Welcome to issue 93 of Leadership Focus.
With NAHT’s Annual Conference not long in the memory, we’ve dedicated our lead feature to the association’s campaign priorities for the year ahead, which focus on restoring pay in education, fixing school funding and investing in pupil and family services, as well as ending forced academisation and tackling child poverty. We know these five issues comprise most of what is affecting our members, and in this issue, we’ll be laying out how NAHT intends to secure meaningful change in these areas.
We’ll also be taking an in-depth look at the early career framework, including some of the concerns members have had since its launch and explaining how NAHT, in its conversations with the Department for Education, has been attempting to get some of these issues addressed.
There’s an opportunity for you to get to know this year’s president, Paul Gosling, a little better with our profile piece, which looks at his career so far, his chosen charity and his ambitions for the year ahead.
Finally, don’t miss the incredibly informative conversation our journalist Nic Paton has with renowned educationalists Tim Brighouse and Mick Waters about their new book, ‘About Our Schools: improving on previous best’, which provides a fascinating overview of education policy from the late 1970s to the present day. So be sure to take a look at their ideas on how school leaders can feel more fulfilled in their role by ‘regarding crisis as the norm and complexity as the fun’, as Tim puts it.
I hope you enjoy this issue and wish you a relaxing and rewarding summer break.
David Gilmore
NAHT head of communications
First published 19 July 2022