Just how did ‘little Leicester City’ take on the footballing giants and prevail? And what lessons can the education world learn from this magnificent sporting achievement?

We are the champions

I hope you will permit me one further article with a sporting theme, given that ASCL’s HQ is in the city that now proudly hosts England’s Premier League winners. Some of the celebrations took place literally on our doorstep.

It has been interesting to read the many pieces in the local and national press attempting to analyse the secrets of the club and manager Claudio Ranieri.

One of the more thoughtful studies came from BBC business reporter Robert Plummer who identified six key elements behind the underdogs’ surprising ascent to the top of the league. Could they be applied in schools?

1: You don’t need to throw money at the problem.

It is an old adage, but true in many walks of life that “it isn’t necessarily how much money you have but how wisely you spend it that matters”. City’s entire squad cost in the region of £55m, whereas Manchester City spent that purchasing just one player.

Given the significant financial pressures that schools are under because of rising cost pressures on a static budget, spending wisely will be near the top of all school leaders’ priorities. As your professional association, we will continue to press for increased funding for education but the country’s economic situation is such that we are unlikely to see any significant increases in the near future, so learning from those who are successful on lower budgets is important.

Benchmarking information is readily available to schools and it can provide the stimulus to asking questions about how schools are making the best use of their funding. Hopefully, schools will be prepared to exchange detailed information behind their budgets to help others.

2: Get the right people around you.

When most new managers come into a club, they change the majority of the club’s coaching staff. Ranieri didn’t; he brought in just one new face and analysed carefully what he needed on the playing side, making a small number of key additions.

I remember a head on an early leadership course I did being very clear about her most important task – appointing the right staff. Just as football managers cannot improve results without quality players, school leaders cannot improve schools on their own. They need high-quality teachers and the teacher shortage crisis is a major issue at the top of our priority list for meetings with the Secretary of State, Nicky Morgan.

3: Create the right culture.

Ranieri’s own personality also made a big difference; he has come over as a very genuine and caring person and also got the big decisions right. He started with a somewhat cavalier approach but, when he saw there was a real chance of success, he changed both his fullbacks and immediately this stopped the opposition scoring. He also determined to keep it simple – surely one of the key lessons in leadership. He didn’t over-manage or over-elaborate and did not micro-manage – politicians take note!

His approach reminded me of the response that the chief executive of one of our largest supermarket chains gave to a question of what he looked for in appointing to his management team. He said he tried to establish what type of ‘boss’ they would be – were they a “clearly you haven’t understood what I am telling you” or an “I don’t think I’ve explained that well enough” person? I’m pretty certain I know what type Claudio is. In establishing the right culture, he was able to build a strong team spirit and the players will talk about their “togetherness is strength” approach.

4: Do the maths.

Much has been made of the fact that Leicester were 5,000 to 1 outsiders at the start of the season but data analysis is also something that the Foxes used to improve the team’s performance.

Players were given individual feedback on each game – number of tackles, distance covered and so on. But Ranieri was careful not to react too hastily to the data and not make immediate judgements and changes. A lesson there for Ofsted and some governing bodies, I suspect. What he did do was concentrate on the important issues that, in his case, were a tight defence and a rapid counter-attack.

In the same way, as schools we must focus on our core issues, which are the quality of learning and teaching, an appropriate curriculum and good student behaviours and attitudes. We now have a plethora of data on pupil and school performance but, as in sport, the availability of data is only the starting point; it is the careful analysis of it and the changes in practices that come from the conclusions that matter.

5: Create the right incentives.

His most publicised one was to promise the team a pizza if they could keep a clean sheet, which he duly honoured when they beat Crystal Palace in October. He also strived to build up team confidence and security by not swapping things around too much and by enforcing rest days.

A short video clip of Claudio on the training pitch showed him going around talking and encouraging players individually – no different to us as teachers knowing that verbal praise and encouragement to students is motivational. Given all of the pressures on them, our teachers also need that regular ‘pat on the back’.

6: Don’t forget your mum’s birthday.

No matter that his team were playing the day before, he made sure he was in Italy for his mum’s 96th birthday! This emphasises to everyone that family and outside interests are important to having a balanced life, one of the key messages I expressed at this year’s annual conference.

Welcoming and enthusiastic

Robert Plummer’s article took me back to the study group with Sir Tim Brighouse that I was in when I started out as a head. Tim set out seven important qualities of school leadership:

• Be cheerful and optimistic.
• Be welcoming and ready to be enthusiastic.
• Be good listeners.
• Have a considered view and practise towards the use of time.
• Celebrate others and blame oneself – give credit to others for their successes.
• Actively manage change.
• Have a clear educational philosophy.

Times have changed but some pieces of advice are timeless.

Oh, one final thing. Claudio is a smiler – a smile, like genuine enthusiasm, is infectious. I’m not certain how true this story is but it has been said that when one multi-national organisation trains its telephone operators, it allegedly has them looking into a mirror and smiling when taking an incoming call. It is said to change the tone of the voice and result in them being much more welcoming and engaging.

When you see Claudio arrive at the training ground in the morning you can see from the body language and the facial expression that there is nowhere else he’d rather be.

So as one academic year, or season, comes to an end it is time to reflect on the successes of the last year and to ensure that you enjoy a good break over the summer.

Malcolm Trobe is ASCL Interim General Secretary

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