When looking to appoint a new headteacher, governors should throw the recruitment agency advice in the bin. Instead, says David Nicholson, think big and bold. Think Titan.

A head for heights?

As a former governor myself, I know how stressful it is to appoint a new headteacher. The thing that most vexes appointment panels, it seems, is having to match where governors believe the school is in its evolution with the persona they think will best fit into the school and community.

All aspirant headteachers cross their proverbial fingers and hope there is at least one sage governor who understands the basic, blindingly obvious: that the school can’t rely on one single person to provide leadership, however effective s/he might be; and that the successful applicant will draw from a clutch of leadership practices – building vision, developing people, redesigning the organisation, managing teaching and learning.

However, an over-reliance on these truisms could potentially limit the result. Instead of a formulaic approach why not go off piste? I suggest governors consider ignoring advice from the (cold and impersonal) recruitment agency and take a bold move by exploring instead the following trio of questions:

• If the school were a child, what type of parent would it need?

• Which famous leader would be suitable for the school?

• What were our old headteachers (masters or mistresses) like?

These could quickly and accurately unveil the true needs of the school. Indeed, an exploration of the first question (the parent figure) is always an apt comparison when considering the position of the headteacher since she or he is in loco parentis.

The second question should provide some fun for the panel. How about identifying a potential headteacher from the following characteristics:

• Gandhi or Kofi Annan – calm, skilful negotiators under pressure, collegiate and compassionate

• JKF, Lenin or Martin Luther King – modernisers, charismatic, revolutionaries, change agents

• Margaret Thatcher or Stalin – strident, tenacious and single-minded, control and commanders

• Ronald Reagan, Tony Blair, Arnold Schwarzenegger – performers, image-conscious

• Winston Churchill, Marcus Antonius – orators, shrewd political animals

• Alan Sugar, Richard Branson, Bill Gates – business acumen, profit focused, technological innovators

This exercise begins to tap into mythical dimensions of leadership. Most teachers and the local community ultimately want an Arthurian figure – they, like all of us, bestow mythical status on the role of head. The headteacher, along with other professionals such as the bossy Matron (Hattie Jacques) and the mad scientist (Magnus Pyke), has long been caricatured in the public imagination.

The third question enables governors to recall their own school days. Perhaps back then heads were larger-than-life figures: autocratic, eccentric, genuine characters of whom there are now fewer in all walks of life.

These school leaders had exceptional powers, for instance the ability to quell huge assemblies of pupils with a frown and memories so prodigious they knew the name of every child on the roll. They were both feared and respected. They often emerged to teach the occasional lesson and although studious and erudite, they were also charismatic and carried an aura, partly of their own creation no doubt, but mainly originating in the deference shown by those around them.

Of course, this is a comic-strip creation of headship largely based, like so much in English education, on the schools that catered for a minority of the nation’s children.

These days, the anodyne recruitment services can take all the interest out of headship selection, therefore schools need brave, imaginative governors prepared to reject trite selection methods. Appointment panels could even start by changing their adverts to something like:

“Headteacher required for September. Must be swashbuckling. The capacity to stride the corridors like a colossus is essential. The successful applicant should be able to fi gure in people’s dreams so that in years from now past pupils will spin legends about him or her. It is our intention for the future leader of our school to be remembered not for new builds or doubling attainment, but for his/ her charismatic personality and genuine, inspiring principles. We seek to appoint a Titan and although the school has a clear equal opportunities policy, mere mortals need not apply”.

• David Nicholson is a deputy headteacher in Wiltshire.

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Last Word always welcomes contributions from members. If you’d like to share your humorous observations of school life, email Sara Gadzik at leader@ascl.org.uk ASCL offers a modest honorarium.

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