Who is popular today?

A year ago you surely imagined, and hoped, that life would be very different now from how it was for us then. And yet as we embark on both a new term and a new calendar year we face some old familiar questions.
According to John F Kennedy, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” It would seem that your journey as a leader during Covid is far from over. As we step into 2022 we are also at a point in the academic year which offers you an opportunity to reflect on what you have learned.
We hear about school leaders being under pressure, but what do any of us do about it? Hopelessly little, quite frankly, because we all feel under pressure too.
When last term drew to a close there was more talk of imminent lockdown than there was of plans for Christmas. During one breaktime in the staffroom, strong yet uninformed certainties were shared about how important it was to bring lots of school materials home for the break, ready for the inevitable online learning in January. And yet during this discussion I watched a school team leave to play an away match fixture. How many households mix every time that happens?
Even when everybody knows that nobody knows what is truly happening, you as school leaders must nonetheless lead whole school communities. How you handle this is the ultimate test of the quality of your leadership. When it is the normal, run-of-the-mill stuff which typically happens in education settings there will always be someone to tell you how it should best be done.
When all one has are guidelines and recommendations there is greater autonomy – which is usually a good thing. You are also not immune to the peer pressure attached to what you may be allowing in your school, compared to what neighbouring schools are permitting. When nobody knows precisely what the right thing to do is, individuals must draw on their own leadership skillset and choose their own best course of action. If your definition of leadership is limited to telling people what to do, you perhaps also expect to be told what to do – a “you tell me and I’ll tell them” approach.

Having established that nobody really knows what to do, I can hardly try to tell you what to do

Right now we have a serious substitution crisis in schools, and yet extra-curricular and other outings are taking place. Young people need these outlets and if regulations permit, why shouldn’t they avail of them?
And yet for the remaining school personnel to be under additional and avoidable strain is anything but helpful for students. If Covid regulations allow students from different schools to meet for a match, it takes serious courage for a school leader to insist fixtures only take place when there is sufficient personnel to cover classes. And what constitutes sufficient personnel? Where one school may permit merging of smaller class groups, another may be rigidly opposed to anything which deviates from the usual, more predictable patterns of contact.
The consequences of loose leadership are greater now that we are back in a state of urgency due to the Omicron variant. The relative freedoms we have been granted may come at a serious price. But to withdraw them involves the risk of paying heavily in other ways.
As school leaders you are under pressure from those who want rigid care around Covid. But you are also under pressure from those who want the maximum possible levels of normality. So much here is a case of only being able to please some of the people some of the time.
Having established that nobody really knows what to do, I can hardly try to tell you what to do. Instead I’ll offer areas worth exploring and reflecting on in the context of your learning about yourself as a leader. Whatever role you play in the context of your work, you bring that same self everywhere else with you too. Those closest to you as you move into your personal roles witness the ways in which your professional role affects you, both positively and negatively. The longer this period of your school leadership journey lasts, the more critical it is that you do not lose sight of who you are beyond that professional role. For you to remain strong enough to lead us effectively throughout 2022, we have an active part to play too. We are all in this together, aren’t we?

We cannot talk one talk but walk a different walk. Not these days

And so we must demonstrate empathy. For too many people the most senior roles are first defined by the healthy pay scales which accompany them. There is a perception that this salary must be earned, and that it is best earned through suffering. As key stakeholders, it is for staff, students and parents to get the best “value for money” by ensuring that you are at the top of your game and delivering optimally for the school community. And so we can acknowledge your efforts, perhaps even dare to praise them. After all, we look to you to praise our individual and team efforts, so why shouldn’t we occasionally send some praise your way?
Self-awareness is often touted as an essential leadership skill. It is one that those you lead must also be prepared to demonstrate. We cannot talk one talk but walk a different walk. Not these days. Too much is uncertain for you, and to make the best decisions for your own specific school context you need clarity from us. To have limited certainties from above is one thing, but to have mixed messages from us as well quite another.
As stakeholders we could do worse than to unite in a joint new year’s resolution to commit to supporting school leadership teams more fully as you continue to steer us through these choppy waters.
Happy new year and thank you for all that you do.