School leaders fall short when
it comes to long-term career planning, but there are moves to address the situation writes
Lucie Carrington.

The shortfall in the number of teachers coming forward to take on senior leadership roles in schools has put the spotlight on long-term career planning and found teaching, as a profession, lacking.

Research from the National College has shown that only just over one in four teachers plan their careers compared with more than four in five managers outside education.

As a result the College is giving career planning a boost in 2010 by expanding the careers guidance tools currently available to teachers and school leaders. All college programmes already include powerful diagnostics to help participants assess the skills, competencies and experience they need to progress as school leaders. The coaching and mentoring available through, for example, NPQH further enables them to plan their careers rather than simply move jobs.

This month the College starts recruiting participants to its new flagship programme for those with leadership potential. Accelerate to Headship is aimed at people who have the capacity to move rapidly into headship. With space for up to 200 participants the programme is open to anyone with at least two years management experience, although this does not have to be gained in education. It takes the career support on offer through the college to another level with each participant benefiting from a personal leadership/careers adviser to guide them through the three-year programme.

Later in 2010, the College will also introduce online careers support for all teachers whether or not they have signed up to a leadership programme. Teachers will have access to a set of role profiles against which they can assess themselves. They can then secure online advice to help them acquire the skills and experience they need to move into a particular job or leadership position. "We're doing this to encourage teachers to take a more formal approach to career planning," says Jonathan Dale, Operational Director for E-learning at the College. "All the research we have done shows that this is what the profession wants and needs."

Of course, many teachers do plan their careers — at least to some extent. Melanie Barrow, who became headteacher of Stradbroke Primary School, Suffolk two years ago when she was only 28, admits that she knew when she went into teaching that she wanted to become a head. "I've always been quite ambitious although I didn't know how long it would take me to get here," she says.

Melanie remembers the critical points in her career that have led to headship. One was taking an Open University masters degree in special needs when she became Senco at her first school. "My masters was pivotal because I was meeting people who were experienced school leaders. It made me realise that I wanted to think about education on a much deeper level," she says.

A second critical point came when Melanie found herself working as number two at a tiny rural school. When the headteacher went on jury service and paternity leave, she became acting head. The head also encouraged her to take her NPQH. "He thought it would be good for the school for two of us to be highly trained in leadership," she says.

But not all teachers have such a clear view of where they want to be. For many the vocational nature of teaching prevents them thinking in such careerist terms. They became teachers because they wanted to teach not because they wanted to run a school. This was certainly where Adam Williams, Principal of John Cabot Academy, Bristol was when he became a maths teacher 10 years ago. Like Melanie he has moved rapidly up the leadership ladder, but without ever quite meaning to.

"Up until a few months before I became principal, I had no aspiration to become a headteacher. I have a young family and thought becoming a head was 10 to 15 years down the road," Adam says. But circumstances dictated otherwise when in 2006 the principal of what was then John Cabot City Technology College asked Adam to join the SLT as an assistant principal with responsibility for pastoral care. A year later, the school became an academy and a federation, and the job of principal fell vacant. The executive principal of the federation asked Adam to apply and he got the job in April 2008.

Jackie Thwaites, headteacher at Quarry Mount Primary School, Leeds tells a similar story, although she was in her 50s and had been teaching for nearly 30 years before her leadership potential was recognised. It was the opening up of school leadership that made the difference to Jackie. "In the old days it was just the head and the deputy who took all the decisions. But that changed with distributed leadership and the creation of a leadership team," Jackie says.

As a result she became first an assistant head in the school she had been teaching at for 16 years, and then acting head. From there she was encouraged to apply for the headship at Quarry Mount.

While Melanie, Adam and Jackie have different career stories to tell what they share is the fact that they worked with heads who recognised their leadership potential and helped them realise it. This talent-spotting role of existing heads is a crucial one when it comes to developing school leadership careers, argues Mark Pattison, Executive Director for Succession Planning at the College.

"The casual conversations that take place now should also become more formal career discussions between heads and staff. They should become part of the performance management process," Mark says. In addition, heads should be ready to offer teachers with potential the opportunity to take on more responsibility. It could be enabling teachers to act up to more senior roles or asking them to deliver a particular project. Or it could involve encouraging teachers to become involved with partner schools.

Many heads already make an effort to find opportunities for staff to develop, but it is usually on an informal, ad hoc basis. Mark believes this is no longer enough. "The emphasis increasingly needs to be on planning career development," he says.

David Light, Assistant Head of Children's Services at Rotherham Borough Council argues that local authorities also have a major role to play in spotting and developing talent in schools. Rotherham has set up a leadership development strategy team drawing on people from across the schools workforce. It has also organised a training levy, to which all 132 schools in the borough contribute, to fund a variety of interventions. These include a formal programme for middle leaders with potential, placements at other schools and short courses and conferences. "We see this as part of our drive for school improvement. The quality of leadership determines the quality of our schools," David says.

Schools' and teachers' attitudes towards career planning are changing, says Jane Doughty, Operational Director, Leadership Programmes and the whole idea of career planning is becoming more normal. "Over the past five years the College has done a huge amount to support people interested in career progression, providing advice and opportunities," Jane says. "Nor is this aimed just at bright young teachers but also at those who come to teaching as a second career or others who've taken time out for whatever reason."

But while there is help, advice and support out there for all teachers and from a range of sources, it is still very much up to individuals to make it happen for them — as in any career. It wasn't just being in the right place or meeting the right person that enabled Melanie, Adam and Jackie to make it to headship, it was also being prepared to take the opportunities that came their way. As Adam points out if anyone suggests there were senior colleagues more qualified than him to become principal: "There was nothing stopping any of us applying for the job."

Next steps:
Download Career moves: are you ready for school leadership? from www.nationalcollege.org.uk/publications