Hobbs, Kathryn

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Rethinking middleleadership roles insecondary schoolsThis report examines how schools have shifted the focusof middle leaders from management to leadershipResearch Associate Summary ReportKathryn Hobbs, Assistant Headteacher, The Nottingham Bluecoat School and Technology CollegeSpring 2006www.ncsl.org.ukResearch Associate Summary Report   Spring 2006 How do staff in traditional middle management rolessuccessfully negotiate the transition from managementto leadership? In what ways can these roles be developed to further enhance teaching and learning?These are the two key questions posed in reviewing pastoraland curriculum leadership at an East Midlands school.This report describes the review through the eyes of bothpastoral and curriculum leaders at the school and goes on tolook at how two experienced headteachers of other schoolshave led innovative developments in their own pastoral andcurriculum structures.The contextAshfield School is a 2,400-student technology college with160 staff, which has undergone rapid expansion over recentyears. The structure from Year 7 to 11 is based around sixhouses and eight faculties. There’s also a rapidly expandingpost-16 centre with 385 students.The leadership team consists of the headteacher, deputyhead and five assistant heads responsible for guidance,student progress, curriculum, staff development, and estatesand finance.Six heads of house (plus the head of post-16) and eightheads of faculty form the middle leadership tier. Pastoral and curriculum roles have undergone considerablechange as the leadership team has encouraged pastoralheads to take a more proactive role in academic trackingand support, and curriculum heads to be more involved in behaviour management.Many of the issues facing the school and its middle leadersat the time of research reflect national findings in that:  pastoral and curriculum heads do not regard themselvesas middle leaders and do not feel that the leadershipteam or other staff view them in this way either  there is a gap between what most believe should be thefocus of their roles and what they face on a day-to-day basis  pastoral and curriculum leaders largely operate separately,often only interacting as faculty teachers or tutors  there is little connection between the career paths of faculty heads and pastoral leadersBelow we present the perspectives of one pastoral head andone curriculum head that have been synthesized from theviews of the 15 heads of house and faculty.The pastoral headSarah Barker is one of six heads of house, each responsiblefor the welfare and development of 400 students from Years7 to 11 (the head of post-16 takes separate responsibility forall post 16 students). Each head of house has a deputy and a tutor team of 12.Like the school’s other senior and middle leaders, Sarah wantsthe pastoral role to shift from being reactive, to having muchgreater emphasis on proactive academic tracking and support.But despite the introduction of additional support systems,the majority of her lessons are still interrupted for pastoralintervention because staff continue to see heads of house as disciplinary figureheads. “We are still firefighters,” says Sarah. “I would love it to be more proactive, strategic and planned and that is what I think we strive for. The reality is, sadly, that it isn’t. Thereare crises that have to be dealt with.“There is still a tendency for staff to see the pastoral headsas the first port of call and they bypass school systems on a regular basis.”   Sarah feels the pastoral role is easily marginalised amidemphasis on academic achievement and target-setting andthat this has been exacerbated by an increased accent onfaculty within the school, making it more likely for targets to be curriculum-driven rather than pastoral.Nevertheless, the head of house role continues to have a high profile with staff and parents and has enormousinfluence over the lives of the students. “Students think that we are omnipotent,” she says. “Whenevera major crisis happens, it’s always the heads of house who aresummoned. Perhaps this shows that the school as a whole –and indeed ourselves – has a tendency to slip back into seeingheads of house as key discipline figures rather than as leadersof teaching and learning.”Sarah also feels pastoral heads work very much in isolation,without the leadership and management of a team.The lack of pastoral awareness in constructing the timetablealso means it is rare for the deputy and head of house to be able to secure any meeting time within the school day.The curriculum headSimon Booth is one of eight heads of faculty responsible for the leadership and management of their subject areathroughout Key Stages 3, 4 and 5. Each has a deputy and a range of other staff (eight to 16teachers) with specific responsibilities.Simon feels he has more responsibility across the school for student behaviour and support, and that more issues are now dealt with at faculty level. “Previously there was a clear distinction:head of facultyequals academic and head of house equals pastoral,” he says.“Now the roles have fused and I believe this change is ofmutual benefit and allows for ‘shared care’.”It’s clear however that there is an uneven response to thetransformation as faculty heads struggle to meet otherincreased demands and responsibilities, such as performancemanagement and staff development.A greater focus on teaching and learning, for example, hasled to the development of a peer observation programme,yet planned classroom support for this can be easily derailedby other events.Also, curriculum heads have received little further training orsupport to help them effectively implement the many recentchanges.Simon recognises however that new involvement by heads of faculty in developing the school’s strategic plan hasprovided him with a stronger leadership role across theschool. “Students see me in a different light,” he says.“Maybe it helps to be seen as a middle manager and not just a head of subject.”Moving forwardPastoral leaders say they want less teaching and morepastoral responsibilities, whilst curriculum heads say theywant to focus more on developing teaching and learning. All call for: more leadership training and development more administrative and learning support more reflective time to better support and define their rolesAddressing the issuesJohn Baumber is executive principal of the Brook LearningPartnership, which encompasses two schools with radicallydifferent profiles: Rivington and Blackrod High School – a 2,000-student 11–18 technology college with training school status  Ladybridge High School – a new 700-student 11–16 schoolThe partnership has tackled many of the issues raised atAshfield through innovation based on distributed leadershipand a focus on enhancing teaching and learning. To transcend the divide between faculty and pastoralleadership, the schools have moved away from thetraditional roles of pastoral and curriculum head and havetaken a top down approach, radically altering the roles of senior leaders. The assistant headteacher role has been transformed intodirector of learning, responsible for the quality of teachingand learning and for ensuring the school mission statementis achieved.The role changes in response to individual need, moving alongthe continuum of support to intervention and back again asrequired. This gives greater authority to departmental headsand, says John, “decisions and leadership are as close aspossible to where the action actually is.”Also, a number of directors of learning have a Key Stageresponsibility, and each year group has a senior learning co-ordinator and a non-teaching senior support co-ordinatorwho is a “behaviour coach and mentor, to deal with all ofthose things that it’s impossible to do if you are teaching 20 periods as well as being head of year”.   Instead of traditional form tutor roles, each member of staffis a learning co-ordinator for a number of students, dedicatingtwo periods each week to one-to-one mentoring. This meansevery learning co-ordinator has to deal with lower levelissues and identify barriers to learning, which John feelsaddresses the problem of heads of year being left to react toall issues as they arise.“We have tried to move the focus for those people to learningand not behaviour,” he says. “Behaviour may be one of thethings that prevents the learning, but learning is the focus.”All heads of department are required to take a one-yearmiddle leadership programme and leadership capacity isextended via in-house professional development programmesfor emergent leaders. Continuing professional development periods are alsotimetabled for all teachers each week, giving them time to reflect on initiatives and embed them more effectively in practice.Paul Grant is headteacher at Robert Clack Comprehensive in Dagenham – a specialist school for science with 1,700students, of whom 300 are in post-16. The school has 36 per cent free school meals and 30 per cent special educational needs. There has been a substantialincrease in higher grade passes over the last two years andOfsted has described the quality of leadership andmanagement at all levels as “very good”.The school has addressed interruptions to teaching by creatinga supervised pupil referral unit and a learning support centre,to which pupils are automatically referred when a ‘crisis’arises pending further investigation and support. This avoidsteachers having to find quick temporary solutions duringlesson time.Whole school attention is focused on pastoral issues andbehaviour management through a pastoral committee thatmeets every three weeks. The committee, chaired by Paul, is made up of all leadershipteam members, heads of year, the head of SEN, learningsupport leaders and learning mentors, thereby placingresponsibility for pastoral issues in the hands of the manyrather than the isolated few. “It reinforces the idea thatbehaviour management is everybody’s concern,” says Paul. Because the system relies heavily on strong workingrelationships between heads of year and the SEN team, Paul believes it also reduces inconsistencies in approachacross the school.He says the relatively small size of the leadership teams atAshfield (seven members) and Robert Clack (five members)also offers greater opportunity for other members of staffto take leadership roles for particular issues. Paul argues that a very large leadership team runs the risk of disempoweringothers and creating top down management at a time whenschools are trying to develop a more distributed style.In conclusionThis study shows that these schools aim to focus on thelearning and well-being of every child. In order to do thisthey have remodelled such that: subject and pastoral responsibilities become moreintegrated, in order to minimise the disruption oflearning for the majority, and to deal proactively with(low level) barriers to learning and behaviour problems more difficult behaviour problems have dedicatedprovision, with senior staff centrally involved in pastoral/behaviour provision, and supported behaviour managementviewed as everyone’s concern – ‘shared care’ leadership development is provided to support seniorand middle leaders in developing the appropriate skillsand expertiseThe influence of senior leaders in shifting the focus of allmiddle leaders from management to leadership is central to this transformation.AcknowledgementsI should like to express my appreciation to all thoseconnected with this research for their valuable contribution.www.ncsl.org.uk/researchassociatesResearch associate reports availablein Spring 2006 Community conversationKay Lindley, Headteacher, Victoria Primary School, Keighley Search for the leader inside yourselfDiane Heritage, Headteacher Facilitator, Innovation for Learning, Barnsley Local AuthorityJacquie Parr, Headteacher Facilitator, Innovation for Learning, Barnsley Local Authority Time for coachingNeil Suggett, Headteacher, Hayes Park Primary School, London Borough of Hillingdon Classrooms in the communityRobin Wakinshaw, Inspector of Schools, Ofsted, ExeterResearch Associate ProgrammeFor printed copies of this publication, please visitwww.ncsl.org.uk/researchpublications and complete an order form. You can also download it for free from this address.We welcome enquiries about the Research Associateprogramme. For further information about: current projects previously published reports becoming a research associate Please visit the website:www.ncsl.org.uk/researchassociates© National College for School Leadership, April 2006DisclaimerIn publishing Research Associate reports, NCSL is offering a voice to practitioner leaders to communicate with theircolleagues. Individual reports reflect personal views basedon evidence-based research and as such are not statements of NCSL policy.National College for School LeadershipTriumph RoadNottingham NG8 1DHT: 0870 001 1155F: 0115 872 2001E: ncsl-office@ncsl.org.ukW: www.ncsl.org.uk£2, when charged forPB132

Rethinking middle leadership roles in secondary schools

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