Locality Case Study: England – City

Mike Collins and Tom Perry summarise what they heard in interviews with Educational Leaders in England – City

We visited England-City in late Autumn 2023 and the early part of 2024. In total, we interviewed nearly 30 Local Leaders, headteachers and senior leads in City, either individually or in small groups.  We also observed several events and training with heads and deputies. This post is based on an initial assessment of the interviews, with more detailed analyses to follow as we progress through the project. 

Introducing England City

This mid-sized Local Authority covers an urban area whose population is, economically, significantly less well-off than average. In most schools, the proportion of children eligible for Free School Meals is higher than national averages. City is also more diverse ethnically than the great majority of LAs.

In City, in common with the rest of England, there is a complex mix of school types. Almost all secondaries and around half of primary and special schools are academies, mostly part of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) of which there are more than a dozen. Several of the MATs are average-sized or large regional and national MATs that also have schools outside of City. There are also smaller MATs focused primarily in City, and diocesan MATs, both CofE and Catholic.

The relationships between schools are also complex and many-layered. The majority of schools in the locality, both maintained and academies, are members of a local school partnership to which they pay a membership fee. The partnership is a vehicle for several types of support to schools including Continuing Professional Development (CPD), school improvement advice, practical business support, and collaborative initiatives between schools.  The partnership exists alongside the support offered by the LA which maintains a service with Improvement Advisors and Advisory Teachers that also comprises CPD, school improvement advice, networks and half-termly Headteacher days. The LA and the partnership make efforts to coordinate their offers.

There is a Teaching School Hub also offering the National Professional Qualifications (NPQs), and we heard about MATs’  strategies for supporting schools working within their groups of schools, about the secondary headteachers group which meets regularly, and also about strong diocesan networks.

What we are hearing 

Commitment and Pride in place

Local Leaders and headteachers were very aware of the distinctiveness of City as a locality. They were also keenly aware of the characteristics of specific areas within City and their differences. There is an industrial past which shapes some communities strongly, and in other areas, changes within communities and new developments affect the nature of pupil populations. All of the headteachers we spoke to were quick to mention a commitment to making a difference to children and young people as a motivation in their role, but particularly making a difference to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

I love the community here, but it is a deprived community… So it’s not just the academic side of it that is challenging here, there’s also the other part of it that makes it quite a difficult but rewarding place to be.

(Mia, Deputy HT,  Sunnyside Primary)*

One headteacher related that commitment to the fact she had grown up in a similar community; another who related a ‘turn-around-story’ for the school he was leading realised he saw himself as someone committed to leading and, in his words, transforming schools in deprived circumstances.

In the primary phase particularly,  both local leaders and heads spoke of staff who see their long-term career in the area. There are several long-serving headteachers for whom this is true.

Pressures

Everyone we spoke to also described the relentless pressure, the ‘constant weight’ as one head put it, of being the leader of an individual school, whatever the type of school;   

it’s definitely the weight of it that’s the thing that I struggle with…it’s like a hydra, you know?  There’s like lots of different faces to it. Does that make sense? It’s all of those things at the same time right (pressure, fatigue, relentlessness). I quite enjoy that. But it’s hard

(Oliver, HT Springfield Secondary)*

Heads were keenly aware of the intensity of external pressures such as Ofsted inspection and the implications of the accompanying accountability, although it was often in the background of conversations.  The pressure seemed to be felt as keenly by heads in schools judged Outstanding as those with less than Good judgements. Some heads talked about the sense of vulnerability it brought and of being aware of peers who had taken up headship roles which they had subsequently left, usually at short notice. They felt the sense of vulnerability was one reason fewer senior leaders seemed to be aspiring to headship.

A change that was regularly mentioned as contributing to intense pressure was in the nature of complaints and expectations from parents. The change described was in expectations about the immediacy of response, an increase in volume, and the content. Leaders also spoke of a difference in the way parents interacted with school from very direct confrontations to quasi-legal responses and use of solicitors. Experienced heads described the very raw and accusatory language in which some complaints were expressed and its personal and upsetting impact.  

The increasing complexity of need presented in school by children and young people was also mentioned repeatedly whether concerning social care and safeguarding, or special needs. An increase in the volume of such demands and reported limited resources or support from other services, again makes the pressure seem intense and relentless. One secondary school reported having established a full-time, non-teaching post of Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) in its leadership team, other schools described establishing specialist provision on their site.  

Another reported change since the COVID-19 pandemic was in the expectations and what was described as ‘resilience’ of both staff and students. There was a perception that staff more generally expected greater flexibility in work practices, for example in being able to take discretionary time off, with a similar pattern amongst some families of students. 

Becoming A Leader and Sustaining Leadership

There were different accounts of how headteachers had come to see themselves as leaders. One had never perceived herself as a head, but was fiercely committed to the school and sought the role for that reason when her predecessor retired.  Another had served a long apprenticeship as a deputy for over a decade with a leader he admired until he reached a point where he wanted to bring his own approach to leading a school. Another had been prompted to take on interim roles within a MAT, not having previously seen herself as a potential head.  

Thinking about sustaining themselves and leadership in schools, most headteachers immediately described sets of relationships, often professional. One head and deputy both described their long-standing partnership as a professional marriage. Another had brought a colleague from his previous school with him, describing their respective skills and qualities as complementary.  Tight senior leadership structures with a degree of shared leadership, alongside developing staff more widely in schools, were described by several heads across all phases. The close, senior teams were frequently cited by heads as essential to sustaining them. There was still nevertheless an unequivocal awareness of the headteacher bearing ultimate responsibility.  

There was a personal dimension to leaders’ perception of their resilience. Personal stories, stages of life and individual characteristics were relevant. The cumulative effect of long service and depleted energy meant that most heads said they were not likely to continue in their role until retirement age. Heads spoke of the importance of actively considering their own well-being and drawing on personal qualities and resilience.  One said, strikingly, ‘This job could make you ill and I understand that’.

What Next

We have summarised some of the strong themes we heard in discussions. There were others that we are keen to explore further in other localities. An important one is the diversity of leaders moving into headship and how well recruitment processes enable all effective leaders to be recognised. Another theme is how supported individual heads are with some of the increased pressures we heard about and the suggestion that some groups of schools in MATs were able to do this well.

*pseudonyms have been used to preserve anonymity

Photo by Paul Marlow on Unsplash