Education Executive May 2023

ADDRESSING

How

DOES

The

TOP

How

Editor’s comment

Three bank holidays, a coronation and an EdExec LIVE event… May is certainly spoiling us! It’s been a very busy month here at EdExec HQ preparing for our EdExec LIVE North and South events, but all the planning and hard work has paid off as we welcome you all to Manchester and London for two dedicated days of SBL learning and networking. In fact, you may be reading this magazine on your way back from our event after receiving it in your welcome pack (which I’m sure is now also filled to the brim with exhibitor freebies!), if so, I hope you had a great day!

If you are at EdExec LIVE, you may have got the train and worked on your way to the event, or even if you took the opportunity to catch up on your favourite television series you haven’t had time to watch due to your hectic schedule, you probably noticed other people around you working. Since the pandemic a lot of people are now adopting the ‘work from anywhere’ flexible working approach. In this issue, Andrew Blench explores flexible working including the benefits, recent changes to legislation and impact on the SBM role.

As we all are acutely aware, schools are currently navigating an incredibly tumultuous period of financial pressures, staffing issues and national debates around pay and inspections. Stephen Mitchell shares some advice on how schools can address some of the current funding pressures and staffing issues and Sue Birchall discusses different methods that schools can use during the current financial squeeze to save money and make budgets stretch further.

If dealing with external pressures wasn’t enough, SBLs also have the additional task of managing their internal teams - a job that isn’t always a walk in the park; Phil Burton shares some practical tips to help you cope with those colleagues who may be harder to get along with. And if you’re finding it difficult to find a place to start with all of these mounting tasks, issues and pressures then Laura Williams recommends doing an ‘SBL state of the nation’ to help you organise and prioritise - turn to page 20 to learn more!

Contributors

The education sector can be difficult to navigate at times, and those in school business management play a pivotal role in steering schools to success. Tasked with everything from finance and procurement, to HR and admin, you keep the education cogs turning. Education Executive addresses the most pressing matters faced by SBMs, offering meaningful insights and practical advice.

ELEANOR POTTER Editor Education Executive

STEPHEN MITCHELL Director KeystoneKnowledge

LAURA WILLIAMS Director L J Business of Education

SUE BIRCHALL Long-standing SBL

JUSTIN SMITH MD ChameleonConsultancy

PHIL BURTON Business leader SuccessAcademyTrust

NEIL LIMBRICK Founder theEducationCollective

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Finally, it is now time to pass the editorship baton on here at Education Executive and welcome a new editor to the publication. I’d like to introduce you all to my brilliant colleague Joanna Bailey who will be taking over from myself as editor. I’d like to say thank you all for your support, contributions and readership during my time as editor and I’m sure you will all join me in saying a big congratulations and warm welcome to Joanna. As I move onto pastures new, Joanna will be at the helm of continuing our support for the SBL community so please send any article ideas her way!

Is your school doing something wonderful? Do you have an opinion or experience you’d like to share? A story suggestion? Or some advice you’d like to share with your peers?

Get in touch – email eleanor@ intelligentmedia.co.uk

As always, we’d love to hear any suggestions you have for the magazine.

If you’d like to get involved with EdExec, or if you’d like us to cover a certain topic, please do let us know. Contact joanna@ intelligentmedia.co.uk or tweet @edexec with ideas, opinions or success stories.

ELLIE POTTER & JOANNA BAILEY

EX-EDITOR & NEW EDITOR

NIGEL MILLIGAN IT technician manager StHerbert’sRCPrimarySchool

ANDREW BLENCH SBM consultant School Business Partner Limited

VAL ANDREW Programme manager Best Practice Network DSBM Level 4

NEWS & VIEWS

06 NEWS AND VIEWS

Latest school business management news in brief

08 OFSTED ‘UNFIT FOR PURPOSE’, SAYS EX-INSPECTOR

Why ex-inspector felt his role did “more harm than good”

10 SPOTLIGHT ON School capacity in England: academic year 2021-22

12 DOES YOUR SCHOOL HAVE FLEX APPEAL?

The benefits, recent changes and impact of flexible working

16 TOP TWITTER TIPS FOR YOUR SCHOOL

How to elevate your school’s use of Twitter

20 THE SBL ‘STATE OF THE NATION’

What an SBL ‘state of the nation’ is and why you should be doing it

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE MANAGEMENT

24 ADDRESSING CHALLENGES AND UNLOCKING OPPORTUNITIES

How schools can address funding pressures and staffing issues

26 DEALING WITH DIFFICULT PEOPLE

Practical tips to help you in your management of difficult peopl

30 BUDGETING IN DIFFICULT FINANCIAL TIMES

Different methods to use during the financial squeeze

ICT MATTERS

32 SWITCHED ON

The latest news and views from the world of ICT and edtech

34 GETTING A GRIP ON: CHANGE MANAGEMENT

How to implement change management effectively

36 TECHNO GEEK

Add a rocket to writing in your school

4 24

LIVE IT

38 LIVE IT

Close your eyes. Inhale. Count to five… now exhale. Time to take a few moments out for some light and interesting reading – a wellearned break from numbers and statistics!

40 BUILDING PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENCE

Alternative ways of thinking to rekindle confidence in yourself and your role

16

Editor Ellie Potter eleanor@intelligentmedia.co.uk

Sales info@intelligentmedia.co.uk

Publisher Vicki Baloch vicki@intelligentmedia.co.uk

Westfield College shaves days off IT procurement time

Probrand marketplace saves team time and money

Customer

Westfield Arts College is a 4-19 special school in Dorset serving the needs of 180 children and young people with moderate to complex learning difficulties. The IT department at Westfield Arts College, led by Richard Gould, is responsible for purchasing all the necessary IT equipment for pupils and staff.

Challenge

The procurement process for IT equipment at Westfield Arts College had become a frustrating, time consuming process. The team had to approach individual suppliers on a case by case basis, and as the college often makes purchases in relatively small quantities, little and often, repeatedly going through this process was a painful experience, with negotiation required to get the best price.

Solution

Richard found a solution in Probrand, the digital marketplace for hassle-free procurement of IT products, services, and solutions. Unlike traditional resellers, Probrand connects buyers and suppliers in an open marketplace environment, so users can compare prices and stock direct from multiple suppliers, and see pricing discounts personalised to the customer’s sector, saving both time and money.

The Probrand marketplace provides Westfield College staff with exclusive pre-approved framework discounts on education sector products such as projectors, classroom printers, and USBs. With over 300,000 products from 2,500 brands updated by the minute, Probrand’s marketplace technology saves users time by conducting over 10 million automated price checks daily. Advanced search and list building features enable users to share buying lists with others, and Probrand’s digital advisers and extended specifications make complex purchases quick and simple.

The Benefits

Since using Probrand for IT procurement, Richard and his team have managed to eliminate the tedium of their previous process. From an operational perspective, the benefits have been numerous:

• Several days shaved off of procurement time each month

• Peace of mind through transparent pricing

• Comprehensive range of products available

• Flexibility to build up orders over time or purchase single items without being penalised

The Future

Westfield Arts College is the largest special school in the south west and is linked to the Teaching Alliance of Dorset Special Schools (TADSS), an alliance of five schools that caters for a wide range of pupils with special needs and disabilities. Richard is hoping the Alliance will be able to work together in future to benefit from bulk buying discounts, as more schools within TADSS start using Probrand.

I love the fact that I can do 99% of my buying on the marketplace but there’s a human being there for me to work with if I need to!

Richard Gould, Westfield Arts College

Save time and money buying Education IT

The marketplace for hardware, services and cloud solutions

Buy direct from Authorised IT distributors & vendors

Education discounts & frameworks you’re entitled to Live price and stock visibility

Price comparison across suppliers

Extra Dynamic Discounts at checkout

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marketplace.probrand.co.uk

The latest news and views from the world of education

@ShirleySiAhmed: Schools are making staff redundant in order to balance budgets. I’ve been in the business of school finance for 10 years and I’ve never seen it so bad. Reduced numbers of staff, both in teaching and support roles, will have direct impact on the quality of children’s education

Council unveils action plan to provide special educational needs education

One-in-three young teachers in England skipping meals to make ends meet

The Guardian has reported that one-in-three young teachers in England are skipping meals and spending less on food because their pay has failed to keep up with the rising cost of living, while others are taking second jobs.

More than 8,000 state school teachers in England were contacted by the National Education Union; the survey revealed that 34% of teachers aged 29 or younger said they have been forced to skip meals to make ends meet, with one-in-five saying they have taken on a second job in addition to teaching full-time.

More than one-in-10 young teachers said they expected to no longer be working in education in two years’ time; excessive workload, a lack of trust from the government as well as pay were among the main reasons for leaving the profession.

“The constant goodwill required in order to do the job is no longer viable. I feel like I’m constantly living on the edge of a breakdown but I have no choice but to carry on. My wage no longer lasts the month and I am constantly overdrawn,” one member reported as part of the survey.

@CherylSBM: Thoughts are turning to #Term5 and what my priorities will be. If I can just locate my magic wand then all the budget worries will be over #SBLTwitter #SBM

A proposal to avert a potential shortfall of hundreds of specialist school spaces for youngsters with special needs in North Yorkshire has been unveiled, Hambleton Today has reported.

The £20m action plan could generate £22m of savings over five years; however, an officer’s report to leading members of North Yorkshire Council states that the authority’s strategy should be ‘to address the most pressing concerns’.

Officers say their best estimate is that the proposed programme would deliver 315 places against the forecast shortfall of 350 places over the next three-to five-years.

The proposed programme is focused on expanding overall specialist places, extending the range of places at mainstream schools, increasing the availability of suitable local pathways to support young people and filling two major gaps in provision across the county.

The report states the programme to expand special educational needs specialist capacity within North Yorkshire comes as the number of pupils with education health and care plans has been increasingly rapidly,

West Bromwich headteacher reseeds school pitch to save funds

BBC News has reported that a headteacher is reseeding her school’s football pitch herself because she says the budget cannot pay for it to be done professionally. Claire Evans, from Eaton Valley School in West Bromwich said “this is just how it is because there is no cash”.

The work would have cost £3,700, using up a large amount of the school’s budget. “I love my school, but I’m cross that I’ve been put in the position of having to do this,” Ms Evans said.

She has enlisted the help of her

mother and husband to reseed the pitch.

The school has already had to cut down on specialist coaches for PE, Ms Evans added, and cannot afford to revamp a playground, which she said would directly affect children.

“It fills me with dread as it’s not going to get better; it’s only going to get worse,” she said.

The government has previously said extra funding would take realterms spending on schools to ‘its highest level in history’.

Spotty road leaves residents in Colchester baffled

Giant coloured spots painted on a road have left residents perplexed, BBC News has reported. The markings appeared on Norman Way in Colchester and residents said they were told the ‘temporary street art’ was intended to encourage children to walk or cycle to the nearby school.

Some asked if it was ‘decoration or desecration’ and feared it would, instead, encourage children to play in the street. Essex County Council said it was to make streets more ‘attractive’.

The large red, green, blue and orange spots were “installed as part of the creation of a new Healthy School Street in this part of Colchester”, a council spokesperson said.

Plymouth primary school raises £23,000 to enhance pupils’ school lives

A Dartmoor primary school has raised thousands of pounds to improve the day-to-day school lives of its pupils, the Plymouth Herald has reported.

Tucked away near Ivybridge, in Cornwood village, is Cornwood Primary School. The school has just 83 pupils and, around a year ago, the school PTA - also known as the Friends of Cornwood School - along with many others involved, set out to raise £23,000 to completely update the school’s obstacle course which the children enjoy using daily.

Over the last year they’ve raised a huge amount of money to replace and renew the trail, a climbing obstacle course, which had been in place for more than 15 years and had reached the end of its ‘safe’ life. The course is a big part of the children’s school experience, enabling them to role play and let off steam, but the flooring had become threadbare and slippery when wet.

“In order for such a small school to raise the £23,000 needed for this project we could not just rely on the parents’ generosity“ Maxine Skelley, treasurer of the Friends of Cornwood School, explained. “We held a large range of events which successfully pulled together the children, parents, families and the local community. It just goes to show that, if we all work together, anything is possible!”

“It is part of a package of measures to make the street more visible - to highlight to drivers that there is a school in the vicinity.

“Healthy School Streets are designed to improve streets around schools, especially for children, aiming to make them more accessible and attractive for walking, wheeling and cycling.“

The creation of Healthy School Streets supports our aims to encourage active travel and make Essex safer, greener and healthier.”

@YoungMindsUK: Every young person should get the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what.

Ofsted ‘unfit for purpose’, says ex-inspector

Dr Martin Hanbury’s decision comes after headteacher Ruth Perry took her own life ahead of a report downgrading her school to ‘inadequate’. Teachers in the National Education Union are being urged to refuse to do inspections for England’s regulator but Ofsted has said most school leaders found them ‘constructive and collaborative’. The Department for Education said Ofsted has a ‘crucial role to play in upholding education standards and making sure children are safe in school’.

Mr Hanbury, who did not inspect Ms Perry’s school, told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that regulating schools was important but said the current system was “scrutinising” schools without giving them support. “At certain points I have felt that what I’m offering the school isn’t really helping it to improve,” said Mr Hanbury, who also runs Chatsworth Multi-Academy Trust in Salford. “To an extent, and with some people, you’re conscious that you’re causing, perhaps, more harm than good.”

Asked whether he worried that any of his 33 inspections had made teachers ill, he said, “Yes, I worry about it.” He described the one-word grading system “totally unfit for purpose”, adding “It’s a very simplistic way of describing a really complex system - it’s like trying to measure a cloud with a ruler. An inadequate school is very rarely inadequate in everything it does and,

equally, an outstanding school is never outstanding in everything it does.”

His comments came after Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, in a speech at the union’s conference urged senior school leaders not to serve as Ofsted inspectors.

“Refuse to be part of an inspection team until we have an inspectorate which commands respect, which supports schools to improve,” she said.

PAUSING INSPECTIONS

Senior leaders at the NEU conference told the BBC they believed their counterparts became inspectors to get more information about questions that could be asked about their own schools. NEU members have now voted to campaign to discourage participation as Ofsted inspectors; they also want a freeze on all inspections until a mental health impact assessment on teaching staff is carried out, and for data on work-related

suicides to be collected. School bosses of 242 academies also told the BBC that Ofsted must rethink how it does inspections.

Ofsted said they were “first and foremost for children and their parents - looking in depth at the quality of education, behaviour and how well and safely schools are run. We always want inspections to be constructive and collaborative and, in the vast majority of cases school leaders agree that they are,” it added.

The Department for Education said that inspections were crucial in upholding standards.

“They provide independent, upto-date evaluations on the quality of education, safeguarding, and leadership which parents greatly rely on to give them confidence in choosing the right school for their child,” a spokesperson said.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, who led Ofsted from 2012 until 2016, told the PM programme that it had been a “force for good” over the years, but added, “There is a groundswell of opinion building up that Ofsted is getting some things wrong.”

Describing it as an “urgent issue”, he called on education secretary Gillian Keegan to meet with Ofsted and unions to “work out what is going wrong - if someone is seriously going wrong” and make any “necessary changes”.

It’s like trying to measure a cloud with a ruler

A school leader who has recently quit as an Ofsted inspector has told the BBC he felt his role could cause “more harm than good”

Trust in print – get your FREE e-Book from PaperCut

Schools are always in the market for innovations that save them time and reduce the number of tedious and repetitive tasks they face each day. PaperCut has teamed up with the Copyright Licensing Agency to develop a new plugin that will make a real difference to teaching and office staff preparing course materials

Trust; it’s the most important foundation of any relationship. Today, hundreds of writers, academics, researchers and scientists trust the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) to reimburse them whenever a member of staff copies or prints examples of their work to share with students and the CLA trusted PaperCut to find a way to ensure that essential print and copy data is collected accurately, enabling the CLA to easily make payments to the creators it represents.

Gone is the old, laborious, process of completing a data label with the information about the source material, confirming how many pages were used, copied or scanned, before dropping the label in a box next to the MFD; that’s a burden teaching and admin staff can do without.

Thanks to the CLA Copy Button, created by PaperCut for the CLA, this process has been significantly simplified. “The CLA’s PaperCut plugin was easy and straightforward to add to our college’s PaperCut installation,” a spokesperson for the Sixth Form College in Colchester, explains. “Once added, this allowed our staff to submit data to the CLA at the touch of a button, in a quick manner, direct from the photocopier machine. Compared to manually

recording data, this simple method requires very little extra time for staff and has made the datacollecting process efficient and effective.”

The CLA and the Sixth Form College in Colchester aren’t alone in trusting PaperCut - in fact, one-in-three schools across the country have already standardised on PaperCut MF, a powerful print management solution which provides simple and affordable print management software for copiers and scanning devices.

These schools rely on it to facilitate mobile and BYOD printing so that staff and students can print from Chromebooks, Android, macOS, iOS and Windows devices. It also offers flexible and convenient print release powered by Find-Me printing.

All in, PaperCut MF makes print easy, secure and sustainable. Why not find out for yourself why so many schools have come to trust PaperCut to be their partner in print? You can also claim your FREE e-Book about print in education, here at papercut.com.

School capacity in England: academic year 2021-22

Statistics

on state-funded school places in England, as collected in the 2022 School Capacity Survey

Net change in number of school places since 2010

1,161,976

Increase of 720,770 primary and 441,206 secondary places

Net change in number of school places since previous school capacity (SCAP) survey

46,654

Increase of 5,186 primary and 41,468 secondary places

Primary

17% schools at or over capacity

Down from a high of 23% in 2016/17 and the same as 2020/21

Secondary

23% schools at or over capacity

Up from a low of 14% in 2015/16 and slightly higher than 22% in 2020/21

● There were almost nine million statefunded school places reported in 2021/22 - just under five million primary places and four million secondary places.

● The rate of primary places being added has slowed dramatically, due to the reduction in birth rates between 2012 and 2020. However, the rate of secondary places being added has continued at a steady pace, as the peak in school age population moves into the secondary phase.

● Around 18% of state-funded schools were at, or in excess of, capacity in 2021-22, a similar proportion to 2020-21 and lower than in previous years. The majority of these exceeded their capacity by fewer than 10 pupils, with around 7% of schools exceeding their capacity by 10 or more pupils.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing of School Business Leaders report

School business leaders play an essential – but often unnoticed – role in the smooth-running of schools. Yet, despite their central role in school life, and the increased interest in staff wellbeing arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, research relating to this group of staff is

Identifying this major gap in our knowledge, Education Mutual, a DfEapproved staff absence protection provider, has undertaken research to understand what aspects of their jobs affect SBL’s mental health and wellbeing.

Half of SBLs considered excessive workload as the main, work-related, factor which impacted on their mental health and wellbeing. Three main causes of excessive workload were identified - covering for colleagues, holding a wide range of responsibilities central to school functions, and reacting to regular staff queries or frequent requests from senior leaders.

The lack of understanding of the SBL role varied across schools. Issues around this were that SBLs aren’t always included in SLT meetings, school teams lacking awareness of the different functions associated with the SBL’s role, and the time it takes to undertake tasks – for example, compliance.

Many SBLs felt that their role was complex and solitary and they often felt isolated working in schools. Having someone to talk to, and share ideas with, was one of the main areas SBLs thought it would be useful to have.

So, the SBLs role is rewarding but challenging. Here are some recommendations for SBLs that we hope will help to address some of the issues highlighted by the research:

● Can you approach a colleague or senior leader to share ideas with?

● Can you join local or national groups which support networks of SBLs?

● Consider how you can foster a better understanding of your role among colleagues.

● Prioritise your mental and physical health and the ways this could be improved.

The research pointed to the following recommendations for headteachers and school leaders:

● Use this report to start a conversation with your SBLs. Do our findings chime with their experience?

● Improve awareness of the SBL role among all staff.

● Consider how you can offer all staff access to wellbeing services.

● Encourage external networking with others.

● Reassure all staff that wellbeing services are confidential.

Further recommendations are included in the report which you can read in full here: https://www. educationmutual. co.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2023/03/TheMental-Health-andWellbeing-of-SchoolBuisness-Leaders-2023.pdf’

limited

Does your school have flex appeal?

ANDREW BLENCH, SBM consultant with School Business Partner Limited, explores flexible working including the benefits, recent changes to legislation and impact on the SBM role

Agood place to start this article is probably by answering the question, ‘What is flexible working?’ ACAS defines flexible working as:

...any type of working arrangement that gives some degree of flexibility on how long, where and when an employee works. The following flexible working options are considered to be the typical arrangements that employees will request, but the organisation recognises that there may be alternatives, or a combination of options, which are suitable to both the organisation and the employee:

● annualised hours;

● compressed hours;

● flexitime;

● homeworking;

● job-sharing;

● overtime;

● part-time working;

● term-time working.

There are many potential benefits that flexible working can bring from both the employer and the employee’s viewpoint. For the school or trust as an employer the following could be seen as benefits:

● Savings on office space through flexible and remote working.

● The ability to flex staff resource to meet peaks in demand.

● Improved employee job satisfaction and wellbeing.

● Reduced sickness absence rates.

● Improved staff retention.

● Helping with recruitment.

● For the employee, flexible working benefits include:

● Allowing employees to balance changing demands in their personal lives.

● Creating space and time to pursue interests, study or other employment.

● Managing transition into retirement. The DfE has seen the benefits of encouraging flexible working as a response to teacher workload and retention challenges. Flexible working can be an important tool in retaining teachers and other staff who are nearing the end of their careerscreating the option to gradually reduce or change working arrangements in the years running up to stopping work all together.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT AS AN SBM

The right to request flexible working is a statutory right and, therefore, an employer can’t take the stance ‘Oh we don’t do that around here’. It applies to all staff and not just those with children or caring responsibilities.

An employee has the right to make a formal application (called a ‘statutory application’) for flexible working once they have been employed for 26 consecutive weeks; they can only have one application considered in any 12-month period. Employers have a duty to consider applications in a reasonable manner. Note that there isn’t a right to be granted flexible working, but there is a legal requirement that applications are given proper and reasonable consideration.

Employers can refuse applications for flexible working but have to give the reasons for doing so after having considered the pros and cons of granting the request. Some of the legitimate reasons for refusal of a flexible working request include:

● There will be extra costs incurred that will damage the business.

● The work cannot be reorganised among other staff.

● People cannot be recruited to do the work.

● Flexible working will affect quality and performance.

● The business will not be able to meet customer demand.

● There’s a lack of work to do during the proposed working times.

● The business is planning changes to the workforce.

Where employers can’t immediately grant the request in the way that the employee has asked for, there is an expectation that the employer will meet with the employee and explore other alternative options for flexible working and, when a request is refused, there is a right of appeal for the employee.

All of this needs to be managed formally with an application form, and supporting letters and processes which should comply with ACAS guidance - see the Acas Code of Practice on handling flexible working requests | Acas; it’s important to have a process which is fair, equitable and transparent.

It’s worth noting that employees who are not happy with the way their application has been handled can apply to an employment tribunal for redress. Employers also need to be mindful of the protected characteristics in the Equalities Act and to not discriminate against anyone applying for flexible working. This is particularly important when considering applications for part-time working, which can come from female employees with caring responsibilities.

WHERE IS YOUR FLEXIBLE WORKING POLICY?

Most SBMs will be familiar with the list of statutory policies published on gov.uk that schools must have in place (see Statutory policies for schools and academy trusts - GOV.UK (www. gov.uk)); unfortunately, this list is not all-encompassing and, therefore, does not include the requirement to have a flexible working policy.

As the right to request flexible working is a statutory requirement my advice would be to make sure that you have a policy which is reviewed regularly - this can be part of another policy; your leave of absence policy might be an example. Both The School Bus and ACAS websites offer sample flexible working policies which can be adapted to your trust or school. (Flexible working policy template | Acas Flexible Working Policy- TheSchoolBus) Additionally, your local authority or academy trust central office may have a policy which applies to all of their schools. The gov. uk website also contains a basic flexible working application form - request flexible working: application form template - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

DO YOU HAVE A CLEAR PROCESS, AND WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?

It is possible to grant flexible working outside of a formal request and process; this may happen in instances when this is not a contentious decision. Having said this, my advice would be to always follow a formal process as, over time,

Challenges to decisions made can occur some time in the future, so it’s useful to have everything properly documented

memories can fade and people move on; challenges to decisions made can occur some time in the future, so it’s useful to have everything properly documented.

I have seen policies which state that employees need to submit an application in writing, but the policy doesn’t suggest a format in which that written application should be made, so I would encourage you to have an application template - key things to include are:

● the actual change or changes that the employee wants you to consider;

● the start date;

● how they think that any impacts on workload colleagues and pupils can be managed.

On this last point it’s worth bearing in mind that this is a two-way conversation - the onus shouldn’t be solely upon the applicant to make this work. The danger is that if the employer doesn’t properly explore with employees how things can be made to work, the employee may have a case to take to appeal, or a potential case of discrimination.

Think about who will receive and consider any applications; in most settings this will be the headteacher

but, in others, the application may go straight to governors. If governors consider all applications then care must be taken to exclude some governors from the process in case they are needed at a later stage to hear an appeal.

CHANGES TO FLEXIBLE WORKING LEGISLATION

A private members bill was submitted to parliament in the autumn term of 2022. The government indicated at that time that it would support its passage through the house of parliament but it appears that its progress may have stalled. If this does find its way onto the statute books it

will give employees the right to request flexible working from day one of their employment and will also allow two applications for flexible working in a 12-month period - so watch this space!

RECRUITMENT

Whilst the right to request flexible working only applies currently to those who have been in employment for 26 weeks, schools should consider each vacancy on its own merits and be open to different ways of filling it, or meeting the need the vacancy is addressing. Flexible working is about having a flexible mindset as well. It challenges the mantra of ‘Well, we’ve always done things this way, and it worked fine, so why change?’

Emerging from the pandemic many schools have experienced difficulties in recruiting; we are also aware of a changing mindset in society in general to the world of work. There is a sense that people are less willing to let work dominate their lives and a reprioritisation of what really matters.

Some small concessions on our part to the changing labour market will pay big dividends in the longer term.

Flexible working is about having a flexible mindset as well

SupplyWell, the flexible workforce solution, expands into Manchester and Cardiff

Over a third of schools across the Liverpool City Region have benefited from SupplyWell’s flexible workforce approach to supply, and now SupplyWell has announced expansion into two new regions of the UK – Manchester and Cardiff

SupplyWell provides a seamless experience for both schools and teachers using our digital supply platform; we help schools connect directly with amazing teachers, teaching assistants and cover supervisors. Built by a team of teachers and senior leaders who have experienced the challenges of supply and recruitment first hand, rather than ‘techies’ operating in the education space, we are teachers working with tech.

This move into Manchester and Cardiff comes as a result of our continued growth and success in helping schools and teachers find the right match. Our flexible workforce approach to tackling supply means that schools have an extension to their team, and access to trusted members of teaching staff whenever they are needed. Ultimately, schools are paying less for consistency and high quality teachers, teaching assistants and cover supervisors, and the educators provided are paid fairly, teach happier, and have their wellbeing treated as a priority.

There are challenges facing the

education sector, and SupplyWell’s innovative approach to supply has become an increasingly popular option for managing absence. Manchester, in particular, has been identified as an area with a high need for supply teachers due to its expanding population and growing number of schools. SupplyWell’s entry into the market is expected to provide a muchneeded solution for schools in the area.

PERFECT MATCHES

Similarly, Cardiff has also been identified as an area in need of reliable and efficient education recruitment solutions; the growing number of schools in the region has seen the demand for teachers and support staff increase significantly.

With the expansion into Manchester and Cardiff, SupplyWell is set to make a significant impact on the education recruitment market, transforming the way schools and teachers find their perfect matches.

“We are thrilled to be expanding into Manchester and Cardiff,” SupplyWell’s

CEO and co-founder, Michael Heverin, says. “We believe our innovative platform will provide a much-needed solution for schools in these regions, helping them to find the right staff quickly and efficiently. We are committed to revolutionising the education recruitment market, and this expansion is just the beginning of our journey.”

SupplyWell’s entry into Manchester and Cardiff marks a significant milestone for the company, as it continues to grow and expand its services. With its innovative approach to recruitment, and a focus on customer satisfaction, SupplyWell is set to become a leading player in the education recruitment market.

If you want to find out more about SupplyWell, and access your flexible workforce while saving your school money, give us a call 0333 305 0601 or email hello@supplywell.co.uk

Top Twitter tips for your school

Twitter offers schools an incredibly costeffective way of promoting events, celebrating the amazing things that go on in the classroom, providing useful information and even gathering opinions on all sorts of things that may be of interest to school leaders. Used well, Twitter, like all social media platforms, can be a very useful tool in the school marketing toolbox. Here are my top five tips to help you make the most of Twitter.

1

BE CONSISTENT AND PERSISTENT!

Tweeting once in a blue moon is unlikely to engage anyone, or build your audience, so, plan ahead; schedule what you want to promote and use a ‘social media template’ to make life easy for whoever is responsible for social media in school.

This simple template is a great aide-memoire, reminding you to keep to the character count and cover the essential aspects of a catchy article – who, what, where, when and why. You’ll have 280 characters as a limit so use them wisely! If you’d like a copy of our template you can use for your school just get in touch.

2EXTEND YOUR REACH

You may be familiar with the terms ‘handle’ and ‘hashtag’; these are used to bring others into the conversation and ensure your posts find the people you’re looking to reach. Advertise your Twitter handle (mine is @jus_chameleon, for example) and, if you’re referring to someone else in your message, make sure you quote their handle too so that they’re brought into the conversation and your coverage is increased. Including a hashtag gives your tweet context and allows people to easily follow topics that they’re interested in.

3

SHARE SPECIAL MOMENTS AND USE VIDEO

It comes as no surprise that the tweets most likely to be shared and liked contain images or video. Our schools are full of memorable human-interest stories and capturing these can create a real buzz. Research from Twitter themselves suggests that tweets containing images or video attract two or three times more views than tweets that rely purely on text only - but don’t forget to obtain the necessary permissions before publishing

JUSTIN SMITH, founder, Chameleon Consultancy, gives his #topfivetips to help elevate your school’s use of, and presence on, Twitter

4

INVEST TIME IN FOLLOWING AND RESPONDING

We all appreciate that effective communication works both ways - it’s important to listen and pay attention to others. Make the time to respond promptly to any mentions or direct messages; ignoring them, or taking time to reply, just alienates your followers and closes down a potentially really useful conversation thread. Don’t forget to share and retweet other messages from followers and to ‘like’ their content too! Like any effective network, it takes time to build up a following, so make the effort; invest some time and resources – it could make all the difference.

Another investment worth making is in training and supporting the member of staff responsible for leading on social media, or wider communications, in your school. This is a big responsibility and must be taken seriously. Twitter is just one form of communication used by your school, and it can play a part in underpinning your marketing efforts, but remember that successful marketing includes how you respond to a crisis, how you mitigate and assess risks and how you build a strong reputation that can be resilient to the inevitable crises that comes our way. The way your school responds and communicates during these times can live long in the memory of your stakeholders.

5AND FINALLY….

My top four tips are there to help you make the most of this great marketing medium but, predictably, there is always a risk with school communications so my fifth tip is to not do something!

If the school social media account is receiving negative messages from a disgruntled parent, your first action must be to politely acknowledge the message and then make efforts to take the conversation offline. Resist the urge to respond in kind and never get into a ‘slagging match’!

It might sound obvious but, in the heat of the moment, things are said and done that cannot be undone; take these conversations offline and deal with them in the appropriate way. Make sure you have policies and procedures in place so there are no ambiguities with how staff should react or respond to a situation - perhaps consider a simple flowchart as an aide-memoire so that staff can see at a glance what they ought to do in a given situation.

If you need help developing a social media presence, or a wider communications strategy for your school, just get in touch. www.chameleon-training.co.uk justin@chameleon-training.co.uk

It comes as no surprise that the tweets most likely to be shared and liked contain images or video

Driving MAT transformation with better connected data

A recent survey conducted by IRIS Education found that Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) are struggling with data consolidation, management, and reporting1.

Over half of the MAT leaders surveyed without a data management team in place reported that it was ‘difficult’ or ‘very difficult’ for them to combine information from different sources to better understand pupil data and the performance of their trust.

Similarly, over a quarter of MATs with a staff member or team dedicated to data management expressed that effective data consolidation, analysis and interpretation is a key challenge for them.

All too often, by the time MATs have the data they require – manually extracted and consolidated from multiple disjointed systems and spreadsheets – it’s likely already out of date.

For MAT data to live up to its potential, it must be better connected.

The case for data consolidation

The ability to compare data – such as attendance, absence, and attainment – can reveal themes and help MAT leaders understand what is going on, from trust down to individual pupil level.

Better connected data can support trusts to make timely, effective interventions and develop evidence-based strategies to improve organisation-wide performance. For example, while a digital register can be a fantastic tool, being able to spot a pattern of absence, investigate why the pupil isn’t attending school, and put safeguarding interventions in place is even better.

Better connected data positively impacts MAT operations in four key ways:

Enabling early interventions

Empowers staff to make improvements

Enables standardisation and best practice across a trust

Supports mergers and acquisitions.

1 IRIS Education Leaders Survey – March 2023

Unlock the potential of MAT data with IRIS Central

IRIS Central, supports MATs to harness the full potential of their data. It collates data from various systems and MIS platforms used by schools across the group, to provide a single, centralised view in real-time and comprehensive trust-wide reporting.

IRIS Central changes the way MATs use data. Dashboards present easy to digest information, helping MAT leaders understand the story their data is telling them. The intuitive system empowers MATs to track trends over time and drill down at a school, year, or pupil record level to understand why a year group is thriving or a pupil is struggling.

Having access to powerful, up-to-date analytics empowers MATs to make meaningful, data-driven decisions quickly and easily. With IRIS Central, it’s easy to track trends, replicate successes, and make early interventions where needed.

Functionality at your fingertips

Cloud-based and accessible anywhere, IRIS Central offers MATs a host of features and benefits designed to transform MAT performance for the better. Some favourites include:

• A trust-wide view of dataIRIS Central seamlessly pulls data from multiple sources and systems into one place, analyses this information and presents key findings in user-friendly, accessible and filterable dashboards.

• Focus on the data that is important to your trust – with more than 25 pre-built dashboards, plus the ability to build your own dashboards, you can take a more strategic approach with data. The Attendance dashboards are particularly popular. Cross reference with other information, such as key stage assessments, helps MATs to monitor absences, identify trends,

and enable targeted and timely interventions.

• Benchmarking – external benchmarking data allows comparisons with the national or more local picture for attendance, results, staff absence and more. IRIS Central can bring data from many sources (including DfE, IDACI, OFSTED) into the picture seamlessly to give reliable benchmarks for schools and trusts.

“IRIS Central is an exciting, robust solution that is revolutionising our central Trust databases. It ensures our leaders are empowered to spend more time on creating a better experience for our pupils.”

Democratising data, improving MAT performance

Flexible by nature, IRIS Central makes data work for everyone - transcending the confines of the data manager’s office by allowing MATs to set up permissions so that staff across the group have access to the specific data they need to excel in their role.

And with all MAT data in one place, data becomes instantly actionable. Staff spend less time collecting data from various sources and spreadsheets and more time using the data insights to improve performance and champion better outcomes for pupils.

David Houghton, Chief Operating Officer, of Kernow Learning

comments,

The SBL ‘state of the nation’

When the overwhelm kicks in (which it inevitably does) our first instinct as an SBL is to keep running headlong into the fray, cape billowing and sword scything through anything that threatens to stop us.

We do this in the vain hope that, at some point, we’ll reach the end of the jungle and find ourselves standing on a tranquil, white, sandy beach with calm, crystal clear seas lapping at the shore.

However, what usually happens is we run out of puff as the seemingly endless jungle just gets darker and thicker, or we reach what we think is the idyllic slice of sand and instead find ourselves teetering on the edge of a mountain about to go over on a mud slide.

The life of a SBL, eh?

When the crazy becomes chaos, and the overwhelm becomes truly overwhelming, the thing I advise SBLs to do is something that goes against every natural instinct that we have.

Stop.

Stop right where you are.

Ignore the emails, shut your door, switch off the phone and just stop.

Not just for a cup of tea - though I’m sure that will help too - but to do something that I like to call a ‘state of the nation’.

To me, in SBL world, a ‘state of the nation’ is a work-appropriate way to refer to what is otherwise known as getting your *bleep* together and regrouping!

● You don’t know what you should be doing right now if there is too much to do.

● You don’t know if you’re doing the right things when technically they are ALL the right things.

● You don’t know if everything on your list is really your job or something that you should be dealing with right now if you don’t know everything that is on your list.

● You don’t know if you’re going to miss a deadline if you only know some of them, not all of them.

Ultimately, if you can’t see everything from where you’re sitting, if you don’t know the true state of your nation, then you may well end up going over the edge of the mountain on that mud slide. Here’s a quick process I use and recommend to other SBLs.

STEP 1: GATHER EVERYTHING TOGETHER

If you have jobs flagged in your inbox, tasks listed in a task app, post-its stuck to your monitor, notes scribbled in your diary, an Excel sheet of ‘projects’ colour-coded and tabbed by department, and a random file of papers on the end of your desk that

you know you need to get to but never open… sweep off your desk, get a blank sheet of A4 and take one clump of stuff at a time and start making a list (I used to find a white board good for this too - made me feel like Carol Vorderman!)

STEP 2: ASSESS AND CATEGORISE

Review the list and assess each task for both urgency and type - things like ‘budget report for next governor meeting’ and ‘complete school workforce return’ may be on your urgent list as they are pressing, with imminent external deadlines.

Put your urgent list to one side; we’ll come back to it later and you may need to add to it when you start working through the rest of your list.

Anything that isn’t urgent – that is, due within the next two-three weekscategorise into types of task. There are different ways to do this and, as you do this more often, you’ll develop your own categories. However, when you’re starting out, just keep it as simple as you can.

Category 1: Bitesize jobs/admin jobs –quick wins, transactional tasks, necessary and not too brain heavy such as answer the email about free school meals, check that the PAT testing has been scheduled, remind the admin team about parents’

LAURA WILLIAMS, school leadership coach, trainer and SBL podcast host, explains what exactly a SBL ‘state of the nation is’, and why you should be doing it

evening and check everything is arranged, book the meeting room for your meeting with the HR manager, etc. These jobs go out as fast as they come in but they are necessary tasks to keep the wheels of operation turning efficiently.

Category 2: Focused jobs – writing governor reports, doing monthend, preparing a tender document, reviewing expenditure for a budget meeting, planning for a health and safety audit, reviewing policies, writing a business case for a new piece of software, updating risk assessments, line management meetings, completing returns for the DfE/LA/ESFA.

These jobs are jobs you know how to do, and you do them well; you just need the time to focus and to get into the right headspace to get them done. Usually, these jobs are left to the last possible minute and then done in a rush even though you meant to/want to/need to spend longer on them.

Category 3: Projects – capital works programme for the year, staffing restructure, re-tendering ICT contracts, creating a new marketing strategy to improve recruitment of staff, reviewing teaching staff costs, benchmarking and suggestion of cost savings, implementing a new HR system, reviewing GDPR systems, processes and policies, expanding the nursery provision - these jobs are one line on your to-do list but, when you unpack them, they are a to-do list in their own right! They have multiple steps, involve multiple people, require an element of creativity as well as logistical planning and require careful monitoring to ensure you achieve what you want to

in the timeframe you need with nothing going sideways.

Most SBLs spend their time stuck in Category 1/firefighting mode, rarely getting to Category 2 and even more rarely to Category 3 - and when we do make it there, the wheels start to fall off as the bitty stuff isn’t getting done and we don’t have enough time to be strategic or give any real thought to the stuff that matters as someone is knocking at our bloody door again!

The grind is real, right?

Right.

Ok, so this state of the nation we’re doing right now – this is where it’s at.

If you do this every half term (and you’ll need a good three hours to bottom it) you’ll still feel like you’re running to stand still but you probably won’t go over that cliff.

If you do it every three weeks, you’ll need an hour max and you’ll feel much more secure that you’re not missing anything, that your deadlines are covered and that, when it comes to looking ahead, you’ve got a clear vision as to where you’re going.

STEP 3: PLAN WORKLOAD ACCORDINGLY

Now, of course, to make sure that this is more than just a collation exercise and some added paper shuffling, you need to use what you learn from it to plan out

your workload accordingly.

First of all, bump all of your urgent jobs to the front and add them to your calendar/diary/daily to-do lists. This way you know that you’re working on the right things at the right time and with enough time to spare.

Next, look at your lists for Categories 2 and 3. Take into account deadlines, school priorities, the input you might need from other people and the impact that this will have on your timeline and start dropping these into your calendar/diary/to-do lists.

Time block your calendar to write reports, complete returns etc. (the focused jobs) and break down your Category 3 items into mini-task lists and milestones that can be dropped into Categories 1 and 2. These tasks will then make cumulative progress so the further out you can plan for them, and the more you can break them down, the easier it will be to stay on top of them and get them done (and you’ll also feel like you’re making progress, which is essential to staying sane!).

The to-do list is never done - the SBL mantra.

We can’t dictate the length of the todo list, and we often can’t set deadlines, but when you can see the state of the nation for what it truly is you’ll be in a position to confidently set your own priorities, take control of your workload and cut your way through the chaos like the superhero you are!

Ignore the emails, shut your door, switch off the phone and just stop

The three ways to ensure you’re getting the best deal on your IT equipment

Nobody likes experiencing that sinking feeling that you’ve either overpaid or bought the ‘wrong’ product; the good news is that there is a better way. Ian Nethercot, MCIPS, supply chain director, Probrand, explores how you can overcome the stormy world of IT purchasing and enter a new era where everyone feels confident to navigate and negotiate the very best deal

The IT industry is one of the most complex markets in the world and experiences thousands of price changes and product introductions per day. To browse that many products and manually compare specification, stock availability and cost is a near impossible taskthere simply aren’t enough hours in the day. Just trying to find the right product is challenging enough, let alone keeping ahead of the latest innovations. This is particularly frustrating for the education sector as it faces increased pressure to deliver a digital curriculum. Here are three key pieces of advice to guide you on your IT procurement journey.

1EMBRACE DIGITAL

Given the volatility in the IT market over recent years, it has never been more important for buyers to deploy digital solutions to help them work faster and smarter. Procurement teams shouldn’t be wasting time on processes that can be automated – for example, hanging around waiting for purchase orders which could be approved almost instantly. Adopting digital platforms allows procurement teams to improve efficiency and free-up time that can be spent more strategically – building relationships with suppliers and planning future purchases to ensure they are acquiring the best products at the best time and the best price.

2COMPARE THE MARKET

Much of the equipment purchased for education will require a lower specification than private sector organisations – and can also be restricted by smaller budgets. Lots of products are designed with this in mind and are manufactured specifically for the needs of the education market. So, your first step is to make sure you’re taking a closer look at the specification of products to ensure you aren’t paying over the odds for something that does more than you need it to.

Digital platforms can make this process much easier by offering the ability to select multiple products and view a direct comparison in just a few seconds. This might look at things like the operating system or the battery lifespan, as well as dimensions and weight. If you’re struggling to choose between two products that are nearly identical in price, reviewing the specification can help you to become more informed about which product is going to suit your needs and give you the biggest bang for your buck.

3GO GREEN

Finally, it’s worth looking at refurbished and renewed IT equipment which can be somewhere between 30-40% cheaper than brand new devices. Equipment purchased through an authorised, accredited, platform will be inspected and tested as being fully functional, and many items come with a two-year warranty for peace of mind. Of course, there is also an environmental argument to this approach which may help contribute to any sustainability objectives you are trying to achieve as an organisation.

By following these steps educators can rid themselves of the headaches associated with traditional ways of buying IT and spend more time on activities that are driving innovation and creating the best possible learning environments. The best news is that all of these can be achieved, safe in the knowledge that you are bringing spending under control and getting the best value.

ABOUT PROBAND

At Probrand we understand that buying education IT is challenging, with purchasing processes to follow, demand for the best price and a need for technical advice you can trust.

Our unique digital marketplace saves you time and money by doing all the hard work for you - from price comparison and ‘live’ price and stock updates, to automatically delivering educationspecific discounts you’re entitled to direct from vendors and distributors. Our specialist education team is experienced in hardware provision, install, and migration away from proprietary providers.

Register for free at marketplace. probrand.co.uk

Addressing challenges and unlocking opportunities

of Keystone

,

shares some

funding

The UK education sector is currently facing a myriad of challenges including funding pressures, staffing shortages and the ongoing impact of these issues on the quality of education. As schools and trusts navigate this complex landscape, the need for innovative and responsible strategies to address these challenges becomes increasingly apparent. This article aims to identify key recruitment, retention and reward strategies for schools which can be used during these difficult times.

RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES: ATTRACTING TOP TALENT Creating attractive job offers and benefits packages

Competitive salaries, professional development opportunities and work-life balance initiatives should be at the core of any attractive job offer. We don’t have much freedom in our world where we live with national pay scales etc., but be sure to consider what you can afford to pay. By offering competitive

remuneration and a strong focus on personal growth and wellbeing, schools can entice highly qualified candidates to join their teams and differentiate themselves from others.

Strengthening your organisational branding

It is no accident that we’re seeing much better-quality recruitment packs now across the sector – a few years ago, adverts were placed with some text in a document, and the ubiquitous job description; now we see landing pages on websites and well-designed candidate information packs. Producing something that is appealing is a key part of ensuring you’re attracting people to look at you. We are also seeing a greater focus on trusts developing their employer branding, and offering roles within their schools, rather than individual schools specifically advertising.

Building partnerships with universities and teacher training programmes

Establishing strong relationships with universities and teacher training programmes can help schools identify and attract talent early in their careers. Apprenticeships can further enhance these relationships and provide a pipeline of potential employees - the apprenticeship levy is still massively underused across our school system, and is a route where you can find extra capacity, and future superstars.

RETENTION STRATEGIES: KEEPING VALUED STAFF Investing in CPD and career progression

Continued training and development programmes are

STEPHEN MITCHELL

founder

Knowledge,

advice on how schools can address the current

pressures and staffing issues they are experiencing

essential for staff retention. Offering opportunities for career advancement enables schools and MATs to demonstrate their commitment to staff growth and ensure employees feel valued and motivated. Is your CPD programme a range of after school CPD sessions offered by your staff? Are these properly planned and structured. Could you look at it afresh, and put a rolling programme in which is then advertised to other local schools to encourage attendance?

Enhancing staff wellbeing and work-life balance

Supporting mental health, offering flexible working arrangements and implementing family-friendly leave policies can help to promote staff well-being and work-life balance. These measures will not only contribute to staff retention but can also improve overall productivity and job satisfaction. Flexible working is often seen as challenging for us to deliver in schools, but there is an increasing number of organisations that are now looking to see how remote working can be sustainably achieved.

REWARD STRATEGIES: MOTIVATING AND RECOGNISING STAFF Performance-based rewards and incentives

The recent pay offer from the government contained a subline which was interesting, and didn’t really get much traction, because it was lost in the wider issue. We have moved towards performance-related pay (PRP) over the last few years, and this can be a really strong tool for empowering and supporting colleagues. The government appeared to

offer a route whereby PRP was being removed - this should be something that will impact on future consultations on pay policies across the land.

Recognising and celebrating staff achievements

Awards, recognition programmes and sharing success stories within the school/trust and beyond can help acknowledge and celebrate staff achievements. This approach not only boosts morale but also reinforces the values and goals of the organisation.

Encouraging staff innovation and collaboration

Providing opportunities for staff to contribute ideas and rewarding teamwork and collaboration can foster a culture of innovation and co-operation - by nurturing a collaborative environment, schools can unlock new solutions and drive positive change.

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LEADING SCHOOLS Key recommendations

Those schools and trusts which are going to thrive should prioritise the recruitment, retention and reward strategies outlined above, ensuring they are tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of their organisations

Implementing and monitoring progress

Developing an action plan for implementing these strategies, and measuring their success, and impact is crucial. By setting clear objectives, timelines and success metrics, schools and MATs can effectively track their progress and make data-driven decisions to refine their approach.

I’ll be writing in future editions about the balanced scorecard approach and how this can really help you lock these kinds of programmes into the day to day busy-ness of your work. 

Competitive salaries, professional development opportunities and worklife balance initiatives should be at the core of any attractive job offer

Dealing with difficult people

Having to deal with difficult people is tough; it’s something that we all have to do from time-to-time and no-one really enjoys it. An unpleasant person can have the effect of playing on your mind for a long time. There are a host of difficult people in the workplace including those negativity spreaders (mood hoovers), gossipmongers, terrible team players, the blamers, the responsibility avoiders and the just plain and downright dishonest.

So how do we manage these people? To coin a phrase that I’ve heard a lot on the SBL Twitter – ‘It’s time to put on your big pants on and get on with it’ – when it comes to dealing with difficult people.

1

Practice – if you don’t like the idea of managing difficult people rehearse it and keep practicing – you will get better at it.

that you may not be able to solve their issues as this may just not be practicable.

3 Use humour – sometimes a laugh and a joke can break down barriers and reduce conflict; it can remind us that we share common ground and even move us towards a more collaborative workplace.

4 Wear their shoes – see things from their point of view. Would you behave in a similar way if you were them? You don’t have to agree with them, but showing some empathy may open doors to two-way communication with respect and compassion.

2

Listen to them – it is easy to go in with a preconceived idea about what the individual will be like and this is, sometimes, not the real person. Take time to listen to them and use it as an opportunity to exercise curiosity. Try to understand what they want and why they are being difficult. Remember, however,

5 Reach an agreement – sometimes compromise feels like you have lost the battle; however, this could just be a small stepping stone into winning the war! If you reach an agreement both of you will get something out of the conversation and small steps will be made – your difficult person may even become a little more pleasant.

6 Have a buffer – set a limit on the time being spent with them; do it in a neutral space and, if necessary, don’t interact alone.

7 Create an exit plan – sometimes it is not worth engaging when emotions are too high; we may get too absorbed in the

moment simply forget to just leave. If you are having a hard time dealing with a staff member remember that you have that ‘other meeting’ to attend, or offer to pick it up another time.

Dealing with people can be really difficult but, very often, when you start the relationship it changes for the better and they become an engaged member of the team. Having these conversations, whilst incredibly painful, can have positive outcomes.

What if it all goes wrong? You will need to refer it to HR, or reach out to your line manager for assistance. If your conflict is around bullying, harassment, inappropriate conduct or threats you must proceed with your grievance procedures via your line management.

Unfortunately, not everyone in life is going to be easy to deal with…

PHIL BURTON, business leader at Success Academy Trust, shares some practical tips to help you cope with those who may be harder to get along with

Having these conversations, whilst incredibly painful, can have positive outcomes

Is it time we said ‘goodbye’

to multi-tasking?

When a new email lands in your inbox, how quickly do you react?

Back in 2001, Thomas Jackson published research showing that office workers reacted to most of their incoming emails within six seconds. Speedy! Work resumed over a minute (64 seconds) later, with emails found to interrupt work 96 times in a typical eight-hour workday. This research was conducted over two decades ago, so consider how many disruptions are currently caused given that the present-day worker receives an average of 120 emails every single day!

What’s the relevance of these interruptions to your role as a SBL? Whilst you might take advantage of muting notifications to lessen distractions, you won’t be immune to the effects of multi-tasking. Contrary to popular belief, doing more than one task at a time can take a toll on productivity, whether that’s immediately opening that red email icon that’s disrupted your current workflow, or juggling five ‘priority’ jobs.

You won’t be immune to the effects of multi-tasking

from your MIS and inputting it into your payroll process. When you’ve got more than one system open, you’re multi-tasking – and you’re using up valuable time simply moving between different digital environments. Though each switch could be as miniscule as a few tenths of a second, they can add up to significant amounts when you’re repeatedly moving back and forth between tasks. Reducing the need for your team to multi-task - or togglebetween numerous systems to complete a single task improves the efficiency of the activity, and decreases room for error. In school and MAT central teams, this starts with having as much information as you can relating to one particular activity in a single, central place.

Find

Multi-taskers are often lauded for their seeming ability to undertake numerous activities at a single time, but the truth is that even brief mental blocks created by switching between tasks can cost up to 40% of a person’s ‘productive’ time. That's according to David Meyer, PhD, and it also applies to the time your team spends toggling between different e-systems to complete a single task - for example, extracting employee absence information

One-stop systems to manage activities like HR and compliance mean your team isn’t having to spend time moving from one system to another, or remembering the most effective way to use them! They’re familiar with the appearance, navigation and the way they work, meaning they’re also more likely to feel confident to use their initiative to problemsolve. This leads to greater staff satisfaction, helping to reduce both minor and major frustrations that can build up over time and cause a greater problem down the line. In a busy world where time feels increasingly tight, using it wisely is key - and we’re here to help you unlock the true power of your time!

EBB Office & Paper –the paper experts

Elliott Baxter and Company Limited (also known as EBB) is the leading independent paper merchant in the UK

The organisation has been owned by the Elliott family since it was established over 100 years ago and is now into its fourth generation of Elliott ownership and management supplying paper and board products to the whole of the UK and Ireland. EBB Office & Paper is a specialist division within the group, dedicated to supplying the education sector across the UK.

We have our own fleet of delivery vehicles delivering stock across the country from one of our ten state-of-the-art storage and distribution centres, the majority of orders are delivered next day, free of charge - our bright yellow lorries can’t be missed! EBB policy is to stock paper in significant depth locally to customers, offering maximum choice with unrivalled delivery. Our range of copier papers include options for all budgets and orders can be for a box right up to whole pallet-loads. We offer storage/call-off facilities for those customers with limited on-site storage capacity ensuring you get the most out of your paper budget.

Our paper ranges carry the highest environmental certifications, so you can be confident that the raw materials used to make the paper are from sustainable sources and well-managed forests - we can advise on sustainability and environmental certifications within the paper industry and what they mean. As a paper merchant, we work directly with manufacturing mills, therefore, unlike many

MEET THE TEAM

paper suppliers within the education sector, our supply is direct from the manufacturing source. Thus, by purchasing from EBB, you are buying direct and cutting out the middle man! As well as stocking copier paper, white and tinted paper/card and coated/uncoated paper ranges, we are also able to supply labels, envelopes and over 20,000 stationery products. Catch us at EdExec LIVE 2023 on 7th June, where we will have samples of our products and where our team of paper experts will be on hand to use their knowledge to share best practice for paper products, advising on how to get the best out of the paper you buy. The EBB team will also be holding their first ever seminar discussing the role of paper within the education sector. The seminar, entitled ‘Think You Know Paper?’, will cover topics concerning buying and using paper within the education sector and how to get the best out of the paper you buy. We look forward to welcoming you to our stand on 7th June, and discussing your paper and stationery requirements with you.

T: 08456 005 004

E: officesales@ebbgroup.com www.ebboffice.co.uk

Steve Tinniswood EBB office divisional manager

Abu Siddique Sales office manager

Dan Trussler Business development

Andrew Wood Sales rep Rhiannon Janes Admin support

Budgeting in difficult financial times

We find ourselves once again facing times of financial hardship and, on a personal level, in times of austerity the sensible course of action is to economise and prioritise the essentials. I’m sure I am not the only one who is shocked at the significant rise in the cost of everyday items, and the massive increase in day-to-day living expenses. I am now more likely to avoid the items I don’t need, and look at alternative options for purchasing items that, up until now, I have always taken for granted.

Being of the vintage that I am, I have been here before a couple of times, and it is true that there is always an end - be it not when you expect or sometimes want; the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ does eventually appear. In the meantime, what the current situation does do is re-introduce half-forgotten behaviours and attitudes as coping mechanisms for where we are. Economising and limiting yourself to only having the essentials are part of that, but there are also many other options that are available to you in times of hardship.

I could spend some time giving anecdotes and examples - like how much cheaper it is to make your own cakes, share lifts, eat in, etc., but the purpose of this article is to identify how these behaviours can be transferred from personal experience to business practises in schools.

In education, even just the essentials are

often expensive and hard to afford. In the current climate of increasing pay for all staff, the most expensive resource is the most volatile, and costs are increasing rapidly. Add to this the significant rise in energy costs, and the effect that all of this has on supply, and we have the ‘perfect storm’. With schools and academies having different levels of reserves, the ability to survive in this situation is varied but no less worrying for us all.

We have been fortunate in the last few years (fortunate coming from the Latin word fortunatus, meaning ‘prospered’, ‘prosperous’ or ‘lucky’, so you might not agree with this adjective to describe our finances!) to have received ongoing increases in funding. According to government statistics found at https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov. uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics this has amounted to a rise in per mainstream pupil funding of 44% since the 2010-11 school year. For some, this has not been enough but, for others, it has fostered a spending pattern which has been rising in line with income.

This is not an unusual phenomenon; it is a known human condition to live within your means. What this does mean, however, is that when times of financial hardship come upon us, we need to have a change of mindset regarding our spending. There are some positives to this; if you have been over-supplying, investing in future-proofing technology or over-staffing,

SUE BIRCHALL, longstanding SBL, discusses different methods that schools can use during the current financial squeeze to save money and make their budgets stretch further

for instance, you have a readily identified area where you can make some significant savings. Investment in buildings, IT and resources may mean that you are able to cut back on resource expenditure in these areas whilst times are lean, and you re-configure your budgeting.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

There are tools out there to help you with this. The integrated financial planning model, championed by the DfE and ISBL, is great for helping you cost and plan your largest spends around your curriculum planning and staffing. Alongside this are the various benchmarking tools that can be used to assess and highlight areas in your budget that might need a closer look. Social media is a good place to gain ideas and comparisons with other schools and academies, along with research which can help to guide good practice and, perhaps, reign in some of those extraneous expenses.

There are also the more basic aspects of efficiency - making sure that we are getting the best value for our schools is always important. It is very true that education can be seen as a soft target; how often have you picked up the ‘phone, or opened an email, straight after the government has published some new funding, suddenly finding yourself in demand by all sorts of suppliers who would like to show you how to spend it?

Always making sure that you are ‘testing’

the market, even if you have always used a certain supplier, can ensure that the prices that you are charged are fair and proportionate. Using frameworks such as such as those recommended by the DfE could help with costs - my school used the print framework and saved thousands.

Let’s also not forget the benefits of collaboration, my favourite word. Look at every need that is highlighted in your school and ask yourself the questionsCan I share this cost? Can I collaborate on this? What other places can I find this? This could extend the opportunity for more than just your school or academy and benefit schools that were already in a difficult financial position before the current crisis.

Our industry is very fortunate to be populated with vast experience and knowledge; maybe one of the efficiencies we can make is to start sharing this between us and stop ‘buying it in’. My school is part of a soft federation, and we are looking at more peer sharing, holding our own conferences and offering support from our experienced senior team and subject leaders. Economies of scale that reach outside the academy system would benefit maintained schools, and this is already starting to happen.

Of course, a further benefit from collaboration is the sharing of good practice and innovation which is priceless! 

Social media is a good place to gain ideas and comparisons with other schools and academies

SWITCHED ON

The latest news and views from

the world of ICT and edtech

Elon Musk reportedly planning to launch AI rival to ChatGPT maker

Elon Musk is reportedly planning to launch an artificial intelligence company to compete with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, as Silicon Valley battles for dominance in the rapidly developing technology, The has reported. The billionaire boss of Tesla and Twitter is in the process of bringing together a team of AI researchers and engineers, and is in talks with several investors about the project.

The move - which would see him joining tech giants Microsoft, Google and Amazon, and startups including OpenAI, in the fast-changing generative AI space - appears to signal a rapid change of direction. co-signed a letter in which he and more than 1,800 others demanded a six-month pause in AI research; it later emerged that some of the

Newcastle edtech firm raises £4m to expand neuro-inclusion tech platform

Bdaily News has reported that a North East edtech firm has raised £4m to expand its neuro-inclusion platform to support employees. Cognassist provides a software-as-a-service platform focused on identifying and supporting individuals with hidden learning needs, underpinned by extensive scientific research and a vast cognitive dataset. The investment, from Gresham House Ventures, will enable Cognassist to continue its growth within the education market and penetrate the enterprise market, where demand for neuroinclusive solutions to adequately support employees is rapidly emerging. Cognassist, which is headquartered in Newcastle, was founded in 2019 by Chris Quickfall ,and has already scaled its underlying business within the education market, providing greater social mobility for learners and helping diverse minds to thrive.

How (some) use can be good for teenagers

New research has thrown up some welcome news for children and parents alike. Many parents worry about the amount of screen time young people consume but BBC News has reported that Dr Rebecca Anthony, a research associate at Cardiff University’s public health body Decipher, says somewhat more positive findings have emerged while studying responses to the 2019 Student Health and Wellbeing Survey.

“What they were finding is there is a small but significant association between time spent online and depressive symptoms - but a review came out and said we’re not really looking at the nuances of social media,” she said. “We used the survey to look at who young people were engaging with, as well as how long they were spending online.”

And, for once, there was good news about screen time.

Better wellbeing was found to be associated with those who spent their time online speaking to their close and wider group of friends who they already knew offline. Dr Anthony said there was a “very clear message” that spending time speaking to people online the teenagers did not know was associated with “much poorer wellbeing” and was stronger for teenage girls who only messaged people online.

The research may provide some welcome news after another survey found teenagers in Wales had

exercised less and spent more time in front of a screen during the pandemic, with almost a quarter experiencing adverse mental health symptoms.

For Dr Linda Papadopoulos, psychologist and ambassador for online safety body Internet Matters, the most vital thing parents can do is get to know what their children are doing. “Look out for how your kids are interacting online, and how it makes them feel, in the same way that you would with anything - they start a new club, they start a new school,” she said.

“Did your child go from being open and happy to becoming very, very withdrawn? Did your child go from being very quiet to being very, very agitated when you take their tech off them?”

She uses the analogy of the fivea-day fruit and vegetables health message. “It’s wonderful that I connect with my friends online but if that’s all I’m doing, that’s a problem. That’s one vegetable. The other vegetable is, have you had a play date? Have you gone out? Have you moved? Have you interacted - just by text, or have you spoken?”

Dr Anthony said she had been surprised at how “switched on” some teenagers were in relation to self-control, including turning off notifications when they were doing homework.

Getting a grip on: change management

In previous articles I have talked about the ten areas that make up the IT operation in your setting:

● Service desk.

● Incident management.

● Problem management.

● Change management.

● Configuration management.

● Release management.

● Availability and capacity management.

● Service level management.

● Service continuity management.

● Financial management.

In this article I am going to talk about the one the area that is probably has the least wellestablished procedures in place for most schools

- change management.

Change management is the process for managing the implementation of new hardware, software, services or changes of practice. The purpose is to minimise disruption and

also to make sure that any change is properly embedded with the relevant documentation, and any new policies or procedures that may be required are securely in place.

It can be notoriously difficult to bring about change to IT systems in schools – the most prolific of these being a change to an MIS system.

Technically, making the change is relatively straight forward – particularly in this era of cloud-based solutions where data can relatively seamlessly move from one place to another - but it is this sort of simplicity that can lead you to overlook the real difficulties of bringing about such a significant change – and that is the impact on the users.

Because I have helped so many schools migrate their MIS I am no longer surprised by the emotional reaction it can bring out in key users, but if it is not something you have done before you do need to be careful you do not

NEIL LIMBRICK, partner and IT consultant, Limbrick Consultancy LLP, ANME ambassador and founder of theEducationCollective, discusses how to implement change management effectively

underestimate the challenges you may face.

Good change management is largely about communication and having a clear decisionmaking process. If implemented well the benefits are a consistent approach to planning any change, including planning for failure, a clear understanding of what communication and approval are needed for significant change to take place, and reduced disruption.

When evaluating your current change management process, a good starting point is to ask yourself who is the decision-maker – who is the person, or group of people, that sign off on change being made? This could well be your first hurdle if change management is not well-established in your school because this is key to the process. Who that decision-maker is will determine what information needs to be provided in order for them to feel comfortable signing off any change.

The decision-maker(s) can then also look

at who they want to be involved in the process of helping them reach the decision; this could be key users, an established user panel, technical experts etc.

Having this process in place sets out the expectations clearly for everyone involved in terms of the information required, the information to be communicated etc. If designed well, this sort of consistent approach helps build an ethos where nobody fears change because they know what is happening and feel involved in the process. They have a voice to highlight what they need from the process in order for it to be successful for them and, ultimately, they will not only be happy to go along with change but may even be proactive in driving it forward.

For a lot more information about implementing change management – take a look at the EdFITS framework on EdTech Centralhttps://edtechcentral.uk/framework/

Having this process sets out the expectations clearly for everyone involved in terms of the information required

TECHNO GEEK

Add a rocket to writing in your school

This month I thought it would be interesting to look at a great alternative solution to traditional writing exercise books that schools invest thousands of pounds in every year. Many schools still purchase at least six different writing books for each child to use in the classroom, many of which aren’t fully-used by the end of the year; this isn’t a great use of money and creates lots of wastepaper.

Rocketbooks have been around now for a number of years and have started to transform the way schoolwork is completed by pupils and then recorded and assessed by teachers. The ability to make environmental savings on the reduced use of writing books by issuing pupils their own reusable Rocketbook has had amazing results. 1:1 devices, such as iPad or Chromebook, still offer far more additional creative options for pupils; however, even if schools cannot afford to move towards a 1:1 roll out of devices, they could afford to deploy 1:1 Rocketbooks and ensure that each teacher has a device with the Rocketbook app installed on it.

HOW DOES THE ROCKETBOOK WORK?

The Rockbook App connects the various symbol links to the storage services that teachers use - all of the most popular services are there ready to use. You then simply write in the Rocketbook as you would in any writing book and, once done, you highlight the correct symbol at the bottom of the page to allow the app

to send the work to the correct location.

to Google Classroom! Collaborate on exciting new lessons the old-fashioned way…by hand! Then scan, submit, and organise in one location.

variety of different ways to make this change. The most popular option is the Rocketbook Core Letter (8.5” x 11”) which has 32 pages that can be simply wiped clean ready for reuse. The only downside that I can see is that you have to use the special Pilot Frixion Erasable Rollerball pens which you can probably buy at great bulk prices from your usual stationery supplier. The general feedback is that the quality of the pages, along with the ease of use in quickly wiping them clean, is very positive.

There’s also the option for a school to order large quantities of Rocketbooks, complete with the school branding, to offer an all-round quality workbook

would be approximately £12,500 (£25 per book). These also all come with a single pen and microfiber wipe.

To work out value for money, we now have to compare this to the cost per child of the many books for writing they have each year. Using 50p as an average cost per book, based on average Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation pricing, multiplied by six books and six years from Years 1-to-6, this works out at a total cost of £18 per child for their time from Year 1 to 6. Looking at this basic example there isn’t an obvious monetary cost saving but, in practice, even if the monetary cost is similar then there’s a serious need to consider the option of moving to Rocketbook as an alternative in order to achieve a greener solution.

There’s also another fantastic product that Rocketbook provides now called Beacons. These little corner markers are great to pop onto a whiteboard or flipchart; once they’re scanned they take all of the information from the board and store it in a location of your choice to be used or organised at a later date.

I hope that’s given you all some food for thought.

NIGEL MILLIGAN and businesses, suggests a product that could be used as an alternative to the traditional writing exercise book

LIVE IT

Time to take a few moments out for some light and interesting reading – a wellearned break from numbers and statistics!

Caption competition

Let us know your funny caption ideas by tweeting us @edexec

LIFE HACK

Ever wish you could remove highlighter marks from a book?

Lemon juice fades highlighter enough to make it virtually undetectable. Cut a lemon in half and get some juice on a cotton swab. Run the swab over the highlighted text and watch the colour fade.

An unexpected wedding crasher

As reported by BBC News, the Hulk crashed a couple’s special day as they prepared for their wedding ceremony in New York’s Central Park. Actor Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk in Marvel’s films, was passing by as Klaire Hodgson and Lynz Tanner from Gwynedd were preparing to tie the knot.

“I was like, ‘No, that’s not going to be Mark Ruffalo. He’s not going to be walking through at the time of my wedding’,” said Lynz.

But he stopped to pose for pictures and to wish them well, she added.

The newlyweds made a spontaneous decision to get married after Klaire, 36, flew to a conference in San Francisco and then on to an event in New York where Lynz, 28, joined her.

Pub quiz

1. When did Big Brother first air on Channel 4?

2. Who was the first presenter of the X Factor in the UK?

3. Which actor played the Ninth Doctor in Doctor Who?

4. The Simpsons was the spin-off show of which American sketch series?

5. Gillian Anderson plays a therapist in which hit Netflix show?

Answers: 1. 2000 2. Kate Thornton 3. Christopher Eccleston

4. The Tracey Ullman Show 5. Sex Education

DID YOU KNOW?

The Philippines is made up of over 7,000 islands. It is an ‘archipelago’, which means it’s made up of a group of islands—7,641 islands, to be exact!

Bringing back baby giant anteaters

Chester Zoo has said that the birth of a rare baby giant anteater is “incredibly positive news for the species”. BBC News has reported its arrival - only the third of its kind in the zoo’s 92-year history - which is part of an international breeding programme. Giant anteaters, which are native to Central and South America, are considered vulnerable to extinction, with numbers declining in the wild – they are on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List for species under threat; Chester Zoo team manager David White said the birth was “a boost” to the protection of the endangered species. Born to Bliss (13), and Oso (9), the pup - which is yet to be named - currently measures about 60cm (2ft) and will reach up to 2.1m (7ft) in length when fully-grown.

Experts say the pup will now cling to its mum’s back for about 10 months, where its matching stripe on its fur will keep it safe and camouflaged until it is ready to walk, explore and find food independently.

Well, knock me down with a feather!

RIDING HIGH

A BMX rider has performed tricks on a floating skatepark more than 2,000ft (610 metres) above the ground, Sky News has reported. Kriss Kyle, 31, described it as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”. The British rider completed the world-first stunt, called ‘Don’t Look Down’, when he rode around a custom-made bowl suspended by a hot air balloon. The balloon set off from Charlton Park Estate in Wiltshire and flew about 30 miles over the Cotswolds before touching down. Kyle performed several highly technical BMX tricks in the short time window and achieved the feat while wearing a parachute and contending with a constantly swinging bowl.

If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. Laura Ingalls Wilder

Building professional confidence

My last piece for EdExec focused on the reasons why so many school business professionals were leaving the profession, based on feedback from practitioners. For this article I thought we could switch this concept round, and look at why we decide to work in schools in the first place, and how acknowledging this can help us to build our own professional confidence so that we can get back to enjoying the role again at a time when the challenges around us are huge.

WHY DO WE CHOOSE TO WORK IN EDUCATION?

I am a fan of Simon Sinek and his Start with Why idea. Whilst the original concept of Sinek’s book was marketing, and excellence in leadership, aimed at the business world, I think this concept can be enlightening when we apply it and seek to understand why we choose to work in the education sector.

There’s no doubt that one of the key reasons SBMs are leaving the profession at the moment is pay-related; I’m not denying this is a massive issue right now across all public

sector organisations. However, public sector pay has never been as competitive as the salaries we could attract working in the commercial world – so one could deduce from this that we absolutely don’t choose to work in schools for the money!

So – why do we choose to work in schools? When you ask the question, the responses are varied:

Transferrable skills – many who join our ranks as school business professionals start their careers in the world of commerce. At some point, there is a realisation that a specific skill set is readily transferrable into the role of the SBM and this, coupled with a desire to escape the ‘rat race’, leads many choose to switch their focus to public sector and look for roles within education.

The hours – this is probably a reason that is quickly being eroded as workloads across the sector are fast approaching the same unmanageable levels often seen in the private sector. That said, post-COVID, and in the light of the current recruitment and retention crisis (yes, it is a crisis now!) schools are having to be more creative with flexible working arrangements and part time contracts.

Arguably, it has never been harder to be an SBL than right now. VAL ANDREW offers some alternative ways of thinking to rekindle confidence in yourself and your role

Family reasons – there’s no denying that working in a school environment suits people with young families. It brings direct contact with education policy that can be informative on a personal level (it’s a long time since we were at school and things have changed!) and there’s the prospect of being able to work hours that dovetail more suitably with children’s school time - and the holidays! Holidays is a bit of a ‘red rag’ scenario, when many SBMs work full-time, contracted, hours but the greater opportunity to take annual leave during school holidays definitely remains an advantage over a private sector organisation where all your colleagues want annual leave in the school holidays and it’s usually allocated on a hierarchical basis. Desire to ‘give something back’ – increasingly I hear this, particularly from those who are escaping high pressure jobs in the city, and/or have worked in other services. The feeling that they are contributing to/investing time in supporting the next generation is a laudable reason for taking on an SBM/SBL role.

As Sinek says when describing his ‘golden circle’ concept, it’s not what you do, or how you do it, that is really important

So many of us suffer from imposter syndrome

– it’s all about the WHY. Personally, I can identify with several of the above ‘whys’ but, on balance, I’d say that for me it was a gut instinct that took me to work in a school environment.

If you study what Sinek says about the link between his golden circle and the limbic area of the brain – which correlates with Professor Steve Peters and The Chimp Paradox - this is where ‘gut instinct’ decisions come from – this is where our ‘why’ is decided. The limbic part of the brain defies logic and rational thinking and is sufficiently powerful to drive behaviour so, from this I can deduce it was my ‘Chimp’s’ fault that I ended up working in education!

Some of the above will resonate with you, and there will be other reasons I’ve not listed that are also relevant as to why we choose to work in education. The key question is, once we understand our own personal ‘Why?’ how can we use this information to engender more confidence professionally?

WHAT IS ‘PROFESSIONAL CONFIDENCE?’

This is the ability to believe in yourself when it comes to all aspects of your career and future goals; whether you are new into your SBM/SBL role or not, feeling confident is vital - so many of us suffer from imposter syndrome at various stages in our careers and there are a number of studies that examine the reasons behind this.

Linking this to the concept of the way the brain works most of us feel that the more you believe you can do something, the more confident you will feel. Using this thinking there are two ways to increase your confidence - either:

● increase your ability to do something; OR

● brainwash yourself into believing you can do something even if you can’t.

Work on portraying that confident exterior

According to Professor Steve Peters, we think this way because the ‘Chimp’ in our brain has hijacked our thinking. In this instance, we have to contradict our ‘Chimp’ and move our thinking towards the notion that we either base our confidence on the absolute belief in our own ability OR we base it on the fact that we will do our best. Self-confidence is, therefore, enhanced when we have realistic expectations of ourselves. Apparently the ‘Chimp’ will continue to try and derail our thinking – hence imposter syndrome often recurs. Who knew there were such tussles going on inside our heads - but once you understand this it makes dealing with the issues much easier.

Lots of famous people have confessed to suffering from imposter syndrome – including Albert Einstein and Meryl Streep. To overcome this isn’t easy, but it is doable - you can combat it by doing three simple things:

Acknowledge it – maybe read The Chimp Paradox to gain a broader understanding of what is going on in your head but, overall, accept that this is happening to you;

Talk to someone – break the silence and share your feelings with others – family, friends, colleagues etc.

Focus on your strengths and abilities rather than negatives – try to adopt a more positive approach to your thinking and be realistic in your personal expectations.

In addition to these three core strategies, and in a day-today practical sense, try and act more confidently even if you don’t feel it. Work on portraying that confident exterior. Look people in the eye and don’t be afraid to smile (others will wonder what you know!) Make sure you are well-prepared for meetings,

conversations and professional discussions, and don’t be afraid to admit if you don’t know something - but undertake to find out. There are six key characteristics of confidence which I think embody the roles we have in schools perfectly, and these are: character, caring, competence, consistency, credibility and communication

TO SUMMARISE

We are operating in a very different paradigm these days. There is so much conflict and challenge throughout our sector but, despite this, we all share a common goal which is to contribute to the health, wellbeing and education of our children and young people. If what we do doesn’t have an impact on those innocents, why are we doing what we do? Food for thought – if you haven’t looked at the two books I’ve mentioned I can recommend them both (not on commission!)

Don’t forget lots of SBM/SBL practitioners are resorting to support from professional coaches and mentors as a way of keeping perspective and helping to develop their own professional and personal confidence.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this piece and that it offers some alternative ways of thinking to make your world seem a better place.

VAL ANDREW

● Programme manager for Best Practice Network DSBM Level 4 - find out more: https://www.bestpracticenet. co.uk/dsbm-l4

● Patron of ISBL.

● Formerly ASCL School Business Leadership Specialist (2010 - 2018).

● Recipient of ISBL CEO Award for exceptional contributions to school business leadership in 2018.

● Semi - retired SBL and very proud grandma.

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