LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE CONSULTANCY

None of our consultants who worked with us on our TLR programme are in any doubt that major and often radical changes to the leadership structures of schools in all phases are underway right across the country. A range of factors is bringing this about, including

• Difficulty in recruiting high quality teachers and a growing realisation that skilled and better rewarded support staff have an important role to play in curriculum delivery
  
  
• Concern that accountability is too widely spread - leading to a trend towards fewer (and more highly paid) leadership posts
  
  
• An appreciation of the need to provide high quality professional development opportunities for both teachers and teaching assistants - arising directly from a robust assessment of their existing classroom skills
  
  
• A growing feeling that all work not associated with teaching and learning - including much currently done by Senior Team members - needs to be transferred to colleagues not rewarded under Teachers' Pay & Conditions
  
  
• Concern that the most skilled and effective teachers spend too much time out of the classroom and a feeling that specialist performance evaluators and coaches/mentors may provide a more effective way forward
  
  
• The need to work in partnership with other agencies as the Extended Services agenda develops

We have amassed a considerable bank of information about interesting developments in various parts of the country and are confident that we can use an individual consultancy session with you to understand the issues you face and help clarify your own thinking about the best way of moving forward. We will be happy to put you in touch with heads we have worked with in the past to help you make your decision.

Leadership structure consultancy costs £750 (plus travel, accommodation if necessary and VAT) for a half day session and £1250 (plus same additional costs) for a full day

For primary and special schools, a half day session is usually enough. The cost to individual schools can be reduced by sharing a full day between three or four schools. This provides two hours for group discussion identifying areas of common interest - and possible joint working - followed by an hour's individual consultancy for each school

For secondary schools, we find it usually takes a day and a half to understand the key challenges the school faces, to be briefed on existing structures and procedures and to meet the 20 or so key teachers and support staff members identified by the school. We then need another half day to produce a detailed report and recommendations, which we then refine in the light of your comments