Wrong Headed Jobs

The people the DfE are recruiting and contracting to bring about educational change are not only unhealthy for the schools they work with, but part of the reason policy is so out of touch with teachers.

Premier New Schools advert

This advert from Premier New Schools exemplifies the problem. It is from a company that provides the DfE with the people to push academies and free schools though. By subcontracting this work out, free schools and academies can get through the hoops that the DfE place before them. But is this right?

This quote captures the problem:

Clients love you because they can count on you being there for them and because your charm is matched only by a herculean capacity for work. Nothing excites you more than being presented with an intractable problem or an impossible deadline. You are master of the process but still find ways to improve on every free school or academy project you have worked on. If you have one fault it is the absolute intolerance of the work shy, the pessimists and above all those who do not attend to detail.

As you can see, it assumes that there are people who will do an unreasonable amount of work in a Kafkaesque processes, without concern for those who might see problems with the insanity of the process.

I was talking to a colleague recently about the challenges of school life that come from bullying and poor management of staff mental health. We noted that all too often, those who are least able to keep a good work/life balance, protect their colleagues, and see change as an opportunity for self advancement rather than put the needs of the school first, seem to make it through to leadership roles.

My friend told a story of a colleague who had ‘lost-it’ and was being disciplined for shouting at a Yr6 child, pre-SATs. Of course, this lack of professionalism was wrong and disciplinary acts are entirely appropriate. However, we noted that the long term abusers in life, and at school (of adults and children) rarely get caught; because they are adept at hiding it within roles and activities that seem to allow them to turn their stress addiction into a means of professional advancement.

Of course, not all heads are like this, but we’ve all met some who are. And many of them jump from school to school, and end up advising others (often because governors have got rid of them as soon as possible, once they have made it out of RI, or similar travails, following complaints from within the staff).

So, these people are out there, with seemingly great CVs, hiding poor management styles and unhealthy working practices. They are the very people that would agree to implement a crazy policy, ignore evidence, agree to take on work that the rest of us would say was insane, and push colleagues beyond breaking point.

I am sure there are people who will apply for this job out there. They are the very people ministers need to see their plans to reality. Attracted to power, for the sake of power, these people are least able to manage or lead change. What shocked me about the advert quoted above is how thinly veiled the call is to this type of person.

With the news full of Nicky Morgan’s evidence that Gove did not have monopoly on ideological madness, it seems that we have more madness ahead of us. We should challenge, not only the ministers and their SpAds, but those that accept and recruit anyone but the best candidates for the schools and communities that need help.

We need more ethical, empathic school leaders to advise government and implement policy,  who can manage the health of others as well as themselves.

Less Czars and more Carers.