Heads quitting to make a stand - but what about the kids?

[crayzeedaze]

I can understand Heads quitting if they're suffering from stress, but I think stories like this one are a bit . Leaving a school completely rudderless to make a point is surely even more damaging to the kids than staying and just piles more pressure on the teachers left behind. Perhaps the school will recruit a new head who does like the assessment agenda - how does that help? Or more likely in the current climate they will struggle to recruit and muddle on with an inexperienced interim head who still has to deliver on the assessment agenda, but less competently.

Those kids don't have a choice to delay their education until the government changes their mind about all this.

It's not the head's responsibility to get a new head though is it. I do see your point but anyone can leave a job at any time for any reason and it's fine to do so. I think it's sad that a good teacher has felt pushed to leave the profession for this reason.

Because there comes a point when you can't be part of a system that you believe is harmful/souless etc etc

It's not a decision taken lightly and most of your arguments will be what had kept them in position this long.

If you feel you are complicit in an agenda that harms children more than it helps them, the ethical thing to do is to stand down. How they will replace you isn't your problem to solve.

Whilst I totally accept that any headship post is becoming more and more of a difficult job, this has to be looked at in context. The last Ofsted report was in November 2017 at which point the head teacher was off on long term sick leave. The outcome of the inspection was that the school required improvement and one of the key outcomes says

" Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:
– leaders rigorously monitor the impact of teaching on pupils’ progress
– strategies to improve the performance of teachers focus on pupils’ progress
– development plans are precise about how actions are intended to improve pupils’ progress in order to evaluate their success ".

The head teacher is making her own decision to resign and she is perfectly entitled to her own opinions on how to run a school but clearly it is best for her to go and allow somebody else to lead and manage the school so that all the pupils are getting the education they deserve.

admission

Casting aspersions on the leadership of someone who was on long-term sick leave is a low one, isn't it?

Anyway, the decision doesn't have to be looked at in context. The Head was clear about the reasons for her resignation - not the Ofsted report (thousands of schools get 'required improvement'), so it doesn't seem particularly relevant to me.