Leadership development: gaining experience
There are numerous ways to gain additional leadership experience, both within your current employment and in the wider educational landscape.
If you are an aspiring leader, there are various courses and programmes available to support your journey. Many are offered through the Teaching School Alliances – it is worth contacting them to see what is available in your local area.
Or you can make it known that you are keen to progress and, in preparation, would be interested in being considered for the following opportunities in your current school or setting.
Role-shadowing schemes
Most schools are keen to make sure they promote the professional development of their staff. Many schools have clear succession plans in place or are busy “growing their own” staff in a challenging educational landscape. If you are keen to develop your career, there are many opportunities to do so. It is worth asking if your school is involved in a role-shadowing scheme and, if not, whether they would be interested in developing one. Most good role-shadowing schemes are developmental and include opportunities to:
- observe and shadow another member of staff
- work with a more senior member of staff on a shared project
- take on a supervised piece of work delegated to you and relevant to your career aspiration
Paired project work or a delegated project
Many people gain the confidence to apply for the next step once they have some experience of the type of work involved. To gain experience, you can offer to help or take responsibility for leading and managing a significant cross-cutting project in your school or setting that is over and above your current role. It will help if the work fits well with your school improvement or school development plan. However, be sensitive when offering to help. . Also, make sure you have the capacity and enthusiasm to carry through on your offer to help – raising expectations and then not delivering is not a recipe for career success.
Alternatively, get involved in teacher-led development on a leadership theme, or a theme that will have wider benefit to yourself and children in your school, through HertsCam, and then publish your findings. To find out more about teacher-led development, visit:
Getting involved beyond your school or setting
If you are already in a leadership position but would like to extend or enhance your role through promotion or wider and deeper experience, you can make it known that you would be interested in being considered for the following:
Associate leadership
Appropriate for current school leaders with a track record of good-quality leadership, wishing to gain some first-hand practical experience in a different setting, alongside an existing and experienced leader. This is often a good route into headship, allowing you to get a taste of the role within a safe environment. This type of experience requires agreement between the two schools, as well as a clear funding plan.
Secondment opportunities
Look out for secondment opportunities where you remain on your current contract and pay but take up an opportunity to carry out a different role in either your own setting or another. This will require the agreement of your line manager, Headteacher and possibly chair of governors because there are likely to be back-fill implications whilst you are taking up this new but temporary role. The idea of a secondment is that you gain further insight and experience as well as take your skills into a different arena for a fixed period of time before returning to your substantive post.
This type of experience can be very valuable in developing your experience whilst remaining in your current contract and often leads to further career enhancement.
Schools and HFL Education have secondment opportunities from time to time.
Job swaps
An alternative to associate leadership is to request being considered for a job swap with another equivalent school leader, enabling you both to gain fresh experience and perspective as part of your professional development. This can be particularly helpful for aspiring leaders who have spent a significant amount of time in one school and who have not benefited from the wider perspective that can be gained from working in different settings. Local school clusters may consider these requests on a case-by-case basis. The length of swap and terms and conditions must be agreed with both headteachers and with the governing bodies of all schools, academies or settings involved.
Interim leadership
Where a school has found it difficult to recruit, or where there is a long-term absence that requires a solution in the short to medium term, interim leadership is often a solution. With over 500 schools in Hertfordshire, there are often opportunities for a good interim leader to support a school that is experiencing a temporary recruitment difficulty. This type of work is often explored by leaders who have taken retirement, or those moving into the area who and are looking for shorter-term projects rather than a permanent role. There are very specific skills involved in good interim leadership, including:
- ability to quickly analyse the situation and prioritise activity
- ability to quickly build confidence in all stakeholders
- excellent communication skills
- sensitivity in managing priorities and in driving through calculated change against a backdrop of varying challenges
- being outcome-focused and able to accurately assess what can be achieved in the time frames involved.
Executive headship
In an increasingly challenging financial educational landscape, schools are frequently looking at interesting structural models for efficiently managing schools in a local area. This may involve school collaborations, which result in a single executive headteacher and single governing body being supported by heads of individual schools or settings within the group.
The post of executive headteacher requires skills that go beyond those expected of a headteacher of one institution. Those taking up executive headship will therefore have a proven track record of developing a single school and raising standards. Herts for Learning offers a programme of development and support for those considering or involved in executive headship.
Advisory work
Supporting, challenging, advising or coaching others requires a particular set of skills and attributes. Many successful school and subject leaders go on to widen their influence beyond their own classrooms and schools by supporting others to develop and bring about improvements in their schools. If you have a strong track record of school improvement and supporting others, you may be interested in applying to become a national leader of education (NLE), a local leader of education (LLE), a specialist leader of education (SLE), or an HfL adviser.
To find out more about any of these opportunities in Hertfordshire, contact:
Jeremy Loukes or Liz Shapland, C0-Directors of Education Services
HFL Education
Email: jeremy.loukes@hfleducation.org
Email: liz.shapland@hfleducation.org