Leadership Team Development Conference

Armagh City Hotel 28-29th May 2012

Welcome

Holy Family Primary School

St Mary’s Primary School

St Macartan’s Primary School

Who are we?

• “We are in the midst of a powerful movement in education based on the simple, ethical idea that everyone matters and every way we do things matters.”

Introductions Names Why teaching? Why the Leadership Team?

Programme Outline

• Day 1• Directed Session

• Break• Team Time

• Lunch• Team Time

• Break• Review Day 1

• Day 2• Directed Session

• Break• Team Time

• Lunch• Team Time

• Plenary Session• Evaluation & Close

• ‘My vision for the future is one that sees schools as vibrant self-improving communities of good practice, meeting the needs and aspirations of individual pupils through high quality teaching and learning. This is in a context where there is sound governance, effective leadership and a focus on the needs and outcomes of children and young people.’

ESAGS

• ‘We believe that schools themselves, through honest and open engagement in self-evaluation, using effectively, the wide range of data available to them, are well placed to identify areas for improvement and to implement changes that can bring about better outcomes for pupils.’

ESAGS

The Characteristicsof a Successful School

• Child-centred provision

• High quality teaching and learning

• Effective leadership

• A school connected to its local community

ESAGS

School Improvement• ‘We regard school improvement as a

distinctive approach to educational change that enhances student outcomes as well as strengthening the school’s capacity for managing change. In one sense school improvement is about raising student achievement through focussing on the teaching and learning process and the conditions which support it.’

The core tasks of leadership teams are clear

• Build a vision and set direction

• Understand and develop people

• Redesign the organisation for learning

• Lead teaching and learning

• Southworth 2008

Why Leadership ?

• As far as we are aware, there is not a single documented case of a school successfully turning around its pupil achievement trajectory in the absence of talented leadership

• Leithwood 2007

Reflection Time

Assumptions about

School leadership teams

The first is that Leadership Teams are a ‘good thing’ and that effective Leadership Teams are necessary in order for a school to continue to develop and improve.

The second is that becoming and remaining an effective Leadership Team is hard work.

NAHT Leadership Paper 14, 2003

General Teaching Council N.I. Core Values & Commitments

• Trust Honesty Commitment• Respect Fairness Equality• Integrity Tolerance Service

• Commitment to children, • Commitment to colleagues & others,

• Commitment to the profession

5 Lessons from Geese for Teams

Lesson 1• As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the birds

following. By flying in a ‘V’ formation the whole flock adds 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.

• People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and more smoothly because they are travelling on the thrust of one another.

Lesson 2• Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag

and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the birds immediately in front.

• If we have as much sense as the goose, we will join formation with those who are headed where we want to go.

Lesson 3• When the lead goose gets tired it rotates back into formation

and another goose flies at the point position.

• It pays to take turns at the hard tasks and sharing leadership - with people, as with geese, we are interdependent with one another.

Lesson 4

• The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those in front to keep up their speed.

• We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging – not something less helpful.

Lesson 5• When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop out of

formation and follow their fellow member, to help and provide protection. They stay with this goose until it is able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own to catch up with their own flock or another formation.

• If we have as much sense as geese we’ll stand by one another in difficult times like they do.

Leadership Team CharterA properly functioning team is one in which:

• People care for each other• People are honest and truthful • There is a high level of trust• Decisions are made by consensus• There is strong team commitment• Conflict is faced up to and worked through• People really listen to ideas and feelings• Feelings are expressed freely• Process issues are dealt with

Conference Aim

• The conference aim is to consider our impact as a leadership team and to make clear for everyone the link between what this team does and the achievement of all our children.

Team Time

• Consider the tasks your Team needs to complete over these two days and how does it need to function if it is to be successful?