September 2011

The know zone

  • On the level
    However unpopular or culpable an employee seems to be, any dismissal process against them has to be just and impartial, says Richard Bird, even one instigated by the secretary of state. More
  • Nobody's fool
    Now you've budgeted for your staff, make sure you get value for money in whatever you ask them to do, says Sam Ellis. There's no easy way to do this, but an online tool may help. More
  • Lead vocals
    Quotes from Albert Einstein, Socrates, Bill Cosby and Confuscious More
  • The guv'nor
    Philip Capper was named school governor of the year at last year's UK Teaching Awards. He is chair of governors at Ysgol Bryn Elian in Old Colwyn, Wales. He recently retired from his full-time job in the offshore fishing industry. More
  • b-live to work
    The b-live Foundation was set up six years ago to help and inspire young people to make informed career choices through partnerships with schools, employers and other organisations. More than 230,000 students are currently being supported. More
  • Adding value
    Getting the best from staff More
  • Examination thoughts
    From September 2012, external exams for GCSE will be done at the end of the course so there will be no modular exams part-way through. Is this a good move? And if changes are to be made to GCSE, are there others that would be more effective in improving them? School leader s share their views. More
  • Leaders' surgery
    Commanding performance, Don't know much about biology... More
  • Ever-shifting pension debate
    Held just two weeks before the teacher unions' one-day strike on pensions, the June Council meeting was dominated by this topic and debate over how ASCL should proceed. More
  • Answering the right questions
    The shocking events in England's cities – and the involvement of young people in them – underline the need for the profession to seize the debate about the purpose of education, says Brian Lightman. More
  • Stick to the plan
    Nigel Poole presents his 20 top tips to becoming a valued, respected, hard-working, cheerful, credible, versatile and all-round impressive leader. More
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Leaders' surgery

The antidote to common leadership conundrums...

Commanding performance

Q I have just moved to a new school to start a new job as an assistant head. I'm not a naturally forceful, dominant person but as I'm making a fresh start, I'm determined to be more assertive. Any tips for how I can quickly show staff I'm in charge?

A There is a fine line between behaviour that is assertive, authoritarian and aggressive. A good definition of assertiveness is being able to communicate clearly, honestly and directly, both positive and negative messages and opinions, while at the same time respecting the rights, feelings and opinions of others.

Many of us can find it challenging to achieve this. Especially in stressful situations we can sometimes end up being authoritarian or passive. As children, many of us were unintentionally trained by parents and teachers to be passive – sit still, be quiet and do what we're told – so learning to be assertive requires practice and patience.

Here are six basic skills of assertiveness to use when dealing with staff:

  • Be direct and get straight to the point – it doesn't help you or the other person to beat around the bush.
  • Know what you want to achieve before you engage in a conversation.
  • Decide beforehand what specific change you want and state it clearly.
  • Describe the behaviour, not the person, that needs addressing.
  • Listen empathetically to what the other person says in response.
  • Do not be sidetracked by a comment that is irrelevant or get sucked into a completely different discussion. If the other person raises a valid but different issue, tell him/her you will address once you are finished with the topic at hand.

Don't know much about biology…

Q In this year's GCSE results, our girls did noticeably better than the boys across almost all subjects, reflecting the trend across the country. Motivation and maturity I'm sure has something to do with it but is there any evidence that girls' and boys' brains develop differently – are girls at that age just smarter than boys

A There is some fascinating research emerging about cognitive development and how it affects learning, but so far none of the research we know of has identified gender-specific processes involved in building up neural networks during learning; that is, differences between girls' and boys' brains do not have practical consequences for learning and teaching.

It's is true that there are differences between the sexes – the male brain is about 3 per cent larger; the areas of the brain that support language are more strongly activated in females and males are better than females at mentally rotating objects, for instance. But these are relatively small and the range of difference within genders is broad.

Brain research, at least, supports the notion that most of the differences in teenage boys' and girls' achievement is likely to be a product of motivation and behaviour, whether learned or inherent. For instance the evidence shows – and teachers know – that on average boys are more competitive than girls, have a lower boredom threshold and need to move around more, all of which contributes to learning.

Leaders surgery

LEADING READING