Working in schools is a lot like navigating yourself through the hazard awareness part of the driving test. Only you’re not driving a car, you’re driving a 30-seater coach with a group of teens who, let’s face it, could also be counted as one of the hazards - capable of doing anything at any moment and, given half a chance, would scream because they want to go faster.
Back out on the road, the external hazards or imminent threats poised to derail you can appear in many forms, especially if you’re a teacher or middle leader: inspection outcomes, changes to school policies, senior leadership team reshuffles, exam results and department staffing to name a few.
As a teacher or middle leader, you may feel a frustrating lack of agency and an incapacity to navigate your coach of karaoke-singing teens through the chaotic roads ahead.
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How to deal with school setbacks
I was a middle leader when my school went into special measures. Inspections and exam outcomes can trigger a vast range of emotions, from shock to anger to something akin to grief over the lost opportunities for students in your groups, despite your best efforts. Apart from feeling a crushing sense of sadness for the students, I remember realising that choices were now going to be taken out of our hands (rightly so) in order to turn the school around.
In this situation, what can a teacher or middle leader do to be a positive part of this process?
1. Find a team outside of your school
The aftermath of hitting a major bump in the road like special measures or poor outcomes can make you feel a sense of shame. But you have to accept that, just as successes are publicly celebrated, so, too, are failures. Schools are public services and working in them is a privilege that carries responsibility.
Now is not the time to retreat, withdraw and quietly shut your classroom door. You need to adopt an Avengers Assemble attitude and join forces with those around you. Collaborate and network: read books and blog posts, join Twitter or an Edu-Facebook group, and look at what’s happening in the world outside of your school. There has been some debate recently about the merit of school visits but, even if the only thing you take away is a renewed sense of optimism about what’s possible, that is enough.
2. Start creating and sharing resources
It’s important you litmus test what excellence looks like in your subject and your lessons. Looking at what others create is valuable but they are not you, in your school, with your set of circumstances. By putting your resources out there and welcoming honest, critical feedback, you can reflect on elements - such as the clarity in your language or the level of challenge - that you may not have noticed before. When you keep the students front and centre of everything you do, critical feedback should not feel like a personal dig but rather a helping hand up for everyone.
3. Control the controllables
After a serious setback, school leaders and governors will be the ones to bear the weight of ultimate accountability, and much of their work may be invisible to others. Assumptions may be made and it becomes easy for a blame-seeking culture to thrive in every direction. In truth, it is unlikely that any single individual has access to all the facts.
Seek out those colleagues who are realistic and understand the constraints you are all working under but are fundamentally positive, inventive and in it for the children. Spend time reflecting on changes you can make for the coming year. Identify your priority continuing professional development area and face it head on. Take one child you didn’t get it right for this year and plan precisely what you will do differently next year.
Kate McCabe is assistant headteacher for teaching and learning at a school in Oxford
