Background
Having spent the last 15 years as a senior leader, 9 of those as Head of three schools, I have been on a learning journey of development, discovery, joy and pain and the learning has not ended. During that time there have been mistakes, mistakes, and more mistakes and in many ways, I have had to learn the hard way and still am.
The purpose of this programme is to try and give potential headteachers of the future some of the lessons learnt but to also challenge the status quo and see if things can and should be done differently.
This programme is not targeted at any specific characteristic, but it has been born out of the previous Aspire to Leadership course targeted at BAME teachers that were looking to make the leap into leadership, depending on the various stages of their career. The funding was provided by the DFE and the success rate and feedback from the course was exceptional. 90% of participants secured their next stage of promotion and we had approximately 120 staff complete the course over 5 years. The only real criteria that we are looking for is that you want to be a head one day and know why.
A lot of the course was centred around a personalised leadership programme and one where a group of senior leaders supported the growth and development of the candidates.
Over the last 15 years, I have developed a philosophy and understanding about leading schools that I intend to stick by and not waver from but I have had to spend the nine years of headship and the decade before that working out what that was. To this day I still question the journey that I have embarked upon and whether it is the correct way or not. That constant doubt and question comes from knowing that I have the responsibility for a school community of 3000 parent/carers, 200 staff and 1500 students. What I have absolutely no doubt about is that I wish that I was exposed to more and knew more at the start of my leadership journey because I could have avoided so many of the mistakes that I had made previously and rather than be led by external pressures, I would and should have trusted my own judgement of holding myself accountable to what I was offering my school community.
This course will provide a nod in a certain direction but will always ask you to critically analyse why you do what you do? However, it will go deeper than that and you will be challenged about why you are the type of leader that you are and is there a difference in the way that you lead from the person that you are, should there be?
We are looking to recruit a group of 20 participants at senior leadership level and preferably at Assistant Head or equivalent.
This is a national programme that will include a residential programme over two days to launch the programme that will likely be in the Midlands region, depending on the spread of participants. I have worked with my senior team over the past five years and together we have crafted our philosophy and they are now able to support and coach other leaders to do the same. They will play a key role in identifying and developing their strengths and leadership development areas as well as creating a leadership development plan.
OBJECTIVES
- To deepen levels of awareness and understanding of individual leadership strengths and areas for development
- To raise levels of confidence around personal leadership abilities
- To increase the levels of core leadership
- To facilitate a network of peer support
- To explore and understand different models of leadership and that things can be done differently
- To explore how a well school should be led
- To understand the type of leader you are and why
- To maximise rates for being shortlisted for interview and appointment
CAREER PROGRESSION INTERVIEWS
Each participant will receive a 45-minute career interview with a member of the steering group so that they can share their:
- Current School context
- Journey to leadership thus far
- Ambition for headship and the type of school that you wish to work in and lead
- Challenges on their journey
- Key Success strategies
- Sources of support
- Aspirations
In previous aspire to leadership courses, this session has proved to be very powerful as it begins to unlock the true potential of each participant and for them to reflect on their journey thus far and begin to map out a way forward for their career aspirations. The programme will also explore the type of leader you are and an opportunity to carry out a 360-leadership assessment. Both have their strengths and weaknesses but they offer an opportunity to explore leadership using a different set of criteria, rather than just relying on the feedback you may receive as part of line management or appraisal.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. Applicants will be required to undertake pre-employment checks, such as an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check.