / supervisor will be the REDO / PEO through the DEO in the department of education; or it will be the Governing Board through the chairperson of the board. As a middle or senior manager your supervisor will be either the head or a member of the SLT. Whichever is the case, a sound relationship is important if they are to give you constructive criticism, support you and ultimately assist you in your work. The onus is on that person to make you feel comfortable in your new role. However, that does not always happen and you may have to develop the relationship yourself. Without being asked, make sure they are kept fully informed of your activities, your intentions for development as well as your strategies to improve school effectiveness. It is a good idea to give them written reports from time to time as well as copies of any documents you produce. You should work hard to build up a business-like and professional relationship but, where that is difficult, you may need to discuss the matter with the head, or the REDO if you are the head.

Your relationship with other staff
It is always best to become introspective in these circumstances. In other words, try to see yourself as others see you. This will give you an insight into their reaction to you both professionally and personally. Do not be too concerned if, from some people, the relationship feels cold at first. It often takes time for a person to feel comfortable with a new leader as they are worried about how this new person’s wishes will impinge on their own work. Conversely, you may find that some persons may be overly friendly and are clearly trying to gain favour from you for their own purposes. Both of these situations are normal and will be less of an issue as teachers become more familiar with your way of working.

At this point we will remind you of what we said in Unit 2 of this module relating to the earning of respect from others.

“As leaders, we have a great power for good or for bad and that power invested in us is not for self-gratification but for the service of others. We do not deserve the power by right but must earn it. That is the only way we will gain true respect. We earn power and influence by doing, following, leading and, most of all, being humble in what we do by respecting the rights, skills and knowledge of others.”

Using your experience to good effect
You would not have been offered this post if you did not have the qualifications and experience to do the job. Your time in your previous school(s) will have given you a wealth of experience of how things might be done differently. You will want to use this experience to make improvements in your new school / department. Whilst this is understandable, we need to remember that:

“Change is a process and not an event”

Appropriate consultation and teamwork is essential if it is to be accepted and embraced by all. Therefore, to impose change, without going through this process, would be unwise. Any changes need to be appropriate for the school and not imposed because another school operated in that way. Hence, the last thing anyone wants to hear from a new leader / manager is “In my last school we…” “We had a better way of doing it in my last post.” That is not to say that you will not use your experience but you will be tactful about how you introduce it. Perhaps a better approach would be “You told me that we were having difficulty with…….Maybe we could try to ……. and see if it works.” By approaching the matter differently, you will appear helpful, knowledgeable and innovative rather than trying to impose other ways of doing things on reluctant people.

Considering the post you have imagined that you have been offered, consider a few of the systems and practices that you feel would be helpful to your new school. How would you introduce them in a tactful way?

Comments
Every school is different and you will have a lot to offer. However, what is important is that you prioritise what you do in terms of the maximum effect on improving teaching and learning and the outcomes for school effectiveness.

We strongly advise at this point that you look again at Module 2, Unit 8, The Management of Change.

Using the experience of others
At this point, you will recall the various sections of this module which outline your responsibilities as a leader. The greatest of these is your duty towards others and to recognise their skills and knowledge and how it might compliment your own expertise. Planning for succession for a time when we will no longer be around is an important obligation. We must, therefore, ensure that we accept the skills of others and seek to use them in our planning and consultation. So many heads follow the maxim “If you want a job to be done well, then you must do it yourself”. This is often true but it will do your colleagues no favours. If they are to develop their skills, they must be allowed to practise them in a controlled, supported, no-blame environment.

In essence, you must learn to trust the abilities of others and, through appropriate delegation and consultation, use their knowledge and skills, listen to their advice and show them that they have a valuable contribution to make. This theme was developed considerably in Module One, Unit Five

Dos and don’ts
In conclusion, we will summarise some of the recommendations we have offered in the following chart:

What you ought to do

§ Prepare well
§ Deal with your emotions and anxieties
§ Be confident and decisive
§ Have a contingency plan for when you are challenged
§ Take time to explain changes
§ Set out your expectations early
§ Be knowledgeable
§ Hold staff accountable
§ Be a good role model
§ Have an attention to detail especially in learning and teaching issues
§ Do more listening than speaking at first
§ Evaluate your relationships and actions in your previous posts
§ Delegate
§ Prioritise your actions
§ Get to know your staffMake an impact in the first few weeks

What you should not do

§ Put friendship before leadership
§ Allow the personal to unduly influence the professional
§ Doubt your abilities
§ Be afraid your colleagues will not like you
§ Make promises too early
§ Try to do everything at once
§ Act without consultation
§ Do everything yourself
§ Consider your experience to be better than others
§ Feel that you will do things yourself to do them well
§ Feel pressured to make ill-informed decisions
§ Give way to pressure groups
§ Consider change to be an event and not a processConstantly refer to your previous school

We are sure that you will be able to think of many others and perhaps you could add some to the list at this point.

Summary
In this unit we have asked you to use your imagination and consider the implications for you of a new leadership post. You have been exposed to the various emotions and thoughts that you might have before taking up the post. We have looked at the effects that your appointment may have on others and their reaction to you and how you might ease for them the transition from one manager to another. Our aim was to help you to feel more confident about being a middle leader, member of a senior leadership team or headteacher.

We looked at some practical issues such as developing strategies for getting to know and understand your staff and how to make an impact in the first few weeks without making persons feel threatened by any changes you may wish to make. Finally we discussed the way you might use your own experience to date and that of other staff to your best advantage.