fishing for the future

FISHING FORTHE FUTURETHE FUTURENurturing And Developing Leadership Skills In Schools

Fishing For The Future

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Creative Partnerships: Nurturing And Developing Leadership Skills In Schools

In pursuing its aim of bringing creative workers such as artists, architects and scientists into schools to work with teachers to inspire young people and help them learn, Creative Partnerships provided a supportive context for many teachers to develop their leadership skills. This report explores how and why this happened, drawing on a series of interviews with a sample of the teachers involved in Creative Partnership programmes in Lancashire and Merseyside and considers what lessons their experiences offer for future initiatives of this kind.

The National College for School Leadership, in its pamphlet ‘Challenging Leadership Practice’, asks teachers:

‘How do we maximise and sustain future leadership capacity in our schools?’

This report explores how and why this happened, drawing on a series of interviews with a sample of the teachers involved in Creative Partnership programmes in Lancashire and Merseyside and considers what lessons their experiences offer for future initiatives of this kind.

The title of this report, ‘Fishing for the Future’, comes from a metaphor used by a teacher to describe her experience of collaborating with Creative Partnerships. She said: ‘They didn’t give me a fish; they gave me a fishing-rod. Now, it’s up to me to do the fishing.’

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I had never led a whole school project. It gave me the opportunity to look at our needs, plan, monitor, review, evaluate, deliver staff meetings, get feedback from staff, develop pupil

voice, and share the work with the whole school at the end of projects. It prompted me to attend a Deputy Head’s course and has improved my confi dence to the point where I’d be interested in taking on a senior management role’

I’m a Music Leader in my school, but this was about more than the performing arts, it’s about so much more, it’s about student learning. When I fi rst started looking into how students learn, it

gave me new enthusiasm for teaching.’

It has given us the opportunity to be inspirational and motivational about what we believe in.’


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1. The importance of designing initiatives for ‘emerging leader’ development:An enquiry with boundaries


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All Creative Partnerships’ projects and programmes required the active support of Head Teachers and Senior Management Teams, but often direct responsibility for leading the work in schools was delegated to a teacher or group of teachers who might be regarded as ‘emerging leaders’. This ranged from teachers in the early stages of their careers to more mature teachers who had come late to the profession to groups of teachers working with guidance from a more senior member of staff.

The core design of these initiatives lent itself to providing an opportunity for developing leadership skills in ‘emerging’ leaders.

– The starting-point for work with Creative Partnerships was always a priority or priorities identified in the School Improvement Plan. This meant that the overarching strategic relevance and importance of the additional work which the ‘emerging leader’ was undertaking was clear, both to them and to their fellow staff members

– Most of the project work took place across the whole school or across departments. This meant that ‘emerging leaders’ had to work with a range of professional colleagues, not just teachers in their own curriculum subject or Key Stage area and to find out more about their different needs, priorities and ways of working. It gave them an opportunity to make wider connections within their own organisation

– It also gave them opportunities to develop external connections, beyond the world of their school. Teachers valued the opportunity to collaborate with ‘non-educators’, professionals with different skills, insights and experiences

– The device of an ‘enquiry question’ or hypothesis called for ‘emerging leaders’ to take calculated risks. It was not possible for them to remain in the comfort zone of the tried and tested

– As a defined project, the work had a beginning, middle and end; this gave it clear boundaries, within which successes could be noted and weaknesses addressed



Creative Partnerships worked with schools to develop ‘enquiry questions’, which gave projects a focus linked to the school’s overall development plans. Enquiry questions included:

How can we use 21st century technology to develop Speaking and Listening and enhance writing for different purposes?’

How can the use of creative learning through design technology support the development of team building?’

How can we develop a refl ective practitioner culture for teachers and learners that encourages collaboration and provides greater capacity

for creative learning and active engagement in the class-room?’

Thanks

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2. Leadership challenges:Motivating, managing, making time for refl ection


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Motivating

For emerging leaders, one of the key challenges was how best to motivate and encourage others, without having the weight of a Senior Management role or the authority of a line manager. Whilst some fellow teachers were keen to participate in creative programmes, some were concerned that this would take them away from preparing pupils for SATS tests or examinations, whilst a few were actively resistant either to the approaches proposed or to the additional work entailed.

‘Leading by example’ was perhaps the most popular strategy adopted by emerging leaders, with sceptical colleagues paying more attention once they observed real benefits for pupils. Persistence and resilience were also required, as was the ability to communicate principles and purpose to the unconvinced as well as to those who were already committed.

As more teachers, teaching assistants and support staff became engaged with the programme, ‘emerging leaders’ had the satisfaction of knowing that their work was making a difference. In one school, senior staff had been keen to encourage a junior member of staff to take on a liaison role with parents and noticed her growing in confidence in her ability to do so. In another school, senior staff saw a marked improvement in teaching and learning when they undertook class-room observations. They also noted that a more inclusive leadership style, involving non-teaching associate staff and students in planning resulted in much better ideas and sense of ownership.



There was a job for me to do to get everyone on board. Some were thrilled to be asked to be involved, but there was some passive resistance. I began in Year 1 with those that were most interested.

It helped other staff to see the work projects generated, to see the value of it and to have a go.’

Some of our staff have an issue about the terminology – they see ‘creativity’ as interrupting their work, rather than as a part of it. So to overcome the barrier, we’re calling it ‘Engagement and Challenge’,

emphasising it is about independent learning.’

Initially, I kept too many of my ideas in my own head; I had to learn to share them with other staff’


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Managing

There was a complex and challenging element of management and co-ordination involved in working with Creative Partnerships. Tasks included recruiting external agencies and practitioners, monitoring progress with projects and the use of budgets, ensuring opportunities were spread throughout the school, completing the required paperwork and involving children, teachers and creative partners in planning and evaluation. For ‘emerging leaders’, this was an opportunity to explore the critical connection between leadership (developing the school) and management (maintaining the school organisation) in a small-scale context.

Evaluation and reflection

The Creative Partnerships methodology demanded a structured approach to evaluation and reflection, with a strong emphasis on gathering opinions and ideas from pupils as well as adults. Findings were then used to inform the next project or programme in the school. This meant that ‘emerging leaders’ benefitted from a constant feedback loop, so they could monitor and adapt their own leadership style if necessary. In one school, for example, the lead teachers felt that their Year 1 plan had been too ambitious and so scaled back to a more focussed programme in the second year. In another, lead teachers identified a real shift in their attitude to taking risks, moving from fear of failure to more of an attitude of ‘we’ll give it a go and if it doesn’t work, we’ll try again.’



There were contractual, legal and fi nancial implications for all the projects. I was completely new to all that and it gave me a taste to want to do more’

Evaluation does make you think and work out how you will encourage staff and students to think about what they are doing and how they could do it differently’

When the Head talks about Creative Partnerships, the staff don’t always fully understand what he means. We commissioned a fi lm which we used to show to them and celebrate what had

been achieved. This year, we’ve commissioned an evaluative CD for parents and staff.’


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3. Senior staff as leaderswith Creative Partnerships:An opportunity to deepen professional experience and to build more capacity in their school


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Not all of the schools who collaborated with Creative Partnerships delegated responsibility to ‘emerging ‘ leaders; in some cases, the Head or Deputy Head, or a member of the Senior Leadership Team either led on the work themselves, or played the part of mentor to a more junior member of staff. Senior staff saw this as an opportunity to deepen or stretch their own professional experience and as an opportunity to build a sustainable approach to creative teaching and learning across their organisation.

– In one secondary school, for example, the senior leader took the opportunity to develop a Leadership Group across the school, of 8-10 staff who were keen to engage in developing a creative programme that would enhance work in the class-room and help their career development.

– In a primary school, the Head Teacher decided to set up a Change School group comprising of herself, the Deputy Head, two Key Stage co-ordinators and the Chair of Governors. This ensured that a strong and involved leadership team steered the initiative throughout and that at the end of the final year of the programme, when the Head Teacher retired, the task of sustaining and developing the work in the school was written into the job description for her replacement.

– Another school took the approach of pairing an Assistant Head with a more junior teacher and found that this worked well in being able to both keep an overview of what was happening across the school and keep senior management informed of progress and supporting each other with day-to-day management.

– Other senior staff took the opportunity to deepen their understanding of change management or of new areas of research in teaching and learning. One is now working with an education training company, MALIT, on an in-house leadership programme ‘To-morrow’s Leaders’, aimed at middle leaders. He has also begun shaping a course on student leadership, ‘The Day after Tomorrow’s Leaders.’



Feedback from pupils keeps throwing up surprises – for example, at the end of one project, it suggested that confi dent children got their own way with ideas and some of those who were

less confi dent got less of their ideas across; next time the school would set the project up differently, so that children got more of an understanding of principles of fairness when working in groups.’

I had never done rigorous evaluation before and I didn’t want to do it. But it’s helped me up my game and crystallize my thoughts. Now, if I was embarking on any big change, I’d ask how will we

evaluate it properly? How will we talk to children, to teachers?’

I took the opportunity to do a day’s work shadowing of the principal of Accrington Academy. I watched him in a line management meeting and my practice changed over-night. I try

to ask strong, focussed questions, much more about the outcomes staff need to achieve – it’s almost like coaching.’

I’m taking voluntary redundancy. But I’m leaving behind a group of key staff, who will sustain this work well into the future.’

It has awakened my own creativity. I realise that I had parked it and thought ‘it’s school, I can’t do that in school.’ It’s been an eye-opener in how to lead differently in order to engage students’

Our Creative Agent, Dave Bache has been fantastic. He has a clear understanding of the education system and the pressures staff are under. He has a good coaching technique that brings out

the best in people.’

We were blessed with our Creative Agent – Naomi Whitman has been brilliant. We had an excellent relationship – you could email her about any problem’


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4. Key Elements of Support from Creative Partnerships:Creative Agents, creative practitioners


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Creative Agents

Teachers felt that the most important support from Creative Partnerships for their work as leaders came in the form of the work carried out by the ‘Creative Agent.’

Creative Agents are experienced creative practitioners who are highly skilled in working in educational settings in an advisory and enabling capacity. They work alongside teachers to help them develop and deliver programmes and broker contractual relationships with other practitioners.

The best Creative Agents inspired, challenged, supported and encouraged the teachers they worked with to think radically, to consider a wide range of possible options and to confront and deal positively with difficult issues.

Creative Practitioners

On a general note, teachers pointed out that it was invigorating and stimulating to collaborate with external agencies and individuals from other professions. A senior leader pointed out that many teachers follow a path from school to university and back to school and thus have a limited understanding of the world beyond education. Through Creative Partnerships, they gained new contacts, made new on-going relationships for the benefit of their school and pupils, and learned how to brief outsiders about the best way to achieve good results in and outside the class-room.

Some practitioners made an exceptional impact on the schools in which they worked; this was often because they had both a deep understanding of the ways in which schools worked and of the opportunities and problems they needed to address and a highly developed artistic or creative practice which they could apply imaginatively and flexibly.



Having Sheila Large, our Creative Agent, alongside was very good in terms of delivery. I am not sure I would have been so confi dent in terminating the contract of a practitioner who was not delivering

without her advice.’

Our school’s Creative Agent, Jude Bird, has really challenged my thinking. External consultants bring a different view-point; they work in business, they’re self-employed, they work on a knife edge.’

I came straight from university to the world of teaching. Creative practitioners have an outside world perspective. They know all kinds of people. They opened a lot of doors in terms of my thinking.’

Robert Meadows has worked with us on student leadership projects. He has the respect of staff because of his national and international knowledge of education. He’s entertaining, well

planned, and really focuses on what the school needs ’


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But there were also practitioners whose personality and professional practice seemed, at first sight, to run counter to the preferred culture of a school and who still managed to change hearts and minds completely. This happened as staff began to see more clearly what these practitioners had to offer and how pupils responded to them.

It is important to note that there were Creative Agents who did not inspire the teachers with whom they worked and creative practitioners who did not deliver to the standards expected. In part, this is an issue of professional capability; the Creative Partnerships approach is demanding and often complex. But, in part, it is about human relationships; one teacher/leader commented that a practitioner who had worked brilliantly in a nearby school with a similar demographic profile had not been able to establish a good connection with the teacher she had been asked to work with in their school.



Finding the right creative practitioner is key. We worked with Hilary Keating for three years; she worked with every member of staff so we developed a common language across the school’


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5. Sustainability


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As leaders concerned with long-term sustainability, teachers identified three major threats to the changes they had achieved in collaboration with Creative Partnerships.

These were:

1. Staff changes, as key members of staff retire, or are appointed to posts in other schools

2. Uncertainties about whether or not school budgets will be available for projects with external agencies in the coming financial year/s

3. A more general tendency for the learning gained through positive initiatives to drift and disappear in busy school settings, where so many other things are going on

They hope to address these threats by:

– Regarding themselves as a creative resource for their schools; leading CPD Sessions, developing schemes of work, designing innovative approaches to the curriculum and leadership courses

– Allowing a breathing space for colleagues to breathe, practice new techniques and support each other through peer learning

– Building into job descriptions and recruitment processes strong expectations of commitment to creative approaches that challenge and engage learners and teachers

– Embedding new ideas and methods into the curriculum, so they are regarded as part and parcel of pedagogy and not as something special

– Participating in Curious Minds Membership Network, which is intended to enable them to connect with peers from across the North West region to develop share and celebrate outstanding creative practice in teaching and school leadership



Artists do have to be resilient. The initial perception in our school of one artist was very negative, but there was a slow turnaround as people saw the project was a success. Now even highly traditional

teachers roll their sleeves up and get involved. At staff meetings people are chattering, laughing and sharing experiences.’

I extended my reading and was infl uenced by Guy Claxton’s ‘Building Learning’ and Carol Dweck’s ‘ Fixed and Growth Mind-sets’. It encouraged me to develop a bespoke package about

leadership and change management’


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6. Lessons for the future


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In the North West Region, CURIOUS MINDS is the organisation which will build on and develop the legacy of Creative Partnerships work with schools. This exploration of creative leadership suggests that:

– Curious Minds could be more explicit about the potential for teachers to learn or enhance their leadership skills and to nurture their career development through working in partnership with them. This could be done through additional information on the website, in marketing materials and in discussion with Head teachers and senior managers

– In order to increase its own expertise in this area, it might wish to encourage more of its pool of creative practitioners to consider developing their skills in leadership coaching, as this appears to be a facilitative method which teachers find particularly valuable

– A project-based enquiry approach is well suited to giving ‘emerging leaders’ an opportunity to test their abilities in a real-world situation, that is time-limited, contained and supported

– For more senior leaders, it is most likely that they will be looking for opportunities to be stimulated by innovative developments in regional, national and international research and practice. This will be offered through the Curious Minds Membership Network

– Some teachers who have worked with Creative Partnerships for an extended period are a potential resource for Curious Minds for delivery of elements of CPD programmes



We do need input, but we also have a lot of internal resources that we can build in ourselves. We’re working to develop a team of advocates for this work.’

Staff who’ve worked a lot with creative partners can showcase their skills and deliver to other staff, to disperse ideas and techniques further’

Creative Partnerships didn’t give me a fi sh; they gave me a fi shing-rod. Now, it’s up to me to do the fi shing!’

Thanks

– Fran Parsonage, Wallasey School, Wirral

– Josette Arnold, Huyton Arts and Sports Centre for Learning, Knowsley

– Jane Thomas, Broadgreen Primary School, Liverpool

– Gary Begusch, Archbishop Beck Catholic Sports College, Liverpool

– James Kerfoot, Childwall Sports College, Liverpool

– Catherine Robinson and Paula Claridge, Heasandford Primary School, Burnley

– Wendy Thain and Karen Kilgallon, Marsden Heights Community College, Nelson

– Julie Charlesworth, Castercliff Primary School, Nelson

– Janet and the staff of St Edwards Catholic Primary School, Halton

– Alice Birdwood and the staff of Curious Minds

‘Fishing for the Future’ was researched and written for Curious Minds by Gerri Moriarty (www.gerrimoriarty.com)

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