Andy Buck on why you should vote for Geoff Barton, headteacher of the King Edward VI School, in Suffolk

It has seemed to me for a while now that our education system is littered with false dichotomies. 

Take, for example, the issue of recruitment into the teaching profession. For too long, this has been characterised as a choice between candidates with excellent subject knowledge and a top degree versus those with the so-called “soft” skills that a great teacher needs to create an inspiring climate for learning. 

When I was a head, I was always on the lookout for both. It was never a choice between the two. 

Similarly, many seek to portray a bogus distinction between the teaching of subject content and skills. 

As a head of geography back in the 1990s, our team believed in imparting rigorous academic knowledge as well as developing a broad range of important skills and values. 

Both elements were essential to our vision of a challenging and empowering curriculum.

So it comes as no surprise, therefore, that the contest for the leadership of Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) is being cast by some as yet another false choice: between the technocrat who understands how to work with government and the headteacher who is able to represent the views of the profession. 

As an ASCL member myself for almost 30 years, I would ideally like our general secretary to be someone who can do both.

I happen to believe that Chris Kirk and Geoff Barton both have the intellectual capacity and the requisite skills to work with government. The public statements from each contender on various issues over the last few weeks have only reinforced this view. 

But only one can truly speak on behalf of teachers, leaders and school communities with the deep understanding that comes from having been a brilliant teacher and an inspiring school leader. 

Which is why I hope ASCL members will vote to have their cake and eat it. 

Andy Buck was a secondary headteacher for 13 years in east London. In 2014, he founded Leadership Matters, an organisation that seeks to inspire and support school leaders from all settings.

Richard Sheriff on why you should vote for Chris Kirk, an experienced education leader

After twenty years of ASCL membership I have come to appreciate how important the organisation is to our profession and why getting the right general secretary is so vital.

I am convinced Chris Kirk is the right person for the job.

What I really don’t want is the educational equivalent of that shouty bloke in the pub. You know the one; opinionated, funny at times but more about hot air than action.  

Mr Kirk is not one of those people, he can listen and has a track record of doing so. He can speak eloquently on behalf of those he serves and understands that this is an important part of his role as general secretary.

He respects all of us in the educational leadership world and would not insult me by implying that by leading an academy I am at a different altitude on the moral slopes than someone leading any other type of school. But this is only part of the role of general secretary.

The general secretary also needs to communicate with government. Communicating with policymakers needs understanding and a common language from both sides; that does not mean it requires acquiescence or that we should allow our values or expertise as educators to be undermined.

Shouting at them won’t work but what will help is Mr Kirk’s experience of working within the Department for Education (DfE) and on behalf of schools.

Some complain that Mr Kirk hasn’t been a headteacher. But the general secretary is not a headteacher role, it requires the person to have a different skill set that compliments those of the school leadership colleagues they will work for and with at ASCL.

Heads are brilliant at leading schools; but this role is about working with all heads to shape the system as a whole.

ASCL has 18,000 members, you cannot run it like a large secondary school.

Chris brings with him deep experience of working within a range of large organisations, from the National College to the DfE and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

His innovative and intelligent thinking about how we could modernise and improve ASCL has impressed me and, more importantly, the members’ own highly experienced nominations committee who were tasked to go out and get the best person for this job.

Richard Sheriff is the headteacher of Harrogate Grammar School and director of the Red Kite Alliance

ASCL members have until 12 noon on 24 January to return their voting papers, with the result of the contest announced on 10 February. 

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