Heads or Hearts?

What a responsibility leaders have to shoulder. Whether it be a business manager, a church leader, a school teacher, a youth worker - whatever, the influence they exert on others lives is considerable. I visit around 17 primary schools each month, taking Christian based assemblies, and I can't help but notice the difference in the kids (and teachers) behaviour, and the general atmosphere of the places. Many are obviously happy institutions where staff and pupils enjoy working together, yet increasingly more schools are becoming places of frustration and stress, with poor relationships across the board. Certainly some of the differences have to do with demographics (some schools have to handle more than their fair share of disruptive pupils) but more and more I've come to believe the main factor is the approach of the headteacher to leadership. Put simply some heads are people orientated while others major on programmes. Increasingly heads are being trained (and unfortunately chosen by school governing bodies) almost solely for their business skills - Heads with no Heart. Money management and an ability to manipulate dubious league tables is fast becoming the bottom line in measuring success. The government has created so many performance and financial pressures that Heads are reluctantly giving up their first love of teaching for the stressful world of management. Let's get priorities right. First create a warm, secure, accepting environment for staff and pupils alike and the school will flourish. Then let's do all in our democratic power to remove the bureaucratic stranglehold that is choking the heart out of our schools. Teachers not politicians or business managers are the experts at teaching -let them do it.
Heads, don't give in to the pressure - the well being of your staff and pupils is far more important than any league table or balance sheet.