As part of his farewell tour, Sir Michael Wilshaw was recently asked to reflect on his time as Her Majesty’s chief inspector.

In typically unabashed fashion, he stated that a core aim of his had been to “replicate” what he had done in his school across the whole country. Never one to appear to suffer greatly from self-doubt, the Ofsted’s chief’s message seemed to be that our schools would be infinitely better if only all our leaders were prepared to be a little more “like Mike”.

Sir Michael was clearly a highly successful headteacher in the school he led and he undoubtedly had a very positive impact on many children’s lives during that time.

But that’s the whole point - his approach worked in that school, at that time. Is it realistic to think that the exact same approach would work in all schools up and down the country in a wide range of circumstances?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to school leadership and what may work well in a struggling large inner-city secondary is unlikely to work equally well in a small rural infant school with a long track record of success.

Equally, great leaders come in a variety of forms, and the quiet, thoughtful leader can be just as effective as the larger-than-life, charismatic type.

Speak to any school leader who has run more than one school and they will tell you that what made them successful in their first headship often did not work at all in their second or third. The best leaders know how to adapt their style to suit the circumstances they find themselves in.

‘We can’t just copy other schools’

And as there is no one single approach that guarantees success as a school leader, we should be wary of schools trying to simply copy the success of others.

We should all be prepared to learn from each other, borrowing and adapting great ideas, but simply trying to import and replicate another school’s success is unlikely to work.

This is particularly pertinent in the era of multi-academy trusts. There are clearly many trusts that do recognise the need for local solutions and encourage their schools to develop their own unique ways of working within a broader group ethos.

However, I worry when I hear of some others which are trying to take what is essentially an “identikit school” approach.

In this model, policies and strategies which have worked in one part of the trust are then sent out from the centre for everyone else in the group to follow unquestioningly regardless of the local needs.

It is important that schools have the freedom to review and amend policies based on how they are working in practice. Behaviour policies are a good example here. An approach that has worked well with one set of pupils, teachers and parents may not have the same impact in a different setting. Put simply, context matters.

The best groups of schools or trusts will enable their schools to benefit from the obvious advantages that close collaboration can bring but, at the same time, will allow each school to maintain its unique ethos, identity and specific ways of working.

Diversity is something we should value in our education system, both in terms of leaders and the schools themselves.

Whilst I find it oddly reassuring that I can walk into my favourite coffee shop anywhere in the country and get exactly the same experience, surely we don’t want this for our schools?

A unique character is what makes so many of our schools great, and such diversity is necessary if there is to be genuine choice in our system.

We should be aiming for universally high standards, but must accept that this can and will take a variety of forms. Crucially, this should also mean that there continues to be a place for successful local authority schools which decide it is not in their best interests to join a MATs.

In many ways we are in a golden age of school-to-school collaboration, and this should be welcomed. Our schools will only continue to improve if we are prepared to continue to support and learn from one another.

However, uniformity is not a goal we should be aspiring to. 

James Bowen is director of middle leaders’ union NAHT Edge. He tweets at @JamesJkbowen 

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