Applying for your first headship is an exciting but daunting endeavour - especially if your well-honed and lovingly crafted application leads to a request for interview.
At that point, it is easy to get carried away with the opportunity and go all out to impress and land the job. That’s understandable, but it’s important to remember you are also choosing the school and want to make the right choice.
As such it is important to ask the right questions that can help you understand what the job may actually entail and if it really is the right next step in your career.
1. Can I see the school’s budget and pupil rolls?
Headship is often the first time you will have overall responsibility for managing finances, so you want to go in with eyes wide open.
As such, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask to see a copy of the school’s budgeted accounts - particularly if you request hard copies you will return to the school and confidentiality is assured.
This information will help you determine if there is a sustainable financial model - or if cost cutting may be needed, including redundancies. If information is not forthcoming, or you don’t feel comfortable asking for detailed accounts, you can get a general steer by searching the school’s key financials on the government’s compare schools website.
Linked to this, ask about the pupil roll: with pupil numbers falling, is the school struggling to fill its roll? Or will it in the years ahead?
You could also ask about any major capital works that are planned, including building works, as this can take up a lot of your budget - as well as time and stress.
2. What is staff retention and turnover like?
Data on new starters or leaving rates can also be revealing.
For example, high staff turnover could indicate unsustainable working practices or cultural issues that need addressing - but could also provide strong grounds for the changes you’re hoping to bring in.
Conversely, while low staff turnover may be a blessing - and having a stable, talented and enthusiastic staff body is undeniably a benefit - it could also mean staff love the way things are done and are resistant to change, which could mean tricky conversations in the future.
3. What do governors think are the key improvement areas?
Being aligned with those appointing you is key, so ask what their priorities are.
For example, one head told me they had identified teaching and learning as a core focus for improvement along with behaviour at a school they were interviewing for.
When they asked the governing body, though, they said extracurricular activities, adding Mandarin to the curriculum and overseas trips were their key improvement areas.
Knowing this, the candidate chose not to continue with the application. Hopefully, you will be aligned, but it’s worth finding out before signing a contract.
4. What are the improvements you want to see - and by when?
Headteachers, of course, carry the burden of accountability linked to assessment or Ofsted outcomes - this comes with the territory.
But there is a limit to what any one person can achieve, and many stories exist of headteachers losing jobs after short tenures having failed to achieve unrealistic turnaround plans or hit lofty assessment targets.
As such, you need to understand what is expected by the appointing board, by when and how rigorously they will hold you to these goals.
5. What is the governing body or trust’s approach to wellbeing and flexibility?
While the sector has been thinking about workload and flexibility for teachers for a while now, it is just as important for heads.
As such, asking an appointing panel’s views on the wellbeing of heads and if they recognise this as important (or not) could lead to some revealing answers.
Similarly, you might want to ask about flexibility - after all, even a headteacher will have moments when life events require time away from the job at short notice.
You, of course, are not suggesting you expect to leave early on a regular basis but asking about views on time away for a family illness or similar could be very revealing in how they answer - a recognition we are all human and have lives beyond school, or revealing a rigidity and lack of empathy that serve as major red flags.
6. What is your educational philosophy?
While this question could well be asked of you, it is worth asking it back to those interviewing you.
Doing so could help you understand if you are aligned on key educational areas like curriculum, behaviour, attendance and deeper philosophic questions such as what they think the purpose of education is or what sort of children they want the school to cultivate.
Depending on what they say, even the most welcome answers to all the other questions might not sway you to take the job.
Jo Facer is a former headteacher and the head of the national professional qualifications faculty at the National Institute of Teaching
