Training for leadership is crucial - but who's going to pay?

Sustained cuts to professional development budgets mean schools in Wales will only be able to do the training they have to do, rather than training they want to do, NAHT Cymru President David Griffiths has warned.

But heads continue to remain in the dark about what training they can fund at all.

The recent cabinet reshuffle in Cardiff Bay which has seen a new Education Minister in post for just a few weeks, means decisions are still being made about how much funding will be available for CPD.

Leighton Andrews is keen to make radical changes. His announcement last week of an independent review into how schools are funded offers hope of less bureaucracy and more money for the frontline. Could Heads soon be allowed to access certain budgets - like CPD - directly, and decide their own priorities on what to fund? 

Stark Cuts

For the time being however, schools are faced with some stark cuts that have already influenced this year's development budget.

With a massive £12m cut in the Better Schools Fund budget for 2010/11 (down from £36.94m last year to £24.7m); LPSH funding removed last August; PHIP funding still under review and the axing of the GTCW’s Continued Professional Development programme this year, heads are naturally worried about their own training needs and those of their staff.

A review is still ongoing into funding and professional standards, CPD and performance management, to ensure that the system is “well focussed to support the education workforce in Wales”.  The review is considering ways to improve the existing leadership development opportunities available to head teachers in Wales and how to develop aspiring leaders more effectively.  

Given the extra commitments Heads face, there has never been a greater need for professional support for school leaders, yet any changes to delivery of CPD will now have to be made in the context of a challenging financial climate.

“Proposals arising from the review of professional standards, CPD and performance management will take account of the current financial constraints and will focus on ways of achieving the best possible opportunities for the workforce in the most cost effective and efficient way,” said a WAG spokeswoman.

'Wellbeing' training 

Terry Williams, Vice President of NAHT Cymru says there are “serious fears” about the impact the cuts will have on schools.

“The initiatives continue to rain down, but the funding has dried up,” he said. At Litchard Primary School in Bridgend, where he is the head, his staff have benefited from all sorts of courses over the years from basic curriculum training; learning Welsh as a second language and promoting thinking skills, to management and first aid.

“All the staff say that their training has been incredibly useful but things will now have to be cut back. There has been a lot of emphasis on ‘wellbeing’ training, things like health and safety, cooking and gardening but we won’t be able to do these things any more. There are lots of uncertainties.”

As well as teachers, heads themselves face uncertainty over their own development. David Griffiths says a significant gap has been left by the withdrawal of funding for the Leadership Programme for Serving Heads (LPSH) which offered valuable mentoring and skills development.  84% of heads surveyed in a recent report said the programme was effective or very effective yet there is uncertainty as to what will replace it.

Mr Griffiths says cutting the programme was an easy target in tough times but short sighted in terms of long term development of school leaders.

“I found the training offered through LPSH very useful,” he said. “It gave Heads a 360 degree review of themselves, a safe group in which to discuss issues openly and an opportunity to review techniques and skills. Heads can often feel isolated with no one to act as a mentor.”

Gary Brace chief executive of the General Teaching Council for Wales has made his feelings clear about the Assembly Government’s decision to axe its CPD grants scheme which has received more than £24m since the scheme began in 2001 and provided training for over 4,500 teachers annually. With many schools reporting that they rely heavily on this source of funding to allow their staff to undertake training, has said it is nothing short of a “massive blow”.

Re-skilling the future workforce

Gary Brace believes cuts to the professional development budgets of teachers and heads will have serious consequence not only for education but the economy as whole. He says the teaching profession is at the heart of leading Wales out of recession and investing in staff’s continued development will be crucial to re-skilling the future workforce.

“At a time of economic recession we should be investing for the future,” he said. “But I am concerned that programmes are not being replaced with anything. I have heard it said that it is now a luxury to have CPD for every teacher but I think it’s essential.

“We support fully the Government’s policies, the Foundation Phase, 14-19 agenda and the Welsh Bac but it all rests on teachers. We can have as many innovative policies as we like but delivery is by teachers.”

WAG has committed £900,000 this year to wrap up its commitments to the GTCW’s CPD programme, and there are just two weeks left to sign up to training before it is closed to new applicants. The remainder of this money will be invested in the piloting of the Chartered Teacher programme which was never intended as a complete replacement to the CPD programme.

The government has already stated its support for developing the programme but the GTCW hopes to get a firm commitment of further funding by the end of this month so it can be rolled out across Wales from September.

Mal Davies, chairman of the GTCW, has written to the new minister calling for the programme to be fully funded, building up to full implementation by 2014 when up to 500 teachers could take part each year.

A report published in November and commissioned by DCELLS to “identify the employment and career needs and aspirations of current and aspiring school leaders” showed how important support and guidance is to school leaders. Heads will be hoping that any new arrangements take heed of its recommendations.

Tailored mentoring 

Two key issues were repeatedly identified in relation to development needs.

Firstly, the changing nature of the role over the last five years has placed ever

increasing demands on Headteachers; and secondly many Headteachers felt

isolated in their role and did not feel they had enough access to support or challenge.

Despite this, the biggest gap in provision is in tailored coaching or mentoring for Heads.

The report found that Headteachers would value some form of mentoring and a greater opportunity for networking with other colleagues so they can draw on each other’s experiences. Such opportunities exist in some LAs (which are in addition to the LPSH), but they are not widespread.

National and local training provision has been developed to support heads

and future Headteachers in their role through the National Headship Development

Programme. But the report found that there is uneven access to training provision in Wales at both Headship level and for aspiring heads. Middle management level training provision across Wales seems “particularly uneven” it said. 

As well as quality of provision there also remain significant issues over access. According to the headship report 36% of Headteachers from primary schools and 10% of heads from secondary schools stated that the cost of supply cover for attending courses was a significant issue. 70% of primary school Headteachers said finding the necessary time off to attend courses was either a “very significant or a significant problem”.

The Assembly Government says it will be able to provide more information on funding arrangements for CPD “in a few weeks”. A spokeswoman for the Assembly Government said:  "The Education Minister will be considering the development of Professional Standards, Performance Management and Continuous Professional Development policies within the next few weeks when detailed decisions around their direction including the short, medium and long term development of the leadership programmes, will be taken."

Heads will have to wait a bit longer to find out what and how much training they can afford to offer their staff.