After my previous leadership role at a big academy trust, I felt drawn in a new direction. While many are lured by roles and responsibilities that lead to career advancements, the pull for me was deeper. I wanted to join an organisational culture that appealed to my ideals and beliefs about education.
When I saw the job description for the Regional Education Director role in the North region, AET's endorsement of the Project H mindsets stood out as a refreshing change from more traditional approaches in education. Here was an ethos of improvement that championed fresh ideas and evidence-based strategies through five guiding principles.
Share ideas early, often and honestly
Embrace constructive disagreement
Value ideas, not ego
Be curious and open to new ideas
Focus on facts and reason
A culture where actions can be led by these mindsets felt like a refreshing move away from many worn-out "we say, you do" approaches often found in education - it looked like a culture that actively encouraged challenge and support.
Many of our principals have been given a significant degree of autonomy during their time at AET, so a culture enacted by these mindsets is vital. Now, in my newly appointed role at AET, it is my responsibility to embed the mindsets into the culture of school improvement within and between our three secondary schools in the North.
By promoting these ideals, I want to create a school improvement culture grounded in constructive support and challenge, even if it might be hard to digest sometimes. But it's essential that such feedback, whether given or received, is rooted in genuine goodwill and positive intention to prioritise our students over our egos.
Now, across AET, we are all bound by a network vision of AET490. To achieve this vision, we are unapologetic that there needs to be a certain degree of alignment. For many in education, the word "alignment" carries an undertone. It implies change.
My role is to facilitate deep collaboration, ensuring schools work collectively to improve outcomes and opportunities for all children across the region. In crafting a new regional culture in the North, my responsibility is to be an unwavering advocate for our vision, making sure its rationale is clear.
The foundational principle of AET490 – that every student should access excellent education regardless of classroom or school – must deeply resonate.
While each of our schools is at a distinct stage of evolution, it's crucial to note that although AET490 might feel like a race, our primary ambition remains to deliver sustainable change. We should march forward as quickly as possible but as slowly as needed.
Copying the practice of our high-performing schools might seem an easy blueprint, but lasting improvement must fit each school's ethos. The balance between a national vision of network excellence and localism is delicate. It’s something we are thinking about intentionally in the North region of AET.
Throughout my career, I have worked diligently to bridge the educational divide between the North and the South. Despite the North often standing in the shadow of the South educationally, with the right approach, our children can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their southern counterparts.
At AET, our aim goes beyond just academic achievement. We envision that by the time a young person completes their journey with us, whether after Year 6 or Year 11, the unmistakable traits of an AET education should shine through. We want employers in the North to instantly recognise the unique qualities of an AET student when they come across one.
In collaboration with my Regional Director for primary education, we are taking an expansive approach towards shaping our students. Through cross-phased teamwork and candid dialogues, we are identifying the experiences that will mould AET children in the North into well-rounded individuals.
Enrichment programmes aren't add-ons. They will be central to a distinctively AET educational experience in the North. This extends from visiting museums locally to an excursion to London, starting from their formative years and continuing until they reach the age of 16.
Many organisations, educational or otherwise, can boast about their successes. But while their methods might be tried-and-true, they sometimes lack flexibility. Complacency can be a creeping danger - without adaptability, a glossy facade might hide a crumbling foundation.
AET hasn’t yet reached the status of a high-performing organisation. But we're actively recalibrating our culture to deliver a local education that meets our students' needs. These aren’t quick wins - we’re trying to establish ways of working to ensure we don't just ascend to excellence but remain there.
This is part of a series that takes an honest look at the priorities of each of the five regions at AET.
To find out more about the North region, read Craig Nicholson's blog on collective ambition in achieving educational excellence.
As an introduction for this series, Rebecca Boomer-Clark, AET CEO, explains why we have revised our operating model and established five distinct regions.