Leadership recast

The transition from office administrator to leader of learning has been a significant change in both belief and behaviour for the heads whose authority had previously been located in their office, symbolically at a distance from the classroom. As one head said in interview, it was an affirmation of her authority to require staff to come to her in her domain, but now, she said, she would venture onto their territory. ‘Before [the Ajumako workshop] you just sat in the office and thought everyone must come to you’, she said. While engaging with the day-to-day life of the classroom would inevitably be a significant learning opportunity for these heads, to cast themselves in the role of learners was a much bigger step. As another headteacher put it:

"Formerly we were heads who were not concentrating on the leadership for learning, we were heads who, up and down, didn’t involve ourselves deeply into the learning process. But from this course we are now aware that when we go back we should continue to improve ourselves. Everybody there will be learning, the children, teachers, the head, myself, always will be learning. We all put hands together for the learning process, the most important thing in the school."

Although teachers dutifully completed lesson plans to be scrutinised by the head or deputy, by observing in classes headteachers were able to address the difference between what was written in lesson plans and what actually transpired in the classroom. It provided a focus for dialogue and brought to the surface the need for more sustained and focused professional development. Sitting down and talking with their staff, rather than directing them from the head’s office marked a positive shift in leadership style. In interviews during the recall workshop headteachers described one-to-one conversations with their staff, visiting their classrooms, praising their efforts, encouraging a more adventurous pedagogy.

Interviews with headteachers, circuit supervisors and directors offered opportunities to explore the deeper significance of quantitative data which was gathered at repeated intervals to gauge preconceptions, shifts in attitude and priorities. Giving the same questionnaire to heads, circuit supervisors and directors revealed areas of consonance and dissonance in priorities and provided an agenda both for further research but also for interrogation by those who had furnished the data.

Table 1 below shows the ranking or priorities by heads, circuit supervisors and Regional Directors on 30 questionnaire statements. There is a fairly consistent view among them on these three key issues.

Table 1

Views of headteachers [n = 120]  Circuit Supervisors [n = 25] and Directors [n = 8] compared
HT CS Dir Rating of importance
29 25 25 Teachers encourage pupils to be responsible for their own learning in school.
18 26 20 Teachers suggest ideas or approaches for colleagues to try in class.
21 27 25 Teachers consult pupils about how they learn best.
25 28 30 Teachers regularly plan their teaching together.
30 29 25 Pupils sometimes have opportunities to decide what they want to learn.

By contrast, Table 2 shows wide disparities in relation to assessment and to making explicit the purposes of lessons.

Table 2

Views of headteachers [n = 120]  Circuit Supervisors [n = 25] and Directors [n = 8] compared
HT CS Dir Rating of importance
19 30  14 Assessment criteria are discussed with pupils in ways that they understand.
21 24    9 There is wide agreement among school staff on how best to measure success.
  5 16=   1 Teachers help pupils to understand the learning purposes of each lesson or series of lessons.

These data provided 'tin openers' for discussion in workshops, for individual and group interviews and as a stimulus to future planning.