"Key is to use our heads"
Jennifer Cunningham
Herald
Feb 27th 2006
 
Drumchapel High School is not top of any exam league tables, but it is on a roll of success. The percentage of pupils gaining five or more standard grades has improved every year for the past five years. Attendance has improved for the past six years in a row. Ten years ago, only 72% of children from the feeder primaries chose to go to Drumchapel High. Now 93% make it their first choice.

One of the negative factors that weighs most heavily on the mind of Wilson Blakey, the head teacher, is what happens to his pupils when they leave school. In educational terms, the school-leavers with no prospect of a job or education become the Neets (not in education, employment or training). In 2004 and 2005 he could report 28% going on to training courses and few into unemployment – and that's a big increase.

"We achieved that by paying for a careers adviser to come into school," says Blakey. "She did not just provide leaflets and suggestions, but was very determined and would knock on doors and not give up. We know that to keep this progress we have to sustain the input. It will take a generation of pupils before we've changed the culture."

In the school's last inspection both leadership and teaching were judged very good and not a reason why attainment was low. Blakey points out: "You can have a school with low attainment, where the leadership and teaching is good, and conversely a school with high attainment where the leadership and teaching is not good."

This week's report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education found that leadership was "good" or "very good" in 85% of schools, but noted: "In a significant minority of schools, the quality of leadership has important or major weaknesses. This may result in important weaknesses in aspects of school ethos, poor teamwork, a lack of shared responsibility and accountability, and limited improvement in pupil attainment and achievement."

After 14 years as head in a school most of his colleagues would regard as extremely challenging, Blakey is blunt about the qualities which make a good leader: "One aspect is vitally important and that is you cannot fake it. You cannot be the sort of leader you are not cut out to be and that applies as much to classroom teachers and principal teachers as head teachers. You can read books and get qualifications and still not be a good leader."

So what's his recipe for success? He lists a number of factors, including a new building, and good teachers. "There are no weak links among the staff and I believe attendance has improved because more of the kids want to be here." They also want to spread the message of their success. Three years ago the pupils made a short video about the school which was distributed to every home in the area. The message that there was a uniform policy and an anti-bullying policy resulted in positive feedback and an enhanced reputation.

"People feel uncomfortable with the word leadership," says Nicola Richards, chief executive of Columba 1400, the Skye-based charity dedicated to bringing out leadership qualities in young people whose early life has been tough. It now offers a head teacher leadership development course, which 170 heads and deputy heads took part in last year, with funding from the Hunter Foundation and the Scottish Executive.

A newer development is the ambassadors' course, for teachers and pupils. "Our approach is that everybody has leadership capabilities, whether it is the third-year pupil who barely attends school or the head teacher. There is no denying that the person who holds the key at the top of the pyramid has a central role in enabling or stopping the process. Our residential course on Skye is an opportunity for people to grow in awareness. It's not about getting a technical solution. It is not about adopting the model of an inspirational leader, but of allowing leadership to flourish throughout the school,"she says.

Donnie Macleod, rector of Tain Royal Academy, took part in the head teachers' course and then took 12 pupils from S1 and S2 with three other teachers on the ambassadors' course last year. He defines leadership as "empowering others". "The young people are encouraged to be positive about themselves, despite having had some rough times, and given tasks and responsibilities based on principles such as integrity and perseverance. Their self-confidence has grown and I expect them to become leaders who influence others," says Macleod. He cautions that it will be a gradual process to extend this thinking throughout the school, but is clearly committed to the task.

Tim McKay, who for the past 18 months has been rector of Alford Academy in Aberdeenshire, took the decision that he would aim to become a head teacher after only eight or nine years as a teacher and deliberately sought out colleagues who were models of good practice in different areas so that he could learn from them.

He gained wide experience as a deputy before studying for the Scottish Qualification in Headship (SQH), which will eventually be expected of all head teachers.

So what distinguishes the best leaders in his view? "Good leaders are inspirational. They are energetic, enthusiastic and dynamic." While the inspiration comes from the top, he believes that leadership should be encouraged at all levels at school. "My job is to take responsibility for the day-to-day management of the school, but I see it as like the conductor of an orchestra, with a number of teams under my control, and my job is to co-ordinate the harmony and communicate a clear vision for the school to the staff, support staff, pupils, parents and broader community," he says.

In England recently, education secretaries have promoted the idea of superheads and appointed a handful to turn round "failing schools". Despite the buzz around the concept of leadership in Scotland, that idea has few champions here. Doug Marr, senior teaching fellow at Aberdeen University and a tutor on the SQH programme, is critical: "The superhead idea may bring about a short-term transformational experience, but as a lasting experience is not terribly effective. Leadership can break out anywhere in the school. The idea that it should be identified only with a few senior management staff is a weakness in the system. Leadership should be exercised by teachers no matter what their position, and leadership training is relevant to all.

"We have come through a whole range of thinking on leadership, from the idea that leaders are born, not made, to programmes of professional development and on-the-job training.

"There needs to be a standard for head teachers and at the moment that is the Scottish Qualification for Headship. It is very demanding. There is a high drop-out rate and the Scottish Executive is looking at other routes to achieve the standard and other ways will emerge. If we can encourage the SQH to preserve the standards but find other routes to achieve it, it will be a win-win situation," he adds.

The Headteachers Association of Scotland has three out of four secondary heads of the approximately 400 secondary schools in Scotland as members. Bill McGregor, its general secretary, says a longer route to SQH will encourage teachers to start training for headship early in their career and eventually attract more people to head teacher posts.

The association and education tutors such as Marr think it is time to be tough on the heads who are not up to standard. Marr says that when the SQH eventually becomes a requirement for anyone aspiring to be a head teacher, we will finally rid ourselves of an old weakness – that you only find out that a head teacher is not up to the job at the moment when he or she sits in the head teacher's chair.

McGregor adds that there is a very small number of very poor secondary heads and the association would not support the concept of retraining them where the leadership was clearly weak and could not be improved.

Meanwhile, the other head teachers working day to day in their schools face the challenge of inspiring their staff and their pupils. If they succeed, Scottish education may be about to demonstrate leadership qualities.

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