Era of the 'superhead' is over, says adviser
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
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The days of the maverick and charismatic headteacher single-handedly transforming a school to provide a world-class education may be numbered, one of the Government's most respected advisers believes.
Professor David Hargreaves, the senior researcher with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and a former head of the exams watchdog, will argue in a lecture tomorrow that the Government is "too obsessed" with a top-down approach to improving education standards. "The head as a charismatic hero was pushed by Tony Blair who probably thought 'outstanding heads are just an educational version of me'," he said yesterday.
But he will tell the Royal Geographical Society in London that most heads are "upwards of 45 and often 50 and out of touch with the way kids are learning these days".
Instead, he will say they should pay more attention to "Generation Y" – those born after 1980, the younger teachers on their staff and the students themselves who will help them develop more innovative ways of teaching through the internet.
The Government had said it was in favour of encouraging innovation. However, Professor Hargreaves recalled a conversation with a minister which summed up its attitude: "We want to innovate, but what if they don't innovate in the right way?"
His comments come as Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has argued that "superheads" of top-performing schools should be paid up to £200,000 a year for taking on new roles in aiding their struggling neighbours.
Professor Hargreaves will argue that a radical change in the way schools operate is essential to ensure the education system is world-class. "The days of the single school for a pupil is almost certainly dead," he said. "Schools are going to be joined up in federations.
"The different phases of education [primary, secondary] are beginning to disappear in favour of all-in schools [from the ages of three to 19]. The idea of a year group with all people arbitrarily born between September and August in a 12-month period all going through school together is also beginning to move away."
Instead, pupils would in future be encouraged to work at their own pace, moving through key stages [currently for seven to 11-year-olds and 11- to 14-year-olds] at their own pace. "Some are already going through key stage three [for 11- to 14-year-olds] in two years," he said.
Professor Hargreaves, whose lecture is sponsored by the Learning Skills Foundation, will argue students should be given far more of a say in shaping their own learning. "You have already had students in some schools advising teachers on how to improve their lessons, sitting in on governing body meetings, interviewing new members of staff and all the fears that this would have an anarchic influence have proved groundless," he said.
Pupils, particularly boys, are spending more time online rather than watching television – 2.7 hours per week as opposed to 1.9 hours. "That gap is going to grow as TV is boring for them," he said, adding that schools had to develop online education to retain children's attention.
