Tim Bowen was made president of the NAHT school leaders’ union in April. Prior to this, he spent two decades as head of Maple Primary School in St Albans. Faced with Tes’ 10 questions, he reflected on the moment he swapped a corporate job selling women’s shoes for a new path in primary education, spoke enthusiastically about the value of extracurricular activities and called for an end to a high-stakes accountability system that has “ruined careers”.

1. Who was your most memorable teacher and why?

It was a chap called John Kitchingman, and he was the head of music at Verulam School [in St Albans] - my secondary school. He was passionate about his subject and I was fairly musical. He saw the potential and the talent in me, and he encouraged me to do A-level music.

But I think what I remember of him was his generosity with his time. He realised I could sing a bit and so, for that whole year, he gave me a half-hour singing lesson after school, completely [off] his own bat.

Without being too dramatic about it, it probably helped me get the grade I needed to get into my first choice: the University of Manchester.

2. What were the best and worst things about your time at school?

The best, I would say, were the extracurricular activities. I went to Oakwood Primary School in St Albans, and I remember I desperately wanted to be in the football team, but the only position I had any chance of [getting], because I didn’t have to kick the ball very much, was in goal. And I managed to somehow get my way into the school team to be the goalkeeper.

It’s not just what you do during the school day, it’s all the extras, the residential trips, the music, the sport. For so many children, these things are the highlights of their school experience and it certainly was true for me.

Worst [is] easy: it was Latin O level. It was an absolute disaster.

3. Why do you work in education?

After graduation, I started life as a management trainee with Marks and Spencer. My first posting was in charge of the ladies’ footwear section in the Liverpool store. And I’m afraid I just could not get excited about ladies’ footwear. The fact that sales of red stilettos were up by 1 per cent didn’t motivate me at all. And I realised fairly early on that it wasn’t the career for me.

One afternoon, on a day off, I went for a walk along the Wirral coast and reflected on a summer I’d spent in Texas at a boys’ camp, Camp Stewart for Boys, as a counsellor working with young children. And this was Texas, so we had five-year-olds on the rifle range firing guns and riding horses, and all that kind of thing. But working with young children, developing them, encouraging them, I’d had an incredible summer - it was absolutely brilliant.

So I did something probably rather foolish: the next day, I handed in my notice at Marks and Spencer. I immediately went and started helping out at a primary school in Harpenden: High Beeches School. That got me on to a PGCE course but, more importantly, it made me realise, “oh my word, yes, this is definitely what I want to do”. Within the first week, I knew.

4. What are you proudest of in your career and what do you regret?

[What I am] proudest of would definitely be the development of staff. I look at the success rate we’ve had at Maple - so many teachers have joined us and then gone on to be extremely competent and capable, often leading core subjects, sometimes advising other schools. And while I think something like 40 per cent of NQTs leave in the first five years, I’m absolutely delighted that we’ve not lost a single one at Maple. Quite the opposite; they’re there to stay.

So, what do I regret? I was head of a village school for four years before going to Maple and, in the early couple of years of headship, I think there were sometimes issues or problems I should have dealt with sooner and I didn’t. I had a governor who was overstepping the mark, [there were] some parents, as you always get, who were difficult. And I delayed dealing with those things, possibly hoping they would go away, not necessary turning a blind eye but just thinking, as time went on, things would improve. Of course, they didn’t. So, when I then had to deal with them, they were probably much harder.

5. Who would be your colleagues in your perfect school staffroom?

Probably a bit of a boring response but the staff at Maple are absolutely terrific. Truly, I could not want for better, and not all heads can say that, but I certainly can. They go the extra mile: the teamwork, the goodwill, the laughter, the good humour.

So I haven’t got any names to drop of celebrities or whatever to put in, but just to say how brilliant my current staff are.

6. What are the best and worst aspects of our schools’ system?

Best? What struck me over the past year is just the incredible work, overall, that the school workforce has done. OK, it’s not frontline, admittedly, like NHS emergency wards, but it really has been a frontline service, in my opinion, and the staff have done brilliantly.

Worst? The high-stakes accountability and the current inspection system has ruined careers - and even when it hasn’t ruined careers, the effect it’s had on the wellbeing of staff has been huge.

You reflect on the lockdown period and Ofsted has been desperately searching for a role in that time. But I don’t think it’s really found it. It does lead one to question the whole value of Ofsted. I don’t believe it’s fit for purpose.

7. Your own teachers aside, who in education has influenced you the most?

[The first one] is my father. My dad was a deputy head [at] Wheatfields Junior School in St Albans for 20 years. He’d retired by the time I graduated. But I always remember the day I went home and said “I’ve left my Marks and Spencer [job] and, by the way, I want to be a primary school teacher” - the look of sheer joy that appeared on his face was terrific.

And [the second is] Ken Lawson, who was the head of the PGCE course at [what was then] Rolle College in Exmouth. He supervised me on my first teaching placement. I would have loved to have been in a school where he was the head - I bet he was superb - and, in a sense, I’ve tried to model my style of headship a bit on him.

8. If you became education secretary tomorrow, what would be the first thing you would do?

I would end the current approach of centralised diktats from Westminster. I think this may have been appropriate in the height of the pandemic but it’s not appropriate for now. As education secretary, I would give greater autonomy to schools and to school leaders because they know their own settings and what is needed for the pupils they serve.

So, I would give the message, if I were Gavin Williamson or whoever takes over from him in the future one day: “Let’s start trusting the profession.”

9. What will our schools be like in 30 years?

Inevitably, the use of technology is going to massively increase. I’m struggling to see what that might look like in three years’ time, to be honest, let alone 30 years. I truly hope classroom teachers are never replaced by robots or computers. I don’t think that’ll happen, although 30 years is an awfully long time.

I think the more we have mobile-type devices and so on, the more important it is to get the children and staff out and enjoying nature, listening to the birdsong rather than being on their phone the whole time.

10. What one person do you think has made the most difference to our schools in the past 12 months?

I’ve really made this a personal example and that’s my deputy head [now interim headteacher of Maple Primary School], Shanti Johnson.

For all headteachers, and I’m no exception, it has been an unbelievably challenging year. As all teachers would say, you’ve had to be the rock in what has been a very severe storm. You’ve had many staff who have felt worried, vulnerable. Sometimes they’ve lost loved ones, either family members or close friends. You’ve had to cope with overseeing all the curriculum changes. You’ve had to be on the end of the emails and phone calls from parents when they’re pulling their hair out with home learning, and then you’ve had to manage the return [for] children.

And I honestly don’t think I would have coped, despite all my experience - or certainly not coped as well as I like to think I’ve done - without the support of my deputy.

Tim Bowen was speaking to Tes reporter Amy Gibbons

This article originally appeared in the 18 June 2021 issue