Succession planning In Birmingham

 

• View Part 1 transcript

  Hello, my name is Jackie Hughes and I’m Head of School Effectiveness in Birmingham. Birmingham LA is an authority that is rich in both data and contextual information. It’s also a local authority that has a range of well-established partnerships, networks and collaborations with its schools.

  Participation in the NCSL leadership succession planning pilot came just at the right time for us as a local authority. Our own data and intelligence-gathering had led us to conclude that we faced similar leadership succession issues as the rest of the country.

  Becoming part of the pilot project with NCSL enabled us to utilise existing local partnerships and collaborations to develop a more informed and strategic response to the leadership issues across the city.

  So, working alongside our NCSL fieldworkers, the School Effectiveness Service in Birmingham has been able to develop a response to the Local Solutions project which entails working with a cross-phase group of experienced headteachers. They have developed a bespoke leadership development programme for identifying and supporting aspirant leaders.

  This group of headteachers had been formed some time before the pilot began and already had an informal remit to explore ‘New Models of Headship’. The group had already looked closely at the possibility of:

  - Dual headship – to increase leadership capacity and create a smooth succession path.
  - Federative headship including ‘soft’ federations – two schools, one head but separate governing bodies and ‘hard’ federations – two schools, one head and one governing body.
  - Cross-phase federative headship – one primary school, one secondary school with a single head teacher and a single governing body.

• View Part 2 transcript

  So, following discussion between our fieldworkers and officers within School Effectiveness, this ‘New Models’ group of headteachers offered to be proactive in developing a pilot programme for potential leaders. They recognised the need to identify talent much earlier than we would normally do so. In fact they looked particularly at those teachers in their second to fifth years of teaching, to make them the focus of an Accelerated Leadership Group.

  And so a cohort of 21 aspiring leaders from the schools of the ‘New Models’ group was formed. Each participant was involved in the self-evaluation of their leadership skills using NCSL materials and then in creating an action plan for his or her own development. Once the action plans had been drafted, the headteacher group joined the cohort in order to support them with their individual learning needs and to coach and model.

  I do have to say that central to developing this sort of local solution is wide-ranging support from other headteachers and clusters of schools. This sort of project relies very heavily on schools collaborating together, being willing to risk- take, innovate and work together – to be interdependent in the way they approach growing school leadership.

  One of the things we’re really aware of is the potential for this model to be replicated at little cost once the impact has been fully evaluated and if it proves positive. Initial indications are quite encouraging, both in terms of raising governors’ awareness where succession planning is concerned and in further creating ‘leadership enthusiasm and energy’ amongst both the participating teachers and amongst the championing headteachers.

  I am pleased to say that, so far, evaluation indicates some real changes in the perceptions of headship shared by the cohort of aspiring leaders. Comments made include: - “Headship appears more interesting than I initially thought.”
  - “Meeting a range of headteachers has been really inspiring especially with regard to their journeys to headship.”
  - “I now have an appreciation of the potential of headship to change the direction of a school and make a positive social impact.”

• View Part 3 transcript

  So, where would I say we are now as a result of taking part in the pilot? Well, I would say we now have a much more detailed picture of leadership in Birmingham and much more clearly understand how to develop our succession planning.

  An audit has been carried out to examine the issues surrounding succession in Birmingham. And our E-consultation carried out with teachers across the city has confirmed that negative perceptions around headship do abound. However, we do know now that we can change these and build positive leadership aspirations through all kinds of professional development.

  Our Human Resources department is now much better placed to accurately analyse ‘the state of the nation’ where leadership in Birmingham is concerned. The E-consultation is enabling the development of tracking systems for those involved in leadership programmes, such as Leading from the Middle, NPQH and our own cohort of 21.

  Importantly, our headteachers in Birmingham know that the local authority is taking the issue of their succession planning very seriously. We know that we have real commitment from our current headteachers to grow future leaders innovatively. We know we can do this through the identification and development of leadership talent, not only in individual schools but also in clusters and networks.

• View Part 4 transcript

  So how will we sustain all this once the pilot finishes? One decision we have made is to ensure a specific role is created around Leadership Succession Planning. This will add to LA capacity and will create a much more systematic approach.

  We would like to see School Improvement Partners engaged in Succession Planning discussions as part of their annual programme of meetings and intelligence gathering. Performance management is another way through, in which we want leadership potential to be both identified and developed fully through appropriate professional development.

  Ensuring that leadership is a prime focus for the LA through regular reports to elected members via scrutiny and overview processes is another way we can ensure coherence and strategic approach. Working in partnership with other stakeholders such as diocesan boards of education will also increase the sustainability of our strategy implementation.

  And so our next steps will be … definitely to develop a Birmingham-specific brand where leadership is concerned: a unique selling point which makes explicit what it means to lead learning in Birmingham. Key to this unique selling point is the shared vision of education and schooling emerging as part of the transition from Local Education Authority to Children’s Services.

  Developing appropriate CPD, effective partnerships, the sharing of good practice and collaborative approaches to problem-solving needs to be fundamental to our LA’s strategy. We want to develop a leadership entitlement framework that through performance management is readily accessible to those who have leadership potential.

  Good practice case studies in developing diverse leadership models and growing talent will need to be showcased so that career mapping and progression becomes the norm in Birmingham schools and a repertoire of succession planning activities is developed and shared across the city.

  This is particularly important if we are to realise our ambition of improving the representative nature of our school workforce and its leaders, to more accurately reflect the ethnic diversity of our city.

• View Part 5 transcript

  So what has been the key learning from the pilot? As a local authority, our awareness has been heightened; we know we need to be systematic and coherent in our approach – leadership succession planning needs to be integrated into LA and city council planning at all levels.

  We now know that it must be central to all aspects of school improvement and the development of Children’s Services. We know that data must be accurate and monitored regularly so that we have a secure evidence base for prioritising actions and deploying resources. Tracking trends and planning around needs must be central to the way in which we work.

  Perhaps overall the pilot has taught us the value that focused external support brings and the impetus it gives to driving and sustaining internal change. We know we have to build on progress made so far and our capacity within new service structures to fulfil the requirements of the national roll-out, Tomorrow’s Leaders Today.

  Above all, we know we have to develop our Birmingham ‘unique selling point’ to be one where belief, excellence, success and trust in how we work together and make a difference to the lives of pupils lies at the heart of developing school leadership. Thank you.