'But I never intended to become an entrepreneur...'

The world of school leadership is changing and we've reached school-leader-as-entrepreneur v3.1.  By that, I mean that the assumption that school heads will show great enterprise in the way they run their schools is now well-embedded. 

But how many heads, particularly in primaries in the southeast and other relatively hard-to-recruit-in areas, were former deputies persuaded, perhaps somewhat reluctantly by parents and/or governors to take on the mantle of their departing predecessor.  Ok, so they might have tentatively undergone NPQH training (but possibly decided against going on to headship), but still ended up having to be coaxed into the job. 

Anyway, the point is that many people running schools today rose through the system and became heads without any great desire to do so.  And because leadership in schools today automatically seems to be synonymous with entrepreneurship,they find themselves in a place they do not feel qualified or keen to be.  Is it therefore any wonder that the media are reporting that 40% of headteachers are planning to take early retirement?

The big machine that used to support heads in running their schools has been all but dismantled.  Now heads have to come up with their own ideas for whatever works in raising grades to acceptable levels.  If you have not been trained to be enterprising, to take a few risks, to be a bit of a maverick at times, then you are going to struggle in today's climate.  Just about every celebrity head I come across on conference platforms or quoted in the TES fits the mould of the maverick entrepreneur.  They are proud of breaking the rules, as they find new ways of acquiring land, or employing unqualified staff, or changing the leadership structure or getting Bangalorean tutors to coach maths.  If you are not of that ilk, but find yourself at the helm of a school, I wonder how you must be feeling as the next Ms Dynamic Imagonna-Change Daworld steps forward to tell you how she did it.

It's not that I bemoan the age of entrepreneurial leadership; not at all - I'm all for it.  It's just that I think more needs to be done to support school leaders when they - quite suddenly - find themselves in a remarkably stressful position.  I applaud the moves taken by the NAHT at their recent conference to create more supportive structures for such heads.  Let's hope they help to oil the rather blunt cogs and gears that have been whirring of late.