1. Primary Executive Headteacher (PEH) provision
Residential 1: The role of executive head: competencies, models and governance
Day 1
An executive agency of the
Department for Education

2. Aims
The aims of Residential 1 are to explore:
the changing landscape and implications for leadership
the distinctive role of the executive head
action research and areas for development within the programme

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4. Day 1 Day 2 • Session 1: Why executive headship?
• Session 2: The changing landscape: emerging models and futures thinking
• Session 3: Speaker session: executive head
• Session 4: Models of governance
• Session 5: Collaboration: a current challenge
• Preparation for day 2
Day 2
• Review/preview
• Session 1: Identifying personal development needs and diagnostic feedback
• Session 2: Creating a vision for teaching and learning across more than one school
• Session 3: Preparation for action research and school visits

5. Session 1: Why executive headship?

6. Session 2: Changing landscape: emerging models and futures thinking
Executive Heads Report, National College, 2010
The growth of academy chains: Implications for leaders and leadership, full report and executive summary, Robert Hill et al/NC, March 2012

7. Variations in authority exercised by headteachers and executive headteachers working with other schools
Influence over other
schools
Authority over other

8. Variations in authority exercised by headteachers and executive headteachers working with other schools

9. The national picture
School leaders are leading the system in exploring and developing new patterns of school organisation and leadership.
The role of executive headteacher has developed in dramatically different contexts.
There are increasing numbers of executive headteachers in primary schools.
In future more leaders will be leading more than one primary school/academy.

10. The landscape in 2010
Research for the Executive Heads (National College, 2010) found:
• 345 executive headteachers (63% in primary) in 738 schools
• Most manage two schools and work in some type of federation and/or collaboration/partnership
• 85% have not held executive head role before; all had been in post for under two years
• 95% are substantive heads for at least one school
• Most were informally approached to take on the role, with only 13% formally applying
• 76% of primary executive heads are involved in classroom teaching
• Most are in rural county areas, eg Norfolk and Somerset
• The most common reason for the creation of the role was to improve the performance of one or more school involved in the partnership.

11. The impact of federations
Research has found that performance federations have the most impact on outcomes. The impact is on both the high and lower performing schools
The executive head model has the most impact, as opposed to one head leading one school
Shared governance is found to be a major advantage – it significantly improved the governance of lower performing schools.

12. A continually evolving picture (1)
The coalition government sees school leaders as playing a broader role within the school system:
At the heart of this government’s vision for education is a determination to give school leaders more power and control: not just to drive improvement in their own school but to drive improvement across our whole education system.
Michael Gove, speech to National College, June 2010

13. A continually evolving picture (2)
A number of the government’s policies are likely to reinforce
the move towards executive headship/leading more than one school:
• Academies Act
• allowing new providers to enter the school state system in response to parental demand
• reductions in spending
• expansion of school-to-school support

14. The landscape in January 2012
Continued growth of federations
Expansion of academies:
1,775 schools had applied for academy status, 1,194 converted
Includes 440 primary converter academies to date and 80 sponsored primary academies
Emergence of sponsored and converter academy chains:
academy chains
multi-academy trusts
umbrella trusts
Around a quarter of those converting are doing so as part of an academy chain
New leadership roles and structures:
CEO, executive principal/headteacher, head of teaching and learning
Free schools
Studio schools
Teaching schools

15. Academies
Currently 5% of primary schools have become academies (March 2012).
Academy status may change the relationship between schools and local authorities in different ways.
Convertor academies sponsor underperforming schools under the leadership of an executive head or principal.
Strong expectation of structural change to academy status for schools in special measures and those persistently below floor target.

16. Chains Many chains have grown out of successful schools.
A quarter of academies are converting as part of a chain.
The government is encouraging schools to convert to academies as groups.
Potential growth of chains with a focus on engaging more primary schools.

17. Free schools 24 free schools opened in September 2011.
79 free schools are approved to be opened from September 2012 onwards (April 2012).
Sponsoring a free school is seen as a significant means of growth for a fifth of academy chains.

18. The traditional middle tier
National government
Local authorities
Dioceses
Schools

19. Teaching school alliances
The changing middle tier
National government
Local authorities
Trusts
Dioceses
Chains
Teaching school alliances
Private providers
Schools
Academies
Free schools

20. Teaching schools
• Part of the government’s drive to give schools more freedom and take increasing responsibility for managing the schools system.
• An outstanding school that has a strong track record of collaborative working and has been designated by the National College to play the lead role in the leadership of a teaching school alliance.
• Six key areas of activity:
CPD
Succession planning and talent management
School to school support
Designate and broker Specialist Leaders of Education (SLEs)
Initial Teacher Training (ITT)
Research and development

21. Key challenges
The key challenges surrounding school collaborations for policy makers and school leaders includes:
clarity about the case for collaboration
realising the benefits
impact on pupil outcomes
how the collaboration is to be achieved
how barriers are to be overcome
the continuing need for a middle tier and the reduction of local authority capacity and influence in many areas

22. The scope of the role
The scope and purpose of an individual executive headteacher
role is determined by the interplay of three factors:
• local context
• scale
• authority

23. Three types of executive head role
On the basis of the degree of authority or substantiveness, three categories of executive head role can be identified:
1. direct authority
2. indirect authority
3. limited authority

24. Category 1: direct authority

25. Category 2: indirect authority

26. Category 3: limited authority

27. Challenges • Absence of a clear legal framework
• Lack of clarity over the role of executive heads in the inspection system
• Tension between the strategic and operational roles of an executive head
• Maintaining confidence of staff and stakeholders, particularly in early days of executive headship
• Drifting into a new executive headship model, rather than taking time to choose a governance model that is appropriate to the context and circumstances of the parties involved
• Underestimating the risks, including the reputational risk, in taking on another school

28. Executive headship: distinctive features
• Operating at a more strategic level
• Being even handed between the schools
• Interpersonal skills required in abundance
• Effective communication
• Personal resilience
• Staying focused on performance
• Working closely with governors

29. Session 4: Models of governance
The aims of the session are to:
• explore the regulations surrounding the governance of differing models of formal collaboration and partnership
• consider the complex political issues involved in working with governors of more than one school
• reflect on the potential opportunities, challenges and differences of working across more than one governing body

30. Executive headteachers are developing systems as they go and, to a degree, selecting, adapting and creating different legal and governance structures to fit their circumstances.
Executive Heads research, 2010

31. Activity
In your groups consider the following in relation to the governance model you are exploring:
• The challenges and opportunities involved in that particular model of governance
• Implications for you as an executive head working with such a governance model
• If you were working with governors of schools looking to create this model what would be some of the political challenges you would need to overcome to successfully build this model?
• What would you want two or more governing bodies in this context to be thinking about in the preparation of a proposal for building this model?
Prepare to present the key findings under each question to the rest of the group.

32. Session 5: Collaboration: a current challenge
The aims of session 5 are to:
• gain understanding of the PEH competency framework
• link the competencies to real-life situations
• set the scene for discussing the diagnostic feedback

33. Debrief • Which competencies were used to good effect?
• Which could have been used more fully?
• What key learning points emerged from your analysis?

34. Primary Executive Headteacher (PEH) provision
Residential 1: The role of executive head: competencies, models and governance
Day 2
An executive agency of the
Department for Education

35. Session 1: Identifying personal development needs and diagnostic feedback
The aims of session 1 are to:
• provide a clear focus for personal development within the programme
• identify strengths to build on and areas to develop

36. Coaching activity The aim is to:
identify two or three areas you would like to develop consciously during the programme

37. The nature of coaching
The coach is not a problem solver, a teacher, an adviser, an instructor or even an expert; he or she is a sounding board, a facilitator, a counsellor, an awareness-raiser.
Whitmore

38. Session 2: Creating a vision for teaching and learning across more than one school

39. Research paper: The impact of federations on student outcomes
Conclusions
Federations can have positive impact and this is greatest when the aim is to raise standards by federating high and lower attaining schools.

40. Challenges within the system
• Stimulating and developing collaboration in very challenging contexts
• Developing appropriate accountability systems beyond single institutions
• Inspiring localised approaches within an overarching national framework, eg leadership strategies

41. Activity Revisit the proforma
• Pick out one or two strategies you feel were most effective in improving teaching and learning.
• How did you put these strategies in place?
• What barriers did you experience? How did you overcome these?
• How far was the approach you used influenced by the balance between direct authority and influence?

42. Branding across a multi-school setting
The brand is world-class teaching and learning.
Paul Jones, Executive Headteacher First Federation, Devon
• Establishing the brand: identifying what world-class teaching and learning looks like
• Quality assuring the brand
• Ensuring brand ownership
• Articulating and developing the brand set of values
• Establishing and implementing clear performance measures

43. A schema for the practitioner research process: carrying out your action research

44. A schema for the practitioner research process: analysing outcomes

45. A schema for the practitioner research process: carrying out your action research

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