I've inevitably become something of an expert on meetings after what seems a lifetime of staff meetings, governors' meetings, department meetings, RAL meetings, union meetings, CPD, leading from the middle, leading from the front, leading from the rear, and leading from "where the hell are we now?" meetings. But I'm rarely able to forget that Rome did not create an empire by having meetings. The Romans did it by killing all those who opposed them, though I've never understood a policy that dictates beatings until morale improves. Meetings generally ensure that a problem shared is a problem multiplied, but at least a meeting ensures that everyone has a fair chance at being incompetent.
Meetings blether on about teamwork and ownership, a neat way of never having to take the blame yourself. They are also a way of avoiding responsibility; never forget what you don't do today will become someone else's responsibility tomorrow. Be patient! Responsibility is like swine flu: it's vastly over-rated, and if you wait long enough it will either fade away or pass you altogether. Sit there, quietly, but with the attentive expression of a dumb dog alert in case a biscuit is on offer. Above all, never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience. Incidentally, no offence where none intended.
Now let's get something straight: I am neither advising nor telling people what to do. I accept that if you've got lots of managers you've got to find something for them to manage! What's the point of being a Chief if you're doing exactly the same as the Ten Little Indians? But so much energy is drained from the art and act of teaching that students end up with precious little of YOU if your energies and enthusiasms have been drained away by the vampires of bureaucracy.
I have been incredibly fortunate that at the Nottidge/CCW I've been pretty well left to my own devices, though perhaps not for the reasons I've taken pleasure in. Generally, I've been pointed like an Exocet missile at the problem and left to get on with it. On reflection, that's the approach adopted towards me in every school where I've taught. Does that say more about me than it does about the schools?
This does not mean I've always got things right; I'm only human (discuss) and I get things wrong; it's part of the package. I can only hope I've done more good than harm. And what is the test of that? For me it isn't 5 A*-Cs, important though that may be, but it is men and women after 20 years, sometimes after 40, coming up to me with a big smile saying, "You won't remember me, but...." Ah, but I do. It is the person not the output that matters to me. If I've made someone's world just a bit happier, job done! Yes, what I shall miss most about teaching is laughter, and above all the laughter of children.
I have promised practical advice so... Whenever I have led a Department, I have made it my practice to write the minutes in advance. Then at the meeting I read out the minutes that we then discuss and amend as agreed. AOB is usually coffee and biscuits at which the real work gets done. Everyone trots off happily while I remain to a create an Agenda whose outcome is the Minutes we have agreed on. The following morning I send copies of the the Agenda and the Minutes to all involved, including my line manager who is delighted that everything, as usual, is in excellent order.
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