Sue Croft

Oxford Mail:

Headteacher at Oxford Spires Academy

An uplifting chorus of “good morning, Miss” starts each day at Oxford Spires Academy.

The daily routine of staff and students working together and enjoying success together remains the joy of headship.

I often say it is the best job in the world.

It is not without its considerable challenges, however, and none more so than in 2015.

Headteachers find themselves managing a staff who have been stripped of most of what was familiar to them.

The examinations have been rewritten and all the expertise learned in delivering with well-known syllabi has disappeared both at A-Level and GCSE and needs relearning.

The content and method of examining has moved from modular to linear and needs a new pedagogy (increased memory and synthesis skills).

The secure grading of work is under change as life without levels takes away the engrained knowledge of A*-G to be replaced with as yet unclear grades from nine to one.

For the teachers leading and delivering these imposed changes there is a feeling of disempowerment, insecurity and sheer exhaustion at the practicalities of rewriting schemes of work for all year groups, seven to 13.

They are having to deliver lessons to classes for future GCSE skills and knowledge while still guessing what the content of many of these GCSEs might be.

They are inspiring students to reach out for level nine or level five without being sure what that looks like. They are having to work within tight budgets whilst needing new textbooks for new syllabi.

No wonder teachers are considering now to leave the profession, no wonder that already worryingly low teacher training recruitment targets have not been met and no wonder, in a city as expensive to live in as Oxford, that adverts for great jobs in teaching in a school where children behave well and staff love working go unanswered!

The vocation of headship in this circumstance is to empower, strengthen relationships, care for staff and students and to instigate real distributed leadership and collaborative practices.

Staff support each other with a strong moral purpose and determination to make a difference in the lives of our delightful students and community, and students learn from this and emulate the same social conscience and support.

This culture is inspiring and is the joy of being a collective of teachers in a highly successful school.

Good will and moral purpose as a driving force to overcome the challenges outlined are not a sustainable economic solution.

Currently, teaching agencies are the only winners with high introduction fees stripping already stringent budgets.

I am so proud of a truly professional, caring, dedicated staff at Oxford Spires and am humbled daily by their ability to give beyond expectations.

A culture of success is uplifting on a daily basis.

However, a teacher recruitment crisis is not looming; it is here.

The irony is that for anyone new to the profession, the stripping of expertise will not be an issue, so what better time to join a most inspiring profession and experience the joy of learning?