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Succession planning for church school governors. Objectives for this session:. To understand the seven actions that together make up succession planning (SP)
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Objectives for this session: To understand the seven actions that together make up succession planning (SP) To consider the implications of these for governors and offer suggestions for effective succession planning practice in our church school context To outline key questions in each of the seven actions that support a governing body in understanding the practice of succession planning currently in our own school To reflect on how SP practice might be further improved in our school
Why bother with Succession Planning? “Successful school leaders improve teaching and learning and thus pupil outcomes … most powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment, teaching practices and through developing teachers’ capacities for leadership.” Day, Sammons, Hopkins, Harris, Leithwood et al. DCSF, 2009 Succession Planning is not an added extra – it is a key vehicle in maintaining the journey of school improvement Approximately 36% of primary and 18% of secondary schools in England have a religious character. We need every church school to contribute to succession planning in our sector
Why does every church school need to contribute to succession planning? From 2008 to 2009 the number of governing bodies saying they were prepared for succession planning jumped from 34% to 57% Re-advertisement rates for primary schools (especially small, rural primaries) remain too high (35%) and average field sizes for headship vacancies remain too small (4.8) 58% of local authorities still report ‘serious or some’ problems of recruiting to primary schools Re-advertisement rates remain too high for schools of a religious character (49% for catholic schools and 37% for church of England schools)
What else does the data tell us? Geographical mobility continues to reduce, 68% of primary headships and 58% of secondary headships are filled from within the local authority (LA) Ensuring support for the pre-NPQH pipeline is becoming very important as we use up the former supply of NPQH graduates Diversifying senior school leadership teams to achieve a representative workforce remains a key priority (6.5% of the teacher workforce are from a black or minority ethnic background [BME] but only 2% of headteacher appointments are from a BME background - EDS, ASCL and NAHT data). The data also shows that women secondary headteachers and men in early years leadership are under-represented
Retaining talented leaders Implications Consider creating a school succession plan within the context of a leadership development strategy Incorporate this into the school improvement plan and keep it on-going Key questions Are the governors who need to know, aware of the current headteacher’s career plan? Do we know which of our leaders may leave in the next two years and are we prepared? Have we done all we can to retain those we might want? Have we reviewed the staffing structure to ensure leadership roles are adequately supported?
Attracting talented leaders Implications The Ofsted framework and changing education landscape have implications for leadership development – with new roles and responsibilities in and beyond the school Support of governing body is essential We need to know our unique selling points (USPs) Key questions What picture of headship do governors and headteachers offer to potential leaders? How is leadership distributed? How do we demonstrate that we have a purposeful, planned approach to leadership development and Succession Planning? Have we a compelling statement of our values and vision in action?
Recruiting talented leaders Implications Governors have a pivotal part to play in securing best leadership for our schools There is a need to consider the nature of leadership required by having an accurate understanding of the needs of the school Key questions Have sufficient members of the governing body undertaken recruitment training, including safer recruitment? Do we know how best to recruit in the current market? Are we developing expertise with the aim of making recruitment a selling exercise, sourcing support from local authority/diocese/National College?
Inducting new leaders Implications Hitting the ground, sometimes running and at other times, kneeling Nurturing future and new leaders starts with effective induction Governors have a role in setting expectations and monitoring practice Key questions Does our induction policy make specific reference to induction to leadership role as well as school and teaching role? What support is provided for those critical career points where you become responsible for other people’s practice?
Identifying talented leaders Implications Governors and staff need a shared language to discuss and encourage leadership Governor support for leadership learning, valuing adult as well as child learning Governors will want to articulate the importance of all of the school community being supported to reach their God-given potential Key questions Do we have a shared agreement on what we mean by talented leadership with clearly defined leadership characteristics? How are these leadership characteristics used in performance management (PM)processes? Does our school’s continual professional development programme focus on leadership development skills as well as professional competencies?
Leadership formation Implications Role of governors to model PM process Governor role also to support processes/actions to develop other leaders such as devolvement of responsibility of strategic area, opportunities to articulate the distinctiveness of leading a church school, and consideration of a leadership exchange Key questions Do we have a policy (in continual professional development/performance management?) for identifying and managing talent? Do potential leaders know we want to invest in them? Do we see promotion to other schools as success? How do we ensure that development activities are assessed for effectiveness in moving individuals on? Have we monitored the range of activities and impact?
Accelerating progression Implications From recruitment stage onwards, we are looking for the seeds of leadership – potential, not perfection Key questions Have we reviewed processes to ensure potential is tapped from all diverse sources? What do we mean by talented leadership that we can accelerate? How do we create opportunities for aspiring and actual leaders to work with the governing body? Are we open-minded about length of time served and other characteristics?
Managing and Supporting careers Implications To be successful in growing leadership, it is important to create favourable conditions. Governors are instrumental in creating these conditions Culture, the way we do things impacts on leadership learning and behaviour Key questions Do we have plans in place for leadership succession, including a broad range of leadership development opportunities for aspiring leaders? Do we know what our school spends on leadership development and which activities are supported? Do we collaborate with other schools on leadership formation opportunities?
Where shall we start and when? There are several different aspects of succession planning that we could look at, with natural links to our work as Governors at different points in the school year, for example: At any time: Re-consider the values and vision of our school: Do we have a clear statement of these? Can we demonstrate examples of these in action? When did we last review our unique selling points? Would we be ready to mount a effective recruitment campaign?
Finally, how can we improve our succession planning practice further? Any points to clarify? What are we going to do next? What are we prepared to commit to do this year? Do we need any specific support? Who from?
