Mike Collins and Tom Perry summarise what they heard when they visited Scotland-City
Our discussions with educational leaders in Scotland-City took place in the early part of 2024 and the visit was the first of our Locality Case Studies in Scotland. We interviewed 16 leaders who were a mixture of Local Leaders, Heads and Deputes, and observed sessions of the Into Headship programme, Scotland’s headship preparation programme. This blogpost is another of our early summaries of ‘what we were hearing’ in a locality.
Introducing Scotland – City
Scotland City is an urban area marked by wide contrasts, with wealthy residential areas and areas with significant deprivation. Like many cities, there is a relatively young, increasingly culturally and ethnically diverse population, and active cultural, commercial and industrial sectors. Although there has been recent investment intended to regenerate areas of the city, large inequalities remain and at the time we visited, the cost-of-living crisis and its impact was spoken about regularly. The city has good transport links.
In Scotland, almost all schools are managed by one of the 22 Local Authorities (LAs). The city’s economic inequalities are reflected in the pupil population: for example, the proportion of pupils in the most deprived quintile of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation is typically much higher than the national average, albeit varying from school to school. In many schools, material deprivation and reported increasing levels of additional needs of pupils present a big challenge.
‘It’s a hard shift in City’
(Jessica, Local Leader, Scotland-City)
Jessica’s observation was repeated, using the same words, by many of the headteachers and local leaders we spoke to.
What We Are Hearing
Identity
Leaders we spoke to voiced a strong, often passionate commitment to City. All the headteachers we spoke to were very clear about the distinctive challenge of working there. They usually related challenges to economic disadvantage whilst also observing increasing diversity. Most had either actively chosen to work in City, moving there from other LAs, or were clear about their desire to remain in the LA as they sought leadership roles. They spoke of an ethic of service, and of the profession as a vocation, invariably relating these motivations to tackling and reducing inequalities.
‘It’s why you do the crazy hours, make sacrifices’
(Layla, Depute, Moon Primary)
This commitment translated to a strong identity as a ‘City Headteacher’ We heard more than once of the tendency for new heads to be appointed from within City’s workforce. It was also suggested heads appointed from outside City often needed additional support to adjust to the challenges they encountered. We were struck by how strongly what heads were doing was shaped by where they were doing it.
Leadership
We heard about a range of challenges faced by leaders in schools.
Inclusion, behaviour and school culture
Headteachers and LA officers all described changes in the behaviour of pupils and relationships with families, during and since the pandemic, with both becoming more challenging. The need to respond was a leadership challenge discussed alongside addressing the increased volume and complexity of students’ additional needs.
Headteachers spoke about responding to behaviour often referring to increases in ‘distressed and dysregulated behaviour’. Leaders did not all articulate the same approaches. All however, spoke of sustained and determined efforts to establish a distinct culture and set of practices amongst the staff, typically extending over multiple years. City LA had been very proactive over several years, prioritising inclusion, proposing strategies for schools and teachers to adopt, and making available professional development.
One primary headteacher spoke of joining the school seven years previously and finding verbal and sometimes physical challenges were a daily occurrence. She contrasted this with the current position of a single isolated occurrence during that school year when we visited in March. She introduced what she characterised as a nurturing approach, which included substantial investment in staff development. A secondary school headteacher also spoke of improved behaviour after a similar process which had the support of most staff. She reported nevertheless finding as much as one-fifth of the staff continued to not fully support the approaches taken, a situation that had led to stressful disputes within the staff body.
Several headteachers described a slow process of developing trust between staff and the school’s leadership to address challenges, and the sustained effort required to develop teams. Heads who had sustained the process spoke of a sense of the pressure reducing for a head as senior teams became established and effective.
Limited and diminishing resources
The challenges are intensified for leaders by the perception of a squeeze on resources, affecting all services. Limited budgets mean that schools and LA officers reported services for children beyond schools, for example social services or mental health services (CAMHS), are often not available to support schools or are very limited. Headteachers often reported using additional monies schools receive through the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) to address some of the issues albeit PEF is not a guaranteed long-term source of funding. At the time we visited there was national press about further cuts to Local Authorities’ budgets which was expected to have an impact on staffing levels in schools which was increasing anxiety. Some heads spoke of hard-won progress being reversed if they had fewer resources, or not being able to maintain current staffing levels.
Improvement, Accountability, Autonomy
We heard of a delicate balance in the relationship between the LA officers and headteachers. LA teams described maintaining oversight of schools, using data on attendance, exclusions, and feedback about schools alongside some data about pupil’s progress, and of visits to schools by area-based officers. At the same time, several heads spoke in the same terms as Eliza:
“We’re left to get on with it”
(Eliza, HT, Gables Primary)
There was a keen awareness of both HMI inspection visits and the high priority given to raising attainment both nationally and in the city. The priority was not presented generally as a constant burden, and there was pride and recognition of improvements in outcomes in City schools over the previous decade.
When inspections did occur, heads described the experience as consuming, stressful and feeling high stakes. Reflections on the resultant reports were more welcoming. One head, recently appointed to her first headship when the inspection took place, was finding the report helpful in reinforcing and giving credibility to priorities she had identified.
Sustaining teachers and Leaders
Recruitment and retention; teachers and leaders
We heard of a complex picture in relation to teachers. With teachers in Scotland guaranteed their probationary year, there is a steady turnover of staff, managed by the LA’s central HR department. In City, we heard that there are no permanent vacancies for staff at the end of their probationary period and, with the available pool of staff allocated centrally when vacancies do arise, we heard from several headteachers of a frustration that they did not always have control over this area of their school. The frustration was expressed in the context of prioritising staff professional learning and the ‘long haul’ of building culture and expertise.
There is a still sufficient but diminished appetite for headship roles, although appointing to some faith and gaelic medium schools is particularly difficult. One head estimated that perhaps just 1 in 6 or 7 deputes aspired to headship.
The importance and value placed on professional learning was spoken about often by school leaders and City LA officers. Officers have designed a wide ranging offer of events and programmes which contributes to and nurtures the identity of the City Head. Leadership programmes are part of the offer. The LA also works closely with a local University on the Into Headship programme, to the extent of LA supported staff being involved in the delivery of the programme, as well as identifying and approving candidates. There is generally concern for the future rather than a sense of current crisis about the sufficiency and preparedness of headteachers.
What Next
The themes we’ve outlined in this post were some that struck us most forcefully. Even within these there were a range of views and experience, as well as other themes that there was not space to explore here. Diversity is one such theme we will be continuing to explore in all our case studies. There was universal recognition in City that the leaders did not reflect the diversity of the city population or of the children in schools, as well as a desire, held in common, to change that situation. Reflections on the situation were varied however, and it is an issue about which we will write separately in a future post.
Sustainable School Leadership 
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