Leadership and Creative Partnership

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FISHING FORTHE FUTURENurturing And Developing Leadership Skills In Schools


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Fishing For The Future

2 Curious Minds


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 toinspire young people and help them learn, Creative Partnershipsprovided a supportive context for many teachers to develop theirleadership skills. This report explores how and why this happened,drawing on a series of interviews with a sample of the teachersinvolved in Creative Partnership programmes in Lancashire andMerseyside and considers what lessons their experiences offer forfuture initiatives of this kind.

The National College for School Leadership, in its pamphletChallenging Leadership Practice, asks teachers:

How do we maximise and sustain futureleadership capacity in our schools?

This report explores how and why this happened, drawing on aseries of interviews with a sample of the teachers involved in CreativePartnership 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 metaphorused by a teacher to describe her experience of collaborating withCreative Partnerships. She said: They didnt give me a sh; they gaveme a shing-rod. Now, its up to me to do the shing.


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Nurturing And Developing Leadership Skills In Schools 3


I had never led a whole school project. It gave me theopportunity 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 ofprojects. It prompted me to attend a Deputy Heads course and hasimproved my confidence to the point where Id be interested in takingon a senior management role

Im a Music Leader in my school, but this was about more than

the performing arts, its about so much more, its about studentlearning. When I first started looking into how students learn, it

gave me new enthusiasm for teaching.

It has given us the opportunity to be inspirational and motivationalabout 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 activesupport of Head Teachers and Senior Management Teams, but oftendirect responsibility for leading the work in schools was delegated toa teacher or group of teachers who might be regarded as emergingleaders. This ranged from teachers in the early stages of their careersto more mature teachers who had come late to the profession to groupsof teachers working with guidance from a more senior member of staff.

The core design of these initiatives lent itself to providing anopportunity for developing leadership skills in emerging leaders.

The starting-point for work with Creative Partnerships was always apriority or priorities identied in the School Improvement Plan. Thismeant that the overarching strategic relevance and importance ofthe additional work which the emerging leader was undertakingwas clear, both to them and to their fellow staff members

Most of the project work took place across the whole school oracross departments. This meant that emerging leaders had towork with a range of professional colleagues, not just teachers intheir own curriculum subject or Key Stage area and to nd out moreabout their different needs, priorities and ways of working. It gave

them an opportunity to make wider connections within their ownorganisation

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

The device of an enquiry question or hypothesis called foremerging leaders to take calculated risks. It was not possible forthem to remain in the comfort zone of the tried and tested

As a dened project, the work had a beginning, middle and end; thisgave it clear boundaries, within which successes could be notedand weaknesses addressed


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

How can we use 21st century technology to develop Speakingand 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 reflective practitioner culture for teachers andlearners that encourages collaboration and provides greater capacity

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


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Thanks

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2. Leadership challenges:Motivating, managing, making time for reection


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Motivating

For emerging leaders, one of the key challenges was how best tomotivate and encourage others, without having the weight of a SeniorManagement role or the authority of a line manager. Whilst some fellowteachers were keen to participate in creative programmes, some wereconcerned that this would take them away from preparing pupils forSATS tests or examinations, whilst a few were actively resistant either tothe 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 moreattention once they observed real benets for pupils. Persistenceand resilience were also required, as was the ability to communicateprinciples and purpose to the unconvinced as well as to those whowere already committed.

As more teachers, teaching assistants and support staff becameengaged with the programme, emerging leaders had the satisfaction ofknowing that their work was making a difference. In one school, seniorstaff had been keen to encourage a junior member of staff to takeon a liaison role with parents and noticed her growing in condence

in her ability to do so. In another school, senior staff saw a markedimprovement in teaching and learning when they undertook class-roomobservations. They also noted that a more inclusive leadership style,involving non-teaching associate staff and students in planning resultedin much better ideas and sense of ownership.


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

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

Some of our staff have an issue about the terminology they seecreativity as interrupting their work, rather than as a part of it. So toovercome the barrier, were 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 toshare them with other staff


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Managing

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

Evaluation and reection

The Creative Partnerships methodology demanded a structuredapproach to evaluation and reection, with a strong emphasis ongathering opinions and ideas from pupils as well as adults. Findings werethen used to inform the next project or programme in the school. Thismeant that emerging leaders benetted 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 1plan had been too ambitious and so scaled back to a more focussedprogramme in the second year. In another, lead teachers identied a realshift in their attitude to taking risks, moving from fear of failure to more ofan attitude of well give it a go and if it doesnt work, well try again.


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There were contractual, legal and financial implications for all theprojects. I was completely new to all that and it gave me a taste towant to do more

Evaluation does make you think and work out how you will encouragestaff and students to think about what they are doing and how theycould do it differently

When the Head talks about Creative Partnerships, the staff dontalways fully understand what he means. We commissioned afilm which we used to show to them and celebrate what had

been achieved. This year, weve commissioned an evaluative CD forparents and staff.


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3. Senior staff as leaders

with Creative Partnerships:An opportunity to deepen professional experienceand to build more capacity in their school


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Not all of the schools who collaborated with Creative Partnershipsdelegated responsibility to emerging leaders; in some cases, theHead or Deputy Head, or a member of the Senior Leadership Teameither led on the work themselves, or played the part of mentor to amore junior member of staff. Senior staff saw this as an opportunityto deepen or stretch their own professional experience and as anopportunity to build a sustainable approach to creative teaching andlearning across their organisation.

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

In a primary school, the Head Teacher decided to set up aChange School group comprising of herself, the Deputy Head,two Key Stage co-ordinators and the Chair of Governors. Thisensured that a strong and involved leadership team steered theinitiative throughout and that at the end of the nal year of theprogramme, when the Head Teacher retired, the task of sustaining

and developing the work in the school was written into the jobdescription for her replacement.

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

Other senior staff took the opportunity to deepen theirunderstanding of change management or of new areas ofresearch in teaching and learning. One is now working with an

education training company, MALIT, on an in-house leadershipprogramme To-morrows Leaders, aimed at middle leaders.He has also begun shaping a course on student leadership,The Day after Tomorrows Leaders.


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

less confident got less of their ideas across; next time the schoolwould set the project up differently, so that children got more of anunderstanding of principles of fairness when working in groups.

I had never done rigorous evaluation before and I didnt want todo it. But its helped me up my game and crystallize my thoughts.

Now, if I was embarking on any big change, Id ask how will weevaluate it properly? How will we talk to children, to teachers?

I took the opportunity to do a days work shadowing of theprincipal of Accrington Academy. I watched him in a linemanagement meeting and my practice changed over-night. I try

to ask strong, focussed questions, much more about the outcomesstaff need to achieve its almost like coaching.

Im taking voluntary redundancy. But Im leaving behind a groupof key staff, who will sustain this work well into the future.

It has awakened my own creativity. I realise that I had parked itand thought its school, I cant do that in school. Its 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 pressuresstaff are under. He has a good coaching technique that brings out

the best in people.

We were blessed with our Creative Agent Naomi Whitman hasbeen brilliant. We had an excellent relationship you could emailher 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 Partnershipsfor their work as leaders came in the form of the work carried out by theCreative Agent.

Creative Agents are experienced creative practitioners who arehighly skilled in working in educational settings in an advisory andenabling capacity. They work alongside teachers to help them developand deliver programmes and broker contractual relationships withother practitioners.

The best Creative Agents inspired, challenged, supported andencouraged the teachers they worked with to think radically, to considera wide range of possible options and to confront and deal positivelywith difcult issues.

Creative Practitioners

On a general note, teachers pointed out that it was invigorating andstimulating to collaborate with external agencies and individuals from

other professions. A senior leader pointed out that many teachersfollow a path from school to university and back to school and thushave a limited understanding of the world beyond education. ThroughCreative Partnerships, they gained new contacts, made new on-goingrelationships for the benet of their school and pupils, and learned howto brief outsiders about the best way to achieve good results in andoutside the class-room.

Some practitioners made an exceptional impact on the schools inwhich they worked; this was often because they had both a deepunderstanding of the ways in which schools worked and of the

opportunities and problems they needed to address and a highlydeveloped artistic or creative practice which they could applyimaginatively and exibly.


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

without her advice.

Our schools Creative Agent, Jude Bird, has really challenged mythinking. External consultants bring a different view-point; they workin business, theyre self-employed, they work on a knife edge.

I came straight from university to the world of teaching. Creativepractitioners have an outside world perspective. They know allkinds of people. They opened a lot of doors in terms of my thinking.

Robert Meadows has worked with us on student leadershipprojects. He has the respect of staff because of his national andinternational knowledge of education. Hes entertaining, well

planned, and really focuses on what the school needs


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But there were also practitioners whose personality and professionalpractice seemed, at rst sight, to run counter to the preferred cultureof a school and who still managed to change hearts and mindscompletely. This happened as staff began to see more clearly whatthese practitioners had to offer and how pupils responded to them.

It is important to note that there were Creative Agents who did notinspire the teachers with whom they worked and creative practitionerswho did not deliver to the standards expected. In part, this is anissue of professional capability; the Creative Partnerships approachis demanding and often complex. But, in part, it is about humanrelationships; one teacher/leader commented that a practitioner whohad worked brilliantly in a nearby school with a similar demographicprole had not been able to establish a good connection with theteacher she had been asked to work with in their school.


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Finding the right creative practitioner is key. We worked with HilaryKeating for three years; she worked with every member of staff sowe 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 identiedthree major threats to the changes they had achieved in collaborationwith Creative Partnerships.

These were:

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

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

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

They hope to address these threats by:

Regarding themselves as a creative resource for their schools; leadingCPD Sessions, developing schemes of work, designing innovativeapproaches to the curriculum and leadership courses

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

Building into job descriptions and recruitment processes strongexpectations of commitment to creative approaches that challenge andengage learners and teachers

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

Participating in Curious Minds Membership Network, which is intendedto enable them to connect with peers from across the North Westregion to develop share and celebrate outstanding creative practice inteaching and school leadership


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

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

I extended my reading and was influenced by Guy ClaxtonsBuilding Learning and Carol Dwecks 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 whichwill build on and develop the legacy of Creative Partnerships work withschools. This exploration of creative leadership suggests that:

Curious Minds could be more explicit about the potential for teachersto learn or enhance their leadership skills and to nurture their careerdevelopment through working in partnership with them. This couldbe done through additional information on the website, in marketingmaterials 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 considerdeveloping their skills in leadership coaching, as this appears to be afacilitative method which teachers nd particularly valuable

A project-based enquiry approach is well suited to giving emergingleaders 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 foropportunities 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 deliveryof elements of CPD programmes


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We do need input, but we also have a lot of internal resources thatwe can build in ourselves. Were working to develop a team ofadvocates for this work.

Staff whove worked a lot with creative partners can showcasetheir skills and deliver to other staff, to disperse ideas andtechniques further

Creative Partnerships didnt give me a fish; they gave me afishing-rod. Now, its up to me to do the fishing!

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 Futurewas researched and written for Curious Mindsby Gerri Moriarty (www.gerrimoriarty.com)


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