Guidance

Headteachers' standards: report of the review

Updated 13 October 2020

Applies to England

Foreword by the Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for School Standards

Effective school leadership plays a significant role in high quality teaching and in improving pupil outcomes. In an increasingly autonomous school system, strong and effective headteachers are more important than ever.

I believe these new standards will make a significant and positive impact on leadership in our schools.

The training and guidance that the department is putting in place for teachers at every stage of their career is designed to provide a coherent framework for developing great teachers who then become great leaders. To this end, it is important that the content of the standards builds on the teachers’ standards and the early career framework.

These new standards have been developed based on the best available evidence on what excellent school leaders do, including feedback from the school sector. They are a valuable tool for headteachers and will underpin our approach to improving support and professional development for school leaders, including the forthcoming update of leadership national professional qualifications (NPQs).

I am grateful to Malcolm Trobe and the expert review group for their hard work in conducting the review. The group’s expertise, collaborative approach and careful consideration of evidence has been invaluable in developing a powerful and comprehensive set of standards.

These new headteachers’ standards will provide appropriate guidance and support to headteachers, enabling them to deliver the high standards in their schools that the profession continually strives to achieve.

Foreword by Malcolm Trobe, Chair of the headteachers’ standards review

Headteachers have a critical role in our education system and occupy an influential position in society.

The core purpose of a headteacher is to provide professional leadership for a school which secures its success and improvement, ensuring high quality education for all its pupils, and improved standards of learning and achievement.

(Headteachers’ standards 1998)

Whilst the core purpose has stood the test of time, it was important in conducting this review to recognise how the sector has evolved since the last review and to take note of the latest evidence to develop standards that were clear, fit for purpose and of real practical use to headteachers and employers.

It was also vital to listen to the views of the sector and the group were very grateful to the many organisations and individuals who at various stages of the review process gave us helpful and detailed comments on the content of the standards and their application.

With our strong focus on relevance and usefulness we considered it important that these standards should be rooted in what a ‘good headteacher’ knows, understands and does in leading and managing the school. To give coherence and consistency across standards we looked to build on the teachers’ standards, in parallel with establishing the leadership and management aspects specific to headship. We also recognised there was significant value in leading with a section on ethics and professional conduct for headteachers building from part 2 of the teachers’ standards.

The group felt it important to consider how the standards could be used across the developing range of leadership roles in schools. We propose a practical way forward based on employers, using these standards for such roles indicating clearly which of the standards apply to the specific role.

It has been a privilege to chair this review and I would like to thank my colleagues on the headteachers’ standards review group and the staff from the DfE who have supported the group for their vision, thoughtfulness and attention to detail throughout the review process.

We have built on previous versions of the standards, examined the evidence, taken note of feedback and carefully considered the issues in producing the final version of these standards. We believe that we have helped to develop a set of standards that are of real practical use to current and aspiring headteachers, governors, trustees and the wider school community.

Executive summary

The previous headteachers’ standards were published in January 2015 and were designed to be used to:

  • shape headteachers’ own practice and professional development, within and beyond the school
  • support the recruitment and appointment of headteachers
  • provide a framework for training middle and senior leaders aspiring to headship
  • inform the performance management of headteachers

This review was instigated by ministers to determine how the non-statutory standards could better meet these aims and therefore have them more widely adopted in the sector.

To conduct the review ministers appointed an external expert review group, chaired by Malcolm Trobe CBE, former Acting General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

The review group drew on the best available evidence about effective school leadership, international comparisons of leadership standards, and the use of leadership standards in other sectors. It also spoke to a range of stakeholders, headteachers, employers and governors throughout the process.

It was agreed that the revised standards will have the same practical purposes as the previous standards, as set out above. However, the approach to meeting these aims changed from the 2015 standards in some key ways. The revised standards:

  • move away from the aspirational nature of the 2015 standards in order to provide benchmarks that all headteachers should meet
  • describe good leadership for the full range of headteacher responsibilities

The purpose of these changes is to give headteachers, school leaders and employers as practical and useful a tool as possible to inform recruitment, performance management and professional development.

The review group also considered how to make the revised standards applicable to those with senior leadership roles in schools that carry many, but not all, of the responsibilities of a headteacher. It was agreed that by having standards that cover the broad range of activities that a headteacher can undertake, employers would have available to them a more useful tool since they would be able to adapt or draw from it to suit individual circumstances. Standards for leaders of multiple schools were outside the scope of this review.

At the conclusion of the review process, the review group made 5 recommendations to DfE. These are detailed later in this document.

Review process

The headteachers’ standards review was launched on 4 July 2019 by DfE. The Minister of State for School Standards, the Rt. Hon. Nick Gibb MP, appointed the review group members. Malcolm Trobe CBE, former Acting General Secretary of ASCL, was appointed to chair the review.

The review group comprised respected professionals, with expertise in school leadership and governance across a range of settings.

Chair

  • Malcolm Trobe CBE, Educational Specialist Consultant; former Acting General Secretary of ASCL and Headteacher

Vice chair

  • Leora Cruddas, CEO, Confederation of School Trusts

Review member

  • Geoff Barton, General Secretary, ASCL
  • Lauren Costello, OBE, National Director for Primary and SEND, Academies Enterprise Trust
  • Emma Knights, OBE, CEO, National Governance Association
  • Stuart Lock, CEO, Advantage Schools
  • Lesley Powell, CBE, Executive Headteacher, Academy at Shotton Hall; CEO of the North East Learning Trust; National Leader of Education (NLE)
  • Tom Rees, Executive Director of School Leadership, Ambition Institute
  • Carolyn Roberts, Headteacher, Thomas Tallis School, Greenwich; Co-Director of the PTI
  • Linda Thompson, Executive Director of Star Institute
  • Sarah Wilson, Headteacher, Joseph Norton Academy, Huddersfield (part of Wellspring Academy Trust)
  • Paul Whiteman, General Secretary, NAHT

The review group met 5 times between July 2019 and March 2020, supported by a DfE secretariat.

Approach to drafting the standards

The headteachers’ standards are designed to be a useful tool for headteachers, school leaders and employers. It is important to note that, unlike the teachers’ standards, they are non-statutory, meaning that their use is voluntary.

The review group agreed a set of principles that guided their approach to reviewing the headteachers’ standards:

  • The purpose of the standards should continue to be to help shape headteachers’ own practice and professional development, support the recruitment and appointment of headteachers, provide a framework for training middle and senior leaders aspiring to headship, and inform the performance management of headteachers.
  • The language must be accessible to allow all headteachers and employers to make full use of the standards.
  • The standards should encompass the full range of headteacher responsibilities and, as such, should inform the professional development and training of current and aspiring headteachers.
  • It should be made clear how the standards apply to a range of headteacher and school leadership roles.
  • The standards should describe what good school leadership looks like, or consist of clear expectations that can be understood by headteachers, governors, trustees, employers and aspiring headteachers.
  • Whilst a headteacher should be expected to be able to meet each of these standards, it is anticipated that they will meet some through the successful leadership and management of teams and individuals within their schools.
  • The standards represent expectations that headteachers should be responsible for and this includes how they work with governors and trustees. While responsibility for governance sits with the relevant board, headteachers are responsible for working in close partnership with their governing bodies and trust boards.
  • To achieve coherence there should be some alignment with the current teachers’ standards and the early career framework. This will mean that teachers and leaders will receive consistent and complimentary messages about good practice.

Consideration of evidence

The development of the standards was underpinned by the best available evidence on effective school leadership and built on the research used in developing the early career framework. Where pre-existing evidence did not exist, the review group consulted stakeholders and experts, as well as drawing on their own professional judgement, values and experience as school leadership experts.

The group conducted a literature review to understand the evidence of what works across high performing education school systems around the world. After a wider initial online search, the review focused on 11 countries: Canada, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Shanghai-China, Singapore and Taiwan. The review group assessed headteachers’ standards and leadership frameworks from these countries to inform the review of the standards.

The review group also evaluated the leadership standards of other comparable professional sectors. This included: the police leadership standards, leadership and management standards for medical professionals, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy: standards and ethics, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development – professional standards and code of conduct, and the Army Leadership Code, Values and Standards.

This evidence review found that values and ethics were a central component of leadership standards across different countries and sectors.

Engagement with the sector

The review group met with a range of stakeholders throughout the process to gather views on what the purpose, aims and content of the standards should be. This included a series of 26 stakeholder engagement events to test a draft version of the standards. Those engaged with included: headteacher and teacher unions; serving headteachers, governors and trustees; local authority officials, representatives of the independent schools sector and of schools of a religious character; and associations for special educational needs and alternative provision.

The review group engaged widely with the sector with a view to ensuring:

  • the revised standards align as closely as possible with the needs of headteachers, school leaders, governors, trustees and employers
  • the review process was open and transparent
  • leaders in the sector had a role and stake in the development of the standards, with the expectation that this will lead to their widespread adoption and use

Feedback from stakeholders and user groups indicated the standards should:

  • continue to be used to: shape headteachers’ own practice and professional development, support recruitment and appointment of headteachers, provide a framework for training middle and senior leaders aspiring to headship and inform the performance management of headteachers. Many governors and headteachers felt strongly that additional guidance that set out how the standards could be used in different contexts was needed, particularly in relation to how the standards could inform performance management of headteachers
  • take into account other current sector research and developments. Feedback noted that there are links with other relevant research and publications, such as the Education Endowment Fund’s Implementation Framework, The Framework for Ethical Leadership in Education and the NFER/TDT research into professional development
  • be made clear to those using them that they have a different legal effect to the teachers’ standards
  • be relevant for schools in all settings and contexts, with clear and accessible language
  • be pitched at a consistent level of specificity, avoiding going into too much granular detail
  • set an expectation for what good looks like for the full range of responsibilities of a headteacher so that the updated standards are more readily useful, particularly in informing recruitment and performance management of headteachers
  • recognise the breadth of the headteacher’s role. For headteachers of a single school, this would include many aspects of operational management to ensure the school operates in a highly efficient and effective way
  • reflect the expectation that headteachers establish and sustain a school environment that is safe, orderly and inclusive, with high aspirations for all pupils
  • reflect the headteacher’s role in fostering the welfare and wellbeing of pupils
  • recognise the headteacher’s role in leading and developing staff, through effective professional development in a supportive professional environment
  • acknowledge the importance of the headteacher’s role in staff welfare and ensuring reasonable workloads
  • reflect the value of effective relationships beyond the school, for example, with parents, local communities, professional services and other schools
  • reflect the value of effective relationships within the school, particularly within the senior leadership team and with those responsible for governance

Recommendations and rationale

The review group wishes to make the following recommendations to the Secretary of State for Education:

The standards proposed by this report should be adopted to replace the existing 2015 national standards of excellence for headteachers.

We consider that these standards accurately reflect the high expectations of those who lead our schools and, as such, will provide a useful tool for headteachers, school leaders and employers to inform recruitment, professional development and performance management.

DfE should ensure that training, development and support for current and aspiring headteachers, including NPQs, reflect the headteachers’ standards

Part of the purpose of the headteachers’ standards is to inform the professional development of headteachers and provide a framework for training and development for senior and middle leaders aspiring to headship.

The headteachers’ standards should inform all future leadership training and development frameworks and be the foundation for the review of leadership NPQs.

DfE should help maximise awareness of the standards and support the sector to use them effectively.

The standards are a set of non-statutory expectations. Effective communication and awareness raising of the standards and how to use them is therefore important in encouraging their widespread use amongst headteachers, school leaders and governors.

The review group received feedback from stakeholders, headteachers and governors indicating that additional guidance from within the sector to support the effective implementation of the standards in different contexts would be highly valued.

DfE should consider how to review the impact and use of the new standards.

The review group noted that there was limited evidence of the use and effectiveness of previous versions of the standards. By building an evidence base of how the revised standards are used over time, any future reviews will have a stronger empirical foundation.

DfE should consider how it can learn more about the role of executive leaders in school trusts with a view to supporting high quality trust leadership.

During discussions with the sector some stakeholders queried whether, in addition to the teachers’ standards and the headteachers’ standards, it would be helpful for the leaders of school trusts to have a set of relevant standards. Other stakeholders felt that this would be unhelpful given the range of trust leadership roles and the autonomy of the school-led system.

The remit of the review group did not allow for full exploration of this question and the group thinks that not enough is yet known about the role to set clear standards. It therefore recommends that DfE learns more about the needs of executive leaders before considering what would be helpful in supporting high quality trust leadership.