Moving Forward

With the incoming members of staff who are brought in to replace the outgoing, one thing is clear: the priority is to mend what has been damaged.

After the damages caused by the outgoing, the highest item on the agenda must be to restore trust between the vast majority of staff and management.

The so-called Leadership Group have not shown any leadership since the formation of that level of responsibility under the current headship. Hiding in offices and not being seen in the school where they work has been the topic of mockery for all staff. The school has no real vision when it comes to teaching and learning. It's only well designed slogans on school walls. The LG has been operating remotely and they might as well have been working from a chalet in Switzerland, no one would have been any wiser. 

The new Principal must be visible, his Head of Secondary and Head of Primary must be around among the teachers and wider staff. Not just walking around all day, but observing and talking to the engine room staff. 'Lead from the middle'.

Trust has been hit the worst. To restore trust, The incoming must have an open and honest conversation with the teachers. Transparency must be a solid principle whereby all must abide. Otherwise, rumours and gossip will thrive. The current Principal, Dr Zimmer, has been a champion of gossip by implementing highly questionable measures and then asking staff not to talk about them. And that is not even a joke.

Action must be taken immediately and boldly. The excuse of 'not wanting to implement huge changes now' is, at best, weak in the current circumstance. It will only acerbate the situation further. At least, let's have a solid plan of change that is clear to everyone. It is understandable that planning takes time but as one of the greatest quotes ever cites: "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." Take away the unnecessary, remove the useless, abandon the decorative for the essential. Surely, this is achievable as a first step.

Teaching and learning must be the core and the purpose of what we do. Before you implement any new initiative, ask yourself what it will bring to the school,  how it will promote teaching and facilitate learning. With the current management, T&L have been ignored. The proof will be visible in a year or two year's time when the repercussions of the current policies reach their impact point.

Communication is important. Clear and timely communication is even more so. With so many staff members, so many managers, leaders, platforms, communication must be facilitated without delay. If you can't trust your teachers to communicate freely and easily, then you have no trust in them or they are truly incapable of putting an email together to the right addressees. Which is it?

Professional Development is the care you show for your staff. It can't always be for T&L but it could be for well-being, time management, communication, leadership etc.

With the absence of any real CPD over the last years, the teachers have felt inadequate and abandoned. A teacher will feel valued when he/she is given time to attend a seminar or a training session. There could be in-house sessions where teachers meet, collaborate, design, implement, plan and express their views. Teachers have been working out of their own steam for so long that the only impression they have is that they are factory workers assigned to fill in gaps in classrooms or busy corridors.

The school structure is also a priority. Have you ever tried to draw a chart of the school structure? Give it a try. The organisational chart of the school is complex. Within this complex structure, responsibility is often lost between the layers, communication is rarely simple, action is rarely direct and timely, transparency is as opaque as a brick wall. Another priority for the new additions to the school to address. The one thing this complex and overlapping organigram does is to roll the blame downwards to the layer below. Responsibility follows gravitational movement to stop with the ones who are powerless. Not sure why Horizontal Management style is so difficult to adopt, at least, in some areas of the school. 

Time is of essence. With all the futile tasks everyone has to do, little was left for the actual role of the school, teaching. Teachers have had no time to focus on what they have been recruited to do. They should be given time to focus on teaching. When every after-school time is taken up to have a 'meeting', when do teachers and their subject leaders meet? When do teachers talk about student related issues? When do they sit together and plan an email back to a concerned parent etc? Time is the most valuable commodity in life. Let's use it efficiently. Efficiently does not mean you have to be doing something to look good. Looking good has been left to Marketing. 

Good will. Good will is what makes any school go forward. We know that any given time to the teachers will not be enough to run the school. It is out of their own good will that they stay behind to complete tasks, to listen to a student, to meet a parent, to update a document or to fill out yet another Google form. Isn't it time for the teachers to gain recognition of how much they do for 'free'. Or is it also a contractual expectation to do extra as long as 'it is requested by the Principal' and 'a reasonable request'? What is a 'reasonable' request anyway? Who defines that? The Principal! 

Contracts have to reflect what teachers do and what they are not expected to do. The fact that these contracts are finalised so early in the academic year puts pressure on the teachers to walk out or stay and be disgruntled for yet another one. Can't this be reviewed? The timing of signing the contracts is far from being ideal. It is almost forcing the teachers to accept either a year of unemployment looking for work if they choose not to renew or they are stuck with their families at the expense of their wellbeing.

Lots to consider. It wouldn't have been this much work to be done if we had all listened to each other in good faith and with positive intent.