Shay Brennan, headteacher at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Bath, knows what it’s like to live and work in Africa: when he was 21 he spent two rewarding years as a VSO volunteer in a Nigerian village with no electricity and where water came from the local stream in buckets carried by students rather than taps. So it’s not surprising, then, that when he was flicking through an issue of Leadership Focus last year a story about short-term volunteers caught his eye.
“I have been a headteacher for more than 14 years and I needed a new challenge,” he says. “I could have quite easily carried on for another six years – I plan to finish as a head and work in South America in 2015 – but I wanted a challenge that would, hopefully, make me a better head. Work is a gift that can so easily become a chore and although I continued to enjoy my work…I felt I was beginning to lose some of the spark that I had ten years ago.”
The challenge that he signed up for to reignite that spark was the 'Leaders in International Development' scheme, which is a joint project between the NAHT, VSO and ASCL. The three-month programme offers English school leaders the opportunity to share their experience with teaching colleagues in Africa while developing their own leadership capabilities.
School management advisor
“My official job description is to act as a school management adviser and support five primary schools,” Shay says by email, telephone connections being somewhat imperfect the day the NAHT’s reporter called. “The first school I visited, Oshakati Primary School, had a newly appointed and very young principal called Thomas Amutenya, 32. We immediately hit it off.” Just how well they get on can be seen in a video on Shay’s blog, www.sirinnamibia.blogspot.com , where Thomas explains that they’re twins, with Shay nine minutes (and several years) older.
Shay and Thomas worked together to tackle a range of management and administration issues at the school. For example, Shay videotaped parts of the lessons that he observed. “This proved immensely popular and was a very powerful tool to illustrate good practice,” he says. “I [also] ran several training sessions on teaching maths and English in grades 1-4. Much of the teaching I observed resembled teaching styles prevalent in the UK 40 years ... In some cases, the teachers talked to the pupils for the whole lesson, so I directed training at getting teachers to provide activity for pupils.”
While he was there to share his experience with others, he feels that he has learnt at least as much from Thomas and his colleagues. That’s one of the reasons why he enthusiastically recommends the experience to other heads in the UK. For a start, it provides excellent professional development for the head and for his or her deputy, who will be able to get an understanding of headship by taking it on during the three month placement. “In a system where it is difficult to recruit head teachers this is a good thing,” Shay says.
Benefits to pupils
Then there are the benefits to pupils. In Shay’s case, he has worked hard to share his experience with the school’s children with photographs, diary entries and videos on his website. (One spectacular example on www.namibiashay.blogspot.com shows a giant millipede that complete dwarfs his mobile phone). “I can think of no better way of bringing to life a very different culture for pupils, other than the highly impractical notion of a school trip to Namibia. Pupils learn at first hand…[for example] Year 6 pupils discover that so many of the people here are affected by the AIDS virus.”
But spending three months working overseas is not a spur-of-the moment decision; there are many factors to consider, Shay says. These include the financial implications for your school (VSO contributes £5,000 towards costs); whether the governors will give permission; and whether your deputy would be able to run the school in your absence. “In my mind this was never in doubt and her management of the school has proven it,” he says. “In fact, I might have to make some changes to my own style of leadership and management to blend in those aspects of her leadership that my colleagues had enjoyed.” Covering his deputy while she filled his position was a little more problematic, as a “small but vocal” group of parents were unhappy with the “very capable” replacement, but this was resolved.
Wildlife!
Shay also discussed the move with his wife and children, who thought it was a great idea (“But I did buy my wife a wood-burning stove and a new settee that she had been wanting for some time,” he adds). Then there’s the scorpions and snakes to think about. “It’s often the first thing that people at home comment on. Fear of snakes and scorpions significantly reduces the risk of being bitten or stung by one. A taxi ride in Namibia carries far greater risk to life and limb.” And that’s what he worried about before he knew that he’d break down in Etosha National Park: “don’t get out of your car if you don’t want to be eaten by lions,” he jokes.
At least, he seems to be joking.
Find out more about the Leaders in International Development scheme at www.vso.org.uk/partnerships/ncsl.asp
Carly Chynoweth is a freelance journalist
who writes about leadership and management
in both the public and private sectors.
Page Published: 15/04/2009
