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Introduction

At a time when there is a recruitment shortage in school leadership – due in part to high-stakes accountability, workload and inadequate school funding – this blog post is a reflection on the increasing importance of headteachers positioning themselves as educational researchers. This post is a critical reflection on the need for headteachers to influence and shape the future educational landscape, albeit against the daily commitments of an increasingly pressurised diary.

My experience as a school leader gives me first-hand knowledge of the current lived reality of educational staff. I support the assertion that policymakers must listen closely to headteachers to ensure that policies are grounded in current school reality and take account of localised contexts (Gunter & Forrester, 2009).

Current education policy does not match reality

The job teachers are trained for no longer matches the daily reality of the post-Covid classroom (Wright, 2023). The changing nature of the role of teachers is leading to an unsustainable exodus from the teaching profession. The rising number of children with complex needs contributes to teacher dissatisfaction and attrition rates (De Shazer et al., 2023). Researchers are recommending change without always appreciating the nuance and complexity of the contexts they are investigating (Robinson, 2003). As a serving headteacher, I seldom recognise my voice or school’s context adequately represented in national education policy.

‘As a serving headteacher, I seldom recognise my voice or school’s context adequately represented in national education policy.’

Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD): Training as a headteacher researcher

As a headteacher on the EdD programme, learning how to effectively engage with research and conduct my own research, I am enabling my school to evolve as a self-improving organisation (Gunter & Forrester, 2009). Conducting insider research has allowed me to skilfully consider the interplay between national policy strategy and the realities of my local complexities, which has informed carefully tailored research-based actions within my setting.

My doctoral journey

My doctoral journey has afforded me the opportunity to explore my beliefs, values, motives and experiences that define me in my professional role (Beijaard et al., 2004). Through engagement with the course material and conversations with tutors and fellow doctoral students, I better understand that – while my professional identity continues to evolve – I am unwaveringly committed to conducting insider research in the interest of equity for every child. As a headteacher researcher, I am now finding opportunities for my voice to be heard (Gunter & Forrester, 2009) and no longer feel powerless. I am excited by the possibility of contributing to meaningful change, albeit at a local level (Moore & Clarke, 2016).

Conclusion

I assert that it is not a question of whether headteachers have the time or energy to be researchers but rather that it is imperative that every headteacher positions themselves as researchers. Headteachers know their schools best, and their voices should not be silent in the generation of new knowledge (Gunter & Forrester, 2009). Education policy should focus on the realities of practice (Education Support, 2023), and it is therefore the role of headteachers to create spaces within their schools to identify localised alternatives to the state-led production of knowledge informing those policies. Headteachers consider themselves professional experts within their own schools (Gunter & Forrester, 2009) and so why not be knowledge producers informing and influencing their own school practice and shaping the future of education? Headteachers therefore must find the time and reserve the energy to be researchers – not as a luxury but out of necessity!

References

Beijaard, D., Meijer, P. C., & Verloop, N. (2004). Reconsidering research on teachers’ professional identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 20, 107–128.

De Shazer, M., Owens, J., & Himawan, L. (2023). Understanding factors that moderate the relationship between student ADHD behaviors and teacher stress. School Mental Health, 15, 722–736. ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Ìý

Education Support. (2023) Teaching: the new reality.

Gunter, H. M., & Forrester, G. (2009). School leadership and education policymaking in England. Policy Studies, 30(5), 495–511.

Moore, A., & Clarke, M. (2016). Cruel optimism: Teacher attachment to professionalism in an era of performativity. Journal of Education Policy, 31(5), 666–677,

Robinson, V. (2003). Teachers as researchers: A professional necessity. Set: Research Information for Teachers, 1, 27–30.

Wright, D. S., Weinberg, A. E., Sample McMeeking, L. B., Lin Hunter, D. E., & Balgopal, M. M. (2023). I will survive: Teachers reflect on motivations to remain in education amidst a global pandemic. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 60(6), 1266–1291.