Leading Schools from Failure to Success, John Bazalgette

An excellent book. Well worth reading. Turning a vicious circle into a virtuous one.

The Vicious Cycle

• A stereotyped negative image in the local community (often with little basis in reality)

• Poor achievement (SATS/GCSE)
• Low morale
• High sickness
• Absenteeism
• High staff turnover
• Truancy
• Troublesome students – exclusions
• Listless governors
• Depressed intake
• Low levels of literacy/numeracy
• Reinforces image
• Makes it difficult to recruit/keep staff
• Anxious LEA
• Poor OFSTED

One method of ‘change’

• parachute in super head
• clear out poor staff
• media campaign to attract ‘better children’
• The schools in question took another approach. The only change of personnel was the HT and there was no significant change in intake. The key factor was the head.

Characteristics:

• Christian faith core to their understanding of the meaning of life
• Felt call to these schools
• Mission to work with these children, staff governors
• Faith a turbo charging factor
• Not necessarily Anglicans
• Committed and active Christians
• Competent educationists – specifically as classroom practitioners

What did the Head do? 

• Transformation not change
• Transformation: “a shift in culture and the ways of being which result in different outcomes”
• Their primary focus was to make a School worth belonging to.

Features of transformational headship

• The most significant relationship is the covert one between the head and all pupils the feelings the pupils have for the head

The head:

• makes pupils and staff feel that they are known to them
• communicates symbolic messages e.g. picking up litter and asking a pupil to place it in the bin
• conveys a message of being members of a community
• not a superior being
• However Care for students is insufficient to transform relationships, care can simply make children and staff feel comfortable and unchallenged

TRUE CARE INVOLVES CHALLENGE

• “vigorous caring”
• “challenging Christian community”
• Forgiving pupils in their weakness so they can be restored
• Respect and belief in pupils ability to respond
• pupils having real worth
• “ the HT saw pupils for what they are which did not blind him to what they did”
• “he is always positive about the children – stressing that they are essential good and worthy of respect in a Christian context. This is clearly related closely to his Christian faith”

The significance of belief

• forgiveness
• understanding of the cost to God of forgiveness
• awareness of new life – gave them confidence that the children could change
• being happy to ask forgiveness
• Due to these beliefs pupils began to believe in themselves moving from low to high self esteem

Beliefs in action:

• close contact between head and staff – formal and informal
• communicating messages
• vocabulary
• dress
• punctuality
• dependability
• Through these  shaping the school
• “she defines a frame and encourages – indeed permits – staff to work within it themselves because she shapes the inner life and the external context of the school”

The headteacher’s motivation is recognized by pupils as centering on them

• the desire for delivering a high quality education derided from the heads understanding of the pupils needs
• belief in education as a means of pupils becoming productive and well rounded citizens
• “when asked what the heads motivation was a group of students responded instantly ‘us’ “
• “my motivation is the belief that children only have one chance”
• This motivation was seen in terms of a God given vocation

Insistence of truth and reality as the centre of relationships

• assumption that people make mistakes
• the mistake is less of a problem than the lie
• responsibility for own behaviour and taking consequences
• Leading to a no blame culture – when people are trusted to tell the truth a truth culture can develop

Key:

• People having responsibility and leadership WITH accountability
• Head conveys that people are entitled to try things and make mistakes
•  “ I have sought to develop  here the ability to be yourself and be vulnerable… admit your mistakes, we’re all beggars helping each other to find bread… I am in need of forgiveness and I have found the person who forgives; so I have nothing to fear”
• “the behaviour system is an act of grace”
• the behaviour system has a theological underpinning… ‘spiritual anthropology the belief in the nature of humans: they need to know high standards of right and wrong…. And the possibility of redemption and forgiveness”

A place where adults want to belong and which the community wants to own The process

• Leadership and management of change
• consulting and gaining wide support
• (though not unanimous nor immediate!)
• the head was the ‘drive’
• interviewed every member of staff ‘to find the good of each’
• commitment to solve problems not throw out staff

Head shows:

• a spirit of service
• seen doing some of the most difficult things e.g. duties
• being available

Through this making staff aware of their own potential

• “he had faith and belief in my own abilities”
• “staff are valued… embodies Christian ethos of each individual being valued by God”

The head saw himself as accountable to the gov. body

• empowered the governors
• took opinions seriously
• showed humility and honesty to gov.
• frankness about existing reality
• Recognised part of outside agencies  in local community in the transformation of school
• high profile in community
• spreading good news

Signs and symbols of success TWO key factors:

1. Provide students with knowledge and skills to access curriculum
2. Enrich pupils as human beings- through acquiring values which allow them to contribute to the community

Heads were explicit in these strategies

• developed a sense of identity and belonging
• started with an outward identity e.g. uniform
• worship was central and not seen as a time for notices etc
• times together greatly significant and central to the change

other:

• prayers at staff meetings
• themes for the day through staff meetings, tutor groups, worship
• SINGLE MINDED PASSION ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL
• The centrality of worship
• a key school activity
• daily briefing with prayers and thought of day
• “There is no discernible impact of worship on children attitudes- its more the attitude of staff and their role modelling that makes the difference”
• students need to learn to come together
• opening hearts and minds

Making Adults:Children will become adults the question is what kind of adult?

• Intentions – enable pupils to learn and develop as responsible adults and citizens
• Motivation – a call to work for the well being of pupils
• Performance – evaluating own performance in terms of engaging with whole school
• Initiatives to develop focus from bad behaviour to behaviour for learning
• Role as dynamic process of self disciplined behaviour
• finding a role – the current ethos and expectation
• making the role – working out how to behave

Common keys:

• sensitive to students and believe in them
• motivate and give good leadership
• manage structure of school to get best out of resources
• know how to interact with community to get resources
• see whole school as part of God’s purpose which is expressed through Christ

Key Implications from the study:

• Enabling children to belong to school
• “I belong therefore I am”
• Mutual Accountability
• Mobilising human interaction and development
• Gaining confidence of external agencies
• Worship as a central activity to the school