What we need is more mavericks in education! We need people who are flamboyant, colourful and yes, downright strange. We need our awkward squad…Thus spake the Grand Poobah of the flamboyant, the colourful and the strange: our outgoing HMCI, Sir Michael Wilshaw.

Yes, we do want extraordinary people in teaching. We want their passion for learning and getting others hooked on that same addiction. But mavericks with, as Sir Michael suggests, a hint of menace?

Even the most cursory roll-call of education’s mavericks - past and present - questions the wisdom of these words. Looking back over the past few years alone, we’ve had plenty of them. All have flown too close to the sun. And, like Icarus, all have crashed back down to earth.

‘I’ll do it my way’

We’ve had those for whom just running a school wasn’t enough and saw no issue with setting up a dating site from the school premises. (How unfortunate the public accounts committee chose to challenge this; don’t they know he’s a maverick?)

For another, a rush of blood to the head with all this new-found power led to declarations of world domination through the acquisition of 500 academies in one fell swoop. (Where is he and his flamboyant “director general” title now?)

For others still, this Sinatra-esque “I’ll do it my way” presents in different ways: lucrative contracts to provide services handed out like sweets to friends, families and partners, without a backward glance at the tedious but necessary need to go through public procurement processes.

Reaping the rewards

Too many mavericks have given in to a materialistic bent, rewarding themselves with luxury cars (only befitting, given their position, you understand) and rewarding other colleagues who are particularly “close”. My personal favourite, the “training” chateau in France, where no one but the CEO’s wife “trained” (in the sun, of course).

And on it goes. More recently, we’ve had mavericks who proclaim they alone can solve the housing crisis for teachers by becoming a developer themselves (important lesson here: no experience needed, just lots of bravado). And mavericks who pay themselves twice over, because why take one salary, when you can have two? (The fact that said individual thought he could hang on to his job even after being rumbled shows the level of infallibility this awkward squad thinks it has.)

And even today, I can’t be alone in suspecting that we may soon be detecting the aroma of another set of freshly flambéed feathers as more mavericks fly, perhaps, too close to the sun. What’s the betting that it will be, surprise surprise, another Sir. (Anyone noticed just how many edu-scandals involve our most prestigious male education leaders - our knights of the realm?) There are too many multi-academy trusts growing too fast for this to be anything but near certainty.

Power corrupts

The problem is that power corrupts. We know this to be true in politics. And sadly, our own sector is not immune. Combine a maverick personality with power, and you can have a downright dangerous situation. Given a little - or a lot - of power, and mavericks start behaving like spoiled children. They don’t listen to anyone who says “no” to them.

And it’s not as though the regulatory system has much sway either: by the time their foibles have been dragged into the glare of public scrutiny, it is way too late. The damage is done. And any good they may - in fairness - have done in education is lost in the outrage and furore of public condemnation that swiftly follows.

And this is why we need to pause for thought on these valedictory comments from the Messiah of mavericks himself - Sir Michael.

Like many others, I applauded his appointment. It seemed - at the time - a stroke of genius. Today, it seems ill-judged. Just like his cri de coeur for more mavericks. For this is no more than a desire to cement his own legacy: more of me, please. But there is nothing more tragic an ex-maverick still trying to live the dream.

Thank goodness the new HMCI will be less predisposed to indulge the colourful, the flamboyant and the downright strange.

The Secret CEO is the chief executive of a multi-academy trust somewhere in England

This is an [edited] article from the 3 June edition of TES. This week’s TES magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here

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