Having worked in a single organisation for some time, moving into the role of director of education was always going to be interesting. I went from helping to run one school - Frank Wise, a special school in Banbury where I was deputy headteacher and had spent most of my career - to assisting in the support of the multiple schools that form the NET multi-academy trust. The learning curve has been steep.

I started in September and, four months on, I am beginning to get to grips with quite how varied and rewarding this relatively new job in education can be. As academisation spreads, we will see more of these roles so, by reflecting on my own experience, I can perhaps demystify how the position may work in some of those instances.

At the core, the role is focused firmly on pupil outcomes: securing great leadership, consistently good teaching and implementing effective practice. Through challenge and support, it is my job to ensure that pupils in NET schools experience the high quality of provision necessary for an excellent education.

Mindful of the risks

Inevitably, there are challenges to pursuing these aims. For example, I am particularly mindful of the risks associated with forming opinions based on fragments of information and documentation, of seeking to understand the whole having only seen a small part. For me, it is essential to establish a thorough understanding of the individual schools and those who work in them, something that I am continuing to develop.

To do this I need to ask questions. Lots of questions. Yet one of the challenges we face in education is creating a culture where staff and schools are willing to shine a light on that which they do least successfully, in the knowledge that they will be supported to improve rather than judged. Part of my role initially, then, has been to build upon the NET culture of supportive challenge in order to, I hope, create a situation where I am able to gain an honest picture of what we need to do to improve.

I dedicate time to getting to know each school really well

Another challenge is to ensure that we identify effective practice across the trust. Irrespective of what position a school is in, there will be examples of excellence, and it is important that those are celebrated and shared. In general in education, too often we look only to the “outstanding” or “good” schools to learn from and risk overlooking the brilliance in a school because of its Ofsted grade.

To do my job well, I also need to be outward looking, evaluating broader educational developments and identifying those things beyond the trust that may be of value or interest to individuals or institutions within the organisation. Thankfully, this is something I was already very used to doing.

I am fascinated by education in all its forms and have been involved in a range of developments covering policy and practice. This is proving to be extremely helpful in terms of sharing the knowledge and expertise of others.

Supporting teachers

It is not just about sharing but supporting, of course. Being able to support teachers and leaders to develop an awareness of a breadth of initiatives, policies and resources, when necessary, can help introduce opportunities for new thinking and raise awareness of effective practice.

How I do that has to be heavily context dependent. I have to dedicate time to getting to know each school really well and that knowledge should underpin everything I do. I am always slightly wary of the presumed transferability of “best practice” and the lack of attention that can be given to sharing the processes that lead to the creation of excellence. What works in one setting may not necessarily have the same impact in another and the contextual diversity within a trust can highlight this.

So as well as exploring the successful outcomes and sharing these, it is vital that we identify the processes that led to them. While the individual practice may transfer poorly, the shared process may offer different routes towards transforming what we do.

In undertaking this, the aim will be to promote opportunities to build strength through our shared values, consistency of expectations and aligning our systems, without risking diminishing the autonomy of the schools and stifling their ability to respond to their own context effectively. That is a balance that will need to be carefully struck.

So as we move forward on our journey towards achieving NET’s vision of “excellent as standard” in our academies, I’m mindful of the responsibility that sits with me. To help me fulfil my role effectively, I’ll be asking searching questions, listening carefully to the answers and, in collaboration, constructing ways forward to achieve success.

I am thoroughly enjoying the fact that, as director of education, there is always so much more to know.

Simon Knight is director of education for NET