Leadership Team Development Conference

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• Leadership Team Development Conference
• Armagh City Hotel 28-29th May 2012

Welcome Holy Family Primary
School St Marys Primary School St Macartans
Primary School
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Who are we?

• We are in the midst of a powerful movement in
  education based on the simple, ethical idea that
  everyone matters and every way we do things
  matters.

Introductions Names Why
teaching? Why the Leadership Team?
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Programme Outline

• Day 1
• Directed Session
• Break
• Team Time
• Lunch
• Team Time
• Break
• Review Day 1

• Day 2
• Directed Session
• Break
• Team Time
• Lunch
• Team Time
• Plenary Session
• Evaluation Close

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ESAGS

• My vision for the future is one that sees
  schools as vibrant self-improving communities of
  good practice, meeting the needs and aspirations
  of individual pupils through high quality
  teaching and learning. This is in a context where
  there is sound governance, effective leadership
  and a focus on the needs and outcomes of children
  and young people.

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ESAGS

• We believe that schools themselves, through
  honest and open engagement in self-evaluation,
  using effectively, the wide range of data
  available to them, are well placed to identify
  areas for improvement and to implement changes
  that can bring about better outcomes for pupils.

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The Characteristicsof a Successful School
ESAGS

• Child-centred provision
• High quality teaching and learning
• Effective leadership
• A school connected to its local community

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School Improvement

• We regard school improvement as a distinctive
  approach to educational change that enhances
  student outcomes as well as strengthening the
  schools capacity for managing change. In one
  sense school improvement is about raising student
  achievement through focussing on the teaching and
  learning process and the conditions which support
  it.

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The core tasks of leadership teams are clear

• Build a vision and set direction
• Understand and develop people
• Redesign the organisation for learning
• Lead teaching and learning
• Southworth 2008

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Why Leadership ?

• As far as we are aware, there is not a single
  documented case of a school successfully turning
  around its pupil achievement trajectory in the
  absence of talented leadership
• Leithwood 2007

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Reflection Time
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• Assumptions about
• School leadership teams
• The first is that Leadership Teams are a good
  thing and that effective Leadership Teams are
  necessary in order for a school to continue to
  develop and improve.
• The second is that becoming and remaining an
  effective Leadership Team is hard work.
• NAHT Leadership Paper 14, 2003

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General Teaching Council N.I. Core Values
Commitments

• Trust Honesty Commitment
• Respect Fairness Equality
• Integrity Tolerance Service
• Commitment to children,
• Commitment to colleagues others,
• Commitment to the profession

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5 Lessons from Geese for Teams

• Lesson 1
• As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an
  uplift for the birds following. By flying in a
  V formation the whole flock adds 71 more
  flying range than if each bird flew alone.
• People who share a common direction and sense of
  community can get where they are going more
  quickly and more smoothly because they are
  travelling on the thrust of one another.

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Lesson 2

• Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it
  suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying
  to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation
  to take advantage of the lifting power of the
  birds immediately in front.
• If we have as much sense as the goose, we will
  join formation with those who are headed where we
  want to go.

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Lesson 3

• When the lead goose gets tired it rotates back
  into formation and another goose flies at the
  point position.
• It pays to take turns at the hard tasks and
  sharing leadership - with people, as with geese,
  we are interdependent with one another.

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Lesson 4

• The geese in formation honk from behind to
  encourage those in front to keep up their speed.
• We need to make sure our honking from behind is
  encouraging not something less helpful.

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Lesson 5

• When a goose gets sick or wounded, two geese drop
  out of formation and follow their fellow member,
  to help and provide protection. They stay with
  this goose until it is able to fly again or dies.
  Then they launch out on their own to catch up
  with their own flock or another formation.
• If we have as much sense as geese well stand by
  one another in difficult times like they do.

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Leadership Team CharterA properly functioning
team is one in which

• People care for each other
• People are honest and truthful
• There is a high level of trust
• Decisions are made by consensus
• There is strong team commitment
• Conflict is faced up to and worked through
• People really listen to ideas and feelings
• Feelings are expressed freely
• Process issues are dealt with

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Conference Aim

• The conference aim is to consider our impact as a
  leadership team and to make clear for everyone
  the link between what this team does and the
  achievement of all our children.

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Team Time

• Consider the tasks your Team needs to complete
  over these two days and how does it need to
  function if it is to be successful?