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We are grateful to Adrian Lyons for stepping in when the planned guest was unavailable. Adrian was one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Education, one of the most experienced HMI in Ofsted with a national lead for economics, business and enterprise. He regularly led the inspections of secondary schools, primary schools and initial teacher training providers. He led major national surveys such as ‘Getting Ready for Work’ in 2016 and in 2019 was the lead HMI for Ofsted’s research into initial teacher education (ITE) training programmes. His role for many years involved working with directors to find solutions to individual and organisational problems. Now he works as an independent consultant and is a frequent keynote presenter across Europe.

The chat begins with the gents considering the value of Ofsted's Big Listen. Adrian and Frank reflect on previous surveys of views from Ofsted and note that the closed nature of the questions leads to fairly predictable responses. Also, the survey doesn't cover a number of important issues such as whether a single word grade should continue, whether more emphasis should be placed on school self evaluation and whether it is right to excluded data provided by the school.

Stan reflects on the recent IFS report on Sure Start Centres, Adrian considers the recent Ofsted report on Religious Education and Frank shares some views on how work experience opportunities are changing.

An interesting and varied chat. We hope you enjoy it.

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Following a short Easter break the two gents are back this week with an amazing guest. Dr Vic Carr is a Primary headteacher on The Wirral, Reserve Army Officer; Chartered Manager; CollectivEd Senior Fellow; Chartered College of Teaching Fellow; Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Army Leadership; author and TEDx speaker who focuses on leadership and the power of language. She has lectured part time at Master’s degree level, has 3 MAs in Equality and Diversity; Leadership; and Modern War Studies/Contemporary Military History; and a doctorate in leadership and politics.

Following the normal introductions Frank focuses on Vic's military training and the leadership development she has experienced through this work. This is just up Stan's street so the insight and examples provided by them both provide a powerful example of why honesty, integrity, consistency and consideration and love are at the heart of effective leadership.

The clarity of thinking and the way Vic draws in examples from her varied career make the chat compelling. There is just enough time to consider the rather bizarre idea the government has come up with recently which is to encourage scouts to become teachers.

It is a belting chat and we recommend colleagues sit back and listen to Vic explain her leadership philosophy. We are amazed that such wonderful guests are willing to give us their time. Frank and Stan, we hope, our watchers, listeners and followers are the real beneficiaries.

Enjoy

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The next SPOTLIGHT Edition considers a recent blog written by Mark Innes, Dr Elizabeth Gregory and Dr Lisa Murtagh on the apparent marketisation of professional leadership qualifications. The three academics published a BERA piece to explains the development of national leadership programmes and how they have shifted through the DfE's control into six NPQs provided by nine lead providers. Their blog initially 'focused on job adverts which demonstrated how government policy had enriched a handful of densely networked players, put others in potentially precarious positions, and impoverished teacher development'. It's a cracking discussion which reflects on the lucrative market and the concerns about a 'golden thread' approach. The researchers are keen to hear from colleagues who have completed the various programmes to discover how useful they have been. Contact details are below:

mark.innes@manchester.ac.uk

Elizabeth.Gregory@manchester.ac.uk

Lia.Murtagh@manchester.ac.uk

Enjoy.

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Frank met the amazing Sarah Davies at a conference last September in London. He was impressed by her insight, passion and commitment of Sarah so he reached out and luckily she agreed to be a guest on our weekly Frank and Stan Chat. She explains why Oracy is so important, how it unlocks doors in other areas of learning and is not just an English department issue. She also explains how she found the time to write 'Talking about Tracy' during the various Covid lockdowns.

Stan kicks off by questioning the view that was shared today in the press that young people should not have a mobile phone until they are 16. Sarah then ponders on the gaping holes in the government's teacher recruitment targets and Frank shares some research he's undertaken analysing the proportion of students who have progressed to graduate or L3+ qualifications across many Northern towns and cities. The figures are not what you would expect.

It's a great chat. We enjoyed it immensely and we hope you do as well.

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Today Frank and Stan chatted with Ros McMullen and Peter Cockcroft, two colleagues closely involved with Headrest, a support group for senior managers facing significant stress from undertaking their role in education.

Headrest explain why they exist on their website

https://www.headrestuk.co.uk

'Never before has the job of running a school been so challenging, not just for headteachers, but also for CEOs, governors and trustees. As a system-led profession, we need to come together and offer a much-needed mutual support service, acting almost as a safety device for headteachers. Most importantly, in order for it to be available and accessible to everyone, it needs to be free. This is where Headrest comes in.

We know that in many schools, heads are very well supported, be it in a MAT, federation, cluster or LA. But there are too many out there who are not so lucky, new headteachers especially, who are not able to access the traditional suite of face-to-face induction support as a result of the lockdown restrictions. It must be especially tough for them, not knowing what 'normal' looks like.

Add into the mix the safeguarding concerns thrown up by the pandemic, the regularly changing and often inappropriate guidance from the DfE, the misinformation and coordinated onslaught on the profession from certain quarters of the media, and the desperation to get things as good as they can be for the young people they serve, the job can feel un-doable.'

The chat covers a wide range of issues relating to the recently published Headrest annual report. It explains how Headrest offers support and how speedily they try to respond. The discussion covers how things have changed since the previous report and identifies they key stressors that are impacting negatively on those seeking help and support.

It is one of the most important Frank and Stan Chats of the year. Watch and listen to the situation experienced by senior leaders who make contact with Headrest. Sadly, things have not improved since the previous report, in fact, it appears to have got worse.

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