The Association of Directors of Childrens Services

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Leadership for children Working together to
meet 21st Century challenges
The Association of Directors of Childrens
Services Friday 11th July 2008
Toby SaltStrategic Director
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19th Century to 21st Century
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NCSLS FOUR CORPORATE GOALS

• Transform childrens achievements and well-being
  through excellent school leadership
• Develop leadership within and beyond the school
• Identify and grow tomorrows leaders
• Ensure a fit for purpose, National College

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3 KEY CHALLENGES FOR THE SYSTEMSuccession
Planning Narrowing the gapExtended and
Coherent services
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• CHALLENGE 1
• Succession planning

Most executives in developed nations are
vaguely aware that a major demographic shift is
about to transform their societies and their
companies and assume there is little that they
can do about such a monumental change. Theyre
right in the first instance, wrong in the
second. Harvard Business Review, February 2008
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The age profile of teacher workforce
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• NCSLs approach
• local solutions to national problems
• NCSL has entered agreements with all Local
  Authorities to put in place a Succession Planning
  Strategy
• National Succession consultants
• Modest grant to each LA
• Research for intervention / targeted support.
• Support and encouragement for NPQH graduates to
  move into headship
• A Public Relations drive to promote the positive
  view Heads have of their role

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More headships vacancies are being filled
permanently
NCSL Succession Planning Briefing, 2008
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What were your motivations for originally
joining the teaching profession? (Top 3
responses)
Female
Illuminas survey for NCSL, June 2008
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But succession planning bringsopportunities as
well as challenges.

• We need to create an environment that gives
  Generation Y the flexibility and variety they
  want in work. We have to allow people to switch
  jobs within the organisation and still move up
  the ladder. We must let them build a portfolio
  career within the organisation.
• Head of Marketing, Network Rail

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• Twenty somethings tend to think they know more
  than their elders about the way the world works
  for a simple reason its true. When it comes to
  the connected, digital world, they grew up bathed
  in bits.
• Seven Secrets of Inspired Leaders
• (Dourado and Blackburn)

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Growing leaders is like growing fruit trees.
Other owners may one day have the benefit of your
trees, but maybe you will also benefit from other
unknown owners of orchards. The best
organisations take pride in the fact that they
grow more leaders than they need they are net
exporters of leaders. John Adair
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• CHALLENGE 2
• Narrowing the gap
• (to reduce poverty)

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School Leadership is second only to classroom
teaching as an influence on pupil learning Ken
Leithwood et al , NCSL/DfES, 2006

• Our schools are not failing the least able.
  They are failing the most disadvantaged
• Paul Marshall,
• Tackling Educational Inequality,
• Centre Forum 2007

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Which factor counts most in underperformance at
school?
Ethnicity Class (most) Gender (least)
DCSF Chief Advisor, 2008
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• White children in poverty have on average lower
  educational achievement and are more likely to
  continue to under-achieve. Boys are more likely
  to have low results than girls, especially those
  of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and black African
  origin
• Experiences of poverty and educational
  disadvantage
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2007

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English KS3 (2007)
English KS3 (2007)
DCSF Chief Advisor, 2008
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KS3 English (WWCB)
KS3 English (WWCB)
DCSF Chief Advisor, 2008
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DCSF Chief Advisor, 2008
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National Leaders of Education National Support
Schools
NCSLs analysis of SATs/KS4 data 2007
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London Leadership Strategy
George Berwick, October 2007
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Again, NCSLs approach is to identify local
solutions

• Over 30,000 pupils in struggling schools have
  received support from 124 National Leaders of
  Education /National Support Schools during 2007

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But this cannot be addressed by schools alone.
Just 14 per cent of variation in individuals'
performance is accounted for by school quality.
Most variation is explained by other factors,
underlining the need to look at the range of
children's experiences, inside and outside
school, when seeking to raise achievement
Experiences of poverty and educational
disadvantage Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2007

• headteachers say to me that schools cannot do
  it alonechildren are only in school 14 of the
  time, and parents are the most important
  influence on childrens aspirations and life
  chances
• Secretary of State, 2008

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Its also about raising aspirations both within
and outside of school
Parents with fewer financial resources tend to
hold lower aspirations for their children, and
young people from socially disadvantaged
backgrounds tend to have lower aspirations than
their more advantaged peers. Schoon, 2006,
(DCSF Research Brief June 2008)
If leaders understand their communities,
families and children.they can then go on to
capture childrens personal aspirations, whilst
ensuring that children and their parents
recognise the potential of school as a vehicle to
realising them. NCSL Report on White Working
Class Children, 2008
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• CHALLENGE 3
• Extended and coherent services

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• Schools of the 21st Century need
• Make a distinctive contribution in excellent
  teaching and learning, ensuring children achieve,
  through a . focus on narrowing gaps.
• Actively contribute to all aspects of a childs
  life health, well-being, safety and developing
  the wider experiences and skills that
  characterise a good childhood.
• Provide a place where emerging problems can be
  identified and addressed early and swiftly either
  by the school or by specialist help.

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• Look beyond the pupils on its own roll and work
  in partnership with other schools to ensure
  education in the local area is as good as it can
  be
• Provide a vital community resource by opening its
  facilities and offering wider opportunities for
  young people and their families.
• Work in partnership with other services and is an
  active partner in planning and delivery
  arrangements within Childrens Trusts, helping to
  define priorities for the local area.

Secretary of State for Children, Schools, and
Families, 2008
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• Why ECM matters
• Schools that are fully implementing ECM/ES also
  have positive trends in attendance, exclusion and
  attainment
• There is evidence that parents are more involved
  in supporting the learning and well being of
  their children in high implementation schools
• ES activities are encouraging more parents and
  community groups to engage with the school

Understanding the reasons why schools do or do
not engage with ECM / ES agenda NCSL, TDA
University of Warwick, 2007
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• Common rationale of schools
• disengaged with ECM/ES agenda
• No lead or champion for ECM
• No fit between ECM/ES and school context or
  needs / This is really for other schools not our
  type of school
• Making new links is time consuming and
  frustrating
• Too many other demands
• This is important but not a priority now
• Other agencies are viewed with suspicion
• The LA is not driving the agenda forward or
  providing adequate levels of support or guidance

Understanding the reasons why schools do or do
not engage with ECM / ES agenda NCSL, TDA
University of Warwick, 2007
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• The skills leaders need in this new
• context are
• Negotiation skills
• Change management skills
• Brokerage ability
• Interpersonal skills
• Team building capability
• Risk management
• Context literacy

Understanding the reasons why schools do or do
not engage with ECM / ES agenda NCSL,TDA,
University of Warwick, 2007
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Developing leadership skills for a modern system..
Reviewing our Provision
The ECM and Extended Service agenda will be a key
factor in the forthcoming review of our
leadership development provision. The redesigned
NPQH which rolls out in the Autumn, will include
modules and on the job learning, dedicated to
developing the highest quality of leadership for
the agenda. NCSLs new Fellowship programme will
aim to develop the highest quality system leaders
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In summary
The leaders of all children services, can,
collectively, address the affects of poverty and
work to improve life chances and
opportunities Modern leadership is system
orientated Modern leadership is collaborative
in approach Modern leadership recognises the
potential of local solutions Successful leaders
are driven by moral purpose
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Toby SaltStrategic Director,School
Leadership Developmentwww.ncsl.org.ukT 0115
872 2595E toby.salt_at_ncsl.org.ukM. 0777 926
5821PA Elizabeth.leonard_at_ncsl.org.ukWeb
portal-www.ncsl.org.uk/tomorrowsleaderstodayww
w.ncsl.org.uk/ecmwww.ncsl.org.uk/modelsofleadersh
ip

• We have entered an age in which education is
  not just a luxury permitting some men an
  advantage over others. It has become a necessity
  without which a person is defenceless in this
  complex, industrialized society
• Lyndon B Johnson