The role of a primary headteacher is complex: as well as managing the day-to-day operations of a school, they manage the teachers and other education staff below them, deal with safeguarding and pastoral issues, set school policy, and are ultimately responsible for all pupils’ academic achievement.
But how much classroom experience do you need to do the job well? Is extensive classroom experience of every key stage a must?
Here, two educators present the two sides of the argument.
YES
Max Kelly is the executive headteacher of Dhoon Primary School and Laxey Primary School in the Isle of Man
The demands of school leadership are high, but the bar is set low.
At the risk of upsetting colleagues, I know of many recent leadership appointees who have experienced just one school, year group or key stage. Some have only been teaching for a few years. Perhaps this is just a sign of our times, but for our children’s sake, we must do better. In my view, experience across all key stages is essential for primary headship.
I’ve worked in a pre-school nursery, a school nursery, reception, key stage 1 and key stage 2. I’ve been deputy headteacher in an infant school, a junior school and in two primary schools. I’ve had my own classes across all key stages. All of this experience gives me credibility: a hugely important (and sometimes overlooked) qualification for leadership.
There is a distinct difference between leadership and management. Operational management is one thing, but leading a team involves setting a vision, charting a course and empowering people to reach for the stars. Without the credibility of having walked the walk yourself, leadership can become very challenging.
Today I’m an executive headteacher across two schools, and in both, teachers and middle leaders know they can come to me with specific questions and problems about their key stage, and I’ll be able to support them. I understand the demands of each role in a way those with lesser experience do not.
Recently, a teacher came to me with concerns about his class size: it is larger than he has dealt with before, and he was finding it challenging. I supported him with proven strategies and suggestions around behaviour dynamics, classroom layout and ideas to manage his workload. The teacher knew that I’d been in that situation before, and so my solutions were credible.
Even with all of my classroom experience, I wasn’t fully prepared for the realities of a role requiring vastly different levels of accountability, decision-making and leadership skills. However, without it, I dread to think about what kind of failures I would now be responsible for.
There is a move towards a different model of leadership in education: CEOs of trusts and academies wield large power and influence in leadership positions but do not necessarily come from a background of education-sector experience.
The assumption that this can be done is made too easily. The leadership of schools should be rooted in deep pedagogical ideology, experience and understanding. Good school leaders are good educators, and that credibility comes from a proven track record.
NO
Ben King is a Year 4 teacher at a primary school in Sussex, and has a MA in educational leadership
Great leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Compare Queen Elizabeth, Darth Vadar and Woody from Toy Story, for example; effective leaders with incredible legacies, but all very different.
When it comes to education, great leaders, too, can differ in approach and experience. Unlike Kelly, I believe that the individual’s own experience of the classroom is not the be-all and end-all. The idea that headteachers need to have taught in every key stage, let alone every year, is archaic. It harks back to a time when teachers spent their whole career in one school, working their way up the ladder. While this still happens for some, most trainees I mentor only remain in their first school a few years.
Imagine if we expected secondary heads to have taught across all of the subjects, or even just the core subjects; if we argued that they needed to know the specific challenges facing each department in order to lead them. This position would, of course, be dismissed by many.
What leadership comes down to is clear, effective and reflective people management. No one is perfect, all leaders have weak spots. Great leaders, however, surround themselves with experts in those weaker areas, to ensure that, as a team, all the bases are covered.
For example, a headteacher I previously worked for had lots of KS2 experience, but little in the early years foundation stage or KS1. She ensured her deputy head had experience in both key stages, and also enhanced the EYFS lead role. Regular meetings between all three meant that the head remained well informed and highly knowledgeable about EYFS without having taught there herself.
The skills needed to be an effective class teacher are different to those needed to be an effective senior leader. Of course, there is crossover and transferable skills, but in the same way that a classroom teacher doesn’t need to effectively manage budgets, a headteacher doesn’t need to plan an effective series of lessons on the use of apostrophes.
Let’s say I gave you the choice of your next boss, the next headteacher of your school. Would you rather a teacher who has taught in each key stage, but has had little management experience, step up to the leadership role? Or would you rather a teacher who has only taught in KS1, but has spent time being mentored and shadowing existing leadership, broadening their understanding and fostering those key skills? I know that I’d choose the latter.
If we restricted primary leadership to those who have taught across every key stage, we’d be turning away thousands of teachers with the potential to be outstanding leaders. I don’t think any of us in teaching would say we’re in a position to do that.
