Good Morning Scotland
Radio Scotland
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
Good morning,
There is news this week in the Scottish press about the number of Head Teachers taking early retirement and the difficulties involved in finding other teachers willing to take their places at the helm. A number of reasons are cited for this dearth of talent but a recurrent complaint emerges about the issue of school inspections and the increasing burden of administration placed on Head Teachers relating to funding and educational targets.
We don’t, as a nation, have a particularly easy time striking the proper balance between initiative and obligation
If you “move the bar up” then your manager, your head teacher or your chief executive may well tweak the budget within bounds, or justify his funding, or motivate employees to provide even more exemplary care. But challenges, in and of themselves, do not always produce good results. Such challenges may end up producing a careful response rather than a creative one. We should perhaps not be surprised that when the balance achieved is out of kilter fewer motivated people put themselves in the line of fire.
I can still remember the faces and names of two or three remarkable teachers in the later years of High School who made all the difference for me as a struggling secondary student. I have known a head teacher of a primary school back in Canada who, along with the locally elected School Board rebuilt the reputation of a failing small town school. I have known volunteers on governance boards of local charities who know more about the problems besetting their clients than any of the statutory authorities whose job it was to fund them or regulate them.
The church has no monopoly on people with a strong sense of ‘calling’. Such individuals are an asset worth protecting and nurturing. We trust that their calling will overcome the obstacles in front of them. They need to feel not only accountable but also valued and supported. We’ve all been enriched at some point in our lives by such people.
