3.1.1 Middle leaders foster an ethos to support self-evaluation and plan specific opportunities.

For this to take place I believe that successful schools place an emphasis on high-quality self-evaluation and the development of systems that allow practitioners to challenge themselves to improve the quality of learning experiences they offer young people. As a link Depute Head Teacher for English, Geography, RMPS and Classics I have aimed to create a culture of critical self-reflection in line with school policy through formal review, data collection, sharing interesting practice, as well as listening to the pupil voice. This information allows all staff to be fully informed and prepared to initiate change as appropriate. The staff in my faculties feel comfortable with sharing ideas and observing teaching and learning on both a formal and informal basis. Gathering a range of feedback and differing perspectives allows for teams to challenge their thinking, resulting in high quality professional discussion. Because of going through these processes, staff have an increased awareness of how they can adapt practice to best meet the needs of the learners. Exploring the topic of ‘Flourish’ allowed me to reflect on how I foster the ethos to support effective self-evaluation with my link faculties. Having a level of empathy to understand the emotions and insights of my staff has been key to a smooth working environment. However, “dilemmas, tensions and conflicts can also be opportunities for growth in understanding” (O’Brien, 2015: 15). Furthermore, Bryk and Schneider (2002) state that school systems are often a bit messy and that middle leaders require relational trust to hold this ‘messy reality’ together. This is quite often the case when staff members feel overloaded with work, initiatives or policy documents and my role is to make sense of the complexity and instil meaning so that staff are part of the vision in moving their faculty forward. Reflecting on ‘Flourish’ and what I want to ‘Transmit’, it became clear that Middle Leaders play an instrumental role in helping to shape the teaching and learning culture as well as build relational trust so that a shared vision can be aimed for. It is important that I am critically self-reflective and promote a culture of honesty, openness, trust and directedness, all of which are fundamental in aiming for successful collaboration of a team.

In terms of individual self-evaluation, modelling good practice by self-evaluating against the appropriate standards and benchmarks is important. Carrying out the 360-evaluation helped increase my self-awareness and allows me to reflect on targets for personal development. I also believe that engaging in professional dialogue and discussion with colleagues across the authority and nationally is imperative to self-development. Setting leadership goals and engaging in continuous professional learning allows me to best contribute to effective school improvement. Reflecting on what I want my ‘Legacy’ to be as part of the VIBE course was powerful and allowed me to put a perspective on what the most important elements of the job are for me. Starting with asking myself ‘why’ has reminded me to think about the bigger picture and put a perspective on what is most important within my job. For me, it is about never underestimating the power of the everyday interactions with those around me- pupils, staff, parents. The following Mayo Angelou quote sticks with me, “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”. Too often we hear from adults who talk about a negative encounter they had with a staff member or how they felt when they were told ‘they would never be good enough’, I don’t want that to be my legacy.