Siddique Hussain has been a school governor in Sandwell in the West Midlands for more than 14 years. He started out as a parent governor at his local primary school, Tividale Hall, eventually becoming Chair of the governing body there – a post he still holds. Siddique is also governor of Tividale Community Arts College.
In 2006, Siddique became West Midlands Director of the National Governors Association (NGA). For his day job, he splits his time between marketing consultancy and teaching in adult education.
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Change and school leadership
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Hello, my name is Siddique Hussain. As a parent of three children, I feel passionate about stakeholder involvement in school governorship. I’m currently Chair of Tividale Hall Primary School and also the LEA-designated governor at our local high school, Tividale Community Arts College. Both of these schools are in Sandwell in the West Midlands.
I’ve been involved with the Association of Sandwell Governing Bodies in Sandwell as Vice-Chair for the last few years and as a result of that, I was recently appointed as the Regional Director for the National Governors Association.
I’d like to just take a few minutes and share with you a few of my ideas and views about what makes a good headteacher, not just now but also for the future, for your school and for your community.
The changing role of schools right across the country manifests itself in a number of ways. For example, we have a number of schools that are going towards Extended School status, specialist status schools and colleges and also the greater emphasis on leadership and management within schools.
These factors (and others) mean that governors – people like yourselves who are responsible for recruitment and the preparation of the person spec ready for recruitment – need to pay particular emphasis on these new skills that are required. One size does not fit all. That’s the message we need to take across back to the schools. Choose the model that fits your school and your community, agree and delegate headteacher recruitment to a governor panel and visit schools with a successful model, talk to other people, talk to other professionals, involve the LEA and other private sector organisations.
With the changing role of schools also comes about the changing role of heads. Consider different models of headship, for example, headships for federations, co-headships, executive headships and also possibly principals. All of these will help you to address the recruitment and retention issues within your local community.
Just a little bit about federations. This is the creation possibly of a single governing body or joint governing body, committee or headship across two or more schools, or a group of schools with a formal agreement to work together to raise standards: promote inclusion; find new ways of approaching teaching and learning. And also to build capacity, capacity between schools in a coherent manner. Federating could rescue your school or schools in your neighbourhood, particularly rural schools or schools with small rolls. A co-headship could be a job share which would actually attract more potential applicants or to differentiate between different skills. For example, you could have an executive headship and an operational headship so you’d be able to deploy the right skills in the right manner, deploy the right skills more effectively.
Executive headships: executive or partnership headships refers to the situation whereby a head already leading one school adds leadership of another to their remit, bringing their expertise to bear. Executive heads work closely with one or more schools where leadership either needs to be strengthened or strongly supported; and of course principals, as we get specialist status and college status schools, the idea of appointing a principal-style head becomes even more attractive.
Consider the needs for your school in the short-term, the medium and, of course, the long-term; looking to the future. Think about increasing the potential of candidates through advertising in a variety of media, looking outside the education sector (if that’s applicable) and also – and this is quite key – look for maverick leaders or potential leaders; people with flair and people prepared to think differently.
Always think strategically and with a fresh perspective, in essence, start with a clean slate. Think about the needs of your school over the next few years. Try and recruit from the widest pool of talent, but also select strictly against agreed criteria. Try to involve a representative from a cross-section of the whole school, not just teaching staff. But what’s really crucial is only appoint if you have the right person, if necessary, go through the process again at a later date.
I’d just like to share with you some of the skills needed for effective leadership. Making informed decisions, leading by example, being firm but fair, putting the needs of the school first, having a competitive nature and the willingness to be different and to be bold, and of course, having a sense of humour helps as well.
Leadership skills have changed because of the role of schools and school management have changed over the last 25 years or so, therefore, the need to adapt is ever more present.
Can I then, in conclusion, just leave you with one final thought: when recruiting, don’t think traditional, think of the future – the future of your school and your community. Thank you.
Name: Siddique Hussain