Leadership Focus November/December 2014

The magazine for NAHT membersNovember/December 2014 • £5

Issue #66

LEADERSHIPF O C U S

Talented Leaders

programme p26

Behind NAHT

Aspire p30

School business

managers p38

Is music getting the attentionit deserves in secondary schools?

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N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 l LEADERSHIP FOCUS 3

It is an enormous privilege to be the NAHT president as I have the opportunity to travel to all corners of the UK to meet with branches and regions. I never fail to be

impressed by the commitment and dedication of our members, not only towards the children in their schools but also for the support and care they show to colleagues.

Supporting members is of paramount importance to NAHT. When we are striving to implement so many new initiatives, probably with the threat of an impending Ofsted inspection, it is even more important that we take the time to meet up with colleagues, to seek support and advice and to know that we are not alone. I know that, like me, you could not fail to be moved by the incredible story of our colleague Bhupinder Kondal (page 24) who has now been reinstated after she was forced to resign as a result of the awful situation in Birmingham recently.

Her unstinting determination and bravery are an example to us all and how proud we should be of our NAHT offi cials and colleagues who have been there for her through thick and thin for, as Bhupinder herself has stated: ‘If it wasn’t for the NAHT, I wouldn’t be here.’

GAIL LARKIN

SUPPORT SYSTEMS

WE N A T I O N A L P R E S I D E N T

There are other articles that outline the various ways NAHT is able to off er guidance, support and advice to our members. Many colleagues are keen to fi nd out more about NAHT Aspire which we believe is the blueprint for the future of school improvement, so please take a look at the article on page 30 to fi nd out more. Rigorous and eff ective performance management is the right of all of our members and so I am sure that head teacher colleagues will be keen to draw their governors’ attention to the ‘11 features of eff ective head teacher performance management’ on page 36.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any ideas for future articles and, of course, I am always interested in receiving feedback on this issue.

W E L C O M E

EDITORIAL

ASSOCIATION AND EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES

NAHT 1 Heath Square, Boltro Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1BL www.naht.org.uk Tel: 0300 30 30 333

Editorial board: Clare Cochrane, Tony Draper, Heather Forse, Lesley Gannon, Nicky Gillhespy, Magnus Gorham, Chris Harrison, Russell Hobby, Bernadette Hunter, Gail Larkin, Caroline Morley, Stephen Watkins and Paul Whiteman.

@nahtnews @LFmagNAHT

EDITORIAL TEAM Managing editor: Steve SmethurstAssistant editor: Rebecca GrantDesigner: Adrian Taylor Senior picture editor: Claire EchavarryProduction manager: Jane EastermanCover photograph: CorbisColumnist illustrations: Lyndon Hayes Printed by: Woodford Litho

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Advertisement sales: Joe Elliott-WalkerSales director: Jason Grant

Leadership Focus is published on behalf of NAHT by Redactive Publishing Limited, 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP

www.redactive.co.ukTel: 020 7880 6200Email: [email protected]

ISSN: 1472–6181

© Copyright 2014 NAHT

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be copied or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers. While every care has been taken in the compilation of this publication, neither the publisher nor NAHT can accept responsibility for any inaccuracies or changes since compilation, or for consequential loss arising from such changes or inaccuracies, or for any other loss, direct or consequential, arising in connection with information in this publication. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply recommendation by the publishers.

The views herein are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor or NAHT.

Member of the Audit Bureauof Circulation: 27,642 (July 2013-June 2014)

03 editorial CREDIT.indd 3 05/11/2014 10:18

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LFO.11.14.004.indd 4 23/10/2014 10:19


C O N T E N T S

6 MPs join the party The three main party leaders and

more than 100 MPs have pledged their support to Primary Futures

7 ‘Ofsted reform now necessary’ Ahead of Ofsted’s consultation,

NAHT says the time has come for it to be fairer and more accountable

8 Guide to authorised absence NAHT issues guidance after a report

shows 90 per cent of members want more clarity on what constitutes ‘exceptional circumstances’

8 Read On Get On NAHT is a key partner in the literacy

initiative from Save the Children which launches this month

9 Family friendly award Bradfi elds Academy in Kent becomes

the fi rst UK school to be awarded a Family Friendly UK certifi cate of accreditation

9 Standing fi rm on union time NAHT is at the forefront of a

national campaign to defend and improve facilities time

10 CPD expert panel Highlights from the discussions

of a panel of experts on continuing professional development

11 Advanced training course This event for branch offi cials

improves the quality of support to members and empowers offi cials

11 Aspire and Assure: budgeting NAHT’s school improvement project

Aspire helps to improve investment

12 Family Action leafl et The latest leafl et in the Ready to

Learn series from NAHT’s charity partner looks at online safety

22 Let’s keep hold of our teachers A new approach to coaching and

mentoring could be the answer to the growing challenge of teachers leaving the profession, says Chris Wheatley

24 Member support “If it wasn’t for NAHT, I wouldn’t be

here,” says Oldknow Academy principal Bhupinder Kondal, who was caught up in Birmingham’s ‘Trojan horse’ aff air

26 A vision for local change Future Leaders Trust CEO Heath

Monk explains how ‘Talented Leaders’ will fi nd 100 great head teachers for English school improvement

30 Aspire to excellence What is NAHT Aspire and how is it

diff erent to other school improvement programmes. LF reports

34 Peak performance A major research project has looked

at a key role for governing bodies: managing head teacher performance. Susan Young reports

38 A rapid evolution Valentine Mulholland reports that

NAHT is working with NASBM on new qualifi cations that refl ect the changes in school business management

42 Finding the perfect pitch There is evidence that learning an

instrument aids academic progress, says Caroline Roberts, but is music getting the audience it deserves in secondary schools?

46 Can CPD make a difference? How can schools deliver CPD that

makes a real diff erence to both individuals and the school? By Keith Wright and David Weston

14 NAHT partners Eteach allows you to save money with

eff ective online teacher recruitment; Aviva’s insurance is designed with education professionals in mind

15 Legal update NAHT senior solicitor Simon Thomas

looks at the intricacies of continuity of employment

17 Rona Tutt’s column Oaths of offi ce? Do they mean pledging

to work 60 hours a week before being driven out with exhaustion?

19 Russell Hobby’s column The things that matter can only be

changed when the profession takes back ownership of what belongs to it

20 Best of the blogs A debut blog from school business

manager Nicky Gillhespy; Gerard Kelly solves the ‘problem’ of independent schools; while Susan Young ponders the future of the A level

50 Susan Young’s column Susan speaks to Jake Daykin, head

of Hooe Primary Academy about his Dungeons and Dragons-style board game that aims to improve maths skills

N E W S F E A T U R E S V I E W SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

LEADERSHIPF O C U S

05 contents.indd 5 05/11/2014 11:14

6 LEADERSHIP FOCUS l N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4

NEWS• OFSTED REFORM• EDUCATION AWARDS• BIRMINGHAM SUPPORT• ABSENCES• READ ON, GET ON• FAMILY ACTION

MPs join the party

P R I M A R Y F U T U R E S The three main party leaders, depicted here by pupils at Islington’s St Luke’s CE Primary, have joined more than 100 MPs to pledge their support to Primary Futures.

Through the scheme, launched in October, primary schools can get free access to a network of volunteers from different backgrounds and professions, from archaeologists to zoologists.

The project has been developed by NAHT in partnership with the Education and Employers Taskforce charity, which runs Inspiring the Future.

On the Isle of Man, NAHT branch secretary Carol Walsh, head at Ballacottier Primary School in Douglas, said the initiative had really taken off: “We had a careers convention for the children and John Higgins at Manx Utilities led science lessons in the morning.

“We then had the training offi cer for BP Shipping, a microbiologist from Manx Utilities, a hospital engineer and a female engineer from Manx Gas. I can’t believe how enthusiastic people have been.”

www.primaryfutures.org

WE N E W S F R O M T H E W O R L D O F E D U C A T I O N

N E W S F O C U S

OCTOBER SAW THE LAUNCH OF NAHT’S NATIONAL INITIATIVE TO WIDEN THE HORIZONS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

P H O T O G R A P H : P R I M A R Y F U T U R E S

Dress rehearsal: students at St Luke’s CE Primary prepare for

the launch of Primary Futures

06-07 News CORRS.indd 6 05/11/2014 12:40


‘Wholesale reform of Ofsted is now necessary’ Ahead of Ofsted’s planned consultation, NAHT believes the time has

come to stop tinkering with school inspection and instead transform

it to make it fairer and more accountable.

NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby (pictured) said: “Ofsted’s

legitimacy hangs in the balance. Schools can no longer learn effectively

from its adversarial approach. The current model

of inspection has reached the end of its useful life

and now holds the education system back.

“The regime stifl es innovation, provokes

unnecessary bureaucracy and damages

recruitment. Small changes will not be enough.

“Inspection should be part of the

dialogue that sets a school onto the path

to improvement. Currently, schools are

investigated, not inspected. School leaders are

expected to prove there’s nothing wrong, not

to showcase excellence. The recent trend of

no-notice inspections has to stop. Head

teachers have a right and a need to be present

during inspections and a small amount of

notice is required to make this possible.

At present, the period of notice is only half a day: anything less risks making the inspection

invalid. Inspection teams have questions that require the head’s presence.

“NAHT also believes that Ofsted should stop investigating complaints against itself and use

an independent body to adjudicate these. Ofsted has taken steps in recent years to reduce

transparency and make complaining harder. This does not befi t a public body.

“NAHT’s manifesto for education contains positive suggestions for a new approach to

inspection. We’d like to see a system of peer review, where school leaders lead rigorous and

accredited reviews of other schools.”

bit.ly/NAHTmanifesto

/ /

Birmingham schools need long-term supportChildren should be protected from extremism and radicalisation of any kind – and radical

ideologies are not the exclusive domain of any one religion, race or political group. That’s the

message from Russell Hobby, NAHT general secretary.

He said: “Ofsted’s report into fi ve schools inspected in early September says that little has

been done to address the serious concerns raised in previous inspections. It needs to be said

that, despite the seriousness of the situation in Birmingham, we must be realistic about what it is

possible to achieve in a short space of time. For example, one of the schools was inspected just

after a new head teacher was appointed.

“The ‘Trojan horse’ allegations have triggered a major crisis in Birmingham’s schools. This will

take time to heal. We should continue to support school leaders calmly and closely, with neither

panic nor complacency. This situation needs a sustained focus and long-term commitment. It is not

acceptable for authorities to go back to ‘business as usual’ when the media spotlight moves on.”

Birmingham principal Bhupinder Kondal speaks about her fi ght for justice, page 24

Salbutamol inhaler guidance The guidance applies to all UK schools including academies and free schools. However, it is nota mandatory requirement

NAHT supports this change but has criticised it being dealt with in isolation from broader changes to the management of medical needs

The rules on asthma inhalers changed on 1 October, allowing schools to keep ‘spare’ inhalers for emergency use provided parental consent has been received

Department of Health �

21

Now is the time for all

members to enter The

Education Resources Awards

2015. Supported by NAHT,

the awards look for the

‘Best leadership in teaching’

candidate. This award will be

presented to a member of

the teaching profession or

an educational professional

working in a setting, school

or college, nominated by his

or her peers, or themselves,

for some special leadership

quality or qualities.

ERA is also searching

for the ‘Best educational

establishment’ in the UK,

an award presented to an

educational establishment

from any phase – from early

years to tertiary – which can

demonstrate effectiveness

and real value to the

community it serves.

The awards are

sponsored by YPO, which

supplies schools, colleges,

universities and education

organisations across the UK

with products and contracts,

and has been providing

procurement expertise to

the sector for more than

four decades.

The awards recognise

excellence in the education

sector. For more information

about entering or attending

the awards ceremony, visit

the website below or call the

awards team.

www.educationresources awards.co.uk

01622 474 011

SMART STAT Don’t forget to enter the 2015 ERA

A £2 million package will be offered to

schools to help them tackle homophobic

bullying

£2m

P H O T O G R A P H : V I C T O R D E J E S U S / U N P

06-07 News CORRS.indd 7 05/11/2014 14:15


R E A D O N , G E T O N

T E R M - T I M E A B S E N C E

NAHT has published new guidance on authorised absences

(see link). General secretary Russell Hobby told LF: “We

surveyed our members and 90 per cent said they would

welcome more detailed guidance on what constitutes

exceptional circumstances for granting term-time absences.

“Head teachers already have discretion over the granting of

absence during term time. They rightly prioritise learning over

holidays. The fundamental principles for defi ning ‘exceptional’

are where requests are rare, signifi cant, unavoidable and short.

“NAHT believes that these new guidelines support existing

government policy on school absence. They will give head

teachers and parents a consistent and reasonable defi nition

of ‘exceptional’. This will help with making individual decisions

about granting authorised absence in term time.”

“Part of the challenge is that there is no consistent

defi nition of ‘exceptional’,” he said. “It would be unfortunate to

return to routine term-time holidays, which over the course of

an education could put a child almost half a year behind their

peers. The real problem is holiday pricing and we would urge

the government to work with the holiday industry to resolve

the outrageous differences in price.”

In a survey of more than 1,400 members in UK schools,

NAHT found that:

• 68 per cent found the current guidance problematic when

making decisions to grant absence;

• 90 per cent would welcome more detailed guidance on

what constitutes exceptional circumstances;

• 88 per cent thought there should be ‘reasonable’ restrictions

on term time absences;

• 88 per cent thought that requests for absence should be

required to be backed by proof of need; and

• members were split 50/50 on whether they would want

to grant absence for a family holiday during term time.

Absences were commonly granted for: bereavement,

serious illness of a family member, weddings within immediate

family and service personnel returning from tours of duty.

bit.ly/authorised_absence

New literacy campaignNAHT is a key partner in

an initiative from Save the

Children to improve the

children’s literacy by the time

they leave primary school.

The Read On Get On

campaign launches this

month with thousands of

children reading with an adult

for at least 10 minutes.

The initiative fi ts in with

NAHT’s manifesto, which

states the profession should

take ownership of standards.

NAHT general secretary

Russell Hobby said: “By taking

ownership, we will set better,

fairer standards and crowd

out political interference.

“Read On Get On is central

to this. I have drafted a letter

to MPs asking them to back

the campaign. Our goal is

to help every child leaving

primary school by 2025 to

read confi dently.

“I urge you to get involved.

We have some resources,

including posters to download

and a letter to recruit parents.

We also hope to have some

physical materials for you to

use in classrooms.

“Together we can show

politicians and others that, as

a profession, we have a vision

for improvement that we’re

already proactively pursuing.”

• Look out for further news

of this campaign in future

editions of LF.

tinyurl.com/readongeton

P H O T O G R A P H Y : G E T T Y / S A V E T H E C H I L D R E N

WE NAHT’s revised absence guide

Helping children read

NAHT is supporting a new project on Facebook that asks the

question: “If social media were around between 1914 and 1918,

what would people have been saying?”

It focuses on the story of Walter Carter who joins the territorial

force in 1912 and goes to war in March 1915 after six months’

training. The story covers the entire war and describes not only

his experiences but also those of his family and girlfriend in

England. While fi ctitious, it is based on fact with posts dated

1914 to 1919. The project is targeted at 13 to 18 year olds.

www.facebook.com/WW1SoldiersTale www.twitter.com/WW1SoldiersTale www.WW1SoldiersTale.co.uk/blog

World War One: via Facebook

Schools tend to authorise term-time leave to greet

returning service personnel

08_09 News NEEDS PIC.indd 8 05/11/2014 14:16


Bradfi elds Academy in Kent has become the fi rst school in the UK to be awarded the

Family Friendly UK certifi cate of accreditation. It was presented by Nicky Morgan MP, now

education secretary, at a reception at No 11 Downing Street in London (pictured).

The award is given by the Family and Childcare Trust under its Family Friendly UK scheme

to organisations that help families by providing better services to customers and support

for employees. Bradfi elds Academy was

recognised for being a family friendly

employer and service provider.

Principal Kim Johnson, who is also

NAHT vice president-elect, said: “We are

proud to have our work with parents,

carers and families validated by this award.

At the core of our working practices is

the promotion of parental engagement.

“We see our staff as our greatest asset –

and our parents and carers as our greatest

ally – in providing high quality learning

and caring outcomes for our students. As

such, developing and sustaining family

friendly practices is key to our core purpose as an academy for children aged four to 19 with

complex needs. Our new website is more accessible to our wider academy community and

is a good example of the ‘family friendly’ process.”

• Following NAHT’s annual conference in May 2014 and the debate on the NAHT charter

A Modern Media?, two student representatives from Bradfi elds Academy’s student council,

the chair of the PTFA and academy principal Kim Johnson signed their version of the

charter. They intend to rally parents and carers to lobby their local MP, media providers

and regulators for protection against unsuitable and age-inappropriate materials.

Bradfi elds’ family friendly award is a fi rst for UK schools

P H O T O G R A P H : B R A D F I E L D S A C A D E M Y

TV programmes aiming

to show what life is like in

schools have enjoyed a

surge in popularity recently,

with Channel Four’s

Educating… series, the

spin-off Mr Drew’s school for boys and Don’t stop the music.

More recently, Channel

Five’s documentary Too tough to teach, featured

Claire Lillis, head teacher

of Ian Mikardo High School

in London.

The school helps boys

aged 11 to 16 who have been

deemed unteachable at

other schools because of

their emotional and

behavioural diffi culties.

Lillis took over the school

13 years ago and has received

three ‘outstanding’ Ofsted

reports. The school motto

is ‘Come with a past, leave

with a future’ and 97 per

cent of leavers go on to

further education,

employment or training.

When interviewed in The Guardian about the decision

to make the programme, Lillis

said: “I wanted to give a voice

to those who have been under

attack and also challenge

what it is that we are trying

to do with education.

“We’ve lost sight of what

education means. The world

has changed dramatically, yet

we sticking with an education

system that has not

progressed and has not

moved with society.”

www.channel5.com/shows/too-tough-to-teach

East London head in TV documentary

E INSPIRING LEADERSHIP 2015 This year’s conference attracted more than 1,300 school leaders who heard from keynote speakers such as Benjamin Zander, Sir Clive Woodward and Sir Michael Barber. Next year’s event has now been confi rmed for 10 to 12 June 2015. See next issue for more details.

STANDING FIRM ON UNION TIME The DfE’s non-statutory advice regarding

facilities time (the statutory right for paid

time off to be a trade union representative),

has provided further evidence of the close

scrutiny the department reserves for it.

NAHT has been at the forefront of a

national campaign to defend and improve

facilities time for its members. This includes

working alongside other teaching unions

to produce campaign resources such as a

collection of letter templates. These enable

NAHT offi cials to infl uence decision-makers to

ensure that local authorities hold the funds for

facilities time and prevent funding from being

delegated into schools’ own budgets.

The expansion of academies has further

challenged existing arrangements and has led

to NAHT and other teaching unions lobbying

local authorities to ensure they hold a pooled

pot for academies. This has also led to NAHT

targeting academies to send money to these

locally held pots to ensure representation is

equal for all NAHT members regardless of

the establishment.

As we approach the period when schools

forum representatives will begin to meet to

decide this year’s round of funding decisions,

we need members and NAHT offi cials to let

us know about local facilities time issues.

If you are experiencing any diffi culties,

contact the association.

[email protected] 01444 472495

F A C I L I T I E S T I M E

STANDING FIRM ON UNION TIMEThe DfE’s non-statutory advice regarding

facilities time (the statutory right for paid

time off to be a trade union representative),

has provided further evidence of the close

scrutiny the department reserves for it.

NAHT has been at the forefront of a

national campaign to defend and improve

facilities time for its members. This includes

working alongside other teaching unions

to produce campaign resources such as a

collection of letter templates. These enable

NAHT offi cials to infl uence decision-makers to

ensure that local authorities hold the funds for

facilities time and prevent funding from being

delegated into schools’ own budgets.

The expansion of academies has further

challenged existing arrangements and has led

to NAHT and other teaching unions lobbying

local authorities to ensure they hold a pooled

pot for academies. This has also led to NAHT

targeting academies to send money to these

locally held pots to ensure representation is

equal for all NAHT members regardless of

the establishment.

As we approach the period when schools

forum representatives will begin to meet to

decide this year’s round of funding decisions,

we need members and NAHT offi cials to let

us know about local facilities time issues.

If you are experiencing any diffi culties,

contact the association.


08_09 News NEEDS PIC.indd 908_09 News NEEDS PIC.indd 9 05/11/2014 11:3005/11/2014 11:30

10 LEADERSHIP FOCUS l N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 410 LEADERSHIP FOCUS l N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4

N A H T N E W S A N D I N F O R M A T I O N

CPD expert panelN A H T R O U N D T A B L E

In September, NAHT hosted

a roundtable debate with a

panel of experts on

continuing professional

development (CPD).

The resulting report

concluded that quality CPD

can be defi ned as:

‘professional learning that

has a positive impact on

student outcomes and allows

teachers to thrive, while at

the same time supporting the

needs of their institution and

the wider system.’

After a thorough debate

featuring input from the

Teacher Development Trust,

Future Leaders Trust and the

Institute of Education among

others, the panel was able to

identify key characteristics of

effective CPD:

• It prioritises valued

outcomes for learners

• It is a collaborative process

• It allows participants to

exercise a degree of choice

in its formulation

• It draws down the

appropriate amount of

specialist expertise

• It is sustained over a long

period (usually at least 10

weeks and/or 30 hours over

the course of a year)

• It includes opportunities to

practise and apply learning

• It draws on evidence of

changes in practice

• Structured learning assists

and connects with ongoing

self-development

The roundtable panel

also concluded that school

leaders have a critical part

to play in both ensuring their

staff can access quality

professional development

and infl uencing the culture

of the school to support and

encourage continuous learning.

The panel added that inset

days need to be better

structured to embed an

understanding of the

separation between

development time and time

used for management

purposes; both are necessary

for schools but it must be

made clear that sharing

information alone does not

constitute quality CPD.

While a formal entitlement

to CPD is aspirational, it is

necessary to fi rst establish

widespread quality CPD.

Current practice should be

made more visible and

assistance given to schools

doing too little.

There is no core body of

knowledge that CPD is

working to address in

teaching. Subject and

phase-specifi c knowledge

is central and must be

continually updated.

CPD feature, page 46

Through its Assure

partnership, NAHT has

produced a short video to

help school leaders manage

their way through the new

pay award and appeals

processes.

There are many scenarios

in which a member of staff

might not agree with their

appraisal and subsequent

pay award. In these cases

they have the right to appeal

– either informally, in writing

to the pay committee, or

through a hearing of the

pay-appeal committee.

The video looks at the three

key stages of the new

processes: conducting

performance appraisals;

determining pay awards;

and managing pay appeals.

It states the different roles

of the line manager, head

teacher, pay awards

committee and pay appeals

committee. If you require

further support, contact NAHT.

www.nahtassure.co.uk/human-resources/performance-related-pay

[email protected]

0300 30 30 333

Pay award and appeals video guide

If you are approaching retirement…Life membership of NAHT

offers the reassurance that

should any action be taken

against you arising from

your time in service, the

association will be there to

help you, providing advice

and representation to achieve

the best result for you.

To be eligible for NAHT life

membership you simply need

to be entitled to take your

retirement benefi ts, usually at

55 years of age, whether or

not you choose to do so.

For just £16 a month over

one year, you could be

covered for life.

Membership offers the

following benefi ts:

• Retrospective cover if you

apply within six months of

the end of full membership

• Advice and help with any

queries or diffi culties

concerning your pension

• Termly issues of

NAHT Life magazine

• Access to NAHT’s website

• Access to the services and

benefi ts available through

our NAHT partners

The cost is £360 for head

teachers; £288 for deputy

heads; and £192 for assistant

heads and school business

managers. To become a

life member, contact us by

email, confi rming your

retirement date.

[email protected]

bit.ly/Life_members

10_11 NAHT News.indd 10 05/11/2014 12:04

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 l LEADERSHIP FOCUS 11N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 l LEADERSHIP FOCUS 11

NAHT has held an advanced training course for offi cials. National president Gail Larkin

spoke about what it means to be a branch offi cial and the importance of having confi dence

to represent colleagues at an NAHT event. Delegates then took part in an interactive

advocacy skills workshop, where participants split into two teams and prepared either a

prosecution or defence of a mock gross-misconduct hearing. The hearing was then acted

out by a representative from each side.

Clare Cook, Norfolk branch secretary

and victorious defendant during the panel

hearing, said: “The panel hearing has given

me a clear insight into the advocacy aspect

of branch secretary work and has made

me feel more confi dent in protecting and

supporting my members in Norfolk.”

Delegates also heard from NAHT

senior solicitor Simon Thomas, regarding

employment law, TUPE and the new

ACAS early conciliation policy. Sarah

Winder, recruitment marketing manager,

gave a presentation on recruitment and initiatives that can be delivered locally, as well

as providing an update on the day-to-day work of NAHT headquarters. Branch analyst

and adviser Kim Bowden then spoke to delegates regarding branch support and ideas

for rejuvenating branches. The day fi nished with a brief discussion regarding the further

training opportunities that will be available through the TUC.

Steve Cleverly, training presenter and South West regional offi cer said: “This is a terrifi c

development to improve the quality of support to our members and empower local offi cials.”

NAHT plans to deliver this training (and also an introductory session) across the country.

If your branch or region is interested, contact NAHT governance offi cer Henry Fowler.


Advanced training course for offi cials builds stronger NAHT

P H O T O G R A P H : N A H T

The number of membership

applications to NAHT Edge

has been strong, with

thousands of visits

to the website.

Louis Coiffait, NAHT Edge

CEO, has already been

speaking in the media on

leadership issues and he told

LF: “Edge is incredibly helpful

for middle leaders who want

professional development

and a constructive voice.

“So, if you have a colleague

who could benefi t, please

encourage them to take a

look. As an NAHT member,

for each person you refer

who subsequently joins,

you will receive a £20

Amazon voucher. And they’ll

get a discount too.”

nahtedge.org.uknahtedge.org.uk/refer

[email protected]

Strong interest in NAHT Edge

Aspire and Assure: budgeting for school improvementNAHT Aspire, the association’s school improvement programme,

is being piloted in 30 primary schools across four regional clusters,

in the Midlands, Bristol, Kent and Sussex, and Essex.

Aspire represents an opportunity to bring together all

aspects of school improvement and continuing professional

development in a focused, joined-up strategy – but it also

presents a challenge around how a budget area that has

traditionally been distributed across many individual line items

might be rationalised.

For schools that have made the step into the NAHT Aspire

programme, there is a recognition that, while the costs of the

programme are broadly in line with historic expenditure patterns,

this new approach demands budget-setting based on future

investment in staff and systems rather than historic practice.

Schools therefore need to develop their budget from the

question: ‘What kind of school do we want to be and how do

we fi nancially plan to get there?’ It is a question of investment

for the future and distinguishing cost from value.

NAHT Assure head of fi nance Trish Cain told LF: “Increasingly,

schools and academies are more focused on individual line

items. This is a good thing as it potentially contributes to

operational savings. It also leads to greater spending scope and

allocating budget to activities that will move the school forward,

as opposed to simply doing the same things year on year.

“By taking an investment approach, much of the Aspire cost

can be covered by allocations for professional development,

resources for learning and curriculum services. The pupil

premium grant can also be deployed to good effect for Aspire,

as many of the programme’s outcomes are directly aimed at

closing the gaps in pupil attainment.”

nahtaspire.co.uk nahtassure.co.uk

Aspire feature, page 30

10_11 NAHT News.indd 11 05/11/2014 14:16


The latest leafl et in the Ready to Learn series, co-produced by NAHT and Family Action,

focuses on online safety. It has been produced following the news that a third of fi ve to

15 year olds now own a smart phone or tablet, according to Ofcom’s Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report 2014. This means the days when the family computer was

the only way a child could access the internet and parents could easily apply safety

features are, for many, long gone.

Additionally, a recent survey of 2,000 parents, carried out by

AVG technologies and Plymouth University, suggests that parents

are over-confi dent about keeping children safe online and many

avoid diffi cult conversations about sexting and cyberbullying.

“There is a disconnect between how safe parents think they

can keep their children online and their actual ability to do that.

Those conversations are not being held. We have a long way to

go on internet safety,” said Andy Phippen, professor of social

responsibility at Plymouth University.

The online safety leafl et (enclosed), encourages parents to

talk to their children about online safety as soon as they have

their own devices, because this can prevent a bad experience.

It also provides hints and tips for both parents and children to

understand the risks and put in place measures to avoid them.

Of course, not everything in the leafl et will apply to all

children and every family but it has been designed to help parents start a

dialogue. The idea is to also provide children with the tools to protect themselves, for

example emphasising the importance of keeping passwords safe. If your school would

like to get involved in the Ready to Learn campaign, you can fi nd resources, including the

full series of leafl ets and a week-long assembly pack, at the websites below.

www.family-action.org.uk/nahtwww.naht.org.uk/familyaction

Your latest Family Action leafl et: the importance of online safety

READY TO LEARN EVERY DAY!

Online Safety: A short guide for parents

As a part of NAHT’s

partnership with Family

Action, schools are being

encouraged to raise funds

for the charity.

Family Action supports

more than 45,000 children

and families through a

network of 120 community-

based services.

This year, you can help to

ensure thousands of children

receive a Christmas present

by getting involved in the

charity’s toy appeal. It is

asking schools to donate toys

or fundraise to bring festive

joy to children who may not

otherwise receive a gift.

For information about the

appeal, leafl ets or fundraising,

contact Elisa Cappello at

Family Action.

020 7241 7454

[email protected]

Support the Family Action toy appeal

E CAREERS ADVICE NAHT Edge CEO Louis Coiffait has called for an end to the postcode lottery on careers advice following the Sutton Trust’s latest report. He said: “It adds weight to the mounting pressure for decent careers services”

FIVE YEARS OF SUPPORT NEEDED Research by NAHT shows two

thirds of teachers who aspire

to be heads would welcome

tailored and convenient

support to achieve their

goals. NAHT surveyed more

than 1,000 teachers and

69 per cent said it would

take them fi ve years to feel

confi dent they could lead

their school, with just eight

per cent currently feeling

confi dent. Some 65 per cent

said that they were positive

about getting focused

support, such as mentoring

and networking online, via

their smartphone or tablet.

bit.ly/Five_years

NAHT WELCOMES NEW PSHE BILLNAHT is supportive of the

new PSHE bill, said general

secretary Russell Hobby.

“All children need and deserve

this development, delivered at

the appropriate time and age

by confi dent and well trained

staff. A broad entitlement

rather than a prescriptive

curriculum helps protect them

from external pressures to

avoid or censor these topics,”

he added.

bit.ly/PSHE_Bill

NURSERY FOCUS IS LONG OVERDUENAHT general secretary

Russell Hobby has called

on the government to

make qualifi ed teacher

status available for early

years professionals. He

said: “Highly qualifi ed staff

in a strong organisation

can spot early needs, plan

intervention and structure

a good balance between

play and education.

Increasingly, primary schools

will need to see themselves

as 0 years+ institutions.

They will need to work

in partnership with other

providers, including private

and voluntary provision,

to provide a complete offer

to families.”

N E W S I N B R I E F

12 News QUERY.indd 12 05/11/2014 11:30

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Oxford Owl membership gives every member of staff easy access to a powerful range of school improvement support, in one place with simple sign-on. Every part of Oxford Owl is designed to work together.

How will Oxford Owl membership benefit our school?

Welcome toTo join, visit

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Easy to access – saving you time

Creates a shared whole-school improvement vision

Provides a systematic way to address key issues

Inspiring tools, resources and eBooks to improve teaching and learning

Helps you to raise standards across the whole school

web www.oxfordprimary.co.ukemail [email protected]

tel 01536 452610fax 01865 313472 1

Oxford Owl membership gives every member of staff easy access to a powerful range of school improvement support, in one place with simple sign-on. Every part of Oxford Owl is designed to work together.

How will Oxford Owl membership benefit our school?

Welcome toTo join, visit

www.oxfordowl.co.uk

LFO.11.14.013.indd 13 23/10/2014 10:24


PARTNERSM E M B E R B E N E F I T S

Eteach is proud to work in partnership with NAHT in saving schools money. As the preferred supplier of online teacher recruitment services for NAHT, members can place a one-off job advertisement on Eteach for six weeks for just £315 (this includes a 10 per cent member discount from £350).

Eteach offers schools, academies and colleges cost-effective ways to attract quality staff; it puts you in control of your recruitment and helps you build an online brand to become an employer of choice.

The UK’s leading online education recruitment service combines extensive experience in the education sector with exceptional technological expertise to save time and cut costs. Its specialist consultants work in partnership with member schools, training them to recruit more effectively and attract great candidates.

The Eteach fi xed-price annual licence includes unlimited job postings and access to 700,000 registered candidates and an award-winning system that allows recruiters to manage candidates through all recruitment stages.

Eteach helps education professionals develop their career by providing free, easy access to great jobs and career advice. It also fosters an online community of teachers through social media, blogs and regular newsletters.

To fi nd out more, visit www.eteach.com or call 0845 226 1906 and quote ‘NAHT’.

Aviva has teamed up with NAHT to offer you comprehensive cover through the UK’s largest insurance company. With dedicated UK-based call centres, Aviva offers car and home insurance specifi cally to suit the needs of education professionals.

So, if you need to take a pupil or colleague from one education site to another in your vehicle, our car insurance covers this at no extra cost. With our home insurance, if you need to take school equipment home or take personal possessions to work you will be covered automatically.

Telephone-only offer – up to £70 Amazon.co.uk gift certifi cate*Receive a £35 Amazon.co.uk gift certifi cate if you take out a new car insurance policy – and a further £35 Amazon.co.uk gift certifi cate if you take out a new home insurance policy (excluding buildings only cover). Please note that the gift certifi cate offer does not apply to policies purchased online. For more information and to get a quote, visit www.fromyourassociation.co.uk/NAHT or call 0800 656 9716.** Lines are open 8am-6pm Monday to Friday (except bank holidays) and 9am-12.30pm Saturday.

*Offer may be withdrawn at any time. Terms and conditions are available at www.fromyourassociation.co.uk/NAHT. ** Calls from UK landlines are free. Calls may be monitored and/or recorded. Insurance underwritten by Aviva Insurance Limited. Registered in Scotland No. 2116. Registered offi ce: Pitheavlis, Perth, PH2 0NH. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

NAHT ASSUREHR, payroll, property, health and safety0845 519 7001 Email: [email protected]

Online DBS checking0845 519 7001 www.nahtassure.co.uk/online-dbs

ETEACHOnline staff recruitment0845 226 1906 Email: [email protected]

GL ASSESSMENT Pupil assessment0845 602 1937 www.gl-assessment.co.uk

GL PERFORMANCE Kirkland Rowell Surveys0191 270 8270 www.kirkland-rowell.com

THE EDUCATION BROKER Staff absence insurance 0845 600 5762www.theeducationbroker.co.uk

ROCKTravel insurance 0844 482 3390www.nahttravelinsurance.co.uk

AVIVAHome, contents and motor insurance0800 046 6389www.fromyourassociation.co.uk/NAHT

CS HEALTHCAREPrivate medical insurance0800 917 4325 (use code 147)www.cshealthcare.co.uk

GRAYBROOK INSURANCE BROKERSProfessional indemnity and public liability cover 01245 321 185Email: [email protected]/naht-members

MBNA Credit card services 0800 028 2440 www.mbna.co.uk

SKIPTON FINANCIAL SERVICESFinancial planning 0800 012 1248 Email: [email protected]

S E R V I C E S F O R S C H O O L S

S E R V I C E S F O R M E M B E R S

NAHT is committed to negotiating a wide range of high-quality, value-added benefits and services for its members. If you have any comments on the services provided by our affinity partners, contact John Randall, NAHT’s commercial marketing manager, at [email protected]

WE M E S S A G E F R O M A S C H O O L P A R T N E R

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Save money with effective online teacher recruitment

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14 Partners.indd 14 05/11/2014 10:19


N E W S F O C U S

P H O T O G R A P H : P L A I N P I C T U R E

Continuity of employment L E G A L U P D A T E

Continuous employment is important

because some crucial statutory employment

rights depend on the employee having

served a minimum period of continuous

employment, normally with the same

employer, writes NAHT senior solicitor Simon Thomas.

For example, an employee dismissed on

the grounds of redundancy is only entitled

to a redundancy payment if, on the last day

of employment, they have been continuously

employed for at least two years. Similarly,

an employee must usually have been

continuously employed for two years to be

able to bring a claim for unfair dismissal to

an employment tribunal. There are several

exceptions to the two-year requirement for

unfair dismissal: for example if the reason for

dismissal is because of a public-interest

disclosure, or the dismissal is because of trade union

membership or activity, then no qualifying period is required.

Also, the amount of both a redundancy payment and the

basic award of compensation in an unfair dismissal claim are

calculated by reference to years of continuous employment.

Continuity with 280 employersNormally, continuous employment means ‘with one employer

and without a break in employment’ but there are several

modifications to this that apply in the education sector.

For redundancy purposes (both in relation to the qualifying

period and the amount of the redundancy payment), an

employee can move between employment by various public

sector employers without breaking continuity. The list of more

than 280 employers is in Schedule 1 to the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government etc) (Modification) Order 1999. Notwithstanding its title, the Order is

not confined to local government. It includes local authorities,

governing bodies of maintained schools, grant aided schools, FE

institutions and academies – although not independent schools.

Unfair dismissal exceptionsFor unfair dismissal purposes there is an exception where an

employee moves from employment by the governing body of

a voluntary aided or foundation school to employment by the

local authority that maintains that school, or visa versa.

For example, employee A moves from community school X,

maintained by local authority Z, to voluntary

aided school Y, also maintained by Z. There

is a change of employer because at the

community school A was employed by Z,

but at Y, A is employed by the governing

body. However, continuity is preserved under

s218 (7) Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA).

That includes both for the two-year

qualification period for the right to bring

a claim for unfair dismissal, and for the

purposes of calculating the basic award.

However, it does not apply to a move

from employment by the governing body

of one school to employment by the

governing body of another school, even

if the two schools are maintained by

the same local authority.

If the employee stays put and the

employer changes (for example where a

maintained school becomes an academy) then continuous

employment will usually be maintained under the Transfer

of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations

2006 (TUPE) and/or ERA s218.

Temporary cessations of workNormally, a break in employment will break continuity but

there are several exceptions to this. One such exception is

where there is a break in employment because of a ‘temporary

cessation of work’. Interpreting this has been fruitful for

employment lawyers. It has been held by the courts to cover

teachers on a series of fixed-term contacts which started on

1 September and ended at the end of the summer term, and

to a teacher who was employed on a single temporary contract

which ended on the last day of the summer term who was

re-employed on a permanent contract on 1 September. In

both cases the summer closure did not break continuous

employment even though there was no contract, no work

and no pay during the summer closure. Absences for maternity,

paternity leave and sickness absence will not generally break

continuous employment.

Continuous employment is not always straightforward and –

if you find yourself in a situation where determining your period

of continuous employment is important – it pays to seek advice.

If you need professional advice, call 0300 30 30 333

15 Law.indd 15 05/11/2014 10:19

Now is your opportunity to give your school or business the recognition it deserves and win one of the highest accolades in the education sector.

To fi nd out more and to enter these prestigious awardsplease visit www.educationresourcesawards.co.ukor call the ERA team on: 01622 474 011

Closing date to enter is Monday 2nd February 2015

Education todaywww.education-today.co.uk

We’ll be thejudge of that!

THE EDUCATION RESOURCES AWARDS 2015THE NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM. BIRMINGHAM FRIDAY 20TH MARCH 2015

LFO.11.14.016.indd 16 23/10/2014 10:22


The rush by the political parties to fi nalise their education policies before the general election has begun. All three main

parties are keen for their spokespeople to appear at NAHT’s pre-election annual conference, just as they were in 2010. Then, Ed Balls was secretary of state, Michael Gove the shadow secretary and David Laws the Lib Dem spokesman. Only Mr Laws is in the same post, albeit with a break in service.

The main parties seem to have realised what many of us pointed out from the start: that as more schools become academies there comes a point at which it is not possible to manage them from Whitehall. So, having circumnavigated local authorities, the Conservatives have come up with the idea of having eight regional schools commissioners (RSCs) to keep an eye on existing academies and to ensure that more schools, willingly or otherwise, move to academy status. Hardly had the RSCs taken up their posts, than the prime minister said that their role should expand to taking control of any school seen by Ofsted as ‘failing’ and to do so from the day the report is published.

Not tried, not trustedRunning alongside this change is a proposal for a national teaching service. This would be a pool of super-teachers ready to be parachuted in to failing schools. Nicky Morgan, who replaced Michael Gove in the last reshuffl e, added: “The next phase of the plan must go further and faster in targeting schools where failure has become ingrained… we will not tolerate failure and where we fi nd it we will use tried and trusted interventions to turn things around.”

She went on to explain that these interventions consisted of the RSCs, who have only just been put in place, and a national teaching service, which is still in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, over in the red corner, current shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has been busy following the well-thumbed MPs’ Guide to Education, which states if something works in one school, it will work for all. Also, if it works in another country, it can be imported lock, stock and barrel. Thus, he returned from Singapore committed to the idea of

WE V I E W F R O M A P A S T P R E S I D E N T

newly qualifi ed teachers taking an oath. Speaking to the BBC, he said: “I’m very attracted by this notion of having almost a Hippocratic oath about the meaning and purpose of teaching.”

His comments sent Twitter into overdrive, with suggestions that it would be better to take an oath pledging to work 60 hours a week before being forced out with exhaustion, or swearing to follow education policies that had been thought up by people with no relevant experience beyond the fact that they went to school.

As there is a lack of space to do justice to the other parties, I can only mention the Lib Dems’ enthusiasm for fi rst aid being a compulsory subject; UKIP’s desire to see a grammar school in every town; and the Greens yearning for youth schools. This is the model in Denmark and elsewhere, which gives young people from the age of 14 more extended opportunities than the extended schools programme.

Whoever holds the reins of power after the next election will need to decide the role of local authorities, which are still being given fresh responsibilities, for example under the Children and Families Act, while having their former raison d’être increasingly removed.

Amid all this, one manifesto is complete, NAHT’s Owning what is ours: a manifesto for education, which puts the profession in the driving seat, exactly where it belongs.

V I E W P O I N T •

Rona Tutt is a retired head teacher and a past president of NAHT

VIEWS IN EDUCATION• RONA TUTT• RUSSELL HOBBY• BEST OF THE BLOGSOPINION

RONA TUTT

OATHS OF OFFICETHE NEXT GOVERNMENT MAY MAKE US SWEAR, BUT IS THAT ANY DIFFERENT FROM ANY PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION?

17 Rona col.indd 17 05/11/2014 10:20

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The autumn conferences by the main political parties brought certain things to light. One is that, in terms of early years, it was only

the Lib Dems who talked prominently about the skills of the workforce and the funding the sector receives.

We can also be sure that ‘character’, ‘grit’ and ‘resilience’ will be high on the agenda. Both the Lib Dems and the Conservatives are keen to emphasise this is on top of a rigorous academic curriculum and all parties see extra-curricular activity as a route to deliver it. At least Labour noted the role of support staff in wider school life.

The trouble is, schools are managed on data. No one has yet found a convincing way to measure character and therefore schools will not be judged on it. And the day someone does fi nd a way to measure character we should all give up anyway: I have a terrible fear of a GCSE in resilience.

Collaboration also features highly. I have always believed the current government got collaboration and autonomy the wrong way round. If they had encouraged strong collaboration, groups of schools would have demanded greater autonomy. Perhaps we will be able to address this in the future.

The missing middle tierAn interesting omission from most conferences was the role of the middle tier. It had been talked about but was notable by its absence from speeches. We should be very clear that the role of the local authority as a delivery agency is never coming back.

The Conservatives’ Nicky Morgan focused on workload – possibly a result of the clear feedback coming from union talks. The elephant in the room of workload is marking. Feedback to students is good; much of the late night and weekend marking demanded of teachers has limited impact. Yet Ofsted’s shift from lesson observation to work scrutiny suggests we may face even more compliance-driven marking.

Finally, most politicians are edging their way towards continuing professional development and teacher quality as key factors of improvement. They are right, but the sad fact is we don’t yet know enough about what works to direct investment intelligently. For this reason, the widely shared commitment to

RUSSELL HOBBY

CHARACTER BUILDINGTHE THINGS THAT MATTER ARE IN THE PROFESSION’S GRASP – THIS ATTITUDE WILL SEE US THROUGH

a college of teaching may be the best fi rst step. Both Labour and the Lib Dems want to restore qualifi ed teacher status and the coalition is working to reform initial teacher training. This is sensible but it is not going to transform education any time soon.

The troubling thing for those in charge of education is that the most powerful drivers of performance are largely beyond your reach. They are intangible, complex, voluntary and slow to change. In other words, they make awful election material. For this reason, we should not look for the salvation of education in the manifestos of politicians.

The things that matter are in the grasp of the profession and can only be changed when the profession takes back ownership of what belongs to it. Perhaps a period of peace in education politics, perhaps even a period of minority government, might create the space for this. One thing is for sure: if we miss the chance, then we will have earned another period of top-down change.

To borrow a phrase, NAHT is already working to become the change we want to see. Our school improvement work is tripling in scale. We are piloting our Ofsted alternative in the Midlands this term. We are strengthening the connections between the worlds of work and school, and we are campaigning on literacy. We even have our own manifesto. It says we should take back ownership of standards and take responsibility for each other. Whatever happens in May, this attitude should see us through.

V I E W P O I N T •

Russell Hobby is NAHT general secretary

EE “One thing is for sure. If we miss the chance, then we’ll have earned another period of top-down change”

O P I N I O N

19 Russell column.indd 19 05/11/2014 10:20

Conscious uncoupling? A very grim ideaSusan Young

The only rational solution is the one NAHT suggestedGerard Kelly

The answer to a busy summer: an SBM night out Nicky Gillhespy


“We’re told that all the education reforms being carried out under the coalition government are for the benefi t of our children and young people. To give them a better education; to enable them to compete in a 21st century global economy. And so on,” writes education journalist Susan Young.

“I’ve had the (somewhat dubious) privilege over the past few weeks of seeing some of the effects of these changes, in the form of the rapid abolition of the two-part A level.

“I’ve been one of those parents looking round colleges with a 15-year-old who’s trying to decide their post-GCSE future – and my observation is that uncoupling the AS level is an even worse idea than I originally thought.

“As the parents and pupils arrived for the fi rst day of term asking us if we’d had a good summer, I couldn’t help smiling to myself,” writes school business manager Nicky Gillhespy.

“Little did they realise that 24 hours earlier I’d been in a panic watching eight workers trying to fi nish building the new offi ce and sort out the wet tarmac in the playground.

“Somehow, we managed to be ready in time, but it was close. I just don’t understand how we would ever manage if the holidays were cut – as is often suggested – as the summer is one of my busiest times.

“Luckily, everywhere looked great and to top it all, we cooked 168 meals on-site for the fi rst time in three years as part of the introduction of infant free school meals. We’d all worked hard to ensure that our new kitchen pod was in action and had a BBC fi lm crew with us fi lming our progress for The One Show.

“The next issue to tackle is the fall in number of parents registering for free school meals. Our pupil premium numbers have dropped by 14 with only two of our 60 new children in reception applying. On average we have 10 per year group, so some creative thinking will be required.

“We already offer free swimming lessons and school trips and advertise the need to sign up as much as we can, so it’s worrying that we only managed to get two pupils.

“It’s only been a couple of weeks but I am feeling worn out already so, in order to get a better work/life balance, I have booked a girl’s spa weekend. There is also a Sutton SBM night out where we can all let off steam and share information with friends who understand the SBM life!”

www.naht.org.uk/welcome/news-and-media/blogs/nicky-gillhespy-blog

BLOGSB E S T O F T H E

VIEWS IN EDUCATION• A LEVEL REFORM MAY

NOT BE A GOOD IDEA• SUMMER IS NO HOLIDAY

FOR BUSY SBMS• 10 PER CENT OF

INDEPENDENTPLACES FOR FSM PUPILS?

“Frankly, it’s grim. Teenagers, who are used to the idea of doing four courses and dropping one post-AS level, are discovering that they have to be pretty sure about which three subjects they want to stick with for two years.

“The idea of trying something new, or sticking with something they don’t like all that much, becomes far riskier than for their older siblings. You can see all this enthusiasm about college, about the next step of education and spreading their learning wings a bit, disappear in front of your eyes as weary staff explain that they’ll need to be pretty sure from the off which three A levels they want.

“Unless, as I heard one head of department explain optimistically, this government doesn’t get in again at the next election: ‘And we don’t know what will happen in that case.’”

www.naht.org.uk/welcome/news-and-media/blogs/susan-young

“The normally convivial Head Masters Conference (HMC) was anything but,” writes former TES editor Gerard Kelly.

“It’s because everyone keeps telling them that they could do more for state schools. HMC disputes this. They brandish fi gures attesting to the wealth they bring to the national purse, the sums they dole out in bursaries and the amount of partnerships they have with state schools. And is the nation grateful? Is it heck!

“So what would meaningful support for state schools look like? Many of them would love to reinstate the assisted places scheme, which allowed bright state pupils to attend public schools at government expense. But that would be a colossal mistake.

“Yes, it would provide independent schools with intelligent kids from poor backgrounds, but at the cost of leaching

talent out of state schools and sending the implicit message that to succeed disadvantaged pupils would have to escape an irredeemable system. It’s the kind of ‘support’ that only undermines.

“The only rational solution is the one suggested by NAHT: reserve 10 per cent of independent places for pupils on free school meals at government expense. It wouldn’t be popular with heads unused to teaching mixed-ability pupils, or with parents whose interaction with the poor is limited to leaving notes for the cleaner.

“It would, however, provide fi nancially challenged independent schools with a steady income. It would get the Charity Commission off the independents’ backs. It would insulate them from the charge that they do virtually nothing for the communities in which they are based but from which they are socially divorced. It wouldn’t undermine the state system and it would benefi t those sections of society who need the most help.”

www.naht.org.uk/welcome/news-and-media/blogs/gerard-kelly

20 blogs.indd 20 05/11/2014 10:20

Following the announcement of the NAHT 2015 special schools, specialist and alternative provision conference, places have being selling fast, with all the early bird places sold out within 48 hours. Therefore, we advise you to book now to secure your attendance at what promises to be one of the key NAHT events of 2015.

Under the theme Leading the changes: engaging learners, the conference is being held on 12 and 13 March at Chesford Grange, Kenilworth, Warwickshire. The conference will also incorporate the annual conference of the National Forum for Neuroscience in Education and will therefore be of professional interest to school leaders and sencos from all schools and academies, mainstream, special, independent, residential, pupil referral units and alternative providers.

NAHT special schools, specialist and alternative provision conference 2015

To book your place and to download a conference brochure, visit www.naht.org.uk/send2015

Book now: places are selling fast We offer a number of delegate rates including:

• Member (residential) £449

• Member (non-residential) £250

• Non-member (residential) £499

• Non-member (non-residential) £325

Eminent and inspirational keynote speakersA number of nationally and internationally renowned keynote speakers have been confi rmed:• Professor Barry

Carpenter OBE• Professor Francesca

Happé• Dr Rona Tutt OBE• Dr Amanda Kirby • Dr Paul Hutchins• NAHT general

secretary Russell Hobby

• Dean Beadle

Eight CPD seminars Eight seminar topics have been designed to inspire, stimulate and empower those working in special schools, specialist and alternative provision. The aim is to share current educational thinking, advice and support along with examples of effective good practice.

You will be able to attend two of the following:1. What is developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia?2. Ofsted: measuring the progress of pupils operating

below national expectations3. Evidence-based practice - improving learning outcomes

for SEND pupils by engaging attention and self-control with targeted physical activities

4. Building a communication-friendly school5. Social emotional mental health: no two children

are the same6. Mental health is now your business. So where do

you begin?7. The new SEND code of practice – lessons learned in

the fi rst six months of implementation8. Assessment of SEN pupils

21 SEND advert.indd 21 05/11/2014 10:22


A new approach to coaching and mentoring could be the answer to the growing challenge of teachers leaving the profession, says executive head and NAHT member Chris Wheatley

IT’S PLAIN TO SEE THAT KEEPING TEACHERS in the profession has become a problem. Recent DfE fi gures show that nearly half of teachers leave the maintained sector within fi ve years of qualifying. When I ask heads and teachers about their responsibilities and pressures, most tell me everything they do has a role. But the cumulative eff ect can be to make the job too big.

This is aff ecting the morale of some teachers. If a recent IpsosMori survey is to be believed more than 80 per cent of head teachers believe staff morale has worsened in the past four years, while six in 10 said a job in teaching was ‘unattractive’ to people considering their careers, with more than 70 per cent warning headship had become unappealing to senior leaders.

I believe that schools can play a major role in tackling these issues and give teachers the support they need to stay in the

Let’s keep hold of our

teachers

V I E W P O I N T

profession. I hope that the approach taken by me and my colleagues in schools across the East Midlands will change things and provide a national model that will lead to new – and established – teachers staying in the profession where they can continue making a diff erence to children’s lives.

Inspiring Leaders, our training partners, comprising

Nottinghamshire’s Candleby Lane Teaching School Alliance and Leicestershire’s Affi nity Teaching School Alliance, has been awarded school-centred initial teacher training (Scitt) status. In September 2015 we will welcome our fi rst 60 trainees into our schools to start their one-year ‘school direct’ course. On completion, many will start their teaching careers in one of the 106 schools across our partnership.

The fi rst benefi t of this approach for teacher retention is that our schools won’t be trying to fi ll their vacancies in a reactive, knee-jerk way. By drawing newly qualifi ed teachers from a programme that they themselves have helped develop – they may even have hosted the teacher as a trainee – they will be able to choose the right teacher for them in their context. It will be a decision based on close knowledge of that trainee. It is an

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It is very much based on the performance management model. Meetings might be termly or even annual. The support is based on performance management objectives. It is driven by process rather than a desire to nurture an NQT’s career development.

The aim of all schools should be to support the retention of that teacher and to maximise their potential. In our partnership we will also identify whether they could become leaders for the future. Through the middle and senior leadership development programmes off ered through Inspiring Leaders they will have the chance to develop from a classroom teacher through to head teacher if they have the ability and desire.

We think it is really important that new teachers have a career path set out for them. Clear career development and progression is a great motivator and morale builder but until now new and trainee teachers have not been given a clear enough view of the possibilities open to them. This is not a loose set of aspirations. It will become a reality next September when the fi rst 60 students start their teacher training. These students will

know that when they successfully complete the one-year course they will either have a job with a high level of career support or a good chance of securing one.

I see no reason why this approach would not work on a national basis but there needs to be a statutory approach. As an NQT you get one day a week PPA as it is. Work with a career champion could fi t into this time. By using middle leaders and doing it once a week this would be a new and diff erent approach. This would be about reciprocity and mutual development. For me, it points to the great need to develop professional teaching teams in our schools. This is something we already do well in our group of schools. It’s about developing an ethos in which teaching staff rely on each other, carving up tasks and sharing overall responsibility.

Granted, our approach will not address the level of work that teachers now have to do but giving them the close, nurturing support of a more experienced teacher and aspiring leader will make the role easier, help them in their development – and keep them in the profession where they can continue to make an enormous diff erence to children’s lives.

approach that removes the guesswork and risk associated with recruiting a new teacher after a teaching demonstration and some interviews. Most importantly, we plan to invest heavily our time and resources in their career, with a particular emphasis on the fi rst three years.

When they join their school our NQTs will each be assigned a ‘career champion’. For the fi rst three years of their career they will have a weekly session with their champion. It will be an opportunity for them to discuss any concerns they have about their teaching. They can ask their champion for help and advice. They will get quick hints and tips from an experienced teacher who will also be able to identify more formal training to help them with a development need.

The champions will come from within the school or the wider partnership and will be on the middle or senior leadership development courses that we off er in our Inspiring Leaders training partnership. Working as a champion will be developmental for them too. They will get valuable experience of developing and supporting staff , which will be vital in their development as school leaders. There might be one or two of these career champions in the school.

This approach is a signifi cant step on from what we currently have in most schools, certainly primaries. In most primaries, for example, a newly qualifi ed teacher will have a career coach or mentor. In a lot of cases this will be the head teacher because no one else has the time or inclination to take on the responsibility.

Chris Wheatley is executive head teacher at Cotgrave Candleby Lane School, Nottinghamshire and Kibworth CE Primary School in Leicestershire

22-23 Wheatley PIC.indd 23 05/11/2014 14:16


Principal Bhupinder Kondal is back behind her desk after a traumatic few months. She tells Susan Young about the support she received from NAHT

WITHOUT THE BRAVERY AND DETERMINATION OF school principal Bhupinder Kondal (pictured, inset) in refusing to go down without a fi ght, the allegations in the ‘Trojan horse’ letter (see panel) might never have been taken seriously.

When Bhupinder was forced to resign from Birmingham’s Oldknow Academy, her family persuaded her to tell offi cials from NAHT what had happened. Crucially, unlike most others in Birmingham, she’d spotted a pattern emerging.

Bhupinder is confi dent and gutsy, but the strain is apparent as she talks of worsening years of trouble with her chair of governors, until she fi nally resigned in January. She’d noted other heads losing their jobs under similar circumstances and hadn’t fully appreciated the help NAHT would be able to off er.

“I used to hear one day a head was there, the next day they were gone. I also heard about rifts between the head and the governors. I remember thinking: ‘It’s always the head that goes in those circumstances.’

“I thought I was on my own. A head has very few people to talk to and I didn’t say anything to anyone. Eventually, it reached

‘If it wasn’t for NAHT, I wouldn’t be here’

M E M B E R S U P P O R T

the stage where I handed in my resignation. But my family said: ‘You’ve got to talk to the union.’

“When I spoke to NAHT’s regional offi cer Rob Kelsall, I worried he wouldn’t believe me. Yet he phoned me back and told me it was really important I had support. He also told me about the Trojan horse letter. My feet haven’t touched the ground since.”

Bhupinder describes her relationship with her governors as “traumatic” until the offi cial inquiries led to certain members being replaced. Her problems with them escalated from 2009. “First, they wanted the urinals removed: they said they were not Islamic. I was overpowered – there were 17 governors and only one of me. I was told most children were from a Muslim background, so why was I doing things that were ‘un-Islamic’? That was the start.”

Next came the demand for an in-school Madrassa (an Islamic school), the teaching of Arabic and a trip to Saudi Arabia, billed as helping the children to practise the language.

“It was a holy trip as well... and, while parents were happy, it was something else that was changing the ethos and the

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with NAHT, setting in train a series of events that led to her being reinstated in August. She faces an uphill struggle still: her previously ‘outstanding’ school is now in ‘special measures’.

“The staff have been amazing, the children and the majority of the parents really welcoming but there’s a lot of work to do and everything’s being looked at under a microscope.”

She also has new governors, including local head teachers. “I’ve never had a governing body like this,” she says. “It’s diff erent altogether. Smaller, more proactive, more supportive, not interfering. I am being treated like a principal.”

Bhupinder is amazed by the level of support she’s received, in particular from NAHT and Rob Kelsall. “It’s been phenomenal. I didn’t think I was going to be supported in the way I have been. It’s been 24/7, I’ve been able to phone Rob at midnight when it’s been frantic with things in the press. And I am back in my job: if it wasn’t for NAHT I wouldn’t be here.”

Governance feature, page 34

If you need professional advice, call 0300 30 30 333

character of a non-faith school. But I didn’t have a choice.” There was some segregation around PE and discussions about

teaching children how to recite the Koran. “The discussions didn’t involve the whole governing body, it was mainly coming from the chair. He had plans to introduce an Islamic curriculum in a big way and the full governing body did not realise these conversations were going on.”

Then came Christmas. “I was told to cancel it. The children were upset because they wanted a party. I was told I couldn’t because standards were too low.”

Matters got worse. Bhupinder was told to move on two assistant heads and failed her performance management (although the school was ‘outstanding’). She says she was set unattainable targets and was told the governors had lost confi dence in her.

“The chair started to ask when I was going to resign and when my retirement date was coming up. The school needed a ‘bitch’, he said. They didn’t need an auntie or a grandmother. I cried throughout the conversation.”

Bhupinder resigned and two weeks later had her fi rst conversation

WE ‘Trojan horse’at a glance

• The ‘Trojan horse’ letter - believed to be a hoax

by many - was sent to Birmingham City Council, NAHT officials, and journalists. It includes documents that appear to explain to a recipient in Bradford how to replicate the ‘organised disruption’ caused by recruiting hard-line Muslims in Birmingham to governing bodies, with the aim of taking over schools

• After the letter became public, and partly because of pressure by the NAHT, there were two enquiries, plus inspections by Ofsted and the Education Funding Agency

• The DfE enquiry, led by former counter-terrorism chief Peter Clarke, found evidence of an “aggressive Islamist agenda”. He told the BBC: “The report gives a description of a number of practices that really have no place in state, non-faith schools.”

• A report by independent chief adviser to Birmingham City Council Ian Kershaw, found evidence that some governors placed: “…demands on head teachers to modify curriculum provision which denies students their right to access a broad and balanced curriculum including the right to understand other world religions and the right to relationship and sex education

• Ofsted inspected 21 schools and put five into ‘special measures’

24-25 bhupinder.indd 25 05/11/2014 10:51


Future Leaders Trust CEO Heath Monk explains how the Talented Leaders programme will fi nd 100 great head teachers who will be able to create sustainable improvement in schools across England

EVERY DAY THOUSANDS OF TEACHERS GO TO SCHOOLand work hard to help their students develop knowledge, character and skills. The Talented Leaders programme evolved out of a realisation that the results of this hard work were not being equally distributed around the country. London and other major cities have seen the quality of schools improve and the achievement of children – especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds – rise over the past few years. But other areas are struggling.

The success of London can be attributed to a combination of factors, including government-led initiatives such as London Challenge and its desirability as a place to work. These spots of school improvement have shone all the more brightly because of greater access to data on student achievement.

This data also highlighted areas where more work must be done. Ofsted’s Unseen Children report, published in 2013, showed that every local authority in the south east outside London in 2012 was below the national average in the achievement for students eligible for the pupil premium. Other measures, such as number of outstanding schools or national leaders of education (NLEs) in the areas, suggest a lack of capacity for system leadership.

Underachievement at school can have long-term consequences for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Future Leaders

A vision for local change

T A L E N T E D L E A D E R S

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all the answers. We believe success relies on building a good reputation for the programme across the education sector with potential applicants and partner organisations. It’s vital to gain the support of partners and the launch event was attended by education organisations including NAHT, other sector bodies, local authorities and potential applicants.

Over the next two years, our task is to recruit 100 exceptional school leaders who will become Talented Leaders head E

Trust has been working to develop great head teachers for schools that serve disadvantaged areas since 2006. The Talented Leaders programme is a slightly diff erent model, but with the same goal of transforming schools through great leadership.

The programme was fi rst announced by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg in October 2013 as a ‘Champions League’ of head teachers and the search for applicants was launched by schools minister David Laws earlier this year. During the intervening period, the Future Leaders Trust was selected as delivery partner on the strength of its proven record of success in recruiting and training aspiring head teachers to improve the achievement and life chances of disadvantaged students.

It’s important that Talented Leaders heads will not be imposed on areas and they will not be parachuted into schools. The programme will be based on partnership and collaboration because this is the best way to make change happen. The heroic view of leadership is a myth that we want to dispel because it distorts people’s view of what leadership should be. ‘No islands’ is a core value of the Future Leaders Trust because people achieve more when they work together and share expertise. No-one has

WE Nigel Whittle Havelock Academy principal

Future Leader Nigel Whittle (pictured) relocated to Grimsby to become principal at Havelock Academy. Having relocated to a challenging area and having engineered a remarkably positive impact at his new school he now provides a model for the Talented Leaders programme.Nigel tells LF: “I was a deputy in a challenging school in Blackpool when I was approached by the Future Leaders Trust to apply for the headship at Havelock. It’s 90 minutes from Grimsby, and ‘at the end of the railway line’ – something that makes it harder to recruit quality teachers and leaders.“Relocating was a big decision. But I talked to the school and immediately wanted to be a part of their vision — it mirrored my own. I also realised I would have a greater impact on children’s lives by becoming a head teacher. I wouldn’t have done that without Future Leaders; the training, the coaching and the support has been life-changing.“So, in November 2012 my wife, twin girls and I moved to the east coast. When I joined, Havelock was beginning to improve. But there was still the challenge to raise aspirations and make people ambitious for more. I told them that we would increase GCSE results by 12 percentage points. I needed everyone to believe it and work towards making it a reality.“That summer, staff , parents and students were overwhelmed by their successes. We moved up the local league table by two places and improved results by 11 percentage points. Many said they never thought they would be part of a school where such achievements happened.“Schools must provide remarkable opportunities whether it’s in sports, the arts or academic subjects. My mission is to provide every student with the choice and experience that a great set of qualifi cations will give them.”

What Ofsted said:“The principal, supported by the senior team, provides a very strong steer to the school. He leads an unrelenting drive to improve teaching and progress and has the highest expectations of his staff .” (Ofsted, 2013)


EE “Turnaround schools demand focus, optimism and resilience. Anything that supports and encourages leaders in these schools must be welcomed. Talented Leaders echoes the themes of NAHT’s manifesto: taking ownership of

standards and accountability, putting teachers at the centre of a drive towards excellence and using evidence to improve outcomes for all children.”Russell Hobby


T A L E N T E D L E A D E R S

teachers in selected areas across the country. They will take up headships where schools most need to improve, spreading outstanding leadership to areas of the country where it can have the biggest impact.

Support and resourcesBut the Talented Leaders programme isn’t just about recruitment. The importance of strong school leadership cannot be overstated but even brilliant heads need support to ensure that their impact lasts. Talented Leaders heads will commit to leading their new school for at least three years, allowing them to implement long-term initiatives. They’ll need to build a team in the short term, perhaps recruiting new leaders, but they’ll also need to ensure that staff development and good leadership will be sustainable and benefi t their school for years to come.

Ambitious initiatives also need resources; each head will administer a £50,000 leadership sustainability fund to allow them to secure a lasting legacy of improvement. They will receive training and development from our expert coaches, as well as tailored mentoring from an experienced head. They will also be able to draw on the expertise of the Future Leaders Trust’s Headship Institute, an extensive network of heads leading challenging schools. This wealth of experience will be easily accessible via an online portal where heads can swap informal advice or request professional expertise.

What will make the Talented Leaders programme especially eff ective is that it will not limit itself to improving the results of individual schools but help to boost the achievement and life chances of students across a whole area. Groups of Talented Leaders heads will form local clusters, supporting each other and other peers to create sustainable improvement which should benefi t the local school system as a whole.

Talented Leaders will work alongside schools and local authorities in selected areas around England from 2015 (see map) and more will be announced for the next year’s intake.

Talented Leaders areas will be identifi ed in a number of ways. There will be below average attainment, both generally and for free school meals pupils, and schools will have trouble recruiting head teachers. Lower capacity in school leadership will also be identifi ed through low numbers of NLEs or teaching schools. These criteria will ensure that Talented Leaders heads will work in areas where they can have the biggest impact.

The areas Talented Leaders will focus on often have many strong qualities that should lend themselves to a great education system. They have strong communities and a clear sense of place with schools that have many great teachers. They will also have fallen into diffi cult circumstances. Many face diffi cult and uncertain futures, as the number of dependable jobs has declined and young people have fewer prospects. These problems, in turn, can make it even harder to recruit head teachers.

Currently, 15 areas have been announced. There are more in the pipeline and we intend to expand further when we recruit for our second cohort in 2016. The Future Leaders Trust is proud to be working in areas throughout England including Portsmouth, Suff olk, Bradford, Blackpool, Sunderland and East Sussex. We have built strong and collaborative relationships with these local authorities, based on a shared desire to see students do better.

Who are we looking for?The success of Talented Leaders will depend on fi nding candidates with a successful track record in senior leadership and the ability and passion to drive eff ective school improvement. Heads who lead great schools articulate and encourage a positive school culture based on a coherent vision and clear values. They focus on developing and maintaining high quality teaching and learning. They create a community where staff and students can develop strengths, skills and experiences. They work hard to develop their staff – this plays


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a massive role in creating sustainable improvement that will last beyond their tenure as head. We want all of this from our Talented Leaders heads.

Our heads will not just work in their own school. We need people who will not only relocate to a disadvantaged area, but will immerse themselves in their new community. Talented Leaders is about more than just school improvement; it is also about system change, with the cluster model encouraging school-to-school improvement and each head fostering a school/community relationship that reaches beyond the school gates to parents, businesses and other local organisations.

A local legacyIn a school in a disadvantaged area, this community role can be particularly hard. Many parents in these areas struggle with time and money, and this makes it much harder for them to support their children to achieve. They may also question the value of school because of their own bad experiences. But with the right heads, we believe schools in these areas can become embedded in their local communities, creating a lasting local legacy of achievement for all children.

Above all, Talented Leaders heads want every child to achieve. We know that this is not an impossible task; the Future Leaders Trust has established a network of more than 400 school leaders with the passion and ability to initiate change in the lives of students, schools and local communities. Talented Leaders allows us to target the areas that need this change the most.

If you recognise a colleague or yourself here, it might be that you’re also stirred by the opportunities off ered by the Talented Leaders programme. If you are willing to relocate to a school that needs to improve, we’d love to hear from you.

register.future-leaders.org.uk 0800 009 4142

EE “It is about helping schools who want a new outstanding head to find one; providing support to ambitious and aspiring leaders who want to make a real difference by taking

on a new challenge; and getting outstanding leadership talent to the areas of the country where that talent can have the biggest impact.” David Laws

WE Talented Leaders Confirmed areas

Tees Valley

Sunderland

Bradford

North Lincolnshire

Blackpool

Portsmouth

Bracknell Forest

Norfolk

Suffolk

Southend-on-Sea

Medway

Thanet

East Sussex



What is NAHT Aspire, how is it diff erent to other school improvement programmes and how is it evolving from its pilot phase? LF reports

Aspire to excellence

S C H O O L I M P R O V E M E N T

AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE IN MAY, DELEGATES endorsed NAHT Aspire as the ‘blueprint for the future of school improvement’. The association’s pilot programme has now entered its second full academic year with 12 of the original group of schools having already achieved the project’s prime goal of a ‘good’ Ofsted inspection judgement, while the others await the imminent arrival of inspectors with increased confi dence.

NAHT Aspire was conceived as a source of support and protection to address members’ concerns amid the perfect storm of raised fl oor targets, declining local authority support and the threat of forced academisation. The intention from the start was to move away from the dependency and imposed models that have characterised recent school improvement initiatives and recognise and build on the expertise, capacity and good practice that exist in every school, regardless of its Ofsted standing.

This was captured eff ectively by NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby when he introduced the concept to members in 2012 as a key component of the association’s theme of taking ownership

of professional standards: “The profession holds the answers and has the resources; it is trust, collaboration and inspiration that will trigger the innovation that we need.”

This ambition became a reality when the programme was set in play in May 2013. Thirty schools, each judged as ‘satisfactory’ or ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted, working in four network clusters, met in London to be introduced to each other as partners in this innovative venture, and to the NAHT Aspire approach, which off ers:• joined-up and interconnected approach to improvement, which

recognises that great practice seldom thrives in isolation. The approach refl ects research, evidence and best practice, encompassing all areas of improvement in a single model;

• ambition, which addresses the immediate challenges presented by Ofsted and provides a route to achieve each school’s distinctive and ambitious goals;

• sustainability and capacity through investment in the development in the whole school staff – particularly middle leaders – and building eff ective partnerships between schools;

• consistency and quality that ensures each school benefi ts from similar experiences; a quality framework for development, backed by proven school improvement tools and resources;

• deep personalisation to ensure that each school’s distinctive characteristics and ambitions are embedded; and

• an approach fi rmly based on the principle of ‘doing with’ rather than ‘doing to’.

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EE “It is trust, collaborationand inspiration that will trigger the innovation that we need”

Quality frameworkThe QFSD, refl ecting a distillation of international research into learning and the characteristics of successful schools, is founded on the features of highly eff ective schools. These are organised into fi ve interconnected strands that form the core of the programme. The fi ve strands are as follows:• Leadership: this develops a clear vision, distributed leadership,

eff ective team working, responsibilities and accountabilities and the leadership skills of every member of staff

• Learning environment: this focuses on the systematic development of a strong set of shared values that underpin codes of conduct throughout the school that, in turn, drive improvement in behaviours for learning and stronger relationships between staff , pupils and the wider community

• Assessment for learning: this ensures timely and effective use of assessment at every level within the school to drive improvement, focus intervention and develop day-to-day classroom practice

E

There are three essential elements to NAHT Aspire. First is the quality framework for school development (QFSD), which provides the research base on which the programme is built, supported by school improvement tools and curriculum resources. Second, there is regular support from advisers with a deep understanding of the framework. Finally, there is a cyclical process that ensures the elements of NAHT Aspire are introduced and embedded to refl ect the requirements of each school.

Aiming high: Dr Lindsay Reynolds (chair of governors at Greenhill Primary), Julia Brown (head teacher, Greenhill

Primary) and Sarah Holland (head teacher at Lovers’ Lane Primary) at NAHT’s Education Conference in York

30-33 Aspire CORRS .indd 31 05/11/2014 14:17


S C H O O L I M P R O V E M E N T

• Pedagogy and curriculum: a detailed and developmental framework helps to build a consistent school-wide language of teaching and learning through which issues of consistency and quality can be addressed and a stronger professional culture nurtured

• Student and family support: this helps schools to create contexts for learning in which the needs of every student can be addressed. By engaging parents more eff ectively in their children’s learning, maximising the benefi ts from improved working with external agencies and refocusing internal support processes, schools are able to address and minimise the barriers standing in the way of pupils’ learning

The adviser teamEach school in a cluster network works with a team of two or three advisers with whom they build a long-term relationship. The team approach is particularly eff ective as it provides each school with a range of expertise and experience across the broad strands of the QFSD. The team also remains with the school throughout the three years of the programme, allowing long-term trusting relationships to evolve. Achievement advisers, as they are known, come from a range of backgrounds, including former head teachers, local authority advisers, educational psychologists and SEND specialists. Increasingly, achievement advisers are practising heads and deputies, often from teaching school alliances who see the programme as an eff ective vehicle for fulfi lling school-to-school support commitments.

All achievement advisers undergo detailed training from

W EdisonLearning, NAHT Aspire’s delivery partner, and are subject to rigorous quality assurance processes in line with NAHT’s demands for programme-wide consistency and excellence. In addition, an accreditation scheme is now in development for future NAHT Aspire advisers.

The implementation processIn many ways, the way in which Aspire is implemented is the key factor that sets it apart from other school improvement approaches. First, although there is a clear focus on achieving rapid improvement from the outset of the partnership to address pressing progress and attainment issues, the programme never takes its sights off the school’s longer-term goals and the ambition to become an excellent school.

An analysis of the school’s strengths and development priorities, conducted at the outset of the partnership in collaboration with the school’s leaders and governors (the ‘collaborative quality analysis’), provides the context and priorities to drive the improvement process, and this is continually revisited and reviewed to ensure progress towards these longer-term goals.

Second, the programme has been designed to be a collaborative exercise through which schools learn and improve together and form partnering processes to sustain improvement beyond the three years of the formal NAHT Aspire initiative. The collaboration comprises both formal and informal elements but at its heart sits a termly cycle of network days and development days.

L

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al co

ntexts stakeholders and partners

Effective partnership

People

Project Audit

Product ProcessDIY

Regular support from experienced and credible advisers who develop a deep knowledge of each partner school, and are expert in shaping the delivery of the programme to meet each school’s needs

Built on an agreed starting point refl ecting each school’s distinctive context, priorities and aspirations

The long-term solution lies in effective collaboration between schools, and between schools and other external partners

A partnership approach that delivers short-term priorities while building towards longer-term goals. Underpinned by ISO9001 quality assurance standards

Highly adaptable tools and resources, organised within a holistic framework to address all aspects of school improvement

WE The NAHT Aspire model

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Each school in a network cluster is asked to name a key lead to take responsibility for one of the fi ve QFSD strands. In some schools these are already established leaders, while in other schools the opportunity is taken to provide a fi rst leadership experience to a less experienced staff member. Clearly, the head teacher takes responsibility for the leadership strand and, at the outset of each term, the heads and deputies from all the schools in the cluster meet for a network day at which the headlines of the programme for the coming term are previewed.

Network days for the other key leads follow, resulting in detailed plans for school-based action that is personalised to the priorities of each school. These plans progress with the support of the achievement advisers at in-school development days, which are interspersed throughout the term.

The net eff ect of this process is that key individuals within the schools, including the head teacher, have exposure to high-quality continuing professional development, aligned to the schools’ immediate improvement priorities (and with the option to link to external accreditation by the University of Essex).

This is then cascaded to the entire school – something that is immensely diffi cult to achieve through more traditional routes. It also means that the programme, although based on a shared and common framework and language, can become deeply personalised to individual school’s priorities.

NAHT Aspire in practiceAs Sarah Holland, head teacher at Lovers’ Lane Primary School in Newark, told delegates at the NAHT Aspire workshop at NAHT’s Education Conference in York in October: “It has been the best thing that could have happened at Lovers’ Lane and we are really looking forward to ‘that’ phone call now, just so that we can sing from the rooftops about the journey we’ve been on.”

Important as inspection outcomes are for the individual head teachers, their schools and for the programme as a whole, there are other ‘wins’ that are perhaps bigger and more signifi cant. Julia Brown, head teacher at Greenhill Primary

School in Sheffi eld captured this well when asked what she would say to other head teachers considering joining the NAHT Aspire movement. She said: “It is the best professional development any of us have ever had, providing solutions which are research based, realistic, practical and really work. It is also intellectually challenging, which we are all enjoying.

“It gives control over professional development back to individual teachers and gives them the skills and confi dence to adapt their own practice.”

“Also, it is completely refreshing to work with people who value and respect you as a head teacher and don’t apply a defi cit model when talking about improving your school. For the fi rst time in years I have felt supported. And the other reason why we really like it is because it is all about the children.”

What the future holdsFollowing NAHT annual conference’s endorsement in May, the decision was taken to begin the process of extending the programme to new clusters in new areas and to consider how the approach might evolve to include secondary and special schools.

This has now led to the formation of a new cluster in West Sussex, comprising schools in and around Crawley, and an exciting new development in which teaching school alliances have come together to consider how they might integrate the model and approach into their work.

The two most advanced examples are in the south west, where the Learning Institute, a teaching school group based at Callington Community College in Cornwall, will lead a cluster starting this month; and in Essex where 10 teaching schools are collaborating to form clusters of schools from across the county.

Refl ecting NAHT’s absolute focus on quality and consistency, both these groups are committing signifi cant time and resources to training and building their understanding of the approach, and will be subject to NAHT Aspire’s robust quality assurance process. But this model, in which schools truly have the answers and the resources to own the improvement agenda, seems to be exactly what NAHT Aspire was originally designed to achieve.

If you would like to be involved, you have some choices. One option is to talk to your neighbouring schools and either form a new network or join an existing group. If you would like to sample part of the NAHT Aspire experience, a few of the component elements of the programme, such as the quality framework for learning and teaching, can be used independently to address specifi c issues such as performance management and appraisal. More information is available on the NAHT Aspire website.

www.nahtaspire.co.uk

EE “It has been the best thing that could have happened at Lovers’ Lane and we are really looking forward to ‘that’ phone call now”

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A key role for governing bodies is to manage head teacher performance eff ectively. As Susan Young reports, this has recently been the subject of a major research project

Peak performance

EE “It is ironic that with other staff you have to conduct an appraisal by a particular date, yet with head teachers it could be delayed”

G O V E R N A N C E

Professor Megan Crawford, chair of governors at Oakgrove School in Milton Keynes, and Peter Barnes, head of the school from 2004 to 2014

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HOW ARE YOUR GOVERNORS doing with your performance management? Targets set? Process under way? Or are more immediate events taking priority?

For school leaders, the process can be frustrating or fantastic, depending on their governing body, and calls for compulsory training have been ignored.

“What we’re doing with head teacher performance management is looking after the career of the head teacher, and I can’t think of many things that are more important than that,”

E

says Professor Chris James of Bath University, one of the lead authors of a major government-commissioned research project on the subject.

Eff ectively managing headteacher performance, the result of a nine-month research project by a team of academics from several universities, including Cambridge, Bath and the Institute of Education, was presented at the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (Belmas) conference in Stratford in July.

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G O V E R N A N C E

After conducting online surveys of governors and head teachers, plus telephone interviews and 20 in-depth case studies, the project found that best practice in different schools has striking similarities. The results, available on the DfE website, provide a major resource for governing bodies, including the full research, a practical summary document and case histories.

The introduction to the report states: “Many of our case study schools were integrating the processes of head teacher appraisal into broader processes of managing the school through the astute use of performance information. We consider this more holistic approach to be a hallmark of performance management, which encompasses robust performance appraisal.

“In general, we found that rigorous and effective head teacher performance management is undertaken by governors with sufficient expertise, who view the process as important and see performance management as a key part of the governing of the school.”

However, the expertise and experience available to schools varies, and sustaining and developing this was a concern for several governing bodies, which were working to get new members involved.

“All our research points to the self-evident truth that good governing bodies want good head teachers and good head teachers want good governing bodies,” says Chris.

Although a telephone survey, conducted as part of the research, found that leaders were less sanguine about the effectiveness of the process than governors – overall, around 15 per cent found it highly effective, compared with 33 per cent of governors – Chris still thinks that the situation is broadly positive.

“In general, I think relations between governors and head teachers are mostly sound. Both would think there are areas where improvement can be made: that’s the way of the world once you start managing people; all sorts of issues come to the fore. There will be places where things aren’t good, places in need of considerable improvement, but generally speaking it’s working quite well.”

The report should play its part, he says, by giving examples of best practice. “There are some people who think governing body training should be mandatory and, if there is an area

WE 11 features of effective head teacher performance management

Eff ective head teacher performance management:

1 is integrated with the school development plan and the performance management of all staff ;

2 has a secure annual cycle of setting and reviewing objectives, together with interim monitoring;

3 is underpinned by sound relationships, characterised by openness, trust and integrity, among all those involved;

4 involves the setting of meaningful and challenging but achievable objectives for the head teacher;

5 strikes an appropriate balance among internal and external accountability, development and reward;

6 makes use of evidence from a range of sources to inform decision-making;

7 is evaluated and adapted over time to meet evolving requirements of individual circumstances and shifting school needs within a dynamic context of governance;

8 is appropriate for the stage of development of the school and the head teacher;

9 is viewed as part of an ongoing and wider process of working with the head teacher and all staff to ensure high levels of performance;

10 is integral to the development of overall governing body capacity to meet the needs of the school; and

11 is an attribute of highly eff ective governance.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/headteacher-performance-

effective-management

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where it should be, it is in the performance management of the head teacher, because their career and development and progress are in the governing body’s hands at that moment, and the progress of the school at that moment is in the head teacher’s hands.

“It’s a pivotal moment. Everybody needs to know what their roles are, what the proper procedures and timeline are, and how to do it, because it’s not straightforward. Objectives are set at the start of the year. In ideal circumstances there’s a progress check part way through the year and at the end you see if the objectives – both the performance and development dimension – have been achieved.

“It’s quite a mechanistic, instrumental system but you’ve only got to be in school 10 minutes to realise schools are complex organisations, where things happens unexpectedly, so annual objective setting isn’t necessarily the best thing to be doing but, nonetheless, it is the best we’ve got at the

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moment. However, it needs to be used flexibly, thoughtfully, and by people who are well trained and understand the sophisticated nature of what we’re working with.”

For Chris, the development element of performance management is trickiest to get right. “Performance targets you can kind of get from the school development plan. It’s much harder to say to the head teacher: ‘We want you to develop your expertise in this: go on these courses.’

“Head teachers are clever, sophisticated professionals: so their development needs to be equally sophisticated and clever. That can be hard for somebody who maybe doesn’t have a background or training in head teacher development. You might have to raise personal matters about what the head teacher does or what they need to learn and that might be much more sensitive than saying: ‘Right, your task is to implement this…’ So the development aspect needs to be managed very carefully.”

Professor Megan Crawford, another member of the research team, has been a school governor for more than 25 years, many of them as chair, and is a national leader of education. Her governing body used the research summary document to inform last year’s performance cycle (see above), and she encourages others to do so. She tells LF: “You too easily get into a mindset that we’ve done this for years, do it pretty well and don’t worry about it. The summary document is an aide memoire to refresh the process, and gets you to think about the person developmentally and other ideas as well.”

It’s important, she says, for governors to prioritise the process: “The governing body gets around to it in the end, but there’s often no good time. That can mean the heads don’t feel valued, don’t feel important, and I think that’s what our survey showed up.”

See also, Bhupinder Kondal interview, page 24

WE Oakgrove School, Milton Keynes The appraiser and the appraisee

Peter Barnes may have been one of the luckiest school leaders around because his chair of governors was an academic specialising in educational leadership. The person in question at Oakgrove School in Milton Keynes was Professor Megan Crawford, one of the authors of Eff ectively managing headteacher performance, and now Professor and director of Plymouth Institute of Education. He tells LF: “I stepped down from headship in September, but my experience was very positive because Megan is such an experienced chair of governors. I’m also lucky because when it came to development, that was never a bolt-on; another target. Megan has always been interested in professional development and I’ve always had a lot of support with that.” Last year, in the wake of an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted report, Megan and the governors decided to adopt a diff erent approach to performance management. For one year only, they did without an external advisor (“unnecessary in the light of the Ofsted judgement”) and used the Eff ectively managing headteacher performance summary booklet. She says: “We had a chat about how we could make our head teacher’s experience better for both him and the governing body. We decided to look at our process and it was really useful to use the research to look at how what we were doing and see how we could improve: we discovered we were poor at being consistent through the year.

“One of the school case studies I did had a 360 degree appraisal process: we didn’t want to do that but did ask the senior team to come and talk to us about how Ofsted had gone, whether they felt supported and, if they wanted to say something about Peter, they could. I know most of them already but for the other people on the team it was quite useful to think about it in the round. Thinking about the head teacher

performance, how it feeds into the rest of the school and the ethos of the school – I think it was really useful.“We wanted to hunker down and think: how is this useful to us? You make it a better-value process that all the governors are involved in.”For Peter, it was a positive process, particularly with the involvement of senior colleagues. “I thought it was very successful in that it gave them the chance to feed back on my leadership and give the governing body a more rounded view of my performance. Managing people is a key part of the job and yet you can go through the whole process without anybody speaking to the people you have managed.”He also agrees with Megan on the message school leaders get if the governing body doesn’t prioritise the performance management process. “It’s ironic that with other staff you have to conduct appraisals by a particular date, yet with head teachers it could be delayed or not seen as important. I think it does have an eff ect on motivation.”

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The SBM job specifi cation is being re-written daily, so NAHT is working with NASBM on the development of qualifi cations that will refl ect this, reports policy adviser Valentine Mulholland

A rapid evolution

S C H O O L B U S I N E S S M A N A G E R S

THE ROLE OF SCHOOL BUSINESS MANAGERS (SBMs) in schools is evolving rapidly, both in response to the pace of change in schools and as head teachers increasingly recognise the extent to which an SBM can take on a lot of the responsibilities they have historically carried. It’s also a dynamic process: as SBMs have grown in their roles, so head teachers have trusted and relied on them to take on more responsibilities, and this is refl ected in the new roles being advertised for SBMs.

As the leading union and professional association for SBMs, NAHT is keen to support the professional framework for them,

both in our work to secure more recognition through appropriate pay levels and in supporting the competency framework, and the SBM qualifi cations that have evolved to support the profession.

We were involved with the National College for Teaching and Leadership and the National Association for School Business Management (NASBM) in the development of the SBM competency framework in 2009, setting out a clear career path for SBMs and identifying the core skills and competencies expected of them at the diff erent levels. This has recently been updated and can be found on the DfE website.

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January 2015 and will allow members to access the wide range of support, for both themselves and their schools, that our two organisations can off er. NAHT members will hear more about this over the coming months.

However, this partnership can also act as a springboard for further work and we have started discussions with NASBM about the future of the National College SBM qualifi cations. Built around the SBM competency framework, we know that the SBM qualifi cations are an important pillar of the professional status of our SBM members.

This initial work with NASBM is something we have been keen to develop, as NASBM’s aims for SBMs complement NAHT’s. The NASBM focus is on supporting and building the reputation of the profession by ensuring that SBMs are equipped with the skills and information to support schools to ensure the best outcomes for learners and the eff ective and effi cient use of resources.

Earlier this year, we decided to fi rm up this relationship – and the breadth of the support to members – by developing a joint off er for new NAHT and NASBM members to receive a discount when they join both organisations. This will be launched early in

EE “We have developed a joint offer for new NAHT and NASBM members to receive a discount when they join both organisations”

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S C H O O L B U S I N E S S M A N A G E R S

In a recent survey of NAHT members, we found that 74 per cent had the certifi cate in school business management (CSBM), 44 per cent of members held the diploma in school business management (DSBM) and just under 10 per cent had the advanced diploma in school business management (ADSBM).

We were disappointed, therefore, when the National College announced last spring that, as part of “irrevocably moving towards a school-led system” of schools owning their CPD and leadership development, it was going to move away from licensing the school leadership qualifi cations. The fi rst move towards this was in relation to the SBM qualifi cations when, last April, it announced that it would no longer manage the programmes nor update the content but that current content from the SBM programmes was to be made freely available to any training provider to run the programmes independently.

The National College expects that a number of training providers will take the content to design and develop new school business programmes but it will play no role in the quality control or consistency in them. Accreditation will be overseen by the Institute of Leadership and Management. Two of the existing licencees, Serco (Adfecto/Teesside University) and Anglia Ruskin University, will still provide programmes but other organisations are moving into this space.

To confuse things further, the National College has also decided to change the names of the programmes to qualifi cations curriculum framework (QCF) diploma levels four (CSBM), fi ve (DSBM) and six (ADSBM).

NAHT is concerned that this could lead to a fragmentation of the SBM qualifi cation framework that helps to underpin the profession, with the possibility of a wide range of qualifi cations with the same name but variable content developing over time.

We are working with NASBM to see how we can support the development of a set of SBM qualifi cations that will refl ect the modern SBM role in schools and can help SBMs to enter the profession and progress in their career. We want to see a set of qualifi cation that both SBMs and their head teachers and employers can trust and rely on, and that will be able to respond to the evolving world of school business management over time.

www.NAHT.org.uk/SBM

www.nasbm.co.uk

bit.ly/SBM_competency_framework

bit.ly/NCTL_SBM_changes

Alan DoyleSchool business manager at Mount Primary, WirralWhen Alan joined NAHT several years ago, one of the issues he was desperate for the organisation to address was a poor perception within the education sector about the role

of a school business manager. “It’s a burgeoning profession yet still I get a number of people asking me: ‘What do you do?’”He feels that this lack of recognition is creating missed opportunities for both SBMs and schools themselves. ‘To be a member of NAHT, you have to be on the school’s senior leadership team,” Alan explains. However, as he discovered when he was asked to represent NAHT at a recent local SBM conference, this is not always the case for SBMs. “I had a queue of people who wanted to join and we were having to ask the question: ‘Are you a member of the senior leadership team?’ We had people who have been SBMs for years saying ‘no’.“You could argue it was a missed opportunity for NAHT but it is also a missed opportunity for those individuals and their schools because the connection between business management and being on the senior leadership team is not fully realised.”Part of the problem, he says, is that the term ‘school business manager’ means diff erent things in diff erent schools. “SBM is a catch-all title. Some heads may know an SBM who just does invoices and deals with contractors. Then you get someone who does a huge amount, is an active member of the senior leadership team and looks at the strategic view and the development of the school, yet has the same title. There is a lot of confusion at the moment, as the profession is still young,”Alan believes that introducing a nationally agreed pay framework could help schools better defi ne the role of a school business manager. “Teaching assistants have grades – level one, level two, level three, HLTA – and a school understands what that means. Business management needs a similar grading system.“At committee level we are very keen to have a nationally

WE The big issues: communication, qualifications and pay

Three SBM committee members tell Rebecca Grant about the issues facing the profession and how NAHT and NASBM can make a difference

W

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agreed pay framework that allows SBMs to see what they can aspire to but also allows schools to determine what level of business manager is right for their needs. That will make it easier for SBMs to understand their role in the grand scheme of things as well as with their peers locally and nationally.”

Rachel YoungerSchool business manager, St Nicholas CofE Primary, Blackpool

It is Rachel’s belief that, if an SBM is considered part of the senior leadership team, he or she should be paid on a par with other school

leaders. “We do, unfortunately, have a lot of colleagues who are being paid a lot less than many of the main-scale teachers in the same school, and we shouldn’t be paid any less than the lowest point on the leadership scale,” she says.As well as being a member of NAHT’s SBM committee, Rachel is part of a group working with ASCL to try to develop a national pay scale that schools and governing bodies can use to help review and assess how much their SBMs should be paid.It will take a while for this work to be completed – she admits it is complicated to come up with a framework that SBMs are happy with and suits a purpose. She is hopeful that it will be implemented universally. Rachel already has fi rst-hand experience of how raising awareness of the important role an SBM plays in the modern-day school environment can make a diff erence. When she and other local SBMs and trade union representatives were asked to help the local authority in Blackpool to carry out a review into support staff pay a few years ago, she was pleased their voices were heard.“People were quite open to our suggestions,” she says. “SBM jobs have truly been evaluated as leadership and management posts. In terms of salary, we’re probably better off than others because we’ve been assessed in the right way with a proper sense of what our responsibilities are.”

Although NAHT and its SBM committee are actively looking at ways to improve SBM’s pay and conditions, Rachel would also like to see the union campaign for fairer pensions. “In the past when there have been changes to pension schemes, NAHT has only really tackled teachers’ pensions. SBMs are part of local government pension schemes and they are completely diff erent. So, in the future, that’s something I would like to see,” she says.

Grahame ColcloughBusiness and operations leader, Burnwood Community School, Stoke-on-TrentUnlike many of his SBM peers who struggle to be recognised as key members of their senior leadership

team, the word ‘leader’ features in Grahame’s job title. “I see myself very much as an SBM because that is the job I do, but it was recognised in my school and certainly during my evaluation that as the role has developed, I am part of the leadership team so my title should recognise that I do lead.”His job title refl ects just how dramatically the role of an SBM has evolved in recent years. “It has changed considerably,” he says. “It’s not the role of a bursar, it’s not just paying the bills – it’s leading on projects that are changing the lives and changing the outcomes of children.”Grahame believes that to attract SBMs who will be good leaders, relevant qualifi cations need to be viewed as a ‘minimum requirement’ for all candidates. “I’ve always been an advocate of employing SBMs who are trained to do the role,” he adds. However, although he believes his CSBM and DSBM qualifi cations have provided him with a good grounding for his own career, he also believes there is room for improvement within the current qualifi cation system.“A lot of companies off er the qualifi cation, so there does need to be a standard. That’s where NAHT and NASBM come in, to make sure there is an appropriate, monitored set of qualifi cations and progression for people.”Grahame, who is a member of both professional organisations, can see the benefi ts that dual membership would have for SBMs. “Being part of NAHT means you can access support and guidance on the things that you need. NASBM off ers excellent training and access to other business managers at their conferences, for example.”Both organisations are working hard to raise awareness of SBMs and Grahame is very positive about the future of school business management as a profession.“NAHT is making a diff erence to school business management and that is with everything from universal free school meals to pay and supporting school issues. I am aware that SBMs are still maybe not fully clear what NAHT is doing for them, but I hope that in the next year members will see the benefi ts of being part of NAHT more clearly.”

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Finding the perfect pitch

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MUSIC PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE in the lives of most teenagers. It is often integral to their identity, a vehicle for self-expression and a means by which they bond with their peer group. And, if taught well, it is certainly a subject capable of engaging disaff ected students in education.

There is also evidence to suggest that musical education, especially learning to play an instrument, has a positive impact on academic achievement.

One local authority music inspector tells LF: “My view is that music doesn’t make you better at maths and English, it makes you better at learning. It involves organisation, discipline, problem-solving, working with others and performance – all of which build confi dence and are critical to learning.”

However, often because of confl icting demands on curriculum time, not all schools capitalise on these potential benefi ts and, in recent years, music provision across the country has been described by Ofsted as ‘patchy’. In 2012, the government launched the National Plan for Music Education with its central concept of a national network of music hubs to work with schools and local music services to improve provision. The core functions of hubs are to give every child a chance to learn an instrument through whole-class teaching, to promote singing, to enable participation in choirs, ensembles and bands, and to ensure there are clear progression routes for those wishing to develop their skills.

In July, the government announced £18 million of additional funding to boost music education, which, it claims, means there will be more than £75 million available during the next year to the network of 123 hubs across England. A DfE statement said the cash: “…will mean thousands more disadvantaged pupils will have access to music lessons and it will enable hubs to purchase tens of thousands more instruments”.

However, Dr Alison Daubney, a teaching fellow at the University of Sussex, says: “While the £18 million is ‘extra’ and welcome, it only partially reverses an overall reduction in the DfE grant since 2011. Coupled with cuts from many local authorities, it means there is actually far less funding for hubs than in recent years.”

At the time of writing, it was still unclear how the additional £18 million would be allocated. “This insecurity causes severe budgeting problems for hubs and is detrimental to long-term planning, making the hubs’ relationships with schools all the more important,” adds Alison.

Music retains its statutory status in the national curriculum and Ofsted has said it expects music to be taught regularly at key stage three. The curriculum draws on the National Plan, with its focus on learning through practical music-making and creativity. Students, therefore, should be given the opportunity to compose, perform and improvise, as well as to listen critically and to apply musical theory to their own work.

There is evidence that learning an instrument aids academic progress, says Caroline Roberts, but is music getting the audience it deserves in secondary schools?

P H O T O G R A P H : A L A M Y

M U S I C E D U C A T I O N

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M U S I C E D U C A T I O N

Harmonious relationshipThe approach is exemplifi ed by Ratton School, a secondary academy in Eastbourne specialising in the performing arts, where music is an integral part of the whole-school experience. “We have a very inclusive approach and a fi rm belief that music is accessible to everybody. We want to make sure the students believe that too. It’s about engagement and enjoyment,” says deputy head, Liz Fitzpatrick.

“The emphasis is on learning through doing. In year seven, every child learns to play the ukulele. We can purchase the instruments cheaply, they’re fun and the students can learn quite quickly. We also have access to a lot of technology, such as a set of iPads for use within the department.”

Ratton works closely with its local music hub and Liz attends meetings there regularly to provide input from the school’s perspective. The hubs have an important role in co-ordinating links between primaries and secondaries because they have an overview and can see where the expertise is, she adds.

When the music curriculum leader, Katy Off ord, arrived at Ratton fi ve years ago, there were only 11 students taking music at GCSE. This year, there are 40 in year 11 and 50 in year 10 taking either GCSE or BTEC. Of these, 40 per cent are pupil-premium students. “Some of our most challenging students choose music,” says Liz.

“It has a vocational element that’s very real to them, with recording and mini-enterprise, such as producing and selling CDs. The BTEC course hooks in those students who fi ve years ago would not have dreamed of doing music.”

The school uses the pupil premium to subsidise individual music lessons and research carried out by Katy, involving tutor-time music sessions with a group of pupil-premium students in year nine, showed a positive impact on resilience. This year, the school is also working with a small number of challenging year 11 students.

“We’re using the pupil premium to take their interest further by taking them to a recording studio,” explains Liz. “We hope it will boost their self-esteem and give them more of a sense of purpose about where they’re going with their lives, which may then have an impact on other subjects. It’s part of our ongoing studies to see how we can make better provision.”

However, she’s keen to point out that the focus on inclusion does not mean compromising when it comes to excellence.

WE The soundness of music

The following points are drawn from The power of music: its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people, an article by Susan Hallam, professor of education and music psychology at the Institute of Education, University of London, which summarises the evidence of a link between musical education and academic progress. • There is evidence that learning to play an instrument improves the ability to remember words. In one study, musically trained participants remembered 17 per cent more verbal information than those without musical training• It also enhances fi ne motor skills and concentration• A review of 15 studies concluded that there is a ‘strong and reliable’ relationship between learning to play an instrument and intellectual development, particularly spatial reasoning • An analysis involving more than 45,000 children in the US found that a positive link between musical engagement and achievement persisted even when prior attainment was taken into account • Research has found that singing has a positive impact on the immune system, posture, breathing and mood• The full version of this paper is available (as a download) at

bit.ly/Hallam_pdf

W

“We still have an orchestra, a string ensemble, a boys’ harmony group and an elite choir for which you have to audition.”

One question many schools are grappling with is how students’ learning in music should be assessed now that levels are no longer required. There is no guidance for assessment and schools are expected to develop their own systems. It’s crucial to get it right,” says Alison. “If assessment is done badly, children consider themselves to be non-musicians from a very early age and that’s very detrimental to learning. Assessment should be for pupil learning and for teacher understanding of

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where their pupils are and what they need to do. That way it’s more embedded in teaching and learning, rather than a bolt on.”

Many schools are sticking with levels because it’s a method they’re familiar with. However, experts argue this is inappropriate for music. In his article, Music in schools: where words fi nish, music begins, Robin Hammerton, Ofsted’s national lead for music, makes the point that musical progression doesn’t happen in a linear fashion and calls on schools to abandon the use of levels and sub-levels to demonstrate ongoing progress: “A powerful creative act cannot be contained by a neat spreadsheet of numbers and letters. As national curriculum levels disappear, I’d ask you respectfully not to replace them with another set of numbers.”

Rather, progress in music is best demonstrated in musical form with a catalogue of sound recordings made over time,” he advises.

Coherence over consistencyLike many schools, Heart of England School, a secondary academy in Solihull, is developing a diff erent assessment system for music. “Part of the school vision is: ‘No one way by design,’ says principal Jacqueline Hughes-Williams. “In subjects like music and drama, we are looking at a system that encourages more freedom for teachers and pupils to engage in a deeper and more valuable discourse about musical quality and their next musical steps.”

The school has a recording studio, which can be used to capture assessment material. It is also looking at the role that ubiquitous technology, such as mobile phones, can play in the process. “We’re really interested in how we can harness this type of technology, while still maintaining safeguarding procedures,” says Jacqueline.

Martin Fautley, professor of education at Birmingham City University, agrees that a ‘one size fi ts all’ approach to assessment across all subjects won’t work. However, he says, some head teachers are only willing to accept assessment data in written form. “Ofsted is looking for coherence rather than consistency. If maths assesses in a way that’s appropriate for maths it doesn’t mean that music has to assess in the same way. Coherence can occur in many ways and it’s important that assessment is appropriate to the subject in question.

“We used to talk about ARR – assessment, recording and reporting. I think it would be useful to go back to that model and consider them as three separate things. Obviously, when reporting to parents you need to package the information in a way that can be understood by them.”

And what of key stage four? GCSE music is included in the second round of qualifi cations that will be introduced in

2016 and consultations on specifi cation content closed in late September. Henry Vann, head of external aff airs at the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), the professional body for musicians and music teachers, says: “We are continuing to talk to the DfE and awarding organisations and, by the end of the year, we should have more of an idea what the

qualifi cations are going to look like. We hope it will be a very relevant and up-to-date GCSE.”

A crucial point, he says, is that the qualifi cation must be inclusive and available to all students, including those who do not have music lessons outside school. Currently, there are some schools that require students to be at grade four to take GCSE.

Music qualifi cations are very much valued by higher education, he adds. “It’s both creative and academic, so is very challenging.” And another key factor for school leaders to consider is that both GCSE and the BTEC qualifi cations will count towards the ‘Progress 8’ measure to be introduced in 2016.

NAHT policy adviser Siôn Humphreys says: “The new accountability measure will give schools an incentive to ensure that students who are good at subjects such as music and drama take them at key stage four. It will bring the school points but, more importantly, it will give students more opportunity to progress in a subject in which they excel.”

And to ensure the best possible provision for students at all key stages, it’s vital that schools fully engage with their local hubs. It’s a case of ‘use them or lose them’, says Henry.

“With the cuts to local authority funding, councils in many places have pulled support from hubs, so the relationship with schools is more important and necessary than ever. The message to school leaders is that we still need their help to make music hubs and music services work for the children.”

WE Resources

A number of downloadable resources, including the assessment and progression framework for primary schools and a guide to transition between key stages two and three, can be found on the Incorporated Society of Musicians website at www.ism.org/nationalcurriculum

There is also a map of music hubs at www.ism.org/education

Robin Hammerton’s article, Music in schools: where words fi nish, music begins, can be found at bit.ly/Hammerton

P H O T O G R A P H Y : R AT T O N S C H O O L

42-45 music_new.indd 45 05/11/2014 10:28


ALMOST EVERYONE WHO WORKS IN THE PRIMARY sector would agree that continuing professional development (CPD) makes a major contribution to the eff ectiveness of schools. Training, coaching and mentoring, observation… all of these approaches can be classed as CPD. And as long as it is high quality and driven by the teacher’s – and the school’s – development needs, then it will make a real diff erence.

Most schools agree. A survey by the Teacher Development Trust (TDT) charity revealed that more than eight in 10 schools said CPD had a direct impact on the attainment of pupils. But the same survey also revealed a worrying statistic about the state of professional development in schools. More than half the school leaders surveyed said that they had found it harder to give teachers the professional development they needed in the past year because of fi nancial pressures.

How to achieve cost-eff ective and meaningful CPD that makes a genuine contribution to school improvement and the personal professional development of staff , was the focus of a white paper that TDT and Bluewave.SWIFT produced after a series of roundtable discussions.

Primary school leaders from the Leeds area made a major contribution to the discussions. They were asked where

How do schools deliver CPD that makes a real diff erence to both individuals and the school? Keith Wright and David Weston highlight approaches that work

Can CPD really make a difference?

P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T

E

46-49 CPD.indd 46 05/11/2014 10:29

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 l LEADERSHIP FOCUS 47I M A G E : G E T T Y

WE Five steps for effective CPD

1 Embed CPD in leadership and culture – involve staff in determining the school’s professional development priorities and the opportunity for choice so that teachers’ CPD is relevant to their needs and their pupils

2 Prioritise CPD in timetable and budget – there are obviously limitations and pressures on both but it is important that CPD is sustained over a period of at least two terms, ideally more, and that teachers have the time and space to embed it eff ectively in their practice

3 Ensure CPD is based around pupil need – CPD should not be led by external pressures, but by the needs of pupils. Staff should have the freedom to innovate and try out diff erent interventions to meet the needs of their pupils, and not feel stifl ed by external pressures, such as Ofsted

4 Evaluate your eff orts – rigorous evaluation against pupil outcomes helps ensure that CPD continually meets the needs of both staff and pupils

5 Empower teachers to drive CPD and collaborate – professional learning is most eff ective when teachers collaborate and share practice

Source: Teacher Development Trust

For details of NAHT’s roundtable on CPD, see page 10

EE “More than half the school leaders said they found it harder to give teachers the CPD they needed because of financial pressures”

46-49 CPD.indd 47 05/11/2014 10:29


P R O F E S S I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T

the impetus for CPD came from in their schools. Karen Allan, head teacher of Whitecote Primary School, Leeds, says in her experience it has been driven from the top down because of school improvement priorities. But, she added, this couldn’t work without staff being given the opportunity to say what their personal priorities were.

Karen says: “If the staff understand your priorities as a school, there is more room for them to come to you and say what areas they need to develop to help them support those priorities. I need to talk to my staff more about what they need in terms of professional development to achieve these objectives.”

Ensuring that individual performance management objectives contain a balance of whole-school and personal objectives is important, insists one head.

“We have two whole-school objectives and one individual objective in performance appraisals,” says Maria Townsend, head of Raynville Primary School in Leeds. “This informs our CPD needs. The two school-centred ones are top down. My expectation is that staff come to us with a personal objective and tell us which area of their practice they want to develop.”

Most leaders and teachers involved in the discussions agree that eff ective – and cost-eff ective – CPD tends to be a mix of in-house development; often led by teachers and leaders who worked together in teaching and learning groups where they shared teaching and classroom management techniques and advised and supported each other.

This approach was underpinned by lesson observations and mentoring driven by a desire to support and develop teachers, rather than judge them.

Among the round table contributors that have adopted the teaching and learning group approach were secondary schools Manor Academy in Nottinghamshire and Blatchington School in Sussex. These semi-autonomous groups are made up of teachers from across the school and include those at the top of their game. The groups run along similar lines: they meet regularly to discuss practice, share approaches and discuss issues. Lesson observations are carried out among the groups and any professional development needs can be included in

W

performance objectives and addressed through training and development delivered within the groups.

Maria fi nds it reassuring that these schools place such a strong emphasis on teaching and learning groups as a vehicle for professional development as it is an approach mirrored in her own school. At Raynville, these groups identify and direct their own CPD sessions, which are held every half term, she says. A strong theme that emerged was that if training was to be bought in, rather than delivered internally, it needed to be tailored to each school and driven by an identifi ed development need.

Michelle Wilman, principal of Leeds West Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre, says: “Sometimes, CPD comes out of direct off ers of training but this is dangerous for staff because then they fi nd it hard to identify exactly what it is they need. We also need to be sharper at identifying what our staff need and give them the tools to identify and communicate what they need.”

David Weston is chief executive of the Teacher Development Trust;Keith Wright is managing director of Bluewave.SWIFT

To read the white paper, visit www.bluewaveswift.co.uk/whitepaper

www.teacherdevelopmenttrust.org

NAHT’s CPD roundtable, page 10

P H O T O G R A P H : E D U C AT I O N P H O T O S

EE “Sometimes, CPD comes out of direct offers of training, but this is dangerous because it can be hard to identify exactly what they need”

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A systematic approach can help to ensure that CPD makes a direct, measurable impact on school improvement, says head teacher Simon Witham.His school, Thorpepark Primary, serves the Orchard Park council estate in Hull. It is a community facing serious social and economic challenges.Staff professional development and performance management is vital to the school’s mission. If there’s one word that characterises Simon’s approach to this area it’s ‘empowerment’.“One thing I believe in is developing my staff . I want to help them to make a diff erence,” he says. “CPD is about empowering people to want to make that diff erence. We judge everything on the impact it makes on our pupils.” Once you get to that point, you need to put systems in place to support you to get best outcomes for children and also to ensure we all work as smartly as possible.”Managing CPD and tracking its role in school improvement is a key reason why Thorpepark adopted an online school improvement management system

that links self-evaluation, strategic planning, CPD and performance appraisals. Simon says: “If a need is identifi ed then staff will attend CPD. When they go on the course the record is updated and then they will self-review against the course. This process tells us whether the CPD was worthwhile and whether is it making an impact in the school.”This feedback – linking CPD to actual improvements in practice – can then infl uence future CPD planning decisions and help the school arrive at a point where all development contributes to school improvement.The school development plan provides the starting point for school improvement. Following a performance management objective-setting meeting, staff write their personal development plans and review their performance against the plan using teaching standards that are built into the system. Simon adds: “I don’t want CPD to create a feeling of ‘let’s go through that hoop’. I want it to be a worthwhile approach that actually enhances the school.”

WE Thorpepark Primary School, Hull ‘I want CPD to enhance the school’

46-49 CPD.indd 49 05/11/2014 10:29


F INALLY… W e ’ d l o v e t o s h a r e y o u r s t o r i e s w i t h L F r e a d e r s . E m a i l S u s a n E [email protected]

WE T E L L U S A B O U T Y O U R S C H O O L

When I met Jake Daykin, head of Hooe Primary Academy, he had just won a Shine

award to develop his idea of improving children’s maths with a Dungeons and Dragons game. This was just one of several innovations created since the Plymouth school became an academy, which Jake says gave them ownership of the curriculum.

“Whatever the future, we now have the authority and the autonomy to control and deliver whatever curriculum we think our children need. Our time and energy writing won’t be wasted. When people keep changing the curriculum you become a little bit less inclined to put in that level of energy,” he says.

So, there are plenty of cross-curricular links and real learning opportunities, with every class having its own curriculum-linked business enterprise project and its own bank account. “The infants do science through growing seeds and crops in their garden. They harvest them, make chutneys and jams to sell to the parents and that money goes into their bank account to pay for a school trip or garden equipment,” explains Jake.

Years fi ve and six run stalls at a school event, if they convince the head their business plan will work. Jake says: “They do a Dragons’ Den presentation, showing me that they’ve done Excel profi t and loss spreadsheets. The minimum expectation is the spreadsheet shows what they’ll charge, and what it will cost. They have to do Excel modelling to work it out. If they’re spending £10 to make 100 cakes, charging a penny a cake is a loss. If they’re going to charge 50p a cake, we discuss whether people will pay that: have they done an evaluational survey and is another group doing the same? If they convince me, they receive £5 a head, as well as a fl oat for their stall.” Businesses have included healthy snacks, a football kicking competition and a robotic arm.

Profi t is the aim, but the businesses are allowed to fail. “It’s taken me a few years to let year six go into debt: it gets them to understand charges and interest. The lesson is you have to earn money to spend, and if you get into debt that costs you more.

It’s practical and real, and children can understand it,” he says. Additionally, year six students now write the summer show,

produce tickets in IT lessons and create the backdrop and the music. “All of these things are real learning – they used to be add-ons, now they are at the heart of the curriculum. You’ve got to give things proper time.”

Time to discuss Hisabati, Jake’s Dungeons and Dragons-style game, an idea that came in Jake’s fi rst teaching practice. “It’s a great way to get children to engage with their learning because they like the freedom of being someone else and creating their own reality.”

He honed Hisabati last Christmas, with four basic characters and attributes acquired by rolling dice. “The children have to keep a running record of numbers with division, multiplication, addition and subtraction. If they’re going quickly, they make up to 120 calculations an hour in their heads.”

They play in teams of four, with a ‘gamesmaster’ running the session from a rule book as they work their way around the imaginary rooms, doing puzzles, collecting treasure and so on. Last year, year six played Hisabati after school: now Jake plans a Saturday morning club with time to expand the game, perhaps allowing children to use spreadsheet modelling to design more monsters and adventures with the eventual aim of creating a web-based application. But does it improve their maths?

“I don’t know yet and that’s frustrating,” admits Jake. “That’s what we’re doing with Shine this year. I cannot see how this much mathematics will not improve their maths, but I haven’t proved it yet.”

HOW TO EXCEL AT MATHS

S U S A N Y O U N G

P H O T O G R A P H : A L A M Y

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Leadership Focus November/December 2014