The voice of experience
In his article about applying for senior leadership positions, Keith Clark argues that ‘depth of experience is a sadly undervalued commodity in international schools’. While the number of training courses to prepare for leadership has proliferated over the last few years, it is, perhaps, the opportunity to use theoretical knowledge and practise skills in middle leadership positions that prepares us best for the big step up to the more exposed positions of senior leadership. Clark certainly thinks so.
Of course, some experience is more valuable than others. It’s when you are surrounded by good practice in a great school, supported by people who know what they are doing that insight and understanding grow. Opportunities to watch a great teacher, have an informal conversation with a supportive and experienced colleague and to observe an effective leader in action make all the difference. Developing confidence, making mistakes and then correcting them in such an environment over time prepares you as well as anything for the next big step.
In the first of a new ITM series about school leadership in the 2020s, Leading Roles, it’s interesting that Phil Stapleton, Headmaster of West Buckland School counts his previous experience as a boarding housemaster as one of the most important influences on his development as a school leader. And if experience is the best preparation for leadership, spare a thought for the members of governing bodies without whom schools could not function as they do. Of course, Governors bring the experience of other professional sectors to the boardroom, but most will not have spent a lifetime thinking about educational strategy and policy. And yet, these are the very areas that they are expected to discuss and vote on when joining a school board.
Accrediting bodies like CIS and COBIS rightly emphasise the vital role of board training, but good for Russell Speirs in forming a new international school community for governors, IGNIS, which is designed to help board members around the world talk with each other and to learn from each other’s . . . experience. This is an important initiative and IGNIS is likely to become an increasingly important group as international education continues to grow.
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