Barry Graham has been headteacher at Wallace Hall for 15 years. The school, which is in Dumfries and Galloway and covers the ages 2-18, is celebrating its 300th anniversary this year.

He qualified in 1988 as a teacher of modern studies and economics, and still sees it as important to make classroom teaching a part of his working week.

Graham explains why marginal gains, keeping anger and loneliness at bay, and going for a run with another headteacher are all central to his school leadership approach.

1. What I wish I’d known when I started teaching is...

That the basics for all teachers are learning, teaching and behaviour - not necessarily always in that order - and that they are all of equal importance. Giving teachers the structures, through all three, to have confidence in classrooms should be key in teacher training - that gives them space to make mistakes and learn from them.

2. The most important qualities a school leader needs are…

My “8 Cs”, inspired by Ken Robinson’s book Creative Schools. I actually think that gives quite a good structure for any leader: creativity (although it’s harder to be creative just now because of diminishing resources); compassion (for everybody that you work with); collaboration (sometimes being a headteacher can feel like a lonely job so you have to make those links to other headteachers in your area and beyond); communication; curiosity; citizenship; continuing professional development; and critical thinking.

When it comes to critical thinking, it’s about looking at everything we do and trying to come to decisions based on the evidence in front of us - and making time to do that. Everybody’s different in how they do that, but I’ve got a road bike and I run, and I would say they’re the best times for me to think critically.

3. The most important lessons I’ve learned from doing this job are…

I’m headteacher at an all-through school, and an important thing is not do the same thing with all parts of the school and think that I’ll get the same results. It’s about taking people with you rather than having a fixed idea and trying to impose that on people. It’s about listening to people and their suggestions, trying to work out what they’re good at, then trying to work out what you can do to make improvements.

4. The best change I ever made to my school was…

I think it’s not about an individual change but marginal gains - [Team GB cycling coach] Dave Brailsford talked about trying to make a 1 per cent positive change in each area then bringing that together. That’s what brings the best results. In CPD at the school, for example, we look at lots of different leadership issues and work through them. 

5. If I could change something about Scottish education it would be…

I’m quite positive about what I’m hearing about changes to qualifications and the Scottish Qualifications Authority. We should be looking at an approach that builds on coursework going through the year. That’s the way we should be going in the 21st century. I don’t think we should be getting rid of knowledge-based assessments, but there shouldn’t be just one knowledge-based, high-stakes exam, with that being the only measure that we’re using. I like the idea of this Scottish Diploma of Achievement, but the devil will be in the detail.

6. My most memorable moment as a leader was…

I still enjoy teaching - I take Advanced Higher modern studies. I still have a third-year class that I teach one period a week. I would argue that they’re all the best moments. If I had to pick one moment, I’d think of my favourite trip to First World War battlefields - the young people go on a physical journey but also a journey of emotional understanding of what happened during that time. If you go to somebody’s grave that maybe nobody’s visited in 100-plus years, and you put a little cross on there, it’s a meaningful moment.

7. The worst mistake I ever made was…

When you’re a young teacher and one or two young people want to challenge you in their behaviour, sometimes you get rattled or angry about it. But actually that’s not the right way - what you need is a good, clear plan, and you follow that plan through. If you get angry you stop thinking and you say things that you regret.

8. My top tip for an aspiring school leader is…

It can be perceived to be quite a lonely job, being a headteacher, so for me it’s all about making connections. That’s locally - once a week I go for a run with a fellow headteacher on a Friday night, and we get a chance to think through what’s happening that week - but it’s also about making links nationally through, for example, the Bocsh (building on collaboration, supporting headteachers) group of headteachers. We talk about good practice and the various challenges that we face. It was a very positive organisation to be part of during Covid. So never feel isolated, make the connections, keep those connections going, talk things through with people.

9. When dealing with challenging pupils, my go-to strategy is…

I’m a fan of Bill Rogers and his practical advice about how to create a clear plan for your classroom, and for who you go to when you’re faced with challenging behaviour that’s beyond your plan and what support you get in your school. There are rights and responsibilities but also consequences if people aren’t able to follow the rules of the class, but you have to go through that in a consistent way, so that pupils know you’re going to be consistent and follow that through.

10. The best CPD I ever did was…

The key thing for me is that I always come away with something. You can be there for two hours and there’s just one little gem. When I go to in-person CPD, I always have two pages: I’m writing down what’s being said, but also scribbling down things that it’s making me think about. It’s giving me that time to think and reflect, and hopefully be a wee bit creative.

But if I were to pick one person, it would be Sir John Jones. I just like his positivity about the profession, about what teachers put into the job. He gets you to think about the person when you were at school who inspired you the most - he calls them “dream weavers”. And he just gets you to step back and realise there are a lot of people who work really hard to try and get it right for every child - that for a lot of those children, their best chance in life is if they get a chance to work with the right person.

Barry Graham was talking to Henry Hepburn, Scotland editor for Tes