trends were recognised in the movement towards intensification of leadership and distribution of leadership within schools. The research data demonstrated that most schools continue to retain a traditional structure of a single headteacher and a wider leadership team. The intensification of leadership in relation to the leadership of learning in particular, and the broadening of SLTs were borne out in the research data. It is clear that there has been a rapid increase in conversion to academy status in 2011/12 and this has continued. The implications of these findings should be reflected in training and development opportunities, especially for middle leaders.
New forms of leadership and governance It may be that new forms of leadership and governance are needed. Throughout the research, effective and proactive financial management emerged as a fundamental criterion for leading a school, particularly in autonomous contexts. In response, one-half of heads, especially secondary heads, reported having appointed a school business manager or bursar for a year or more and it was increasingly common for this role to form part of the senior team. Primary school heads were more likely to report that there were no current plans to do this, and this was usually attributed to financial constraint. In the absence of a specialist on the SLT, and with a continuing contraction of local authority support, this is a primary competence for school leaders. The capacity to forge and sustain partnerships was viewed as an increasing necessity for the headteacher, senior team and middle leaders to engage and lead effectively among a range of partners. Governors, and chairs of governors in particular, were also expected to network with other governing bodies and governance stakeholders. Again, there are implications for training and development.
Maintaining a strategic and operational balance The extent to which school leaders successfully maintain a strategic and operational focus formed a concern within this review and previous major reviews. Some matters have remained relatively unchanged. Heads and other school leaders are still likely to say that they spend ‘too much time’ on administration and ‘not enough time’ on the leadership of teaching and learning. Heads commented particularly on the pressure of increasing accountability and struggled to include sufficient time to plan strategically both individually and with senior teams. It is still a ‘balancing act’ as to how much time to spend working with and supporting other schools and partnerships as well as keeping a focus on maintaining success in one’s own institution. This is a key challenge to the new agenda and is further complicated in various small school contexts such as rural schools, special schools and alternative provision institutions where the headteacher has a high teaching load. To help balance strategic and operational demands on leadership time, a large proportion of all headteachers (89 per cent) said they had encouraged and enabled other teachers to contribute to school leadership and just over three-quarters of headteachers (78 per cent) had delegated or further embedded more strategic responsibilities across the senior team. More than three-quarters (79 per cent) of chairs of governors felt that they should play a major role in strategic leadership, whereas only 46 per cent felt they actually did play a major role. However, this percentage was much higher than in the initial baseline study a decade ago and the College’s recent focus on the training of chairs of governors and the introduction of national leaders of governance (NLGs) should improve the situation further.
Support, training and development of school leaders Currently, the local authority and the school improvement partner (the latter no longer statutory) were reported to be the two most significant sources of external support. It is these two sources, however, that headteachers expected to see in the greatest decline over the next 18 months. While this decline is broadly similar to the increase in support expected from elsewhere, many headteachers predicted that they will be using providers that few schools currently use or consider important. This suggests not only greater diversity in support but also uncertainty as schools move away from the known and the well used. This has important implications for, among other things, ensuring that schools are aware of appropriate and high-quality sources of support.
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