Scottish Government

6. Leading a School: Purpose and Paradox

Chapter Overview

This chapter answers the first part of Research Question 2: What do headteachers think about their role? Survey and interview data from serving heads and teachers are used to highlight the demands entailed in leading a school. The data reveal the paradox in the experience of headship: it is simultaneously a stressful and rewarding role. Teachers' perceptions of heads' commitments closely mirror those of heads. The data reveal that heads describe their job as emotional work. The privilege of being able to make a difference to the lives and learning of children often comes at a high price: long hours worked with an impact on health and feelings of loneliness. Factor analysis reveals that heads devote significant time to personnel and strategic leadership. They are also shown to perform numerous "other" activities for which they are accountable, although these are not necessarily part of their job descriptions. In small schools particularly, where the number of staff involved in management and support is small, the impact of such demands is significant.

A stressful, exhausting, incredibly rewarding job. (Secondary school headteacher)

50. The above statement goes some way to answering Research Question 2, for it captures the paradox that is the single most consistent theme running through heads' stories. The overwhelming message is that however challenging and stressful the task, headship is a privilege, a much valued opportunity to make a difference to the learning of children (cited by 88 per cent of heads surveyed as satisfying or very satisfying). For some, aspiration and influence extended beyond the school, with many wanting to make a difference to the wider community, where children, in many cases, would spend the rest of their lives. 51. As the Headteacher survey showed, and as was further confirmed in interviews, incentives and disincentives to assuming headship vary according to age and gender. However, the satisfiers and dissatisfiers experienced by those in post tend to converge on a number of key issues apparently unrelated to the location of the school, to the number of hours worked or to work-life balance. The resolution of these issues rests to a very large extent with government, local authorities, schools themselves and the inter-relationship among these three levels of policy and practice.

6.1 A Life in the Week of a Headteacher

I was once told by someone from the council offices: 'You are headteacher of [the school] 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year'. And that's basically I would say a good description. (Primary school headteacher)

52. The starting point in understanding the attraction or lack of attraction of the headship role is with the nature of the headteacher's job: how it is perceived by heads and by those whom they influence, how it is shaped by legislation, by government and local authority policy and by Headteachers themselves. The quality of a life in leadership is in large part revealed by the diary of a working week, although the number of hours worked is only the beginning.

53. Heads were asked in the survey to estimate the length of their working week (see Table 8). Less than two per cent of heads said they worked less than 40 hours a week while the majority worked for over 50 hours. 57 per cent work 51-65 hours a week on school-related work and 11 per cent work 66+ hours weekly. The survey reveals a spread of differences among Headteachers which is virtually a normal distribution.

Table 8: Average Hours Worked per Week (%)

* Data are missing in 21 instances

54. While heads were not asked to keep a diary, in interview they described a typical week, which added texture to the survey data. A working week of 60 hours plus was most typical among interviewees. One head, for example, who had kept a regular diary, surprised herself that when evenings and weekends were included it amounted to an 85-hour week.

55. Interviews revealed a common pattern of Headteachers being the first to arrive in the school and the last to leave. They were usually in their offices between 7 and 8 a.m. with 5 to 5.30 p.m. a typical departure time. A few heads, however, described being in their schools until 9 or 10 p.m. due to meetings or the need to catch up with paperwork. Those who did leave around 5 p.m. said they would spend several hours in the evening on school work plus five or six hours at the weekend. "All I do is go home to sleep", said one secondary head, while for others going home was "when the janitor kicks me out"?in Private Finance Initiative ( PFI) schools, for example, which require to be closed. While the survey did not ask about summer holidays, in interview heads who said they were able to take four weeks holiday in the summer described a symmetrical character to the break, with the first week being one of slowly winding down and the last week given to anticipating what lay ahead. 56. These comments were not made by cynical or disillusioned heads and their stories were almost always framed within a positive love of, or even an addiction to, the job. Many admitted to putting the school first, often at the expense of their personal lives. However, the same interviewees spoke of relishing the adrenaline flow which leadership gave them. The all-consuming nature of the job was evidenced in interviews and can be seen in quotes such as: "it never goes away" and "my time is not my own". It was frequently stated that however much one tried to keep a holiday or weekend free, by Sunday evening "You're already back in school". As one secondary head said: "It's to do with what's in your head and this feeling that something's niggling away at you?a job yet to be done". Yet despite the demands on them, heads appeared to retain a strong sense of vocationalism.

57. These comments have to be seen in the wider context of work intensification in a more pressured socio-economic situation and, as mentioned by one senior local authority officer describing his own 70-hour week, working long hours is not unique to heads. However, as was argued by some interviewees, it is not simply the hours worked but the intensification in school and classroom management which brings its own unique tensions and interpersonal challenges.

6.2 Health and Well-Being

58. The heads survey revealed that only 9 per cent felt that personal health and well-being was not a concern in relation to their headship role. However, in interviews the effects on health evoked a range of responses from heads. One head who had ignored medical advice to take time off stated "You're at the bottom of your own priority list". However, another who had had been off work with stress-related illness had been frightened into creating a more equitable work-life balance. "If it's not done [by 5.30 p.m.] it doesn't get done".

59. Among local authority officers interviewed, some questioned the extent to which these pressures were externally driven by authority demands, or internally driven by an inability of some heads to discriminate between obsessive detail and "the big picture". Some of the heads interviewed did not demur from this view. "I survive on stress", said one secondary head, acknowledging that much of this was self-imposed.

6.3 Teachers' Perceptions of the Working Week

Table 9: Teachers' Perceptions of Heads' Weekly Time Commitment (%)

* Some data are missing due to non-responses this question

60. The significance of heads' descriptions of their working week lies in the way they portray their work and the messages that they convey, whether overtly or implicitly, to their staff. Teachers' perceptions of a head's workload clearly play a part in how they evaluate the attractiveness or unattractiveness of the job (see Table 9). Interestingly, teachers' views of the heads' working week reflect fairly closely those of heads themselves, with the survey responses approximating also to a normal distribution.

6.4 A Matter of Priorities

Until you actually step into the shoes of a headteacher you don't fully appreciate all the different levels at which you're expected to operate. (Primary school headteacher) 61. With heads allocating long hours to their jobs, a key question is: What do they devote themselves to? A summary of leadership activities is shown below in Table 10 and it is interesting to note that 38 per cent of surveyed heads report spending 10 plus hours on activities "other" than their main responsibilities. The headline areas within the table are related to development of teaching and learning and managing the curriculum, which heads interviewed consistently expressed as their closest interest. While 24 per cent had no direct teaching commitment, 68 per cent spent between three and 10 hours per week developing teaching and learning, and 67 per cent spent the same time managing curriculum.

Table 10: Time Committed to Activities in a Typical Week (%)

62. These estimates by heads are clearly broad and subjective. Nonetheless, they give a flavour of the balance of responsibilities and begin to identify patterns of priorities. These can then be compared with the impressionistic judgments of teachers which are significant as they reveal the extent to which teachers perceive disincentives to headship.

6.5 Teachers' Perceptions of Headteachers' Tasks

63. Teachers were asked questions similar to those asked of heads. Teachers perceived a head's job as one which demanded a large amount of time devoted to financial and budgetary activities (see Table 11), an area of responsibility where only 12 per cent regarded themselves as being very confident. Conversely, they underestimated the amount of time heads spend on the development of teaching and learning and classroom teaching, areas that they reported as being high in their career priorities. The disparity between how heads describe their job and how teachers perceive it suggests there is scope for addressing misconceptions and preparing new heads to help them achieve a satisfying balance.

Table 11: Teachers' Perceptions of Heads' Activity Time Commitments (%)

6.6 Factor Analysis of Heads' Roles

64. When the range of Headteacher tasks was factor analysed, two clear distinguishing factors emerged. The first of these may best be described as "Strategic Leadership". This comprises five inter-related activities. These are:

1. School improvement planning

2. Establishing school priorities

3. Establishing and planning the school budget

4. Reviewing and/or developing teaching practices and curriculum

5. Developing the school timetable

The inter-relationship among the first four of these activities has a certain intuitive appeal, with all appearing to be related to effective management. While it might be argued that the fifth item, timetabling, follows logically from planning and prioritisation, its correlation is the weakest, perhaps because it sits less easily with the broader strategic focus of the other items. 65. "Leadership of Personnel" was the name given to the second factor which emerged from the analysis. This factor comprised three activities:

1. Developing and providing continuous professional development

2. Supporting new staff

3. Evaluating teachers

These three activities are also inter-related and emphasise the human development side of leadership. Although the two factors are independent of each other their separation does not imply that effective leaders do not require both sets of skills, for each is relevant for recruitment and retention. Importantly, these factors can be used to help structure professional development programmes and to shape advice on how these skill-sets may be balanced and prioritised in school leadership.

66. While Headteachers indicated on the survey and in interviews the satisfaction they experienced from working with people, the survey data suggest that they play a larger role in strategic rather than personnel leadership.

67. As was clear from interviews with Headteachers, and aspirant and non-aspirant teachers and deputes, the attractions of personnel leadership, or the "with people" aspects, were often counter-pointed with the disincentives of the "tedious" administrative tasks. The strongest complaint of all in interviews related to the burden of paperwork. This was typically viewed as excessive and often unnecessary. In interviews several heads spoke of a desire for a business manager to relieve them of the repetitive and routine maintenance tasks, many of which they felt unskilled to deal with.

68. Administrative tasks were also seen as a disincentive by career deputes:

The person who does the dinners is off or the dinners haven't arrived or your janitor's off or the drains are blocked and all that sort of stuff and the roof's leaking, that's massive if you don't have a business manager. (Primary school depute headteacher)

Heads and deputes alike wanted to be able to play to their strengths rather than expose their weaknesses, for which they confessed they were ill-equipped. Those who did have a business manager generally welcomed this, although the help it afforded depended significantly on the post-holders' quality and competence and the nature of their contract.

6.7 The "Other" Activities

69. The list of items suggested in the Headteacher survey (Table 10) was clearly insufficient to encompass the plethora and complexity of the "other" roles and tasks which Headteachers dealt with. The qualitative data from interviews, however, shed light on those roles and tasks. 70. Heads described themselves variously as problem solvers, politicians and diplomats, police and social workers, therapists and caretakers, all of which brought dilemmas and challenges as well as unexpected compensations. Headteachers often found themselves having to take action, sometimes in spite of health and safety strictures, sometimes because of them?such as getting rid of hazardous materials, personally filling a skip or cleaning a flooded toilet, because janitors were off sick or were shared among a group of schools. These ad hoc tasks were in addition to dealing with contractors, patrolling the playground, lunch room and neighbourhood streets, monitoring buses and, as one head put it, being "a rottweiler at the school gates" to keep undesirables out and potential absconders in. These tasks were taken on because they felt that there was no-one to whom to delegate them and because, at the end of the day, it was heads who saw themselves as accountable for ensuring that they were attended to.

71. One of the most worrying concerns for heads was health and safety. Many of the routine tasks which they undertook, it was claimed, were in breach of rules, and were accomplished because janitors were not allowed to undertake them. Heads were aware that such actions could also land them in trouble because they cut across union agreements. Often heads discovered by increment and accident their accountability for anything that happens within the school site, even though the school grounds may provide a public thoroughfare and venue for young people whose sometimes dubious night time activities left behind health hazards.

72. The multiplicity of tasks and the range of roles assumed by heads were both a source of satisfaction and frustration. The many references in interviews to where the buck stops had both positive and negative connotations. Solving problems was, for some, a source of gratification while for others it was a source of never-ending angst. The power and responsibility of being "the ultimate Mister Fixit" allowed scope to drive change and realise their visions, except that as one head teacher remarked along with the positives "the negative issues are all yours" as well.

73. Being the final court of authority was one of the strongest concerns expressed in interviews by both aspirants and non-aspirants. For career deputes, this was seen as a step too far. For aspirant deputes and teachers optimism and resilience appeared to be their defining characteristics. They referred to the need for new challenges and were optimistic that, given opportunities, rewards would outweigh potential drawbacks, of which most were fully aware. 74. Although the unpredictability of every working day was seen by a few potential heads as a deterrent, bringing with it unwelcome, and sometimes "bizarre", surprises, it was more typically viewed as one of the pleasures of the job. Anticipating the good things and being ready to find opportunities within a problem were what kept many school heads returning to work. It would be easy to indulge the loneliness and vulnerability which were frequently described, but the quality that kept these heads engaged, positive and optimistic was resilience, an ability to rise above the minutiae and keep in mind the big picture.

6.8 Emotional Work

75. Leadership was couched by heads in their interviews as emotional work. The survey responses also underline the personal impact of the job, with only six per cent of heads saying that "the emotionally demanding nature of the job" was not a matter of concern. All nine aspects of the head's role in Table 12, for example, speak to the impact of headship on heads' personal and professional life.

Table 12: Concern with Aspects of the Headship Role (%)

76. The vividness of the language used by heads in their interviews to describe the task of leading a school is testimony to the emotional nature of the work: "fire fighting", "battles", "ground down", "frazzled", "washed out", "being hammered". At the same time "passion", "exhilaration" "commitment" and "pride" were recurring themes. One head described having "a love affair" with the school, another as having "an emotional relationship with the school" and another as "being married to the school". This deeply personal investment in their schools ("my school") tells the story of headship and explains why heads' accounts are often coloured by frustration.

77. Many heads described the importance of supportive networks and regular engagement with other Headteachers. However, for several heads interviewed such activities were either not available or were logistically impractical. It was these heads that talked with deep feeling about the isolation they experienced in their roles.

78. While the loneliness of the job is an issue that emerges from the Headteacher survey (Table 12) and is a prevalent theme in interviews, a quarter of heads do not agree. The distinguishing factors for that group appear to be sources of collegial support, the satisfaction that comes from productive teamwork and shared leadership as well as the confidence that characterises strong-minded individuals.