NEW LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME TAKES SHAPE

[COI]

STARTRELEASE

TEACHER TRAINING AGENCY

TTA71/98 4 July 1998
NEW LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME TAKES SHAPE

Teacher Training Agency Chief Executive Anthea Millett announced
today further details of the TTA's new Leadership Programme for
Serving Headteachers, to be launched in November. Speaking at the
annual SEO/NAEIAC conference at Keele University, she said
"The quality of leadership makes the difference between the success
and failure of a school. That is why headteachers are at the heart of
the Government's drive to secure higher standards in all our schools.

"Research and inspection evidence makes clear the extent to which the
quality of leadership is crucial to school improvement. In highly
effective schools, as well as schools which have reversed a trend of
poor performance and declining achievement, it is the headteacher who
sets the pace, leading and motivating the pupils and staff to perform
to their highest potential.

"Small wonder that the industrialists I meet regularly attest to the
complexity and demands of the headteacher's role, and to the
outstanding quality of leadership and management offered by our best
headteachers. This is one of the key messages that has come out of
the work we are doing in developing the new Leadership Programme for
Serving Headteachers which is currently being trialled and which will
come on stream in November. This programme is for all heads not just
for weak ones as all heads can improve their impact. The programme is
unique in bringing together development of personal leadership
effectiveness with school improvement strategies."

Ms Millett highlighted other key messages from the development work
and trialling as:

Improving people and their leadership skills and behaviour is more
important than tinkering with structures. Highly effective headship
is crucial in both securing highly effective teachers (and other
staff) operating in school classrooms and raising standards of
achievement. That highly effective heads are very good at identifying
and developing leadership potential in others and developing it in
order to secure both school improvement - particularly at the middle
management level - and enable future school leaders to be better
prepared for such roles. That the Leadership Programme is right to
aim at raising the game of all headteachers, and that trials so far
suggest this has been a very successful outcome. Evidence so far
suggests that the key factor in turning failing schools round quickly
is the quality of leadership offered by headteachers. (Eighty per
cent of failing schools that have been turned round successfully have
done so after a change of headteacher).

The Leadership Programme for Serving Headteachers will be a cutting
edge programme from which all experienced headteachers stand to gain
a great deal. The key principles underpinning the programme are that
it will:

- be unique, world-class and challenging;

- be rooted in school improvement and focused on improving pupils'
achievements;

- involve detailed 360` information on participants;

- be focused on the headteacher's individual needs, building on
successes;

- recognise that a variety of leadership styles can be effective in
different situations;

- draw on best practice from inside and outside education; and

- enable headteachers to improve their skills with Information and
Communication Technologies.