The leadership adventure–an update

One of the reasons that I started blogging, apart from attempting to organise teaching resources, is for my own self reflection.  I’ve never been too bothered about what people think of me.  I revisited this post about teachers being a little like priests and thought it time to update the leadership adventure.  Last year, I came close to leaving the profession.  It’s the second time that’s happened.  I gave in my notice by October in my NQT year and had a job lined up back in Outdoor Education.  If it wasn’t for a very supportive, and understanding, NQT mentor, teaching would have ended there.  You see, I have no problem in accepting the consequences of my decisions.

I’ve gotten through that now because now I understand my mission.  I now know without a doubt that I want to be a Headteacher.  I also know that leadership is very much like training for a marathon:  it’s supposed to ache all over because it’s a difficult job.  It’s easy to ignore the pain and the tiredness.  But, I’ve learned that it’s important to sort out the localised pain.  That’s is telling me that there is an issue.  It needs to be addressed.

Now I remember why I’m in this job in the first place: to make a difference.   To make learning better and to make teachers lives better so that they can focus on the main thing.  Now I remember that I love this job and the crazy world of schools.

In an attempt to provide some usefulness out of this post (and for me to return to when I forget), here’s what helped:

• Running. That guaranteed time alone allows me space to think, and also makes it impossible for me to make a quick decision.
• Talking to people within the school and outside, especially in local schools and through events and conferences.
• Set up daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly tasks lists. For example, trying to visit every classroom within a cycle.
• Having comfortable shoes.
• Remembering why I’m there in the first place. It’s really tough trying to stick to principles, especially with increased accountability.
• Having coaching from an external person.
• Making decisions – it’s easy to worry about actions so much that you do nothing.  The quickest way to find out if it was the right thing to do is to do it.

The main thing is, I look forward to every day in school again, no matter what it’s going to bring.

There’s probably a load of other stuff too, but it’s time for Wonders of the Monsoon.