Co-Headship A new leadership structure at TLA?

What is Co-Headship? Headship of a school is shared between two (or more) people. This is one model of leadership that differs from the traditional one school / one head model Typically more than one person covers a full-time head teacher post In a traditional primary or secondary school the split can be decided by the Governing Body A growing number of schools have decided to adopt this structure This model brings special challenges and benefits especially as an all-through academy.

Key Question? ‘Would a Co-Headship structure meet the needs of the academy in providing stability, quality, standards and drive for it’s young people now and in the future?’

What are the benefits? Co- Headship Supports continuity of leadership More experience, perspective & energy Attracts more new heads Helps to retain experienced heads More creative and collaborative leadership Can improve work / life balance In our case shared ownership across the whole academy Cost effective in the long run as not paying for Executive Head Adds leadership expertise

Potential difficulties? Appointing the right person... who shares the vision with complimentary skills and personalities willing to share the accountability and responsibilities It’s a new(ish) approach. Some stakeholders may be sceptical Important to establish good systems of communication and liaison arrangements between heads and chair of Governors Personal development and future opportunities Market value

Joint Principals Matthew Browne Principal Primary Phase L21 – L25 Vacancy Principal Secondary Phase L21 – L25 Governing Body Leadership Structure

How should duties be split? No single guide The responsibilities of each must be made clear as both Principals would be accountable to Ofsted and the Governing Body in relation to statutory duties Not all duties need to be split e.g. Health & Safety & Safeguarding both could be jointly responsible In our school we have a very distinct primary and secondary phase – in many cases this makes it easier for us Needs to be thought about and built into job description

Duties and Responsibilities Considerations Performance Management Staffing – hiring & firing/ promotion Safeguarding / H&S On call – who/ when/ timetables Social events, school events Point of contact Absences – long and short term Communication protocols

Managing the partnership Key Co-Headship Questions for Governors Why are you doing this? Who is accountable each week, weekend, out of term-time? What is the work pattern? (Not so relevant in our case) How are statutory duties to be split? How will the partners liaise with each other? How will the partner liaise with the Chair of Governors? Who attends meetings and events?

Managing the partnership Key Co-Headship Questions for Governors Who should parents contact? How do problems get followed through? What happens when a partner is absent? What happens during prolonged absence? How would professional disagreements between partners get resolved? How does Performance Management work? What would happen when one partner leaves? What is communicated to governors, parents etc… and when?

Benton Park Delia Martin & Stephen Dixon Joint-Heads for 4 years Contractually work ½ week head and ½ week deputy – Paper only! Both are 100% head 100% of the time

Benton Park 100% shared responsibility in ALL areas of school Gives strength to leadership and support Share same office and do everything together The same Performance Management targets Local Authority were concerned about this structure at the start Line manage different staff within the structure No issues with their joint headship

Outcomes from that meeting Legalities are ever changing as this model becomes more common This is a model than can work effectively and has for their school – RI aiming for outstanding The joint principals MUST share the philosophy, vision & values of the academy Every decision is a joint decision Some duties are split (on paper) but ultimately they are both aware of all aspects of school, have joint ownership and responsibility They felt our model would work well and that it was an exciting role that would be attractive to many OFSTED do not have any issues with this structure.

We are different again. We are not answerable to the Local Authority It’s not a one headteacher post – it’s always been two Principals in the model We are talking about shared accountability stopping with joint principals and not the Executive Headteacher How we will organise the accountability within this structure i.e. we have primary and secondary

Future Structure

Legal duties when advertising DfE guidance states Co-Headship is permissible so long as there is a named, qualified, experienced and appropriated remunerated person in charge over the course of a whole week. The roles and responsibilities of a head teacher (The school Teacher’s Pay and Conditions Document) must be covered. Governors should advertise nationally as with any headship post

What are pay & pensions considerations? Do not need to be paid the same but should be paid within the same ISR (Individual School Range) Traditionally co-headship should be a similar cost as one head/one deputy model (again we are different) Governing Bodies need to consider long term costs – in our model it would replace the costs of an Executive Head

What are our final thoughts?