In the novel The Slap, by Christos Tsiolkas, the possibility arises of a very able student’s exclusion from an Australian school.

It doesn’t happen, with other characters commenting that it would have negatively affected the data and performance of the school, and wasn’t therefore an option.

While it may be a fictional example set on the other side of the world, I suspect it’s a scenario that will resonate with many in the British educational community, who recognise the clash between professional ethics and strict accountability.

Raising awareness 

It’s an issue about which the Association of School and College Leaders created considerable interest when it started looking at professional ethics during its 2017 annual conference. It led to thought-provoking discussions on some of the biggest areas of conflict.

How schools behaved and presented themselves on issues including early entry to exams, special educational needs, curriculum design, marketing and approaches to the English Baccalaureate were all cited.

The debates ultimately led to the 2019 Framework for Ethical Leadership, which offers 14 “touchstones” for how leaders should act and operate. It was a good initiative and important work.

Then the pandemic hit and it feels like we have lost momentum within this area.

Yet it’s one we would do well to renew our focus on: I believe it remains an area of under-explored tension in education, which has dogged us for a decade at least.

After 2010, a lot of the rhetoric supporting the academy movement suggested that decision making, even in adherence to the national curriculum, was being given over to schools and their leaders.

In reality, the ratcheting up of accountability, published data and other scrutiny has had a policing effect and has sometimes produced unintended consequences in decisions taken. 

The admissions issue

Consider admissions and exclusions. Do we have a problem that is not always detected in, say, an Ofsted inspection?

During the first term, many prospective parents will be attending presentations and deciding which schools to apply to on behalf of their children. As a parent and a school leader, I have witnessed school presentations that emphasise academic achievement over great work with disadvantaged learners or students with special educational needs.

This can signal that certain sections of the ability/social spectrum are more welcome than others at a particular school. It certainly feels exclusionary to some families.

Similarly, schools have varying practice with regard to the exclusion of students, with some school leaders opting, effectively, for a policy of avoiding them at all costs, while others have far more willingness to exclude.

Are such differences acceptable in an education system regulated by the same rules and authorities? Philosophies seem to differ and students’ experience with it.

In theory (taking grammar schools out of the equation), we have comprehensives nominally open to all applicants. But is this the reality?

Many schools do not have a demographic balance in the communities they serve; others attract heavily from certain postcodes. Not all schools have the numbers of Pupil Premium disadvantaged learners that might have been expected. What might be the reasons for such variations?

The case against ethics advisers

So, would it be a good idea for schools to echo the government in having an ethics adviser? I think not.

Professional ethics and the strong values of the school should underpin all decision making intuitively, habitually and naturally.

In some schools, practice for meetings might include a declaration of conflict of interest where school leaders perceive a tension. How can we make such ethical considerations more commonplace?

Certain measures might help. For example, Ofsted could be more persistent in looking at the demography of the school: does it represent the community, and its pattern of more and less advantaged learners? If not, why not? Much of this work could pre-date the inspection.

Equally, obliging schools to maintain a register of parental approaches to the school about admissions, and whether they were followed up, would be relevant information. Why do some parents appear to lose interest in a school? Has it been painted as inappropriate or inaccessible to them? Did they not feel welcomed?

We have, unquestionably, many inspirational and hard-working leaders in schools, taking difficult decisions every day with their guiding star of ethics.

The heavy dilemma for leaders

Yet we need also to acknowledge the counterweight of heavy accountability, which might skew decisions at times.

School leaders can feel hemmed in, and therefore find it harder to “do the right thing”. They can, instead, begin to emphasise only the things that authorities appear to require.

If we are to tackle this then clashes between the needs of the organisation and the individual students need to be acknowledged and explored - a situation that is rarely the case at present.

We declare personal interests when in governors and trustee meetings routinely, so do we need to begin to declare interests of other kinds, such as those that give primacy to the institution of the school over individual students?

It’s a big issue but here are a few ways in which we can make it easier for schools and their leaders to be “good” in an ethical way:

• Increase awareness of clashes between the needs of a school and its individual students.
• Have accountability that moves beyond naming and shaming.
• Provide greater incentives to work with students who have additional challenges (in areas such as special educational needs and disabilities, as underfunding makes this especially difficult).
• Pose more questions about areas such as admissions and exclusions, so we understand the full context of the school and not just surface features.

In short, we need to make it easier for school leaders to lead their schools with unwavering ethical standards, not fears that a number in a spreadsheet column could negatively affect their school, and their own professional and personal lives.

We need to make it easier, in challenging times, for staff to do the right thing.

Tim Withers is the former chief executive of the Palladian Academy Trust in Bath and Wiltshire. Prior to that, he was a headteacher and then chief executive of Ralph Allen School in Bath