The Challenge of Headship:
what lies ahead?
Joanna Hall
Senior HMI, London
21 November 2014
Courageous
Change
Challenge
2
The Challenge - context
Enormously diversified provision – an increasingly
autonomised and atomised system
Great Risk
Great Freedom
Great Challenge
All in equal measure
Free schools
Good and nothing less – what we all
want
MATS
Maintained schools
Academies and chains
Safeguarding
new territory and higher demands
3
The Challenge - context
The impact of strong leadership to improve schools has
enabled a more autonomous system
Ofsted Annual Report 2012/13:
.
Children
and young people in maintained schools and academies in
England now have the best chance they have ever had of attending a
good school.
There are just under 22,000 schools in England, with over 440,000
teachers. Fifty four per cent of secondary schools and 9% of primary
schools are now academies.
In all, 16% of schools, a growing proportion, have become academies.
Of the schools Ofsted inspected in 2012/13, 841 were academies and
7,064 were local authority maintained schools.
4
Challenge 1:
Meeting the demands of autonomy
Challenge 1: Meeting the demands of
autonomy

political consensus that authority, power and resources should
be given to the people who make the difference YOU and YOUR
TEAMS – people in the classrooms, the corridors and the
playground.

empowered to lead and challenge in a way that was almost
impossible a few decades ago - you are in the driving seat - but
you’ve got to deliver higher standards of education to our
children and young people.

autonomy and accountability in equal measure
6
Challenge 1: Meeting the demands of
autonomy

‘The best headteachers, like the best managers from other
sectors, have a restless energy for improvement and are
intolerant of mediocrity – and that quality sets them apart from
their peers.

…..the distinguishing feature of outstanding leadership is the
relentless focus on challenging the status quo and entrenched
attitudes’. (HMCI 2012)
7
Challenge 1: Meeting the demands of
autonomy
 Courageous heads combine vision with pragmatism
 Can you deliver the vision and work autonomously? 
There is no room in education for visionaries or idealists
who cannot deliver.
Is vision without action an hallucination?
 Headship remains absolutely key in raising standards at all
levels and ensuring the safety and well being of students.
8
Challenge 1: Meeting the demands of
autonomy

On inspection we will be also looking at how your work as
leaders permeates beyond your school.

Great heads are becoming great system leaders, driving
improvement across multiple schools, autonomy in your own
schools and leading improvements across schools.
Page 44 of the School Inspection Handbook:

how effectively the school works in partnership with other
schools, early years providers, external agencies and the
community (including business) to improve the school,
extend the curriculum and increase the range and quality of
learning opportunities for pupils
9
Ofsted School Inspection Handbook, September
2014, pages 40-51. Leadership and management.
September 2014:
Continued focus upon judging leaders:
 Modelling of high expectations and pursuing excellence
 Monitoring and evaluation activities
 Leadership of teaching
 Use of assessment
 Use of performance management
 Carrying out statutory duties
What is new and has greater focus? An evaluation of:
 The curriculum – broad and balanced and promoting
fundamental British values
 SMSC
 The impact of middle leaders
 Careers guidance for Years 8-13
 Increased focus upon safeguarding
10
Leadership and management
Inspectors should consider how well leaders and managers
ensure that the curriculum:
 is broad and balanced, complies with legislation and

provides a wide range of subjects, preparing pupils for the
opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life
in modern Britain;
actively promotes the fundamental British values of
democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual
respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and
beliefs
A golden thread – Curriculum, SMSC, behaviour,
safeguarding - read across the framework and the
guidance for safeguarding
11
Ofsted School Inspection Handbook, September
2014, pages 40-51. Leadership and management.
For grade 2 an aspect is:
The school’s curriculum encourages a thirst for knowledge and
understanding and a love of learning. It covers a range of subjects
and provides opportunities for academic, technical and sporting
excellence. It contributes well to pupils’ academic achievement, their
physical well-being and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural
development. It promotes good behaviour and a good
understanding of safety matters.
12
Challenge 2: Safeguarding
new territory and higher demands
The spotlight






Daniel Pelka 2013
Megan Stammers and Jeremy Forrest 2012
William Vahey 2014
Rotherham, 2013/14
Trojan Horse and Birmingham 2014
Timothy Arthur 2014
14
The Spotlight
19 November 2014
Ofsted report - a thematic inspection was commissioned to
evaluate the effectiveness of local authorities’ current
response to child sexual exploitation
The sexual exploitation of children: it
couldn't happen here, could it?
But it did.
15
Challenge 2: Safeguarding
Debbie Jones Regional Director London, 19 November 2014:
‘It is not enough to simply wait for the next scandal to
happen. We are calling on all local authorities and their
partners to ensure that they have a comprehensive multi –
agency strategy and action plan in place to tackle child
sexual exploitation’.

Several young people told inspectors that they thought
awareness-raising should start sooner.

‘No-one said anything about it until I went to secondary school; I
never heard anything about child sexual exploitation when I was
eight or nine.’ Student A
16
Challenge 2: Safeguarding and inspection

Some sections have been strengthened or amended in the

We have revised the safeguarding briefing; this is now the
only separate guidance document.

Leaders and governors must be conversant with
School inspection handbook – why?
 DfE ‘Keeping children safe in education’, 2014
 DfE ‘Keeping children safe in education: information for all

school and college staff’, 2014
‘Working together to safeguard children’, 2013.
Keeping Children Safe in Education
 www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-childrensafe-in-education
17
Challenge 2: Safeguarding, some questions to
consider?
As leaders in remodelling and planning new curricula, how
well are these key aspects covered in your schools:

bullying, including cyberbullying (by text message, on social
networking sites, and so on) and prejudice-based bullying




racist, disability, and homophobic or transphobic abuse
radicalisation and extremist behaviour
child sexual exploitation
sexting
18
Challenge 2: Safeguarding, questions to
consider?



substance misuse

particular issues affecting children including domestic violence,
sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation and forced
marriage.
self harming
issues that may be specific to a local area or population, for
example gang activity and youth violence
As well as covering these aspects in the curriculum, how
well are you working with parents, carers, LA, local support
agencies, the local community, the police to tackle these
issues?
19
Challenge 2: Safeguarding, staff training

Are there effective arrangements for staff development and
training for all aspects of safeguarding?

Do all staff have a copy of and understand the written
procedures for managing allegations of harm? Do they know
how to make a complaint and how to manage whistleblowing or
other concerns about the practice of adults in respect of the
safety and protection of children?

Are staff confident? Are their antenna tuned to things which
may raise concern?
20
Challenge 2: Safeguarding
As leaders consider how can you be:

Courageous in tackling the range of safeguarding matters that
we all have to face?

Challenging of misconceptions, of a culture of it ‘doesn't
happen here’, of not responding quickly enough when pieces of
evidence begin to raise concerns?

Change how the system works so that staff, children, parents
and carers, the police, local authority have the information they
need to tackle concerns quickly?
21
Challenge 3: Teaching and
assessment without levels
Ofsted School Inspection Handbook, September
2014, page 15/16.
Lesson observations – (visits to lessons/observing teaching)
The key objectives of lesson observations are to inform the
evaluation of the overall quality of teaching over time and its
contribution to learning and achievement, and to assess the
behaviour and safety of pupils and the impact of leadership and
management in the classroom. When inspectors carry out
observations in lessons, they should not grade the quality of
teaching for that individual session or indeed the overall
quality of the lesson.
Where there is sufficient evidence, inspectors will grade
the other key judgements: achievement; behaviour and safety;
and leadership and management. For short observations,
inspectors might not award grades.
23
Ofsted School Inspection Handbook, September
2014, page 16.
Inspectors must not advocate a particular method of planning,
teaching or assessment.
They will not look for a preferred methodology but must record
aspects of teaching and learning that they consider are effective,
and identify ways in which teaching and learning can be improved
24
Challenge 3: Teaching – managing performance
Challenging weak practice quickly
Good leaders recognise and reward good teaching.
They celebrate it at every turn and promote those who
model good practice.
Robust performance management with clear and
measurable targets for all staff
Identifying who has the skills to lead teaching and be
accountable for delivering, monitoring and evaluating
Targeted professional development for all staff, evaluated
against impact on achievement.
25
Challenge 3: Activity
 As leaders and governors how do you capture the
evidence you need to make a secure judgement about the
quality of teaching over time in your school?
 How strategic are you in deciding what information you
want to collect from monitoring activities?
 How closely aligned is your monitoring to priorities in your
school action plan?
 How can governors test the accuracy of the information
from all leaders about the quality of teaching?
26
Challenge 3: Some Ofsted myths
Instead of grading lessons, inspectors are looking for particular ways of marking.
They just add the lesson grades together
They are only really bothered about mathematics and English
We can’t be an outstanding school because we’ve got a few good teachers who
are not outstanding yet.
Inspectors want us overnight to re present our data in a different format for them
27
Challenge 3: Messages from HMCI and the School
Inspection Handbook
 The quality of teaching is inextricably linked to the quality of
leadership
 It is impossible to divorce the quality of teaching from the
culture of the school – and the culture – more than anything
else – is determined by its leadership – by you
 There is no single or preferred way of teaching. What matters
is how well pupils learn
 As leaders you have the freedom - and the responsibility that
comes with it - to make decisions about what works best
 It is about teaching over time, the results it produces for
students who should be attentive and engaged, who behave
and do well.
28
‘Stuck’ RI schools lack the capability to resolve
some key weaknesses:
Pupils' achievement
Use of TAs & support staff
EYFS/sixth form
Marking; feedback that helps pupils improve
Quality and consistency of teaching
Behaviour, attendance
Wholly resolved
Progress made
Communication - parents/carers
Focus on groups, pupil premium
Curriculum, whole school literacy/numeracy
Tracking, use of assessment
Performance management, accountability
Monitoring & evaluation
Governance
Middle/subject leadership
Senior leadership, quality of improvement…
Issues remaining
New issue
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Nineteen RI schools that stayed at RI, still with G3 for leadership: how
successfully they resolved previous areas for improvement at re-inspection.
29
Challenge 3: Assessment without levels:
Ofsted’s approach to inspection

The way in which a school assesses how well pupils
are achieving is a matter for the headteacher, staff
and governors.

Ofsted will not be producing or endorsing any
particular approach to assessment.

The basic premise of assessment is to find out how
well pupils are learning and to make sure this
information is properly shared and used effectively.
30
Assessment without levels:
some general principles
Inspectors will evaluate how well headteachers ensure
that assessment information is used:



to track pupils’ attainment and progress

to keep governors informed about pupils’ achievement
and the impact of teaching.
to identify underachievement
as a key part of discussions with teachers about their
performance management
31
Challenge 4: Developing
Governance
Challenge 4: Key messages
At the NGA conference in June 2012, HMCI stated:
‘Strong governance is increasingly transforming schools and
building effective partnerships.
The role of governors is fundamental and they should never
forget that. Without strong and effective governance, our
schools simply won’t be as good as they can be.’
33
Challenge 4: Common issues with governance noted
in inspection reports
Issues identified in inspection reports included:
 not ambitious about expectations
 lack of a critical friend approach
 over-reliance on information from the headteacher
 lack of systematic visits to school
 lack of engagement with school development planning
 limited role in monitoring, and none of it ‘independent’
 limited understanding of data and school quality.
34
Key messages: An external review of governance
Ofsted School Inspection Handbook, page 36
It is for the school to decide how this review will take place, and to
commission and pay for it. Such reviews aim to be developmental
and do not represent a further inspection.
Full details on what might be the form and nature of such reviews
can be found on the following link: www.gov.uk/reviews-of-schoolgovernance.
PACE AND IMPACT
35
Challenge 4 : An external review
 What are you seeking to find out from an external review?
 Have you given the reviewer a brief – do you need to?
 From the findings of the external review what are you going
to do next at pace?
 How well are governors planning their development into the
school improvement plan?
 What support do you need and from where?
 How can governors reflect on the impact of their work and
document this as proven impact from the review?
36
Challenge 4: Activity - governors knowledge and
skills?

Do all governors know what knowledge and skills they need to
strengthen?

To what extent is developing better governance tackled in your
action plan?


Do governors regularly monitor the action plan?

Are governors meeting their statutory duties and are they up to
date with key messages in the School Inspection Handbook?

What skill set do you need for potential new governors? Do you
state this on your school website?
Do all governors know what impact their decisions have, or how
good the school is in key areas? For example, do you know how
good the school is in maths, phonics or PE?
37
The Future of Education Inspection
(FOEI) – what lies ahead?
The consultation and looking ahead to 1st
September 2015
 9th Oct 2014 - HMCI launched our consultation to make radical
changes to inspection from September 2015
HMCI stated:

Most schools and colleges have been improving over the past
couple of years at a faster rate than ever before.

This is hugely encouraging and testament to the commitment of
leaders and teachers to deliver a higher standard of education for
our children and young people. They have responded to Ofsted’s
more challenging inspection frameworks, in particular the
introduction of the Requires Improvement judgement and our
insistence that only good is good enough. This has been central to
driving improvement.
39
The consultation and looking ahead to 1st
September 2015
HMCI stated:

The time has come, therefore, to introduce frequent but shorter
inspections for good schools and further education and skills
providers.

These inspections will be different to what has gone before. They
will have a much clearer focus on ensuring that good standards
have been maintained.

They also mean that we can spot signs of decline early and take
immediate action. If we find significant concerns then we will carry
out a full inspection. Where we think the school or provider may
have improved to outstanding, we may also decide to carry out a
full inspection to confirm this.

30 pilots conducted this term.
40
New grade descriptors for a common inspection
framework (CIF):
 Introduction of a new common inspection framework, which
will standardise the approach to Ofsted education inspections
The consultation sets out proposals for four categories of
judgements:



Leadership and management
Teaching, learning and assessment
Personal development, behaviour and welfare

Outcomes for children and learners
41
Our Consultation



We need your views.
The consultation closes on December 5th
The consultation is online at:
http://ofsted.gov.uk/resources/better-inspection-forall-consultation-proposals-for-new-framework-forinspection-of-schools-further
42
To Conclude
The Challenge of Headship: what lies ahead?
Significant changes in how we as a community of educators tackle
the issues that come into our schools which might destabilise the
really excellent leadership and teaching we trained to provide.
It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what
are we busy about ( Henry Thoreau)
Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.
(Theodore Roosevelt)
Experience is the comb that nature gave us after we are bald
(Belgian Proverb)
43
Thank you
Safeguarding
Guidance published:
http://ofsted.gov.uk/resources/inspecting-safeguarding-maintainedschools-and-academies-briefing-for-section-5-inspections
Released on 19 Nov 2014:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/sexual-exploitation-of-children-itcouldnt-happen-here-could-it
45
Safeguarding
Some links which may be useful to have

Teacher misconduct: the prohibition of teachers (DfE)
www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-misconduct-the-prohibition-of-teachers--3

Supporting pupils at schools with medical conditions (DfE)
www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions

Health and safety: advice on legal duties and powers (DfE)
www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-and-safety-advice-for-schools

Addressing youth violence and gangs (Home Office)
www.gov.uk/government/publications/advice-to-schools-and-colleges-on-gangs-and-youth-violence

Statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing
from care (DfE)
www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-who-run-away-or-go-missing-from-home-or-care
46
Further reading
Parent View toolkit for schools, Ofsted, 2013;
www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/120371.
Pupil premium. Analysis and challenge tools for schools, Ofsted,
2013;
www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/130045.
Twelve outstanding special schools, Ofsted, 2009;
www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/090171.
The most able students: are they doing as well as they should in
our non-selective secondary schools, Ofsted, 2013;
www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/130118.
Unseen children: access and achievement 20 years on, Ofsted,
2013; www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/130155.
47