Graphical user interface, text Description automatically generated with medium confidence

School leaders from across the globe discussed the shifting educational landscape in the aftermath of the pandemic.

On January 30 and 31, the UCL Centre for Educational Leadership held its annual conference, Connecting Research, Policy and Practice – Leading into the Future in London. This was a gathering of the greatest minds in education today, both in England and internationally.

The centre provides programmes that are both academically and nationally accredited for more than 20,000 school leaders from across the globe. It works in partnership with 25 of the 87 currently designated English Teaching School hubs.  The centre was established by Dame Pat Collarbone in 1997.

The material published before the conference drew attention to the essential role that schools play in a teacher’s development, stating that ‘teachers who excel and whose students excel with them do not just do so on their own.’  Through its speakers and attendees, the conference expanded on this notion and discussed how it can be achieved most effectively. 

Opening remarks

The conference was opened by Faculty of Education and Society Prof Wei LI, director of the IOE, of which the Centre is part. He drew attention to the IOE’s 121 year history of training teachers and its status as the leading education institute in the world every year since 2014. The IOE is part of UCL, which is a top-ten global university and can trace its roots back to 1826.

Director of the centre, Professor Qing Gu then explained her hopes that the conference would create a space for dialogue between the research community and the education profession, to improve the life chances of the students they all served. The vision and core values of the Centre are to ‘lead research-informed teacher and leadership development that makes a difference to pupil learning and achievement’. The conference would also enhance the school-university partnership, which would result in new ways of thinking, doing and practising.

The case for Compassionate Leadership

The keynote speech was provided by Professor Kathryn Riley, Professor of Urban Education at the Centre. The speech, When the Going Gets Tough ….. Is Compassionate Leadership the Way Forward along with Professor Riley’s supporting paper, set the context in which we have all been forced to manage during the past four years, of surviving COVID-19 and its aftermath and dealing with a cost of living crisis brought about in part by an energy crisis.

Professor Riley split the remainder of her speech into three parts. The first, ‘Riding the Leadership Wobble Board’ referred to a period of uncertainty following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions when her research into the work of 16 head teachers revealed that they faced a dilemma over whether they should return to the familiarity of their old leadership practices or adopt new, less structured and in many cases more compassionate approaches.

Part two involved evidence from social commentators and political analysts to record that while the pandemic was now over, the negative impact on many young people continues. Disadvantaged students in particular have regressed further than their peers during this period in all aspects of their learning, including their social and emotional development.

Part three: Letting Compassion have its Day, posed the argument that many more students were demonstrating behavioural problems and living in poverty. To counter this, two different approaches to leadership were emerging: a command and control approach and a rational and compassionate one. Professor Riley champions the latter but sees that for many leaders it is not easy to adopt. There are the risks of failing in the eyes of the inspection regime and the reluctance to try a new approach in a new context. She draws comparisons with the health service, which has been faced with similar challenges, and distils four behaviours of the compassionate leader: that they understand their students, they empathise with them and they help them.

When these behaviours are adopted, they bring about a sense of connectivity and belonging, release creativity and a can-do approach.This is not just a teacher to student approach or a head teacher to teacher approach but one that should be adopted by the whole system.

Concluding, Professor Riley stated: “The educational rewards of compassionate leadership are rich and the costs minimal.”

Her presentation was then followed by a panel discussion on which two of our colleagues, Professor Dame Christine Gilbert and Professor Roger Pope, sat. We will return to the conference in our next blog post and have created a link to the rest of the programme.

For those who have an interest in serendipity, it is interesting to note that the UCL/IOE of which the Centre for Education Leadership is part is situated less than a ten minute walk away from Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. Two world class institutions dedicated to ensuring children have the best start in life possible.

Take care and stay safe

George