When you step up to become a headteacher, you know that you will need to make difficult decisions.
Those taking on the challenges of headship are well equipped to make decisions about teaching and learning. Experience with financial management and human resources may well have prepared them to make decisions in these areas. If they are fortunate, they may even have been given the opportunity to have been involved in the management of the building and in health and safety management, so establishing a foundation for decision making in these areas.
There are some areas in which they may well have previously contributed but not yet felt the pressure of being ‘the one to call it’. Excluding pupils and haunting decisions around the complex child protection issues that schools face are examples.
Then there are the decisions that the whole community put under the microscope, such as whether sports day is to go ahead given the rain/forecast rain/heat/sun. Another example is the intense scrutiny over the agonising decisions regarding school opening/closure during times of snow. Whilst its decisions regarding child protection, tackling underperforming staff and pupil exclusion that arguably take most energy and professional courage, its decisions about sports day and school closure that can unleash criticism and sometimes abuse from parents and the wider community. They are also the ones in which most heads are least qualified. They are not meteorologists and can’t be held responsible for the accuracy of the weather forecasts.
I always found that in any decision making, however unpopular the outcome, three things ensured integrity and professional respect, if not always full agreement. Firstly, the gathering of accurate information upon which decisions could be made. Secondly, ensuring that the focus was maintained on what was truly in the best interest of the learners and thirdly explaining ‘the why’. Explaining why the decision had been made and relating that to how this was indeed in the best interest of the learners went a long way.
Of course, as a headteacher, the decision is not yours alone, though it may well feel as if it is your head that is the one on the proverbial chopping block. There is a wide range of support. Finance support, human resources, health and safety departments and child protection officers for example, should provide invaluable advice to inform the decision-making process. Then once all the information is gathered and considered, there are others that make decisions. Governors play a key role here. When set up properly, there are numerous ways in which the full Governing Body or designated governors make decisions. This can range from being part of an interview panel, to shaping and agreeing financial/school improvement plans, to forming a panel to look at exclusion decisions and to being the one that decides if a school should close due to snow.
I may have had to make many difficult decisions as a headteacher, but I never had to lead a school through a pandemic. I can only imagine the pressure placed on headteachers during the period leading up to the closure of schools due to Covid-19. Most will have gone through the correct processes, gathering information, and involving governors in any decision making. However, in this case the advice provided by others was inconsistent and at times contradictory. It changed with little notice. Headteachers received information from the news at the same time as parents, sadly not an unknown way for heads to be informed of changes to educational policy! Then, others tried to influence the decision. Unions, inspectors, and the various levels of government all had their say. All claimed to follow the scientific advice, and all claimed to be acting in the best interest of the learners.
Then having spent significant time and energy in making a decision, and in many cases explaining ‘the why’ to parents and communities that had been wound up by media and provided with bullets to fire in favour of both closing and in opening schools, the decision was taken out of the hands of the headteachers and governors. The decision-making process was ripped away from the school and transferred in some cases first to local authorities and ultimately to national Governments. For some, this may well have made life easier. The explaining ‘the why’ was simplified. “We have no choice. We’ve been forced to close.” For others it at best made them feel as if days of work had been in vain.
Headteachers need to make difficult decision. It goes with the job. Often, they need timely, accurate information/advice on which to base their decisions. They have systems in place to ensure that governors play their part in decision making. They are often well placed to communicate the decision to parents and the wider community. They are in those communities putting the decision into action. Their heads remain on the chopping block and they are dealing with the complaints and, in some instances, the abuse thrown at them.
Headteachers are not experts in everything and if at times, decision making need to be made elsewhere, its needs to be done so at the right time in the correct way. Whilst headteachers and staff now work flat out once again to put into place the decisions made by others, I wonder if there are ‘too many chiefs and not enough Indians’ in education. I also wonder where the decision making is placed and if that changes depending in the political context……. but that’s a whole different blog!