Primary school leadership today and tomorrow

Primary Headteachers: New Leadership Roles Inside and Outside the School

“…There is even less evidence for system leadership. Recent exceptions are Hill and Matthews's (2008) report into the effectiveness ofNLEs and Southworth (2008), who confirms that the knowledge of system leadership in primary schools is in its early stages.…”

“…This led to a move from a partnership between headteachers and LEAs and a transfer of power. However it was not a simple transfer from producer to consumer but led to a mixture of traditional roles of old public administration with those of new managerialism as a result of a 'dispersal' of power from the LEAs' directly to schools and quangos' such as Ofsted and TT A in the late 1980s and early 1990s (Radnor et al 1997, p.206) echoing the views of Clarke and Newman (1997); Tomlinson (2001), Jones (2003) and Southworth (2008).…”

“…Ifwe accept this argument, it has significant implications for the education system. Given the centrality of headship in English schools (Menter et al 1995;Hall and Southworth, 1997;Bell, 1999;Day et al 2000;Bell and Rowley, 2002;Southworth, 2008), together with the importance of effective school leadership in raising standards for children (Sammons et al 1995;Southworth, 2008;Ofsted, 1999Ofsted, ,2003 then effective school leadership is crucial.…”

“…While heads are central to the leadership and management of the school the 'hero' head who undertakes a strong operational role is a form of leadership that is being discredited as unsustainable, as well as undesirable (; Harris, 2003;West-Burnham 2005Spillane, 2006;PwC, 2007, Southworth, 2008). Calls for system redesign are partly predicated on recognition of the importance of the role of the headteacher in leading and delivering the reforms in schools and also that this role, is itself, in need of reform.…”

“…Most studies reporting on the role of the headteacher before 1988 are small scale as no major large scale investigations had been commissioned (Hall and Southworth, 1997). Building on the findings of Coulson (1976) and echoing the findings ofNias et al (1989), Hall and Southworth (1997, p.l53) and Southworth (2008) define heads before the ERA (1988) as being 'pivotal, proprietal and paternalistic'. The main role of head teachers was defined by Coulson (1976) and Hughes (1988) as that of lead professional rather than chief executive although Ribbins (1993, p.35 in Bell andRowley, 2002, p.198) argues that heads always had 'a set of administrative tasks' associated with a chief executive role.…”