Summary from filmed interview Steve Lancashire, head teacher
(Hillyfield Primary School), executive head teacher and ICT director
in the London Borough of Waltham Forest
“Engaging technology in the sustainable development of
leadership”
How important is technology in supporting leadership in primary schools?
ICT is the ‘business’ of most schools and is the underlying tool that drives the school: As school
leaders we all have different leadership styles but central to each of them needs to be a vision of
leadership and management transformed and facilitated by effective use of ICT.
As a school leader, technology is central to the way in which I operate:
Communication
&
Collaboration
Distributive
Leadership
Management
of
Information
1.
Virtual HT
Community
ICT in
Leadership
CPD
Communication and collaboration.
On a personal level it facilitates quick and efficient communication both within each organisation and
across the federation of schools whether this is through phone, messaging, email, intranet or video
conferencing – it opens the channel of communication and makes me accessible to a wide range of
people and key stakeholders. It allows a lot of people to have contact and exchange or obtain
information in a manageable way. As the trend for schools to work in close collaboration continues,
technology can help us find new ways of doing this rather than the traditional model of everyone in
the same room at the same time.
2.
Access to a virtual community of school leaders
More and more to meet the challenges of leading and managing schools we are looking to learn from
best practice in schools around the country and around the world. Through organisations such as the
National College of School Leadership and online support from places like teacher net and governor
net we can have virtual access to a wide professional leadership community where other school
leaders can often provide tested management solutions to common problems. Being part of this
online leadership community can ensure that even the smallest school can have access to the best
advice and resources. Also, networking in this way with people facing similar challenges can reduce
the feeling of professional isolation that can sometimes happen.
Author: Steve Lancashire
Making IT Happen 2007 Conferences
3.
Professional development
Collaboration between schools should enhance the skills and knowledge of all those people involved
with the schools, in whatever role and at whatever level. In developing leaders for the future we need
to ensure that all staff have access to sustained, high quality professional development that will equip
them with the skills and knowledge to embrace change to come. Traditional patterns of learning have
changed and the training and support we provide needs to change with it. Technology can provide us
with the flexibility we need to meet these changes: the wide range of online learning materials,
tutorials, distance learning courses all help to give freer access and ensure that people receive the
professional development opportunities they need.
4.
Management of Information
In an era where data drives many of our decisions as school leaders, technology is central to
ensuring management information systems contribute to school improvement. The focus at the
moment is very much on ensuring that schools have robust pupil tracking systems, effective data
analysis tools and rigorous reporting and recording systems. Effective use of technology in these
areas ensures we have better information for curriculum planning and ensures we have the
necessary information to deploy our human and physical resources more effectively.
A key role of any leader is to evaluate school performance, effective systems for this are vital.
Technology supports the development of these systems and allows schools to develop systems
which can be easily managed and shared across institutions.
5.
Distributive Leadership
Leadership no longer solely rests in the hands of the head teacher but is a shared responsibility
across the school, whether it’s a teacher in the classroom leading the teaching and learning for 30
children, a curriculum manager leading the development of a subject across the whole school, or a
senior manager, deputy head or head teacher leading on aspects of whole school improvement,
technology allows us to create a community or environment where anyone can contribute and
innovate. School improvement is often about new ideas and new ways of doing things. A school that
has embraced all that technology can offer will have the structures and flexibility to allow staff to play
a greater role in this.
In what ways may this change in the future and how? What should leaders of
todays primary schools be considering when thinking of their long term
sustainable development of ‘leadership’?

Collaboration between schools will become more and more necessary and desirable in order
to meet the demands of a changing educational environment. Leaders must be prepared for
this and ensure their schools have the technological capacity to facilitate and support it.

Senior leaders will need to have a vision about how leadership is to be transformed by
technology and will need to communicate and share this vision with all the school’s
stakeholders. There will be a sharper focus on monitoring and self evaluation to bring about
school improvement and leaders must be aware of how technology can support them with
this.

Federations of schools, local authorities etc., will need to identify and develop their own
aspiring leaders by providing appropriate continuous professional development opportunities,
maximising the potential that technology provides for this.

Under the Every Child Matters and Extended Schools agenda schools will more and more
become the hub of the local community. Leaders must find ways to provide open access for
all, including to technology, irrespective of socio-economic difficulties.

Personalised learning will continue to be transformed by technology; teaching will become
more fluid, interactive and responsive.
A digital curriculum will develop to reflect
technological innovation. Leaders today must prepare for this by ensuring that there is a clear
pedagogical understanding of the role of ICT in teaching and learning and ensuring that
schools have the skills, knowledge and technical capability to embrace it.
Author: Steve Lancashire
Making IT Happen 2007 Conferences