Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, Institute of Education, University of London, 5-8 September 2007
Future Leaders: the way forward?
Peter Earley[1]
London Centre for Leadership in Learning
Institute of Education, University of London
Contact address:
Abstract
This paper draws upon data collected as part of an NCSL funded evaluation of the innovative leadership development programme ‘Future Leaders’. The recruitment and retention of senior school leaders is high on the government’s agenda with much attention currently being given to succession planning. Future Leaders and other fast track programmes are, in part, a response to this ‘crisis’ brought about by demographic change – many headteachers are due to retire in the next 2-3 years - and by the current unappealing nature of headship as a career option (Earley et al, 2002).
The paper will consider the origins of Future Leaders against this policy backcloth before discussing the programme itself and its component parts. The selection process for the programme will be briefly outlined along with the intensive foundation training. The placement of the Future Leaders in their resident schools is a crucial part of the first phase of this 12-month programme and it is during this period that they receive regular (internal) mentoring from the school’s headteacher and (external) coaching from another, recently retired, headteacher.
Drawing on questionnaire survey findings, interviews and case studies, the paper outlines the experiences of the various participants. The experiences of the initial cohort of 20 Future Leaders will be elaborated on with reference to the reactions of the resident school’s staff, including members of the senior leadership team. Finally, the future of headship will be discussed with reference to issues of sustainability and wellbeing, and recruitment and retention and the question asked is Future Leaders the way forward?
Future Leaders – the way forward?
Introduction
In a recent National College for School Leadership publication, ‘What we know about school leadership’ (NCSL, 2007a), one of the sections is entitled ‘Leadership development and succession planning have never been more important’. In this section of the NCSL document reference is made to the demographic ‘time-bomb’ which it is argued needs defusing, and part of the answer to the challenge of filling headship vacancies is to question the time it takes to become a head. This it is argued is too long and the system requires ‘more leaders than current approaches to promoting staff are presently able to produce’ (ibid, p15). The demographic challenge is compounded by ‘negative perceptions of the work and the role of school leaders – especially regarding accountabilities and workload’ (ibid, p15). Thus to address this ‘crisis’ in recruitment, NCSL advised ministers that there needs to be more fast-tracking of those with leadership potential which means ‘early identification of talent, and mentoring and coaching these individuals; and providing them with many opportunities to lead – in their own and other schools – to broaden their knowledge of school contexts and types and to increase the number of headteacher role models they can draw on’ (ibid, p15). The Future Leaders (FL) leadership development programme can be seen as a response to the recruitment challenge ahead, whilst also contributing to the supply of high quality candidates for headship and leadership teams.
It is against this policy backcloth that consideration is given to the Future Leaders programme. After noting the programme’s origins, its component parts are outlined with most attention being given to the placement phase in the resident schools during which the FLs receive regular (internal) mentoring from the school’s headteacher and (external) coaching from another, recently retired, headteacher. Drawing on questionnaire survey findings, interviews and case studies, the paper outlines the experiences of the various participants. Finally, the future of headship is discussed with reference to issues of sustainability and wellbeing, and recruitment and retention and the question asked is Future Leaders the way forward?
Future Leaders – background
Future Leaders is one of two fast-track leadership programmes currently being offered in England. The NCSL offers ‘fast track’ and partly funds the Future Leaders Programme which is led by the Future Leaders Board (further details of both are available on the NCSL’s website – www.ncsl.org.uk). The Future Leaders programme, the focus of this paper, aims to develop both practising teachers/middle leaders and high quality individuals currently not in the schools teaching system, who would like to become heads, deputy heads and assistant heads in urban schools. The programme has been created largely due to the shortage of teachers taking on senior roles within schools, which is particularly acute in urban areas and especially in London, but also to create a cadre of school leaders who commit their future careers to working in urban complex schools. The scheme is a partnership managed by ARK (Absolute Return for Kids) a charitable trust with an interest in overcoming educational disadvantage with support from the NCSL, the DfES/DCSF and the Specialist Schools and Academy Trust (SSAT).
The idea for Future Leaders appears to have come from ARK towards the end of 2005. Lord Adonis was approached and NCSL were asked to look at the feasibility of a scheme in London, based on the ‘New Leaders for New Schools’ (NLNS) programme in New York. ‘New Leaders for New Schools’ is a US non-profit organisation, founded on five core beliefs, that selects and trains individuals, from within education, as well as former educators, to become urban school principals. It calls itself “a movement to transform urban schools nationally and locally” and has financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Broad Foundation.
The five core beliefs of NLNS are:
1. Every child can achieve the highest levels of academic excellence. At New Leaders for New Schools, we mean every child in every circumstance.
2. Adults are responsible for ensuring that all children excel academically. We, as adults, can and must do more to unlock the potential of each and every student.
3. Delivering high-quality public education to all children is critical to a just society that affords every child the full range of opportunities in life.
4. Great schools are led by great principals. These principals coach and inspire teachers to reach and teach every child and collaborate with their parents, families, and communities to make schools work.
5. With access to outstanding public schools, all children will develop the competence, critical thinking, social and civic skills to reach their highest potential in the classroom and in life. (Schnur, 2007 and NLNS website).
NLNS began to train a cohort of 13 people in New York City and Chicago in 2001. Since then, the total number of New Leaders has grown to 330 school leaders in 2006. At the same time, they added one new city partnership each year – Oakland in 2002, Washington, D.C. in 2003, Memphis in 2004, Baltimore in 2005, Milwaukee in 2006, and both Prince George's County, Maryland and New Orleans in 2007.
In January 2006 a group from NCSL, ARK and SSAT visited New York for a five-day feasibility study. They saw NLNS in New York and Maryland and visited several charter schools. On returning to London, individuals from NCSL, SSAT and ARK planned the FL training programme using the NLNS model as a starting point. The feasibility report was written and the group met Lord Adonis in early March 2006. Full approval for the scheme was obtained in late March. Recruitment was undertaken through a variety of means and about 190 people completed application forms. After a series of selection stages, 20 candidates were offered FL places and commenced the pilot programme undertaking training during the summer term and over the summer holidays (2006).
Future Leaders – the programme
‘Future Leaders recruits and prepares talented people to become highly effective urban school leaders and provides rigorous, hands-on leadership training and development, a year long paid residency, and two years coaching during their first leadership role. We help place our participants in urban complex schools and provide them with supportive networks and a community of peers’ (extract from FL job advertisement, July 2007).
The FL pilot programme, which commenced in the Spring of 2006 and initially was only offered in London, aimed to recruit, train, develop, place and support 20 participants over a maximum of a two-year period. All those involved in the pilot had previously held a teaching position in schools and although QTS is no longer needed to be a headteacher of a state school in England, QTS was required to be part of this fast track leadership development programme. The pilot only placed participants in secondary schools in London. After selection and summer training at the NCSL in Nottingham, Year One included a full-time residential placement with a host school where the FL joined the senior leadership team. They were mentored by the school head and coached by one of four external coaches, all of whom had been successful heads. During the first year, the participants applied for posts as deputy head or assistant head within a secondary school, which they would take up in Year 2, during which time they would continue to receive support from the FL team. All 20 have now secured posts for 2007/8.
Year One of the pilot commenced in September 2006 and concluded in July 2007. A second FL cohort began their training in the Summer of 2007.
The objectives of the Future Leaders Programme are:
1. To expand the pool from which headteachers can be found for urban complex schools
2. Recruit from non-traditional sources (but all FLs must have QTS)
3. Provide a model for culture change by changing attitudes to recruitment of senior staff in schools
4. To offer a risk managed innovative approach
5. To develop a proof of concept for a two-year pilot to accelerate the number of candidates to become Heads, Deputy Heads and Assistant Heads initially in Inner London i.e. does it work and how? Is it scaleable?
6. To provide an alternative approach for teachers and those not currently in schools to gain a fast track to senior roles (headships) in a shorter time span.
A team (Peter Earley, Jennifer Evans and Dick Weindling) from the Institute of Education were commissioned by NCSL to evaluate the first year of the pilot programme. More specifically, the evaluation focused on:
a. The assessment process that identifies the 20 participants
i. How robust is this process?
ii. Is it successful in identifying those participants who best meet the criteria for participation on the programme?
iii. Does it prepare participants for the programme?
b. The Programme
i. How far is the programme achieving its aims and objectives?
ii. To what extent is the programme meeting the needs of the participants?
iii. To what extent do the participants feel prepared for Year Two of the programme?
iv. What are the recommendations for the future development of the programme?
This evaluation has only covered Year One of the two-year Future Leaders pilot programme. During this time three main phases can be identified:
· Phase 1: Recruitment, assessment and selection
· Phase 2: Foundation training
· Phase 3: Experience in the host school (Residency)
Our evaluation looked at all three phases and included undertaking school visits to gather information about the FLs’ experiences in the host schools. We also interviewed them by telephone towards the end of the first term of their residency. Our methods for collecting data for the evaluation have included a questionnaire survey, interviews (both face-to-face and telephone) of FLs and other key stakeholders, and attending/observing events (e.g. training and information sessions).
We provided two formative evaluation reports to the project’s Steering Group in December 2006 and May 2007 with a final report due next month (October, 2007). The interim reports were used to make modifications for the second cohort of the FL programme. This paper draws upon information from these interim reports and summarises our initial findings. Information from our Final Report, which we are currently writing, is not included here but it is the College’s intention to make the findings known and it is most likely that the report will be posted on their website. The three phases of the programme are considered in turn. The recruitment and selection, and training phases are dealt with briefly (they are discussed in more detail in Earley, 2007) whilst most attention is given to the third phase, the FLs’ experiences during their residencies.
Phases of the FL programme
Phase 1: Recruitment, assessment and selection
As a recent FL job advertisement (for a Manager of Attraction) noted, recruits to Future Leaders ‘will be current or former teachers with strong leadership potential, and have lots of drive to help every single child in disadvantaged circumstances achieve. Likely sources of recruits are both in existing schools and also from outside of schools, returning from the independent sector, the armed forces, and the public sector where it relates to education’.
The 20 participants involved in the pilot were drawn from a pool of nearly 200 potential candidates. All candidates were involved in a multi-stage assessment process which commenced in May 2006. As part of our evaluation questionnaire responses were received from 45% of the sample of nearly 200 applicants to the programme (a higher percentage was returned from those who were offered a place and a lower percentage from those who only reached the first stage of a four stage assessment process). The main reasons given for applicants’ initial attraction to Future Leaders were: the focus on urban challenging schools (60%); the fact that it was an ‘innovative programme’ (45%); ‘speed of getting to senior leadership’ (37%); Future Leader’s ‘strong mission and beliefs’ (32%). The fact that FL was London-based was an attraction for 26%, while 18% cited the opportunity to get back into teaching at a senior level as a reason for applying.