Crises are very much a part of life. The past few years have shown this in abundance but there are other events, too, that can impact school life - extreme weather, pandemics, terrorist attacks, even war.
It is the sort of thing no one in education likes to think about, but we have to acknowledge that such incidents can occur, and we have to be ready for them. This is why CPD in crisis management is something leaders should not overlook.
After all, we know that the more we talk about things, the less daunting they can be. Undergoing training means that, if anything does occur, staff will be more effective and efficient in dealing with the event - potentially saving lives as a result.
This may sound dramatic but that’s the reality of what’s at stake. So, how do we do train staff?
1. Be proactive - don’t wait for disaster
The first thing is to be proactive and not wait for a crisis to happen before you speak to your staff about what to do or who to contact in an emergency. After all, we practise fire drills throughout the school year; we should look at crisis management and planning as something similar.
Start with the school calendar, allocating slots for crisis management CPD and reviewing this policy. This should include governor meetings and stakeholder consultation.
Most schools will already have a crisis management plan in place that meets legal compliance requirements, even if it is not very practical. A well-informed team can add that layer of practicality.
The plan itself should be reviewed and distilled into useable guides. Each guide should have a list of allocated leads for each role. For example, the admin team or reception staff should maintain records and next-of-kin details that are reviewed on an annual basis; lab technicians will have roles in incidents such as gas leaks; canteen staff will have roles in acute food safety incidents.
2. Organise the right training for the right people
Everyone on the leadership team should receive regular training on all aspects of crisis management pertinent to the context of the school.
Such training will prepare them to be the “cooler heads” crucial to successful crisis management.
Everyone assigned a role in the crisis management plan should also receive regular training specific to that role. As you define what each role entails, finding specialists to deliver the training becomes clearer. The designated leads within the school for each role may then offer bespoke school-specific training (eg, mock events).
Then all staff should receive general training in crisis management training, covering practicalities such as the importance of effective information flow.
You don’t want the reception to find out about an emergency only after the emergency services arrive at the school. Nor do you want parents to find out about an incident in school before the leadership team is aware of it. These things do happen, but with good training, their occurrence and impact could be reduced.
3. Engage with outside agencies early
In any major incident, it is likely that you will have to engage with many outside agencies - from emergency services to health officials or council staff, depending on the incident. Each case will have specific requirements.
Although information is readily available on the internet, getting the right information on time can still be tricky. Not every government website is updated regularly. Some have numbers that are no longer in service. Others carry information that’s no longer relevant. And many have “contact us” sections that are not monitored.
A good plan will include arrangements for maintaining the updated contact details for every authority that may need to be contacted for each type of emergency or crisis. Who would you call in case of a cyberattack, for example?
Some types of case, such as a security concern, require back and forth with the local police until resolved. Others require an immediate call to emergency services.
A good plan will delineate where one action becomes ineffective, and another becomes essential. An informed leadership team and properly briefed staff will make transitioning across those boundaries effortless.
You will also need to know when and how to deal with the press. Who should reception direct press enquiries to? Who coordinates with which authority? Who contributes to those coordination efforts?
4. Run a drill
In one of my previous schools, we had a gas safety specialist come and deliver training that simulated an incident to test our crisis management capabilities.
One of the tasks included putting out a controlled blaze. But there were simultaneous other activities, such as confirming the names and numbers of staff and students who had been evacuated from the building. Unbeknown to most of the staff, a student was hidden inside and the roll call we had submitted was faulty.
The importance of getting the right information to the right person on time cannot be overemphasised. The obstacles to this should also be reviewed as the chaotic nature of crises quickly leads to misinformation.
It may not be your usual Inset day, but it could be one with real-long term benefits.
5. Appreciate that you can’t do it all
Whenever we consider crisis management CPD, it is important to remind ourselves and our teams of the circle of influence and circle of concern. Teachers are not that sort of superhero, and we cannot do it all.
These two circles effectively reiterate that we do have limits. By focusing on the inner circle of influence, we make a difference where we can.
For example, during the lockdown, our circle of influence was limited to where our avatars can reach via Zoom and on serving the needs of our immediate neighbours and members of our school community. But our circle of concern extended to the situation nationally and globally. Overwhelming as the numbers were, there was little we could do to influence it.
In every crisis, we will always have a circle of concern beyond what we can influence. Recognising that will definitely make for a better crisis response. If anything, it tells us when to get others to help.
Be prepared for the next crisis
As we begin to come out of the Covid-19 crisis, it is important to ask how prepared we are for the next one.
While the pandemic was a monumental crisis with some unavoidable failures, there’s still a lot we can learn about how we prepare and respond to future crises. A good crisis management plan will include specific arrangements on who needs to do what and when.
Since a good plan cannot implement itself, however, it is important that school leaders and crisis responders are trained accordingly. A good CPD in crisis management will equip school leaders and teachers with the skills they need to respond to all crises and, of course, when to call for help.
Ayisat Fashola has held school leadership positions in the UK, UAE and Qatar. She is currently Head of Science at an independent school in Sydney, Australia
