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Leadership for learning: The challenges of leading in a time of change

Three:  Vision, values and aims: sharing a common purpose

One of the key roles of any leader is to provide direction based on a strategic vision for the future.

This section explores the themes of vision, values and aims and how they work to provide direction and a common purpose to everyone involved in an establishment or service. It outlines evidence from inspections on how visions are generated in ways that help people see what is best in themselves and in their community. It also includes the perceptions of leadership as expressed through focus groups by young people of all ages. When a vision works well it compels staff to question what they are doing, why they are doing it and how they are going about their work. Once a vision has been established it can give life to the work being undertaken and acts as a way of aligning long-term and short-term goals.

What do we want to achieve and how are we going to go about it?

One of the key roles of any leader is to provide direction based on a strategic vision for the future. The Standard for Headship in Scotland identifies¹⁴ Professional Values as one of the elements for the practice of headship.

"Headteachers should demonstrate commitment to educational values through being able to devise and communicate an overall vision for an effective school, taking account of its context and culture."

The Journey to Excellence provides examples of good and excellent practices within the school sector in "creating and sustaining the shared vision" (pp 52-53). Sometimes people are uncomfortable with talk of vision and prefer instead to talk about ‘preferred futures’. Others refer to the mission of the establishment or the mission aligned to an establishment motto. Whatever language is used, leaders are able to set out where an establishment/service is aiming to go, how it will get there and what it will look and feel like.

For this to happen, there has to be ownership and a collective drive where everybody feels that they have a part to play. Our findings, particularly from follow-through inspections, demonstrate that effective leaders help staff to be able to describe their establishment/service well and articulate where they have reached in their improvement journey and what it means to be performing better. Staff can describe what they have done and what is going to be different next year. The development of a vision helps staff to grasp the big picture and have a shared sense of purpose. Without such leadership, establishments may have a narrow and overly-restrictive focus on day-to-day operational functions.

Leaders are faced with the very real task of engaging staff in thinking about and feeling ownership of the distinctive vision for their establishment/service which relates to the direction provided by the national agenda and the agenda set out by their education authority or governing board.

How do we capture our vision succinctly?

The most effective leaders have a clear picture of the future purpose and appearance of the establishment/service they lead and the role it plays in the community. They are also able to communicate that vision and to encourage other stakeholders to buy in to it so that it guides the future direction. Most establishments take time to set out their vision (or mission) and to share it more widely with others in key documents, on websites and in literature. It is interesting to read these statements because they give a flavour of what is seen to be important. Often organisations will summarise their vision in a short, catchy phrase that people can identify with and use to direct their thinking and planning. For example, Aberdeen City Council has a vision of being ‘a city of learning’; East Renfrewshire Council talks about ‘no school or pupil left behind’; and Troup House Residential Special School has a vision of ‘believe and achieve’.

How do you build a shared vision?

Building a shared vision is an ongoing and continuous process. A genuine vision comes from people asking, ‘What do we want to achieve and how are we going to go about it?’ This is commonly taken forward as part of in-service work where staff share exemplar vision statements, make choices, establish priorities and consider those statements that reflect their establishment/service. They then begin to build a new statement of vision which is enacted and shared more widely. Visions for the future are based on the experience of review on the part of staff and learners, on personal and professional reflection and on continuing development. Consequently no two leaders will develop their visions in exactly the same way and there is no template for doing so.

How might we involve learners in vision, values and aims?

If we are to develop learners as effective contributors and responsible citizens we need to consciously develop a culture which involves them in meaningful ways. The importance of engaging learners in setting the vision and direction for the establishment should not be underestimated. A positive understanding of what the establishment is trying to achieve can make a significant contribution to increasing identification and promoting effective learning. Many establishments/services regularly use surveys (including online), feedback mechanisms and conversations to collate the views of learners as part of a process of on going self-evaluation and improvement. Similarly, when establishments are reviewing their vision, values and aims, it is common to involve stakeholders including learners in any major review or consultation.

Children, young people and adult learners cannot be treated as a homogenous group. Different approaches will be needed for different groupings. Those with disabilities, ethnic minority groups or those who are disengaged from learning may have additional and specific needs. Encouraging more active participation on the part of learners can be a way of re-engaging learners. This can have positive knock-on effects to their self-esteem, confidence and leadership potential. Some practical examples of approaches used across sectors to develop consensus on vision, values and aims include:

• developing mechanisms and activities that support a vision of learners as active citizens in their establishment and local community such as access to local facilities, concessionary travel and fees, volunteering, reimbursing out-of-pocket expenses incurred, work experience, placements and community planning forums;
• modelling the uses of being a learning organisation through opportunities such as secondments, exchanges, bids for extended periods of time to develop projects, small grant schemes, negotiated curricula and residential arrangements to engage in debate;
• student-led presentations, workshops and focus group meetings to develop common statements of values among learners, staff and stakeholders which characterise an establishment/service;
• agreed statements of values and aims which are linked to joint responsibilities on the part of learners and staff and to acceptable ways of working and behaving;
• systems and processes which exemplify values and aims such as empowerment in learner representative councils/forums, peer mentoring and coaching programmes, assemblies, youth citizens’ panels, high-level committees for children and young people, Young Scot and Dialogue Youth; and
• regular joint reviews by staff and learners of the impact of the vision, values and aims.

The Community Planning Advice Note¹⁵ provides interesting case studies of ways in which various councils have engaged with young people to help deliver their vision.

Are there critical points when we should review our vision?

There may well be critical points in an establishment’s development when it is possible and even desirable to develop a new vision, create new strategies and move in new directions. Sometimes this will happen when:

• a new leader comes into post and recognises that staff need to be re-energised and refocused;
• there has been a significant turnover of staff for a number of reasons;
• there has been a highly significant event which has affected a community such as an amalgamation of two centres, plans for a complete rebuild or community regeneration activities;
• external changes signal a significant shift in thinking which need to be embraced internally;
• discontentment with the status quo becomes the catalyst for change; or
• a critical inspection report or negative self-evaluation points to significant weaknesses.

The key is knowing when to initiate such a change of direction. The most effective leaders tend to have the ability to know not only what to do but when to do it. Being able to sense the right time to take action is an important aspect of a leader’s repertoire. The list of bullet points above may help leaders to reflect on their own establishment/service in this context.

Let’s talk about values

Vision, values and aims need to be closely aligned. This is important because the values that are identified signal what an establishment stands for — in short, what is valued. This might be termed the ‘ethical dimension of leadership’ or in Fullan’s terms, its ‘moral purpose’¹⁶.

"The headteacher should demonstrate commitment to educational values through exemplifying consistent educational values in their behaviour and translating these into practical aims and policies, which engage the whole school community in relating their practice to educational aims and values."¹⁷

Inspection evidence suggests that the ability to establish and communicate appropriate values is an important dimension of leadership. These values will often include a strong commitment to developing:

• learners personally, socially, emotionally and morally;
• a sense of belonging;
• the care and welfare of learners and members of the community;
• openness and transparency;
• trust, honesty and integrity; and
• equality, fairness and inclusion.

To those may be added:

• passion for success and achievement;
• promotion of collaboration and teamworking; and
• a sense of personal responsibility.

Within any educational setting, we would all expect to find a culture where everyone is valued and is treated with respect, where learning and teaching is centre stage and where there is a commitment to improvement. Increasingly there is a focus on leaders working across and within diverse cultures and with a mixed social population.

We judge the appropriateness and levels of acceptance of an establishment’s values by their influence on relationships, on the quality of learning and teaching and on the experiences of individual learners. Values are apparent in the quality of the interactions between staff and learners and in the relationships amongst learners. These values are demonstrated in the care that learners show for one another and in their conduct towards the staff with whom they come in contact. Similarly the extent to which values have been embedded can be evaluated from the ways in which staff relate to learners and to one another.

Establishments that have successfully developed, communicated and implemented their vision, values and aims ensure that these are reflected in their key strategic documents such as their policies on learning and teaching. These policies are the key strategic documents of any establishment. In the best examples, they closely reflect vision and values and are shaped by national and local aspirations and priorities. Learning and teaching policies and their derivatives, for example, policies on assessment, support for learning and homework, will be heavily influenced by the establishment’s values that relate to the nature of learning.

Setting out shared aims and using these to evaluate progress

Developing vision and values needs to be matched with clarity of aims. These are important because they help to direct the work of staff and students in ways that can be set out more explicitly. Some schools set out their aims by linking them to the seven key areas of HGIOS, whilst others use the five national priorities as organisers. These organisers have the advantage of helping staff to be very clear on the core business of the school and to think about their work in terms of the specific aims they have developed together. As indicated previously, best practice includes students and staff developing and reviewing the aims together, to ensure that there is a consensus on where the establishment/service is trying to go. The aims of an establishment/service are often clearly set out for staff, students and stakeholders in prospectus documents, noticeboards and newsletters. Some examples of statements of aims are set out below.

Bridging the gap between rhetoric and reality

On some occasions, leaders will require considerable professional courage to promote and defend values that they believe should lie at the heart of the establishment/service and its work. Similarly, it is likely that all leaders will encounter situations that severely test their values, for example in ensuring the fair allocation of scarce resources.

To exercise leadership, people need to work as closely with their opponents as they do with their supporters. In this way, leaders learn about why people hold particular views, and are then in a stronger position to influence them. Dialogue, listening and good communication are essential because the content of people’s ideas improves when they take other viewpoints into account. In the final instance, the successful resolution of dilemmas may well be dependent on the extent to which the establishment’s values have been debated and accepted by stakeholders.

Consensus on vision, values and aims is dependent on the extent to which a leadership culture has been cultivated. The sharing of leadership responsibility more widely across the establishment may change how people perceive ‘the ways things are done around here’. The concept of a positive culture implies shared values that bind a group together and provide the basis for perceptions of what is important.

Perhaps the most challenging job of any leader is to change the prevailing culture of an establishment/service if it is a barrier to improvement and reform. One strategy to promote a change of culture may include the distribution of leadership more widely. Even in the smallest primary school, leadership can come from a number of directions — from the headteacher, from other teachers, from non-teaching staff, from pupils, Parent Council members or other members of the parent and/or local community. In changing the culture of an establishment/service small things can make a big difference.

It is likely that staff will require support if they are to buy into a culture in which they contribute more strongly to the leadership of their establishments. An effective way of developing leadership is to make the goal of developing leaders at every level an explicit and accepted part of the culture.

On some occasions, leaders will require considerable professional courage to promote and defend values that they believe should lie at the heart of the establishment/service and its work.

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