Leadership

5 School Wishes for Christmas

Next Sunday is the start of Advent, a time of preparation for Christmas.  For many this has been the longest year of their lives; paradoxically where did the year go?  Too many school leaders and staff are on their knees as they try to manage the on-going impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

With the season of goodwill starting in just over a month, here are five ideas that Messrs Williamson & Gibb could implement to prepare for Christmas and make up for their less than stellar performances so far this year.

Ofsted’s Autumn Inspections

Ofsted has now completed its set of pilot “visits” to schools and will now start inspecting schools.  We can only hope Ofsted will learn the lessons from the pilot – give schools a week’s notice of their visit and don’t issue any judgemental letter. Or better still accept that now is the time to leave school and school leaders to get on with their already challenging jobs.

The Impact of Accountability on Responsibility

The past few months, including the start to this academic year, have emphasised the depth of social responsibility felt by schools.  This responsibility has been a driver for many school leaders’ actions during the pandemic, as well as for many years preceding it.  However, in 2017, the Association of School & College Leaders (ASCL) established an Ethical Leadership Commission “because of concerns expressed by ASCL members and others about the lack of guiding principles for ethical leadership in education”.  It adopted the Nolan Principles, adding a series of defined behaviours – personal characteristics or virtues – namely: trust, wisdom, kindness, justice, service, courage and optimism.