Leadership Focus, April 2021 (issue 89) by NAHT Communications

Issue 89 / April 2021 / £5

THE MAGAZINE FOR NAHT AND NAHT EDGE MEMBERS

FOCUS

Government’s pay freeze: tin-eared and wrong-headed Could this tip the profession over the edge?

Isle of Man

The cost of covid-19

A David-and-Goliath pay battle

Members tell us how they’ve tried to manage the ﬁnancial hit

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LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

OPINION

RUTH DAVIES: NAHT president 2020/21

Looking to the future e have been ﬁghting covid-19, in one way or another, for a year now. It’s been exhausting, all-consuming and relentless. While we cannot escape the pandemic yet, our thoughts must surely turn to the future, when restrictions are not so harsh and risks are not so sharp. For our sanity, we must look forward. And for the sake of the pupils in our care too. I hope you will ﬁnd some optimism and inspiration in the latest edition of our magazine. So, where do we need to focus our attention in the next 12 months and beyond if we’re to make a success of the recovery from covid-19? ‘Catch-up’ is probably too easy a short-hand term for the work that will need to be done, but it would be good if we could at least junk the idea of ‘catch-up’ as a shortterm concept. Even the most optimistic person can see that stopping any more lost learning and improving wellbeing are now long-term efforts. Long term for sure, but it is work that should begin immediately. A great starting point would be the wholesale vaccination of school staff. They may not be, by and large, any more at risk than anyone else, but they are certainly not any less at risk. Not only would vaccination help to protect staff but also it should reduce the likelihood that there will be further disruption to pupils’ education. NAHT has consistently argued for this since the prospect of a vaccine became a reality. We will be living with some level of covid-19 restrictions and safety measures for some time. It’s wrong for the government to expect the costs of these to be met from existing budgets. We continue to make a case for

additional covid-19 costs to be met in full and without delay. This includes ensuring nurseries receive their entitled full funding. System-wide, we also need to see some of the bureaucracy stripped out, lest it acts as a braking mechanism on the important work ahead. In England, this means the continued suspension of routine Ofsted inspections until September 2021 at the earliest. In Wales, a review of the inspection arrangements due to restart in September 2021. The heavyhanded and high-stakes approach of yore is not ﬁt for purpose during the covid-19 recovery period. Neither is the performance data that is so often used as a stick to beat schools with, rather than a useful diagnostic tool. It would be wrong to publish any primary performance data and school or college-level educational performance tables for 2020/21. These numbers would only act like a sledgehammer when what we need is a scalpel. Education is a people business. If we want a successful recovery from covid-19, the best contribution

Above: Ruth Davies

Even the most optimistic person can see that stopping any more lost learning and improving wellbeing are now long-term efforts.

the government could make is to value and invest in the profession. For this reason, NAHT’s campaign focus is on securing the training, support and career development that have been sadly lacking in education for too long. We are also pushing the various UK administrations to provide vital additional resources urgently to support pupils and staff members’ mental health. In Northern Ireland, speciﬁcally, this means taking forward the school leaders’ workload review as a matter of urgency. And, of course, governments across the three nations where NAHT members work need to act now to address the recruitment and retention crisis among teachers and leaders. Covid-19 must not be a reason to impose a real-terms pay cut. While you focus on your schools, staff and pupils, NAHT will bring some of these necessities to fruition. In doing all these things, we should recognise there are better days ahead in 2021, and we have a lot more going for us than we might have realised in the darkest days of 2020.

CONTENTS

ASSOCIATION AND EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES NAHT and NAHT Edge 1 Heath Square, Boltro Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1BL www.naht.org.uk www.nahtedge.org.uk Tel: 0300 30 30 333 Editorial strategy board: Stuart Beck, James Bowen, Tim Bowen, Nick Brook, Mark Corn nell, Iman Cornwall, Ruth Davies, Laura Doel, Guy y Dudley, Steven George, David Gilmore (chair), Magnus Gorham m, Steve Iredale, Helena Macorm mac, Judy Shaw and d Paul Whiteman.. @nahtnews @nahtedge

EDITORIAL TEAM Editor: Nic Paton. Publisher: Dav vid Gale.

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ISSN: 1472-618 81 © Copyright 2021 NAHT All rights reserved: no part of this publicatio on may be copied or reproduced d, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form orr by any means including electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise with hout the prior written permisssion of the publisher. Whiile every care has been taken in the compilation of this publica ation, neither the publisher nor NAHT can accept respon nsibility for any inaccuracies or chang ges since compilation, or for consequential loss arising from such changes or inaccuracies, or for any other loss, direct or consequential, arising in connection with information in this publication. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply recommendation by the publisher. The views herein are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor or NAHT.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

Contents 7

Government’s pay freeze: tin-eared and wrong-headed Will a real-terms pay cut and the erosion of pay differentials tip the profession over the edge?

16 The cost of covid-19 Leadership Focus journalist Nic Paton speaks to school leaders about the extra ﬁnancial costs of covid-19 and how they’ve tried to manage the ﬁnancial hit.

20 Isle of Man: a David-and-Goliath pay battle We look at how members’ action and solidarity resulted in a landmark pay agreement being reached.

24 Colm Davis OBE Obituary Kim Johnson, NAHT past president, shares his memories of good friend Colm Davis OBE.

27 Paul Whiteman A word from our general secretary.

28 Northern Ireland policy corner

An update from Helena Macormac, NAHT(NI) director.

29 Wales policy corner An update from Laura Doel, NAHT Cymru director.

31 Legal view NAHT solicitor Simon Thomas looks at protection for employees against detriment and dismissal in connection with dangers in the workplace.

32 School business professionals Steve Edmonds, director of advice and guidance at the National Governance Association, explains how unique skills, qualiﬁcations and experiences help to strengthen governance in all types of school structure.

37 Outdoor learning

Daniel Moncrieff, SSE outdoors service manager for Somerset County Council, looks at how outdoor learning can support the post-covid-19 recovery agenda.

38 Teaching Vacancies Andy Buck, founding director of Leadership Matters and experienced head teacher, explains why Teaching Vacancies hits the mark for jobseeking and recruiting school leaders.

41 Looking after yourself during the pandemic Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, outlines some tips to help you stay safe and well.

42 Conferences and courses Invest in your professional development this summer.

46 The ﬁnal word Journalist Susan Young looks at how one school has put its virtual arm around the community.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

Government’s pay freeze: tin-eared and wrong-headed

Leadership Focus journalist Nic Paton asks: ‘Will a real-terms pay cut and the erosion of pay differentials tip the profession over the edge?’

‘slap in the face’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Is this the best head teachers and other school leaders can expect this autumn on future pay after grinding their way through perhaps the most challenging, most intense 12 months anyone in the profession can remember? If NAHT’s evidence this year to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) is anything to go by – and it uses the very words above – the fear is this is precisely the catastrophic outcome coming down the track, given chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement in November that all public sector workers outside of the NHS and the lowest earners can expect a pay freeze in 2021/22. As the report, designed to feed into the STRB’s 31st remit and deliberations, puts it: “Delivering yet another realterms pay cut to a profession where recruitment and retention are through the ﬂoor is inexplicable; doing so where that profession is reeling from the huge costs to individual professionals of supporting young people, families and communities through a global pandemic is simply incomprehensible.”

Arguably, even though it is the usual authoritative, nuanced and comprehensive document that NAHT submits to the STRB every year, there is both weariness and a palpable sense of anger in this year’s evidence. The weariness that here the profession is, again, making much the same arguments it does every year to a body that, by and large, accepts their merit, again, but yet which will – probably, again – end up being ignored or overruled at the end of the process. As Ian Hartwright, NAHT senior policy advisor, explains to Leadership Focus: “The review body’s work is increasingly fettered. It recognises more and more what we say each year. But then, each year, the next remit tries to stop it from doing that. The STRB ‘gets’ this; it understands the issues the profession is facing. But will it be thwarted once again from looking at things in the right way? “The government has, yet again, said there is no money and that there has to be a pay cap. The government has come back time and again to a position that the best way to control this is not even to argue, but instead, to just say ‘you can’t

IAN HARTWRIGHT, NAHT SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR have a pay rise’. So, we’re back to a pay freeze again. “We need to challenge the secretary of state and his remit; there is a litany of missed opportunities to resolve, not least the recruitment and retention crisis at all levels within the profession.” This is where the anger and, in truth, genuine fear for the future comes in. Running through this year’s report is the sense that after a year when the professionalism, dedication and, crucially, goodwill of the profession across the board have been tested to the absolute limit by covid-19, the effect of the pandemic combined with yet another year of pay erosion and erosion of pay differentials could tip the profession’s recruitment and retention crisis over the edge.

PAY FREEZE

“Delivering yet another real-terms pay cut to a profession where recruitment and retention are through the floor is inexplicable,” the report says.

This sense of things being on a tipping point was also clear in a series of panel discussions with NAHT members held during the autumn to feed into the evidence-gathering process, and we will revisit these in more detail later on. The fear is that the very sustainability of the professional teaching leadership role – the ability to enjoy and gain rewards (in all senses, including financial) from being a school leader, whatever your level, and the attractiveness of that as an aspiration – is being called into question; with pay just one part of an increasingly toxic triumvirate (the triumvirate of pay, workload and accountability, which has been amplified by the effects of the pandemic). “Throughout the pandemic, the government has really sought to pick a fight with teachers rather than support them. This is corrosive; this approach to teachers’ pay is absolutely corrosive,” emphasises Ian. What arguments, then, is NAHT making this year to the STRB in its evidence? The ongoing recruitment and retention crisis at all levels, but especially among senior and middle leaders, is starkly reiterated.

The report highlights the widespread concern that “the intractable crisis affecting the supply of teachers and leaders in English schools has been further sharpened by the multiple impacts of the covid-19 pandemic on schools.” The ‘largely unaddressed’ issue of teacher and – to an even greater extent – leadership retention, remains, it says. Indeed, it is likely to be a crisis that is only accelerated by the pandemic. “Last year’s recruitment rounds suggest that many teachers and leaders may have postponed future career decisions, creating the potential for very signiﬁcant losses of experienced professionals when the pressure of the pandemic is released,” the report states. “It is possible that there may be an outﬂow from the profession, particularly of late-career teachers and leaders exhausted by a year of constant crisis management and the inadequacy and incompetence of the government’s chaotic approach to the school sector. NAHT is deeply concerned about the impact that the government’s loss of

trust and confidence of the profession may have,” it warns. The evidence highlights how the STRB has been ‘hemmed in’ by repeated public sector pay freezes, pay caps and ‘other interference’ in its role by the government. Ministers are unwilling “to allow the pay body to make a full and independent assessment of the challenges and solutions to the parlous state of teacher and leadership supply,” it contends. “NAHT is genuinely shocked by the paltry and insufficient remit that the secretary of state has set for the review body’s consideration in this pay round,” it adds. Much as it has been in so many areas of public life and discourse over the past year, the pandemic is a recurring theme. The report highlights how the profession has stepped up and responded magnificently from the first lockdown last year and onwards. “School leaders and their teams have operated as an essential public service throughout the pandemic. They switched, literally overnight, from on-site to the delivery of remote learning – something never planned for,” the report outlines. “They remained open throughout to children of critical workers and vulnerable pupils. They worked with next to no protection in poorly ventilated spaces where it is impossible to maintain social distance. They ensured those eligible for free school meals were fed – before the government acted and when its voucher scheme provider failed to deliver. They operated the tracking and tracing of infections in their schools. And throughout, most school leaders have worked during their holidays and weekends since February 2020,” it makes clear. And yet, ‘at this extraordinary time’, the government has decided to press ahead once again with another pay freeze on all teaching professionals, apart from unqualified teachers earning less than £24,000 per annum.

Codification of leadership role executive revised school s within a te and conditions achers’ pay (STPCD), anddocument or alignment of inclusion business leader school ro leadership pay les with the range

to make lling on the STRB e ‘clear ca is T AH N d, en id ov To that d analysis’ and pr ‘a full and detaile the government on the following: ’ to recommendations

pay Reform of the chers a te r fo structure cognising and leaders, re al pay that profession um is a continu Restora real pay tion of leaders’ to reinstatem 2010 levels and differenti ent of the pay al for lea dership

e of Establish a rangages, ck ‘key worker’ pa eet local or m differentiated to ance and need st regional circum Commit in pay ment to fully f not rise because scho und future u ols n pli meanin in real terms ’ budgets ha fts s ve g in it c e is tradeoff betw essential to en2009/10, and sp een spending sure no ending on pay.on pupils

Consideration of the introduction of mandatory pay points and pay portability

NAHT is also urging the STRB “to set out a recommended pay uplift for all teachers and leaders for this pay round. It is then a matter for the government to determine whether it wishes to accept that recommendation”. This, NAHT adds, “should identify the minimum uplift required to remove pay disincentives to leadership by restoring the losses to leaders’ real salaries accumulated over the last decade and reverse the decline in the leadership differential, as a minimum”. School leaders, the report emphasises, are increasingly stretched, exhausted and unhappy with their lot. For middle leaders, the prospect of stepping up into the head teacher spotlight is becoming an increasingly unattractive proposition. Citing NAHT’s 2019 members survey, the evidence highlights that almost three-quarters (73%) of respondents were aware of at least one member of staff leaving the profession for reasons other than retirement.

73%

67%

A substantial increase on the two-thirds who said the same in 2018 (67%) and 2017 (66%).

From last year’s members 70% survey, two-thirds (70%) reported being ‘less’ or ‘much less satisﬁed’ in their role.

When asked to choose three words that exempliﬁed their experience, the most frequent descriptors were ‘challenging’, ‘exhausting’ and ‘stressful’. Damningly, of the 1,637 respondents for this question, just one chose a positive word. Intriguingly, it was less the pandemic itself that was the most challenging aspect of this, but the government’s erratic and often late notice response to it, members stressed.

As the report states:

72% of respondents told us that the most challenging aspect of managing their schools in the last year was keeping pace with constantly changing guidance from the government.

48%

47%

This ranked far ahead of the pressures of establishing remote and/or blended learning. And protecting the health and safety of staff and pupils.

25%

PAY FREEZE

The report also states: Since the beginning of September 2020, one in four (25%) had reported working an additional 11-15 hours a week.

30%

Almost one in three (30%) worked an additional six-10 hours.

One in 20 school leaders (5%) reported working an additional 26 hours a week, it also highlighted.

As the report puts it: “NAHT is very concerned that this points to an exodus of late-career school leaders from the profession when the pandemic eases. Many members tell us that they have felt a responsibility to guide their schools through this extraordinary period, but they intend to leave the profession at its conclusion.” Equally worrying, the report highlights a similarly gloomy picture of the future supply of head teachers – what it terms ‘the aridity’ of the leadership supply pipeline. Nearly half (46%) of assistant and deputy heads said they did not aspire to headship, while more than a quarter (27%) indicated they were undecided. Within this, pay was an important disincentive. Four in 10 (40%) assistants and deputies said the level of pay acted as a barrier to them seeking promotion, with ‘insufﬁcient’ and ‘inadequate’ being the most common words used. This was, again, a theme that came through clearly in panel discussions with members, which we shall come to shortly. The report concludes with a warning of the potentially catastrophic consequences of, as it puts it, ‘another year without progress’; a year of worsening problems in the leadership pipeline and continuing ‘aridity’ of leadership supply. Without positive engagement – and a better pay settlement – leaders will continue to report low morale and anger. And this has been exacerbated by the past year of pandemic and crisis, where the pressures and pinch points facing leaders have increased exponentially. As the report argues: “Teachers and leaders have confronted their greatest ever challenge in the face of a pandemic event for which they had no time to plan or prepare.

“At every turn, they encountered the government’s obduracy and incompetence: from chaotic food voucher schemes and contradictory, poorly timed guidance; to examination chaos, inadequate funding for covid-19 costs and ill-informed ministerial diktat divorced from the realities on the ground.” With leadership supply, even in the previous pay round, teetering ‘on the verge of catastrophic collapse’, now was not the time to be freezing pay. As the report argues: “A real-terms pay cut for teachers and leaders in these circumstances is both tin-eared and wrong-headed. The urgent need to support leadership retention has not changed. Nor has the need for a full and

Given this, it was perhaps unsurprising – if not less worrying – that nearly half of all respondents (47%) said that, as a result of the pandemic, they were now less likely to remain in school leadership for as long as they had initially planned.

concurrent review of the teachers’ and leaders’ pay structure in order to develop a compelling proposition that will retain experienced teachers and leaders. “We urge the STRB to set out to the government a vision of a decadeslong career in education, with clear career and salary progression points and ﬂexible, sustainable career pathways that are underpinned by appropriate opportunities for funded training and development. “There must be an attractive premium for leadership that is progressive, predictable and commensurate with responsibility. And the real value of leadership pay must be protected over time,” it concludes.

46%

Nearly half of assistant and deputy heads said they did not aspire to headship.

40%

47%

Four in 10 assistants and deputies said the level of pay acted as a barrier to them seeking promotion.

27%

More than a quarter indicated they were undecided.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

ve taken “Although I ha move to e to pay cuts befor anted, the ew jobs that I hav wouldn’t be y difference in pa sponsibility,” re a tr worth the ex said Heather.

Clockw Heath ise from to er Ma p rtin a left: Natal ie nd Cla ire Ev Arnett, Ian ans. Hartw rig

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HOW MEMBERS’ PANELS FED INTO THE PAY DEBATE In 2019, NAHT held d a members-led roundtable panel to discuss the challenges around leadership pay – particularly how pay and remuneration fed into, and often contributed to, wider barriers to progression, recruitment and retention. The event aimed to inform and feed into the evidence NAHT submitted that year to the STRB. That format proved so successful that NAHT decided last year to expand the process to three events – which, because of the pandemic, were carried out virtually – with deputy and assistant heads coming together, followed by head teachers and then a third event looking at pay in the context of inclusion, diversity and equalities. Individual reports were generated from each discussion, which fed into the conversations and evidence building that took place around the creation of this year’s document. The thread that ran through each event, much as it does in the ﬁnal evidence, was the sense of a profession wrestling with perhaps the most challenging year ever, yet with none of the pre-existing pressures and tensions having gone away.

DISINCENTIVES TO PROGRESSION For deputy and assistant heads (DAHs), it was clear that pay (or the lack of it) was by no means the only disincentive

when it ca ame to progression, but it was nevertheless an important one. There also needed to be a model for progression that allows people to advance in their career without necessarily having to move into senior management (for example, by becoming classroom specialists), the panel argued. The ‘trust gap’ between the government and profession combined with seeing high-stakes accountability in action and intense (and intensifying) workload pressures on DAHs were all acting as a disincentive to DAHs to take the risk of stepping up. Alongside this, dedicated leadership time was too often being squeezed or eroded by spiralling day-to-day demands. As Claire Evans, deputy head teacher at Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham, put it: “I’ve decided I’m staying at deputy head level for the time being. This is for a few reasons. I am stretched as it is at the minute; I am ﬁnding every day a challenge in a different way. So, part of me is thinking ‘if I am ﬁnding this challenging, why on earth at this point in time would I consider moving into a headship?’. “I do want to be a head teacher; I do want to have my own school. But I just think of the leap from where I am currently to being a head teacher and the accountability that comes with it. I

have two children, and they are really important to me; I know I work long hours as it is at the minute. And I worry that I would lose that work-life balance if I were a head teacher. “But, also, [if I made the move] I wouldn’t really necessarily be rewarded with more pay. The difference from what I am paid currently to if I went to be a head teacher somewhere else – the pay difference wouldn’t be signiﬁcant. If you look at pay across a school, you will have some teachers who are on the upper pay scale, who are possibly on only a little less than some assistant or deputy heads,” Claire explained. “It [headship] is just not for me,” agreed Heather Martin, executive assistant principal across two primary schools in Blackpool. “And, in terms of pay, it is not worth me applying in lots of respects. I am quite well paid for the job I do currently. But for me to go to a head teacher role somewhere else, I would be taking a pay cut for some jobs. “Although I have taken pay cuts before to move to jobs that I have wanted, the difference in pay wouldn’t be worth the extra responsibility. Leadership is an extremely hard job, and we are all trying our best. For me, the question would be ‘what would be the incentive for me to take on that extra responsibility again for either a pay cut or very little [extra] pay?’,” she said.

PAY FREEZE

“When you tak roles, you e on headship and so fe sudden pr el the weight of the w me other senior essing dow o n on you,” rld all of a said Paul.

ight, , Ian Hartwr n Taylor. g n li s o G l u a m top left: P rnett and Ia Clockwise fro , Stuart Beck, Natalie A tin Heather Mar

LOSS OF EXPERIENCED HEAD TEACHERS 12

It was a similar story when it came to head teachers and other school leaders. While the panellists broadly conceded that pay was not the main driver for them in their roles – it was often as much about placemaking and being able to shape a school and community – it was nevertheless an important element of the whole head teacher ‘package’. The erosion of pay differentials combined with the workload and lack of funding were all seen as factors that deterred senior leaders from stepping up. They were also seen as reasons for the profession losing experienced head teachers. There were real fears around how the profession will retain its older head teachers, especially those 55 and older who could still cash in their pensions early. On top of this, the panellists were worried about a trend towards early progression into senior leadership levels, potentially creating a problem of burnout and retention further down the track. The workload for head teachers right now is relentless, especially with covid-19, and many head teachers and senior leaders are totally exhausted, they added. “When I meet with head teachers, deputies, other school leaders, etc., the vast majority of them have said the last year has been relentless,” pointed out Ian Taylor, a former primary school head teacher in Southampton. “They are exhausted; they can’t see an end to it. There is new guidance coming out all the time. We have some very tired and overwhelmed school leaders out there, and of course, that means they may start thinking about their options. Like, do I need to get out? “So, potentially, I see an issue with retention coming up for those who are maybe close to, or even above, the age of 55, the earliest point for being able to draw your pension. So, that is a big concern. How are we going to retain our valuable, experienced school leaders? How are we going to get people to apply for senior leadership?”

Stuart Beck, currently in semi-retirement from teaching and school management and working part-time as a consultant senior leader at Sacred Heart of Mary Girls’ School in Upminster, added: “My wife was a deputy head teacher in a four-form entry primary school and moved to become a head teacher of a three-form entry primary school. She took a significant pay cut to become a head teacher. So, we don’t just do it for the money. “Within London, there is also a problem with huge pay differentials between schools within just a mile or two of each other. That is difficult. But also, you can’t just be totally altruistic about your future. Your endgame needs to be recognised and rewarded. Head teachers can have this ingrained culture of thinking about other people first. And, with funding, I agree that is crucial. It can get really difficult when you are plugging the gaps and not doing your strategic jobs properly, and that can cause issues for the school if you’re not careful,” he said. “It is ‘how much more of this risk have I got to take on, and how much more work have I got to do?’,” agreed Paul Gosling, a primary school head teacher in Exmouth, Devon. “Most of us spent the holidays writing risk assessments and trying to work out how children could come back. So, how much more pressure is there on our shoulders? “When you take on headship and some other senior roles, you feel the weight of the world all of a sudden pressing down on you. You only often get rid of that for a couple of weeks in the summer; it is quite oppressive and damaging. And most of us live our lives with that. “It is really interesting talking to friends who have retired. Almost on the day of retirement, they have felt that weight of responsibility – responsibility for 200 children, the parents and the teaching staff – lifted. You multiply that up, and that is an awful lot of relationships and responsibility that you have,” Paul explained.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

LACK OF DIVERSITY AT THE TOP For the third and final discussion – on equalities, diversity and inclusion – there was a recognition that the profession and government alike needed to examine why there is diversity at teacher level, but this then dissipates at more senior and leadership levels. The profession also needed to get better at attracting and retaining people with disabilities and other protected characteristics. To do this, it needed to include intersectionality. Schools could be better at being more flexible about jobs and roles to attract and recruit the best (as well as the most diverse) candidates into them. This needed to include potentially adjusting the role to fit the candidate rather than expecting the candidate to fit the role (and, as a result, perhaps not feeling able to apply in the first place). Within this, the erosion of pay differentials was one factor that could potentially exacerbate existing barriers to progression or stepping up that have been caused by inequalities, the panel agreed. “We do need to develop the diversity within the profession,” argued Patrick Foley, head teacher of a two-form entry primary school in the London borough of Bromley. “We don’t look at our equalities pay gap; we just look at the profession and who is working in schools. There is a higher level of ethnic diversity in lower-paid groupings than in higher-paid groupings. “We need to think of how we address these issues. In a school-like environment, it is a really bad message to give to

children that members of their ethnic group are lower paid by nature; it is a really dangerous issue that we need to address. “Another issue for me is that there are very few people who are disabled in school leadership; disabled people are very, very unlikely to be in teaching generally, but especially school leadership. And I think the third issue is that the process of performance management for head teachers is really poor in terms of its understanding of diversity,” Patrick pointed out. “I’m not saying we can change the pay scale, but is there some way that we can do something to get women, in particular, to be able to have that conﬁdence to negotiate pay?” questioned Julie Kelly, head teacher of West Meon Church of England Primary School in Southampton and involved with the National Association of Small Schools. “If governors want to keep female leaders, is there some way we can train them up or teach them how to negotiate to get a good bit of pay, rather than just sitting there on low pay the whole time and then eventually thinking ‘well, I can stay on low pay or go to a bigger school’? I think that is an issue with the gender gap for women and small schools,” she added. “The thing that I think is hard to quantify is unconscious bias, which people can have when appointing or recruiting,” agreed Stuart McLaughlin, a recently retired head teacher, who spent 16 years as a head across four schools (two in Brighton, and two in Havering). “I know we’re not just talking about head teachers, but if you think of the make-up of those governing

bo odies. Certainly, in my experience, there ha as been very little ethnic diversity across th he governing body. “Even when I worked in an area where 70 0% of the children were non-white British, the governing body was all-white British. So, there is an issue around go overnance and making sure there is re epresentation at governance levels be ecause I think that may have an impact on n recruitment and at senior and head te eacher level,” he added. “I think covid-19 has given us a reason to o do things differently; extending that be eyond covid-19 seems, to me, to be a se ensible thing to do,” highlighted Chris Kirkham-Knowles, head teacher of Newby an nd Scalby Primary School in Scarborough, no orth Yorkshire. “It shouldn’t need a crisis to o encourage us as a profession to look differently at how we recruit, how we re etain, how we support our colleagues and ho ow we develop our colleagues. “If we don’t understand where the profession is at the moment, then how ca an we shape it into what we want it to be and enable it to become far more diverse? There is very limited re esearch in terms of why people from diverse backgrounds or backgrounds of protected characteristics might join the profession; we don’t hear a lot about that. And if we don’t know why they’re coming in n the ﬁrst place, then we can’t develop th hem, can we? Or then encourage others to o come and join them,” he added.

See what work we’ve done on pay this year: www.naht.org.uk/pay2020-21

way that “Is there some thing e we can do som to get women, in to e able particular, to b ence to have that confid ” negotiate pay? e. questioned Juli

Clockwise f Chris Kirk rom top left: Natalie ham-Kno wles, Patr Arnett, Stuart McLa u ick Foley, Julie Kelly ghlin, Alice Lemon, and Ian H artwright. Read and share this feature: https://features.naht.org.uk/pay_freeze/index.html

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COVID COSTS

The cost of covid-19

Leadership Focus journalist Nic Paton speaks to school leaders about the extra financial costs of covid-19 and how they’ve tried to manage the financial hit. e all know the cost of covid-19 can be counted in many ways. First, there is, tragically, the human and health cost. Then there is the economic cost to our public finances, our shattered and shuttered high streets and whole industries, such as hospitality and aviation. As well as the infrastructure cost and the effect on our city centres and transport networks in particular. For education, there is the growing worry about the cost of the pandemic in terms of lost and disrupted learning and the impact on attainment, progress and social mobility for a whole generation of young people, especially for those children in our most deprived communities. But for schools and school leaders, there is another increasingly pressing concern emerging: the expanding pools of red now appearing on schools’ balance sheets as the extra financial costs of covid-19 begin to make themselves felt across what was already, even before the pandemic, a financially stressed education system. From personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitiser through to extra cleaning, school meals, ventilation and signage; from the additional costs of providing cover for those off sick or selfisolating through to lost income from lettings or reduced nursery care, there is a legion of costs from covid-19 mounting for schools. And they continue to mount as, of course, we’re not out of the pandemic yet and probably won’t be for many months to come. As Ian Hartwright, NAHT senior policy advisor, puts it to Leadership Focus:

IAN HARTWRIGHT, NAHT SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR

“There are all the costs of keeping your school safe and covid-19 secure. There’s the cost of supply, which is huge in some cases, and then there is lost income which – for many schools with significant lettings income from things such as halls, gyms, swimming pools, IT facilities or pitches – can amount to tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.” To gauge the scale of the problem, NAHT surveyed 2,044 school leaders over a fortnight from the end of last September to find out what they felt were their most immediate cost pressures as a direct result of the pandemic. Its findings were stark. During the first month of the autumn term, mean average additional exceptional costs as a direct result of covid-19 were £8,017, with a large number of schools reporting costs of more than £10,000, and a few in excess of £100,000. Supply costs were bleeding schools of some £2,454 a month. On average, schools had, in that single month, also seen some £9,755 disappear in lost income. However, the figure was much higher than that for many. These were on top of the nearly £26,000 additional expenses or lost income incurred by schools from March to August last year, broken down as some £9,990 per school

in extra costs and £15,915 in reduced revenue, NAHT calculated. The survey also highlighted that while the Department for Education (DfE) has put in place an ‘exceptional costs’ reimbursement scheme, this has been narrow and limited in scope. For instance, not including extra expenditure required to make a school ‘covid-19 secure’. This is a concern that has been forcefully echoed by the Education Policy Institute. Furthermore, all these additional financial pressures are eating into budgets (for 2020/21) that were set, agreed and planned before the crisis. Schools are, therefore, using money that should have been allocated for pupils’ education. As NAHT’s report states: “School leaders are skilled at eking out budgets. But no school leader could have predicted or budgeted for the costs of a global pandemic. Most schools have insufficient fiscal headroom to manage and offset even relatively modest covid-19-related spending. “The impact of covid-19 falls unevenly. Individual schools’ additional costs are dependent on a wide range of contextual factors, including, for example, deprivation. The nation’s children have already suffered because of the pandemic. Each school must now be fully supported in meeting the cost of covid-19.” Then there is the mental and emotional pressure this all adds onto the shoulders of school leaders, which is on top of everything else that has come with navigating schools through perhaps the toughest crisis in a century.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

RACHEL YOUNGER, NAHT’S SCHOOL BUSINESS LEADERS’ SECTOR COUNCIL CHAIR As Rachel Younger, business manager at St Nicholas Church of England Primary School in Blackpool and NAHT’s school business leaders’ sector council chair, highlights: “We all have extra pressure. Specifically for school business leaders, we have all the same things we have to do normally – invoices still need to be paid, monthly accounts still need to be reconciled, and contractors and service providers still need to be managed – but now with so much extra on top of that.” The extra costs are so far ‘easily’ into five figures for her school, Rachel points out. “There have been all of the extra costs in terms of supply staff to cover for those who are self-isolating and all the millions of gallons of hand sanitiser, PPE, masks and other adaptations. We’ve put in place extra cleaning hours during the day as well, and I know from talking to other school business leaders in Blackpool, they’ve done the same,” says Rachel. This is an impact felt across the country, in the devolved nations as well as England.

LAURA DOEL, NAHT CYMRU DIRECTOR

“We have a significant number of schools now going into a deficit budget through no fault of their own. They knew that they would be going into a deficit budget, but the mechanisms to manage that are unavailable to them. That has caused a lot of stress and anxiety for members,” says NAHT Cymru director Laura Doel. Although the Welsh Government has set up the ‘local government single emergency hardship fund’, this is not something ring-fenced for education. Instead, it is a pot of money for local authorities to use across the piece, she points out.

Supply costs were bleeding schools of some

£2,454

“So, you have everybody bidding for money from the same fund. Local authorities have seen their income/revenue streams frozen – leisure centres, car parking charges, and so on – so they have been really stretched for money as well. “As a local authority ﬁnance director, you’re not going to let schools dip into that when you are also dipping into it to keep everything else going. The reality is it is very difﬁcult for schools to dip into that money,” she says.

HELENA MACORMAC, NAHT(NI) DIRECTOR

“There has been some confusion, and concern, among members in Northern Ireland about what will and won’t be reimbursed; there is a lot of uncertainty,” says Helena Macormac, NAHT(NI) director. “There is a significant number of schools in Northern Ireland that are already in the red. School leaders see that the pandemic will be an inevitable extra cost on top of everything else, and the fear is that they are going to be plunged even further into deficit as a result of this. “There is so much day-to-day firefighting going on at the moment that some of the long-term issues around funding, which were there even before the pandemic, haven’t come to the fore yet. But, obviously, they will, and people are worried,” she adds. So, where does this all leave schools? Rachel, for one, highlights that spiralling deficits risk making the whole sector much more financially insecure going forward. “There are a lot of schools that are going to be in deficit and having to have conversations with their local authorities about how they are going to manage. And academies are going to need to be having the same sorts of conversations. We need to do something now to try and stop things getting out of hand,” she says.

“What I’d like is a bit more reality from the government about the pressure that schools’ budgets are under. It goes back to that misconception that the DfE seems to have that there are billions of pounds floating around in schools’ reserves; it is just not the case,” she says. “I would also like an acknowledgement that, actually, schools can’t afford all the extra costs they have to pay. Some sort of extra financial top-up would be the best way forward, and not one that we have to wait for until the next financial settlement is agreed. We need it imminently,” Rachel adds. “It is not schools trying to get more money; schools just want to get back what they have spent extra on to get through this pandemic. It is going to be a massive issue within a lot of schools’ budgets,” agrees Ian. And Laura highlights an extra, yet equally important, concern within all this. “If a school is in a financial deficit, that is grounds, technically, for disciplinary action against the school leader; a school leader could be hauled over the coals, even if there would be a strong defence, given the circumstances. “That is another additional headache and pressure on school leaders that they really don’t need right now,” she adds.

RUNNING ON EMPTY

A hard-hitting analysis from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) has broadly echoed the ﬁndings of NAHT’s autumn survey when it comes to gauging the ﬁnancial impact of covid-19 on schools. Its report, ‘Assessing covid-19 cost pressures on England’s schools’, published in December, concluded that less than a third (31%) of the additional costs facing schools as a result of the pandemic are covered by the government’s support fund. The analysis, based on responses from more than 700 schools, covering March to November 2020, was supported by NAHT and ASCL. Almost all schools reported extra expenditure on PPE and cleaning supplies. A large majority faced additional costs from signage, digital equipment and handwashing facilities.

These were on top of the nearly

£26,000

additional expenses or lost income incurred by schools from March to August last year.

a month.

Broken down as some

On average, schools had, in that single month, also seen some

per school in extra costs and

£9,755

disappear in lost income.

£9,990 £15,915

in reduced revenue, NAHT calculated.

COVID COSTS

Schools had also spent more on teaching staff, which was expected to increase further in the months ahead. The average shortfall schools were facing amounted to £40 per pupil, and it could mean many schools will be forced to make savings elsewhere, it warned. Drilling down into the ﬁgures, virtually all schools reported extra spending on PPE (95%) and cleaning supplies (99%). The vast majority faced increased costs in signage (83%), digital equipment (81%) and handwashing facilities (73%). Since the start of the ﬁrst lockdown (March 2020), on average, primary schools’ non-staff costs increased by around £13,000, and secondary schools’ by nearly £43,000 (similar on a per-pupil level). Schools expected to spend a similar amount during the rest of the year, the EPI said.

Drilling down into the ﬁgures, virtually all schools reported extra spending on the following:

On average, primary schools had spent an extra £9,000 on teaching staff, compared with £15,000 in secondary schools. On a per-pupil level, this was twice as high in primary than in secondary. Extra expenditure on teaching staff was greatest in the most disadvantaged schools. In addition to increased costs, nine out of 10 schools had seen their incomes fall, with more afﬂuent schools seeing the biggest reductions. These schools were also more likely to miss out on voluntary contributions or income derived from hiring out their facilities, the EPI said. Despite these pressures, a quarter of primary schools and half of secondary schools reported making some savings, largely on utilities. Worryingly, the report concluded that more than half (57%) of all schools were now using their reserves to meet covid-

95%

99%

PPE

Cleaning supplies

19-related costs. A similar proportion of schools (48% of primaries and 50% of secondaries) did not expect to have balanced their budget by the end of the year, which would represent an increase of around 10 percentage points on 2018/19.

You can download the full report here

epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/ covid-19-cost-pressures-on-schools

83%

81%

Signage

Digital equipment

73% Handwashing facilities

18 SALLY THOMSON IS THE SCHOOL BUSINESS MANAGER AT ST EDWARD’S CHURCH OF ENGLAND VA PRIMARY SCHOOL IN ROMFORD, ESSEX. THE THREE-FORM ENTRY SCHOOL HAS APPROXIMATELY 600 CHILDREN AS WELL AS A NURSERY. A COMBINATION OF LOSS OF LETTINGS INCOME, WRAPAROUND CARE AND EXTRA NURSERY HOURS MEANS ITS TOTAL LOSS OF REVENUE THIS YEAR WILL BE AROUND £78,500. “We have, of course, had a lot of extra dayto-day costs for things, such as cleaning and extra supply cover for when staff have been isolating. We have been reimbursed for some of that, and we are expecting another payment this term. Our local authority, London Borough of Havering, has been quite supportive and has been refunding percentages of service level agreement costs, which has helped slightly. “However, where we have been hit is through losses associated with selfgenerated income from lettings, our wraparound care and extra nursery hours. All these things have reduced signiﬁcantly because of the pandemic. “On extra nursery hours, parents are entitled to 15 hours’ free nursery care or can qualify for 30 hours’, with those who don’t qualify able to pay for the extra 15 hours’. However, because of covid-19 and parents working from home or perhaps not

wanting to send their children in, we are losing a lot of that income. Whereas we’d normally expect this to be about £24,000, it’s been more in the region of £13,000. But, obviously, we have to continue to pay the teachers and the teaching assistants. So, that is a ﬁnancial burden. “Our wraparound care facility is signiﬁcantly down on numbers this year too because parents’ working patterns have changed and the school has been closed on and off. Based on 2019/20, we would have expected income of £100,000 this year, but we will probably only receive in the region of £25,000. We have partially offset this using the furlough scheme, but it will still be in the region of a £36,000 loss. “We have also been hit by our loss of income from lettings. We have a swimming pool here, and we normally let that. It is a big source of income; we put a lot of that back into the costs of running the pool.

“When we started the last financial year, we put in a budget that was in deficit. We’ve been quite prudent and careful throughout the year with how we’ve spent money. We’ve set up an extra cost centre in our budget where we put in anything extra. But for the next financial year, we’re going to be starting the budget, probably, still without any lettings income. “It is partly just that we need more cash, but I would also like to see the government reimburse loss of income, which it doesn’t do currently. The government does not generally encourage schools to make profits to support their budgets, and I accept that, but if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to buy anything extra to improve the school. For example, we would not be able to afford our pool and swimming teacher without lettings income. “The amount of funding we receive only covers the bare necessities, and we are not an extravagant school, as our benchmarking shows. But we are not left with enough to improve the condition and appearance of the school. We have the most wonderful new head teacher, who has so many positive and forward-thinking ideas and plans for the school, but, now, not enough funding to carry them out.”

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

SARAH COX IS THE HEAD TEACHER OF BROOK INFANT SCHOOL AND NURSERY IN CRAWLEY, WEST SUSSEX. THE TWO-FORM ENTRY SCHOOL HAS 170 CHILDREN, AND THE 54-PLACE NURSERY IS PRIVATELY RUN, SO IT GENERATES AN INCOME. THE SCHOOL ALSO PROVIDES WRAPAROUND CARE. “We have, of course, had a financial impact from covid-19. You could see it coming, and we have had to plan for it. It was clear we were going to have to get into the realms of PPE, hand sanitiser and so on, which will continue to be the case for many months. “My business manager is brilliant at disaster planning. It was ‘let’s make this the worst-case scenario, and then it might be better, but let’s plan for the worst’. So, yes, we have seen increased costs in cleaning, all the equipment we need and so on. “But I do feel the government stepped up. In that first, initial lockdown when we, of course, didn’t know it was coming, its scheme of putting in your expenses and pretty much meeting them has, for us, worked. It has met what we put in. “For exceptional expenses, the reimbursement scheme had a separate section where you could put in for additional things, and it either said yes or no, which I think is fair. For example, we got a portable cabin on-site because we had to strip back the classrooms, and we did not have enough room to store the stuff coming out. “We knew we’d need one long term, so we said to the government ‘this is, I suppose, a covid-19 cost’, but it is also a long-term investment for us. So, we assumed we would have to pay for it, and we did. For that first chunk of lockdown, I feel the government met all our genuine increased costs and expenses (not loss of earnings). I felt that system was very fair. “My business manager looked at the budget before we submitted it to the local

authority in May, and we tweaked it in light of covid-19 suddenly appearing in March. So, now, our bottom line is actually realistic. We do have increased costs and loss of earnings on the one hand, but there are, actually, some decreased costs too. For example, we’ve made some savings in areas such as staff cover that had been predicted but wasn’t already booked (we did obviously honour all booked cover) – we’ve been able to cover it in different ways going forward. “We’ve adapted our budget to ﬁt. Where we’ve struggled – for example, where wraparound care hasn’t happened or where, as we did during the ﬁrst lockdown, we offered it for free to key workers – we simply spoke to the staff and have been able to redirect them. For example, one of our cleaners couldn’t carry on; it was linked to covid-19, but they decided to resign. We decided not to take on another cleaner at that point. Instead, we spoke to the team, and the staff were more than happy to be redirected. Similarly, with one of our wraparound care staff members, instead of using the furlough scheme (which we felt was really for those who could not survive without it), we redirected them into a teaching assistant role. So, it has been just about using money in a different way. “We have tried, where we can, to carry on with our long-term development plan too, and some of this has actually been accelerated by covid-19. For example, we

have moved to voice-over-internet phone calling. By making that upgrade – yes, there was an outlay – there will now be savings going forward. We’ve been able to carry out some outdoor developments too because we’ve had fewer children in school. “We knew we needed to update our IT systems, and we went over to Microsoft just before this all happened, but, again, covid-19 has helped us to embed that change. So, it is not necessarily that covid-19 has enabled things, but we have not allowed covid-19 to stop us from doing things. We’ve really tried to be proactive, and I think it has saved us from bleeding money. “We are currently all reflecting on the positives that have come out of covid-19, asking ‘what are we never going to change?’. For example, this isn’t about finance, but we’ve instigated a one-way system that now means we all use the same in and out gates, whereas before we had a different one for the nursery because it is at the other end of the school. I won’t change that because now I can see and welcome every single child at the beginning of the day and say goodbye to everyone at the end. There has been so much negative spin out there, but I think we also need to recognise that covid-19 has taught us some good things. “Having said that, I do recognise everyone is in a different situation. I’m in a school that didn’t start with a deficit budget and brings in an income. Another school might have been in deficit, and therefore this period would have been horrendous; I equally know of some schools that are sitting on a £50,000 bottom line they weren’t expecting to have. I do feel we also need to say there is some positive from this; I think that would help everybody’s mental health.”

“Our external caterers are now talking about invoicing us for their free school meal costs, which means we will be paying twice.” SIMON* IS A SCHOOL BUSINESS LEADER FOR A LARGE SECONDARY SCHOOL IN LONDON WITH APPROXIMATELY 2,000 PUPILS. “For us, our loss of income from lettings for the autumn and spring terms is looking likely to be in the region of £45,000. On top of that, additional day cleaners to clean our cafeteria between breaks and dinner times and our classrooms where bubbles have to switch over has cost

around £2,500 a month from September to December. This will, of course, continue as and when our students return. It’s not a massive cost, but we now have to post out exercise books and workbooks, all of which adds up. “On top of this, we’ve had the cost of plastic screens, covid-19 ﬂow testing, additional PPE and additional cleaning. Our external caterers are now talking about invoicing us about £2,000 a week for the

free school meal costs they would be taking, which means we will be paying for free school meals twice until the government refunds us for the voucher scheme. “Our cash ﬂow is under enough strain as it is without that, and we don’t have a surplus to fall on.” *name has been anonymised

Hear more members’ experiences at https://features.naht.org.uk/the-cost-of-covid-19/index.html

ISLE OF MAN

Isle of Man

A David-and-Goliath pay battle

Leadership Focus journalist Nic Paton looks at how members’ action and solidarity resulted in a landmark pay agreement being reached.

he scouring effect of the covid-19 pandemic on schools, education and school leaders has, unsurprisingly, dominated the headlines and news agenda for the past year. On the Isle of Man, however, NAHT members have not only had to deal with challenges of disruption to education, restrictions and lockdowns, but they have also spent much of the past two years locked in a David-and-Goliath pay battle with the island’s government and education department. It was a bitter dispute where members, and even national ofﬁcials, were threatened and ministers accused of bullying and being overly ‘combative’. But, as of last autumn, it was one where members’ action and solidarity won through and resulted in a landmark pay agreement being reached along with a string of other conditions. It led to ministers being forced to fall on their swords, being transferred or sidelined. But most importantly of all, it has laid the foundations for a partnership approach to education on the island for future generations. As NAHT national secretary Rob Kelsall tells Leadership Focus: “It is a historic agreement. Something we’ve not secured

anywhere else. It was a battle of hearts and minds. Critically, for teachers and school leaders, it was about fighting for our own dignity. But we were also fighting for something far bigger: the future of education on the island, and the futures of young people.” To understand the dispute, you have to go back to the 2018/19 School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB’s) recommendation that all teacher and leadership posts receive a 3.5% pay award. This was, s, as members may recall, followed by then education secretary Damian Hinds deciding to go in a different 5% direction, namely accepting the 3.5% recommendation for teachers, butt a lower settlement (2.5%) for those se on the upper pay scale, and an even lower pay rise (1.5%) for those in leadership posts. As a Crown dependency, the Isle of Man had the freedom to veer from Hinds’ decision and implement the full STRB recommendation. However, Ronald Barr – the then chief executive officer of the island’s Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC) – decided to follow the English example, much to head teachers’ and other school leaders’ anger.

ROB KELSALL, NAHT NATIONAL SECRETARY

Isle of Man NAHT branch secretary, who wishes not to be named, takes up the story. “Our pay policy in the Isle of Man meant that they [the department] could basically have done either/or. They could have gone with the secretary of state, or they could have followed their own orbit. They chose to follow the secretary of state, despite the fact that for months and months –

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

years in fact – we had been arguing that, due to the high cost of living on the Isle of Man, our pay had deteriorated in excess of a lot of places, even further than in England. “The department continually made the right noises, but it did absolutely nothing about it. So, not to go with the STRB’s recommendations felt like the ﬁnal slap in the face. All teachers and senior leaders on the island felt aggrieved, really aggrieved, because we had been arguing our case for years,” they explain. Negotiations with the DESC to remedy the situation made little progress, and indeed, relations between the profession and government rapidly worsened. As the branch secretary explains: “There were extensive discussions from September 2018 through to Christmas, but we got absolutely nowhere; they just batted us away. At one point, the CEO said to me (and I paraphrase slightly) ‘you are bashing your head against a brick wall here because senior teachers on this island will not take action. So, therefore, we have the high hand on this and just go away’ – basically. “At that point, I was livid, absolutely livid. We went to our local executive and talked about it. We decided we needed to pull in HQ, which is when Rob came on board.” “The overriding view I gained when I ﬁrst met with head teachers on the Isle of Man was that, yes, they were angry about the Isle of Man adopting the position it had. But it was also that, actually, this was a battle that was about far more than just pay,” agrees Rob.

21 For example, the pay battle was fought against a backdrop of the Isle of Man government introducing an education bill described by NAHT as ‘draconian’ and which included, among other things, the threat of a custodial sentence for head teachers who it was felt were blocking or obstructing school inspections. While separate from the pay issue, the fact the government eventually bowed to widespread opposition – including from parents and head teachers – and withdrew

the contentious bill in February 2021 is another feather in the cap for NAHT members. As Rob puts it: “It was about the profession, about school leaders, being listened to and respected, about being treated with dignity. Members felt compelled to stand up and take hold of the situation.” The reversal of the education bill, in particular, was “a testament to the collective endeavour of all NAHT members on the Isle of Man”, he adds

OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR ACTION

72%

95%

85%

Returning to the pay dispute, a ballot of members in August 2019 gave resounding backing to NAHT’s position, on a near 72% turnout.

A total of 95% agreed to take action short of a strike.

85% voted for strike action.

ISLE OF MAN

“It was the biggest turnout of members, percentage-wise, voting in an industrial action ballot in our history,” continues Rob. “In NAHT’s long and proud history, balloting for industrial action is something we only do very, very rarely. It has happened perhaps fewer than ﬁve times in our entire history. “But we had a huge turnout of members, and then a huge majority of people voting to take action. When we discussed with leaders on the Isle of Man the types of action they felt would be appropriate, one thing they made a point of was that the very last thing they wanted to do was impact the learning of children and young people.” The result, therefore, was a ‘work to rule’ action starting from that September (2019). “NAHT members were the only ones on the Isle of Man who, in the beginning, were prepared to stand up and be counted,” says Rob.

“We withdrew all our support for the DESC, and we stopped doing things that we did not have to do,” explains the branch secretary. “For example, the department relied on us to interview supply teachers and supply support staff in school. It relied on us to join working parties for policies and so on, and we refused to do all that.” “The DESC also relied on us to engage with it over a whole range of things to do with schools’ accountability,” says Max Kelly, president of NAHT Isle of Man and head teacher of Dhoon Primary School and Laxey Primary School on the island. “We withdrew our engagement with the SSRE process (the school self-review and evaluation process), which was the Manx government’s way, at the time, of inspecting or quality assuring schools. We also wouldn’t take part in meetings with department ofﬁcials. So, the

MAX KELLY, PRESIDENT OF NAHT ISLE OF MAN

whole business of the department slowed right down,” he adds. The action got underway amid much acrimony. As the branch secretary says: “Max and I were threatened with with our jobs; there was all sorts happening.” Rob and NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman even had one meeting with Ronald Barr and Lawrie Hooper (a member of the House of Keys, the island’s directly elected chamber, who was at the time deputising for the education minister) at a local golf course that took a distinctly dark turn. “We were threatened and told we should be ‘careful’ about taking action,” recalls Rob.

BREAKTHROUGH, BUT A FALSE DAWN 22

Then, in October 2019, there was a breakthrough, with a 10-point heads of agreement being reached on a possible resolution to the dispute. NAHT members believed the heads of agreement was enough to call off the industrial action. However, within weeks, the agreement was not being adhered to by the DESC. The situation once again quickly escalated. “At that point, we were on our own; NAHT was the only union taking action,” recalls Rob. “Through the autumn into the spring term of 2020, action was then recommenced. We had a big push on winning over the public, parents and school communities. We took out adverts in all the local papers that countered any false narrative that this was just about teachers’ pay. The arguments we were making in the public domain were that this dispute was far more about the kind of education system we wanted on the Isle of Man. At this point, other unions began to follow our lead and support action; this included ASCL and NASUWT. “We took our ﬁght to the House of Keys. We had lobbies. We talked directly to the MHKs [Members of the House of Keys]. I think, just because of the weight of the pressure we were bringing to bear, the chief

minister finally announced an inquiry into the department, which our members gave evidence to,” he says. This government-commissioned independent review, announced in February 2020, had been prompted by the ongoing pay dispute and accusations of bullying behaviour by education minister Graham Cregeen, which led to 600 teachers backing a vote of no confidence in the minister (of which more later). “Then, of course, we had the pandemic,” continues Rob. “We thrashed out another heads of agreement in or around early March 2020, which would have resulted in significant achievements. But that, again, came off the table at the very last minute because of the pandemic.

at ion of in m r te e d e gh; “Th u o r h t s u d arrie members c ged t hem to keep we encoura d eventually, we n t he fait h, a gh in November broke t hrou ,” says Rob. last year

“I think of it as akin to a Davidand-Goliath battle because the full weight of the Isle of Man government was behind the department. There were lots of long-standing people in post there. But the determination of members carried us through; we encouraged them to keep the faith, and eventually, we broke through in ys Rob. November last year,,” say

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

MINISTERIAL DEPARTURES AND AN AGREEMENT Part of that breakthrough was down to the departure of DESC CEO Ronald Barr in September, after the independent review into the dispute had criticised him for having a ‘combative’ relationship with teachers. As the branch secretary highlights: “I think the critical thing was the change in leadership at the department, which has led to a complete change of tone and the fact the interim CEO and his team are now listening and advocating for teachers.” The deal agreed includes a one-off payment of £2,800 to all school leaders to offset the shortfall in the 2018 settlement, plus a payment of £1,800 to those on the upper pay scale and £800 to main pay scale teachers. “There is also a commitment, when all of this is over, to looking

One-off payment of

£2,800

to all school leaders.

Payment of

£1,800

to those one the upper pay scale.

at pay more widely again because we all know the one-off payment is a drop in the ocean. But it was an important signal and commitment to listening to teachers and working with us and towards an appropriate pay deal in the future, which we all know is long overdue,” says the branch secretary. The deal includes a £1.5m injection of new money into the teaching profession on the island plus a clause committing to future pay negotiations when inﬂation goes above a certain percentage. “It is about the creation of a partnership arrangement between senior leaders and the government,” says Rob. “There is also a commitment to look at new inspection and accountability frameworks and more accountability with governors. It is not simply about pounds, shillings and pence.

£800

to main pay scale teachers.

£1.5m

injection of new money into the teaching profession on the island.

Read and share this feature: https://features.naht.org.uk/IOM_pay_battle/index.html

It has been far, far more about the respect of the profession and leaders. Our members, naturally, voted overwhelmingly to accept the new deal,” he adds. “It cannot be overestimated: the power of action,” agrees Annette Baker, former head of Ramsey Grammar School on the island, now retired, who was NAHT’s secondary school representative during the dispute. “The icing on the cake was that, as a branch, we used to have about 50 members, but because of the dispute, that number has more than trebled. NAHT on the Isle of Man was also mostly the preserve of primary heads, but now it is both primary and secondary. It is the only branch across the whole national union that when we look at middle leaders, it has more in membership than senior leaders,” she adds. “It has been having that determination to stand together. But it was also about articulating a far bigger message. If we want to have a decent education system on the Isle of Man, or anywhere else for that matter, it has to start on the basis of people being treated as equals, as professionals,” emphasises Rob. “I remember when it came to the vote around Graham Cregeen, we had to go to a church because the Isle of Man government had banned NAHT from holding any meetings in its premises. When you are faced with things like that, the resilience of people shines through. The branch secretary went to a local vicar and asked him to open his church, one of the island’s biggest. And then we saw coachloads of teachers and leaders turning up – more than 600 were in the church that night. “At that point, you just knew there was something here that was almost like a movement; you just knew we were not going to lose as long as we kept the faith,” Rob adds.

COLM DAVIS 24

Colm was a man who refused to give up and who chose to offer hope rather than despair.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

Colm Davis OBE Obituary KIM JOHNSON, NAHT past president, shares his memories of good friend Colm Davis OBE. s a young child, Colm was described as being a touch mischievous and lively. On his first day at school, his mother had to march him back after spotting him peering through the window at home. He had left school early stating: “I’ve had enough of school already.” Needless to say, thereafter, he stayed and made the most of his education. When he was on the way to sit his final exams, during ‘The Troubles’, a Belfast street riot blocked the way, and it required a priest to secure him safe passage. As such, it was clear that Colm was to be someone who knew what he wanted, how to get it and then how to be successful in making things happen. Trained at St Joseph’s College in Belfast, he started his teaching career at a centre for adults with special needs and then two schools before arriving at Tor Bank Special School. Here, as principal, he crafted a team of staff around him to take the school forward and achieve great things. In time, they moved into a brand-new building, which became the jewel in Northern Ireland’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision. Those that have known him would not be surprised at those early years. That grit and determination revealed itself as he e fought courageously and tirelessly y to champion the cause of children n with special needs. He wanted the e very best for them and his staff, and while he expected the highesst of standards, he led from the fron nt to achieve exactly that. He had the courage to stand up and be a significant voice for those e who had none. It was here that he became feted as a nationally acclaimed figure for his SEND worrk and was totally respected by his peers. Soon after, he became a leading light in NAHT in Northern Ireland and on the national executive. He then became the

NAHT national vice-president at a time when special education was increasing its inﬂuence. The diagnosis of motor neurone disease (MND) robbed him of fulﬁlling that opportunity. However, his achievements were rightfully recognised and rewarded in 2017 when he received an OBE and honorary fellowship of The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT). Latterly he campaigned fearlessly and vigorously for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA) as an advocate and fundraiser. Supported by his wonderful wife Victoria, they raised large sums of money to help fund research and support families living with this cruel disease. When we think about inspiring leadership, Colm is someone who will always be at the forefront of our minds. He took time to get to know everyone, and people were what mattered most to him. He was someone who looked for solutions. Even in the challenges he faced in his own life,, his thoug ghts were

ﬁrst and foremost for those around him, be they his family, friends, colleagues or pupils. His peers recall the enhanced humour fuelled by a glass or two of Jack Daniel’s. His accent, so rich and often played on by him to ensure all concentrated on his wise words. His laughter and mischief, a joy to be part of. His friendship and counsel, dearly valued and cherished. His knowledge and love of football, with him often teased for being a loyal Leeds United fan. His work and professionalism, totally respected. His legacy immense and enduring. As has been said, “Colm was a man who refused to give up, who chose to offer hope rather than despair, who stood up on behalf of those who were perhaps feeling weak and vulnerable and who did what he could to make this world a softer, more compassionate place.” Colm is survived by his wife Victoria and three adult children Colm Jnr, Victoria and Amy.

Colm Francis Davis, born 21 January y 2021. 1959;; died 27 January

Above: Pupils from Tor Bank School in Belfast cheer on Colm as he is surprised with a ride on a Harley-Davidson to NAHT’s national executive conference in 2017.

REFER YOUR COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS TO NAHT AND

WE WILL REWARD YOU BOTH WITH A VOUCHER! Refer a member to NAHT today and help us strengthen our voice as a community. We represent more than 46,000 members, but the greater the number, the louder our voice. We’ll say thank you for every member you refer to us with a voucher. There’s no limit on how many referrals you can make.

Tell your friend or colleague to visit www.naht.org.uk/referral for more information. Don’t forget, middle leaders can join NAHT Edge under our referral scheme* Visit www.naht.org.uk/nahtedge for more information.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

OPINION

PAUL WHITEMAN: NAHT general secretary

‘Turning our thoughts from recovery to revolution’ s education leads the way out of the latest lockdown, we all hope it will be the last. Assuming we can get to the end of this academic year without further disruption, the next few months will be about ‘recovery’ – the measures, large and small, that schools will put in place to help pupils now they are back in the classroom. At a system level, this is a fantastically complex piece of work: individual interventions for every single child in the system. Some may not need much; others a great deal. But educators will be doing this on a scale never tried before. It is incumbent on the government to do everything in its power to ensure schools are protected and supported. Ideas need to be studied, and solutions need to be based on evidence to select the ones that work. Fundamental change needs more than a good soundbite. All the speculation about longer school days, shortened holidays, and extra maths and English instead of PE and other activities is immensely frustrating. School leaders would do well to zone out ill-informed commentary as they get on with the job. Simultaneously, while we deliver this recovery effort, we also need to think beyond the next few months. The government must have a long-term plan for evidence-based education recovery, not shortterm catch-up ideas. High-quality teaching is the most important driver of educational equity, and the best contribution the government could make is to value and invest in the teaching profession.

Now is the time for the government to give staff, who are considering leaving, a reason to stay in the teaching profession. Alongside this, there must be a boost to investment in high-quality professional development. The Department for Education must incentivise and reward those teaching in the most disadvantaged communities. Simultaneously, the government must look beyond the school gates to improve young people’s life chances. A focus on mental health and well-being for children and young people is more important than ever. Pupils may need additional, more targeted support, and they will likely need more specialist help from health or social care services. The situation for schools supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) over the last decade has been bleak. The core education budget was never intended to meet all the needs of pupils with SEND. Education cannot do it alone. The government must provide more funding for health and social care services and increase the high needs funding pot.

Above: Paul Whiteman.

A focus on mental health and wellbeing for children and young people is more important than ever.

Unfortunately, these services were stretched before the pandemic, having been as starved of funding as education. Without all the resources and services that should be there to aid operating efﬁciently and effectively together, the government risks failing children just as they most need help. We have had more than enough reform to last us a lifetime, particularly as some have delivered such poor outcomes for young people, but a positive change is needed. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have said ‘we can’t go back to the old ways’. It will break school leaders if we do, and the system will continue to fail the most disadvantaged learners. The disadvantaged gap is as big as the Grand Canyon in some respects. Those working in education are wearing down their ﬁngertips’ skin to stop those two tectonic plates from pulling even further apart. Schemes like the National Tutoring Programme could point the way to the future, but only if they are backed up by a commitment of many years of funding and easy access. We also need to reignite children’s aspirations. NAHT’s Primary Futures scheme can help with that. Other schemes and plans will need to be drawn up. I worry the government lacks ambition in this regard – that the best it will aim for is a ‘return to normal’. NAHT’s sights are set much higher.

POLICY CORNER

POLICY UPDATE

Northern Ireland HELENA MACORMAC, NAHT(NI) director, provides an update on our work to support members and represent their interests in Northern Ireland. he lack of ministerial and departmental contingency planning across all foreseeable areas regarding the pandemic has been of significant detriment to the entire school community. Our biggest fear is the long-term impact this may have on pupils. The lack of direct communication, the U-turns over post-primary examinations and academic selection, the contradictions and the prioritisation of policy that protects systems over pupils have all shaken the profession’s confidence in the minister for education, Peter Weir. NAHT(NI) has made representations to the minister in the strongest terms outlining our concerns. We have clearly stated that we will use all avenues available to us as a trade union to address matters if needs be. The Continuity Direction, which was issued in early January, does not provide schools with the flexibility they need to adapt to the challenges at hand. With this lockdown, there are significantly higher pupil numbers in schools in Northern Ireland. We know of reports of special schools whose staffing capacity has been reduced by a third, yet they are expected

to provide support to 100% of their pupils, and more schools are resorting to blended learning. In February, an NAHT(NI) members survey found 87% of respondents had concerns about rising pupil numbers and their ability to meet demand safely. With a greatly reduced workforce capacity and no clarity regarding a muchneeded vaccination programme, we have been urging the government to consider a safety cap on numbers. We know that whole school communities are under immense pressure, and tensions are high. Forty-eight per cent of respondents to our aforementioned survey stated they had experienced conﬂict as a result of current arrangements. Correspondingly, members’ welfare remains a signiﬁcant concern. School leaders have worked through weekends, evenings and holiday periods with immense dedication. Many have suffered their own traumas and caring challenges because of the pandemic, and we are already beginning to see the impact in terms of retention of school leaders. We have urged the government to prioritise school leaders’ well-being and

actively encourage them to take a break during the school holiday period. It is to be welcomed that following our intervention, the Department of Education has agreed that the review of workload for school leaders arising from the pay and workload agreement will progress as a priority, with work set to commence next month. As we move beyond covid-19, we know there is a serious body of work to address unsustainable workload levels. NAHT(NI) will continue to lobby the government robustly to address this. Many of the dysfunctions within our systems have been laid bare by the ravages of covid-19. Most notably, the chronic underfunding of the Northern Ireland education system and the barrier to learning that cumulative years of underinvestment has caused. We will continue to raise this with the government as we look to the future. Along with the need for appropriate planning to address deepening inequalities caused by the pandemic, we must compel the government to learn from the past year’s mistakes.

87%

of respondents had concerns about rising pupil numbers and their ability to meet demand safely

48%

of respondents stated they had experienced conﬂict as a result of current arrangements

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

Wa ales

POLICY UPDATE

LAURA DOEL, NAHT Cymru director, provides an update on the work bein ng done in Wales to protect, support and empower NAHT members.

Pay and conditions

Throughout January and February, NAHT Cymru put forward our submissions to the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body’s 3rd remit. For the ﬁrst time, the remit included feedback on pay for executive head teachers and the new additional learning needs coordinator (ALNCo) role, which became a statutory role in Wales under the Additional Learning Needs and Assessment Act.

Additional learning needs reforms

The Welsh Government remains determined to keep the additional learning needs reforms on track. This is despite the challenges facing schools in Wales because of covid-19. As you know, additional learning needs legislation has now created a new statutory role, the additional learning needs coordinator (ALNCo), to support children in schools with additional learning needs. For some schools, this is a vital role with signiﬁcant legal obligations and responsibilities. The role came into being in January, but there is no speciﬁc structure to support the remuneration of the position within the current school teachers’ pay and conditions document in Wales. The previous special educational needs (SEN) allowance, muted by the government as a way of awarding payments to such a role, in our view,

NAHT Cymru continues to challenge the issue of affordability being part of the remit. For three consecutive years, the Welsh Government has made this a key consideration for the independent body to include as part of its deliberations. During this time, NAHT Cymru has made our position clear that affordability is the government’s decision. It should not be included when determining the value placed on a professional role.

is insufficient and does not reflect the significance of the position. The SEN allowance was an additional payment to classroom teachers who had children with SEN. It was never to fulfil any statutory function. NAHT Cymru has made this point and asked for this area to be reviewed in our submission to the Independent Welsh Review Body as part of its 3rd remit on pay and conditions. In the original plan set out by the government, 2020/21 was the academic year when implementation training was to be rolled out in schools to help the workforce prepare for the implications of the new legislation. Despite being underway, our members are concerned about whether schools will complete the training in time. Although NAHT Cymru responded in 2019 to the draft additional learning needs code, which will accompany the legislation, the final regulation is not complete. It is due to be laid before the Senedd this spring.

Estyn

Wales continues to beneﬁt from an inspection-free year by Estyn, with inspection paused until August 2021 to allow schools to prepare for the new curriculum’s roll-out. Despite this, Estyn is carrying out thematic reviews for the Welsh Government on the impact of covid-19 to examine the support offered to schools during the pandemic by local authorities and the consortia. Estyn is also persisting with its rounds of engagement calls with school leaders. NAHT Cymru meets Estyn each month to challenge the inspectorate on its current approaches and ensure an inspection-free year means just that. As yet, there is no plan to inspect the support offered to children via remote learning. Udated guidance released in January by the Welsh Government emphasises the need for self-evaluation by schools to see if they can improve their remote learning offer.

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LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

Co ovid-19 safety and secttion 44

NAHT T solicitor SIMON THOMAS looks at protection for employees againstt dettriment an nd dism missal in conn nectiion with dangers in the workplace. t th he tim me of writting, we are still in the grip of the pandemic,, and I don’t thin nk I am being overly pessiimistic in pre edicting th hat when this rea achess you, co ovid-19 will still very much be a pa art of our working lives. The pand demic has crreated severa al legal isssues. Som me are new w, such as the exceptiionally wid de powerss parlliamen nt gave to governm ments and ministers to issue ate legislatio ections e su ubordina on and dire und der the Coro ona avirus Ac ct 2020 (CA A 20 020). And some e are va ariattions on familiar th hemes, suc ch as wheth her em mployers can dire ect teache ers an nd oth her staff to adminissterr covid--19 tests, which is a variation on the re egular issu ue concerrning the adm ministration n of medic cines in sc chools. Issuess which, while not new, were previoussly familiarr only to employme ent lawyerss, HR profe essionals and health h and safety reps, are se ections 44 4 and 100 of the Employ yment Righ hts Act 199 96 (s68 and 132 Emp ployment Rights (No orthern Irreland) Order 19 996) – I will refer to these as s44. These provisions, which concern righ hts

not to suffer detriiment or dismissal in connecttion with dangers in the worrkplace, ha ave been around since 1993, but th hey have probably been referred to morre in the last 12 months than the previous 16 years. The provisions we are concerned with relate to protection against detrime ent and dismissal for employees in the follow wing: • In circumstances of danger, which h the employee reasonably believes to be serious and imminent and they co ould not reasonably be expected to av vert, they leave (or propose to leave) or (while the danger persists) refuse e to return to their place of work or an ny dangerous part of their place of work • In circumstances of danger, which h the employee reasonably believes to be serious and imminent, they take (or propose to take) appropriate step ps to protect themself or other personss from the danger. The protection consists of the right to claim compensation for detriment or unfair dismissal (which is automatically un nfair,

MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING

and the two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal does nott apply y). Ho owever, it does not extend to prev ventiing or reversing the dismissal or detrimen nt. Detriment is not deﬁned d, but it woulld include, for example, stopping or re educing g pay. From the very little ca ase law av vailable, we can say the following: • The fact that a relevant circumsta ance is lawful, or a permitted prractice, do oes not make it unreasonable for the emp ployee to believe they are being g exposed d to serious and imminent da anger • The employee’s belief must be ‘reasonable’, but the employer do oesn’t need to share it • The danger may be to the e employe ee or others (eg other staff, children or re elatives).

WASH YOUR HANDS

Governments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland preface their subo ordinate legislation under CA 2020 0 with the e words: “In response to the seriouss and imm minent threat to public health, wh hich is possed by the incidence and spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coro onavirus.” So how, it miigh ht be argued d, could emp ployers erious deny that an employee’s belief in se able’? and imminent danger wass ‘reasona The Engllish h governmentt’s view is th hat one cannot say a belief in serio ous and im mminent danger is necessarily ‘reassonable’ and local and temporal factors will be relevan nt. However, it willl remain fo or Employ yment Tribunals (Industrrial Tribunal in Northern Ireland) to determ mine whetther an employee who has been subjected to o a detrim ment or dismissed com mes within n s44. To date, we have no case law in the e context of the pandemic. Most employerss appear to adopt a cautious and co onciliatory y appro oach h when faced with employees who o ‘iinvoke’ s44. Still, tensions have arissen and will undoub btedly y continue to emerge now sc chools are e open to more children and staff are being directed to return to the workplace in circumstances wh here they do not fee el safe. The government’s guidance isn n’tt always supported by comp pattible scientiﬁc evidence, which doessn’tt help the situation.

GOVERNANCE

SCHOOL BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS: a key pillar to strengthening governance STEVE EDMONDS, director of advice and guidance at the National Governance Association (NGA), explains how the unique skills, qualifications and experiences of school business professionals help to strengthen governance in all types of school structure. orking for the NGA, I am in the privileged position of supporting volunteers throughout the country who are motivated to put something back into their communities and make a difference to children and young people’s lives. As someone who governs, I also have the privilege of experiencing first-hand the contribution made by school business professionals and their impact on the leadership and governance of schools and trusts. The NGA is committed to playing its part in ensuring that school business professionals’ unique skills, qualifications and experiences are recognised and embraced by governing boards in all types of schools and by the sector. Key to achieving this is a joined-up approach – where school business professionals’ participation in senior leadership meetings shapes their contribution to the governing board’s financial resources management: a core function of governance. While the exact nature of the role is often contextspecific, it is disappointing that some school business professionals have never been invited to participate in leadership and governance meetings even where there were clear resource and financial implications.

This undermines the working relationship they have with their governing boards and increases the challenge of raising the status and profile of the role to receive the recognition and remuneration it deserves. There are many ways of increasing the profile of school business professionals in the governing community and their influence on governing practice. Many school business

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

You can follow and see further comments about governance by Steve on Twitter: @NGASteveE professionals are leading the way in this regard by governing at another school. Those who do this tell us that it is among the best continuing professional development they have experienced and it has shaped the advice, reporting and interaction with the governing board at their own school(s). This, in turn, beneﬁts strategy development and decision-making in a number of areas, such as procurement, HR, marketing and premises. ‘Good relationships based on trust’ is one of the NGA’s eight elements of effective governance (see boxout). We value relationships with our partners in the sector in the same way we like to think that working relationships are valued in schools and trusts.

Working closely with NAHT and the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) has undoubtedly helped the NGA develop its understanding and appreciation of how school business professionals transform their schools and the system, and the challenges they face. It has also helped us to produce and publish guidance for governing boards, which both champions school business leadership and encourages the pillars of business, governance and pedagogy work in an inclusive and integrated way. Examples include our guidance for boards in schools and trusts on budgeting, resource efficiency, integrated curriculum and financial planning, and guidance on strategic governance and expectations (leadership and governance) produced collaboratively with the professional associations. The NGA will continue to look at ways of promoting the school business professional role and encouraging governing boards to value and utilise its support. However, if this work is to have an impact, it needs to be grounded in the reality of experience. We will, therefore, continue to seek out and make the most of the opportunities to hear first-hand from school business professionals (at events and through engaging with NAHT’s school business leaders’ sector council) and gain insight on such topics as their professional development and

standards, effective reporting to the governing board and supporting the evaluation of the role as it applies to the school or trust. We also encourage school business professionals to reﬂect on the part they play in building a strong and effective working relationship with the governing board. Like all relationships, it requires an understanding of each other’s role and a degree of empathy. It can be undermined by the board’s lack of understanding and appreciation of the school business professional’s role. It can also be caused by the school business professional viewing the relationship purely in transactional terms – viewing the board merely as commodities in compliance activity. Finally, on behalf of the NGA, I would like to give our heartfelt thanks to school business professionals for their magniﬁcent work during the pandemic. When dealing with unheard-of logistical challenges and supporting decision-making at leadership and governance level, their calm, principled leadership has been truly inspiring. Their skills and ingenuity will be needed more than ever in what is being described as the ‘new normal’, and it is important that those of us who govern support school business professionals to be the best that they can be.

Governance

EIGHT KEY INGREDIENTS TO ENSURE GOVERNING BODIES FULFIL THEIR ROLE WELL 1. The right people around the table

5. Good relationships based on trust

2. Understanding the role and responsibilities

6. Knowing the school – the data, the staff, the parents, the children and the community

3. Good chairing 4. Professional clerking

7. Committed to asking challenging questions 8. Conﬁdent to have courageous conversations in the interests of the children and young people.

L E A R N I N G

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LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

Outdoor learning: a positive legacy of the pandemic DANIEL MONCRIEFF, SSE Outdoors service manager for Somerset County Council, looks at how outdoor learning can support the post-covid-19 recovery agenda. n January 2021, the Prince’s Trust published its annual survey of young people’s happiness and conﬁdence, recording the worst ﬁndings in its 12-year history. Half of the young people interviewed said current political and economic events had affected their mental health. More than half said they always or often felt anxious, and more than one in four said they had felt unable to cope with life since the start of the pandemic1. Widespread concern for young people’s mental health is echoed by school leaders up and down the country. Lockdowns, virtual lessons and curtailed extracurricular activities have all impinged on young people’s opportunities to work with others and form meaningful relationships. Outdoor learning can provide young people with the space to begin to re-form these connections with others and arm them with an important tool to manage their mental health positively. Whether it is working together to scale a climb, creating a group shelter in a forest or collaborating to estimate the size of a tree and how much carbon it contains, creative problem-solving with others allows young people to develop their relationship-building skills. In 2019, an Exeter University study established that spending 120

50% of outdoor centres face the prospect of closure because of reduced income in the past 12 months.

minutes a week in nature resulted in signiﬁcantly improved mental health2. The impact on the well-being of children spending time in the outdoors is well documented3. Regular outdoor learning can positively impact well-being in the short term by providing young people with time in nature and opportunities to build connections with others. It also arms them with the life skills to revisit wild places. This is particularly important for the less advantaged in our society who are less likely to visit the countryside with family. School visits and outdoor learning can level the playing ﬁeld and provide the tools to access one of the cheapest ways to improve mental well-being throughout someone’s life. We saw numerous innovative uses of outdoor learning in 2020. us

Many schools embraced outdoor classrooms when they returned in May to aid social distancing. Several outdoor centres developed alternative provision programmes for those struggling to engage with formal education settings during a turbulent year. There has been an explosion of resources and ideas to support children to engage with the outdoors while being homeschooled, with teachers now regularly setting homework that involves going to wild places. At the same time, 50% of outdoor centres face the prospect of closure because they have had little income for a year, and 6,000 people have already lost their jobs in the sector. This year, 2021, provides the opportunity to embed regular outdoor experiences within the curriculum and for residentials and off-site visits to begin again. At the heart of these learning experiences is the need to equip young people with the skills to enhance their well-being.

For more on this, listen to the December episode of the School Leadership Podcast on lockdown, learning and the great outdoors (available on our website, www.naht.org.uk), where Jim Whittaker, chair of the Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres, talks to NAHT’s James Bowen about health, well-being, learning and the importance of outdoor spaces. YouGov (2021) The Prince’s Trust Youth Index 2021, accessed at Youth Index 2021 | Yo Re Research, policies and reports | About The Trust | The Prince’s Trust (princes-trust.org.uk). 2 W White, M.P. et al (2019) Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and well-being. Sci Rep 9, 7730. go 3 McCormick, R. (2017) Does access to green space impact the mental well-being of M children: a systematic review. Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 37, pp 3-7. ch 1

TEACHING VACANCIES

Helping senior leaders head to the top ANDY BUCK, founding director of Leadership Matters and experienced head teacher, explains why Teaching Vacancies hits the mark for job-seeking and recruiting school leaders. ovid-19 has presented a huge challenge to school leaders across the country. Head teachers, already wearing many hats, have juggled remote learning and designing school-wide covid-19 responses while managing colleagues’ and families’ personal challenges and fears due to the pandemic. From conversations with senior leaders, I know the challenge of lockdown has meant career progression thoughts have been pushed to the back of their minds. However, as schools adapt to the ‘new normal’, leaders can start to give more focus to their professional growth and career goals. Across all sectors, the pandemic has introduced some positive new ways of working, which are likely – to some degree – to continue when lockdown is lifted. One big change has been ﬂexibility in working, whether that’s the hours worked or where that work is conducted. Across all levels of teaching seniority, we’ve seen how ﬂexible working can be effective and support a healthy balance of work and family life while maintaining, if not improving, the quality of education and support provided by the school to its pupils. For various reasons – eg childcare, hobbies or work-life

balance – the teaching colleagues and friends I’ve chatted with are keen to explore job opportunities with different working patterns, be it compressed hours, part-time, job share or ﬂexibility in the location where work is done. For example, I had a Zoom call with a couple of deputy heads who wanted to talk through applying for a head teacher role as a co-headship. If you’re considering looking for a role like this, it’s worth exploring Teaching Vacancies. Like my example, last year from January to March, more than one in 10 teaching jobs advertised on the

government’s site offered flexible working positions, and the site allows you to filter roles according to working pattern as part of your search criteria. The service is quickly becoming the go-to place for ambitious job-seeking teachers and senior leaders to find their next role. The great news is that more than 75% of state-maintained schools are now signed up to use Teaching Vacancies, and thousands of job-seeking teachers visit the site each week. If you’re considering a change in role or want to see what’s out there, it’s worth signing up to receive its job alerts. That way, if a school lists a vacancy that fits your criteria, it will appear in your inbox, and when it does, here are my top tips to help you secure it.

Securing a role

When you boil it down, there are only three questions prospective employers are asking g themselves at any stage in the process:

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

HERE ARE A FEW TOP TIPS TO MAKE SURE YOU PRESENT YOURSELF IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE.

FIT: is this candidate a good ﬁt for us in terms of their character, personality and values?

COMPETENCE: does this candidate have the knowledge, skills and track record we need?

FIT (AGAIN): are we the right ﬁt for them? (For an appointment to be successful, the role has to work for both parties.) As someone who has spent many years advising senior leaders and supporting great leadership development, I know a wellpresented and pithy CV is vital. When it comes to applications, don’t forget the two ‘ﬁt’ elements.

Keeping recruitment costs down

When I was a head teacher, I remember moving roles brought with it some anxieties. Not just around leaving pupils and colleagues and a fear of the unknown but also knowing the likely cost my transition could land my school with to ﬁnd my replacement. The amount of money schools spend on recruitment these days, particularly for senior leaders, is huge. But it doesn’t have to be that way anymore. We’ve been calling for a free recruitment service for years, and the Department for Education has responded and delivered us the Teaching Vacancies service. To be a success, all schools and teachers need to get behind it so that the need for paid-for services is eradicated. For school leaders in charge of multi-academy trusts (MATs), you will be pleased to know that the service offers a central MAT upload dashboard feature, helping schools to save another precious resource: time.

Keep your CV succinct and easy to read If the post you are applying for requires a CV, make sure your CV details your previous experience and track record in a way that is easy to read. People often dedicate less than a minute to reading each CV, so it needs to cover the mustknow information in as few words as possible. Bullet points are usually the best way to stay consistent, and keep your information punchy and straight to the point.

Letter of application I know this is a basic point, but you would be amazed at how many applications for senior roles I have read over the years with spelling, punctuation and grammar errors. If in doubt, get someone else to check your application. Ideally, get someone else to read it too. I have an informal agreement with a former colleague who is always happy to proof any important emails or applications – and I look at theirs. A fresh pair of eyes will spot things that you will miss after reading it for the hundredth time!

Get to know the school you are applying for In the current climate, some schools cannot offer site visits to potential hires before the interview. It’s vital then to get a feel for the school you’re applying to remotely. It’s amazing how much you can learn about a school from online searches and its ofﬁcial website. This is also when informal networks can be useful – most of us are only one person away from knowing someone at a school! It’s also worth looking at

Teaching Vacancies because the oad service allows schools to upload documents with an embedded video link – you may ﬁnd enough to get an overview of the school’s environment before you’ve even stepped a foot through the door.

Prove you know your stuff and you have a successful track record The school wants to have a clear idea of the type of person you are before they even meet you. Paint a picture beyond the job title, and mention your achievements in every previous role. This might be leading extracurricular activities or a scenario where you successfully managed a demanding situation. Make sure you showcase your experiences that highlight the core competencies that are relevant. Wherever you can, give hard evidence to back up your claims. My advice would always be to structure your supporting statement or letter around the role’s published competencies. This will help reviewers credit you against the criteria and increase your chances of being called for interview.

Don’t try and be perfect, and be yourself Exaggerating in a job application can be tempting, but chances are you’ll get caught out, and it will be embarrassing! Make sure you show the most genuine parts of your ability and focus on what you have achieved and can do. You will need to back up what you say in an interview, so ensure you are conﬁdent in offering examples you can expand on.

Visit the Teaching Vacancies service today, the ofﬁcial place to further your career and recruit top teaching talent for your school: https://bit.ly/3oOaH8G.

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LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2021

Covid-19: how you can look after yourself and loved ones during the pandemic CAROLINE ABRAHAMS, charity director at Age UK, outlines some tips to help you stay safe and well. he pandemic has affected all our lives, but this has been an especially difficult year for many older people, and it’s not over yet. Fear of the virus, bereavement, long periods of isolation and difficulties accessing health and other services have unsurprisingly taken a toll on physical and mental well-being. The good news is that there is support available and things that can help. Making sure that you ask those around you for assistance if you need it is essential right now. Your GP, family, friends and Age UK are all great places to start. It is particularly important to look after yourself at the moment. Eating well, keeping active and limiting your exposure to every twist and turn about covid-19 in the media can really help. Having the vaccine when your turn comes will also hopefully be added reassurance. Life will get better. Meanwhile, on a day-to-day basis, Age UK suggests these simple steps: • Try to stay connected. If you are online, keep in touch with friends and family via Skype or WhatsApp, if not by phone and letter • Aim to do something you enjoy every day, like pursuing hobbies or interests, and include some things that make you laugh, such as humorous films and books

• Staying active can help to improve your mind and body, however much or little you can do (see www.ageuk.org.uk/exercise) • Eat well, as healthily as you can manage, and be sure to drink plenty of fluids too • If you have worries about your health, please don’t hesitate to approach the NHS for help. If things are getting on top of you, you may benefit from NHS talking therapies. Ask your GP to refer you, or you can refer yourself (see http://bit.ly/ NHStalkingtherapies) • Have a flu vaccination – the free vaccine for people aged 65+ helps to boost the immune system. Find out if you are eligible for the pneumonia jab • Keep warm to stay well – heat your living room and bedroom to a temperature that feels comfortable, and use the controls and timers to do so effectively without wasting energy.

We can all do our bit, and helping others is another great way of improving our morale. For example, please reach out to an older relative or friend for a chat over the phone or write to them if they are hard of hearing. You will probably make their day, and you’ll feel better too. Age UK’s friendship services, including The Silverline, can help combat any feelings of loneliness (see www.ageuk.org.uk/ telephonebefriending). Charities like Age UK are here when older people need us the most. Our free advice line (0800 678 1602) is open every day, and our local Age UKs run great services in many communities. But we can only do it with your support, so any help you can give us will be much appreciated.

You can donate at www.ageuk.org.uk, where you will also ﬁnd comprehensive information on every aspect of later life, including the pandemic.

THE FINAL WORD

SUSAN YOUNG: education columnist

Virtual arms around the community want you all to give yourself a big clap and pat on the back – and that’s parents as well. I think you deserve it,” says the smiley man in a suit and woolly scarf, ﬁlming himself on his phone in the half-light before the school day begins. This is Matt Ward, head teacher of West Jesmond Primary School in Newcastle, who took up his post the day before lockdown began in January this year. With only one day to build a rapport with most of his 600+ pupils – and none to meet their parents – he’s making regular short, cheery videos for the school’s social media accounts. Leadership has to be creative in these strange times. It seems to work. Families recognise him when he’s walking his dog, and positive parental feedback includes one who wanted to share his child’s opinion of the new head teacher: “He’s a bit optimistic, isn’t he?” Matt started doing these types of videos in his previous school during the ﬁrst lockdown. “It felt very important to keep the feeling that we were all still together as a school. I was worried the community might drift apart because we weren’t seeing each other. We managed to keep a daily message going with that intent – we were talking to each of our children, and it was a school day, so we were all together. “Coming here, I wanted to keep that going, particularly as this lockdown feels perhaps harder for many children. It’s dark, cold and wet. With the added uncertainty, and I think pressures on parents, it feels very important.” He adds: “We want it to feel as if the school’s arms are around our community. There’s no one slipping out that we’re not noticing. We have 200 children in the school

and more than 90% engagement with home learning. If they aren’t engaging, we’re quite vigorously – but sensitively – discovering how we can support them. We do all we can to remove barriers; this might be getting data cards or devices to families or overcoming a language or communication issue. Maybe even a phone call from me saying ‘I enjoyed that work he did last week’.” Matt is emphatic that it isn’t about heroic leaders. “Normally you come in as a new head with a vision and ideas, but this time, it is very different. The leadership team is about taking away everything that makes it difﬁcult for people to work safely and well in school. The huge advantage in this and my old school is having good leadership teams and great teachers. The job of leadership is just facilitating it as much as possible.” He has three covid-19 priorities: keeping staff, children and

Above: Susan Young.

It felt very important to keep the feeling that we were all still together as a school. I was worried the community might drift apart because we weren’t seeing each other. We managed to keep a daily message going with that intent – we were talking to each of our children, and it was a school day, so we were all together.

community safe; identifying gaps in learning and ensuring breadth continues; and remote learning. He is evangelistic about how Newcastle schools are working together. Newcastle head teachers have signed the Newcastle Promise, pledging they and the city will work together for children and their communities. The Promise Board network brings schools and the local authority together, with the premise that no child or school will be left behind. “During the pandemic, we’ve tried to make sure that was truer than ever before,” says Matt, a former board chair, outlining a support network and daily brieﬁngs for leaders at what could have been a very lonely time. “It’s making sure we don’t feel alone. Instead, we support each other and have a joint approach to rapidly changing events and demands on us.” He is also evangelical about teachers’ and teaching assistants’ work under difﬁcult circumstances: daily messages to them are supplemented with little treats like cake deliveries. “I don’t put schools up there with the NHS, but I think there have been many tremendous efforts in response to the pandemic. In some of our poorest areas, efforts to support families have gone beyond anything they would normally expect from schools, and that’s probably going to carry on. I think when we look back, what schools have achieved will be even more widely appreciated.”

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