The HR hot seat Comment
It is no coincidence that the role
of HR in the school sector is weak.
It is far behind the curve of many major
public or commercial services
As I walked my son to his
primary school on the first
day of term we saw a beautiful
rainbow arched over the
building. The headteacher
greeted us smiling and told the
children that she had specially
ordered the rainbow to welcome
them back to school.
School leaders are performing
all sorts of miracles every day as
they grapple with the major
challenges in the school sector.
One of those is the biggest
teacher recruitment and
retention crisis in our time,
which is also affecting the talent
pool for school leadership.
This matters to us all, whether
parents ourselves wanting a good
education for our kids, or major
employers waiting for the next
pool of talent to emerge from the
school system.
It is no coincidence that the
role of HR in the school sector
is weak. It is far behind the
curve of many major public or
commercial services and is still
incredibly transactional and old
fashioned. Some are bucking this
trend and there is emerging
HR talent in the sector, but it
is nowhere near at scale. I
am making it my mission to
change this.
Governance is important here.
Academy Ambassadors is an
organisation that helps match
skilled professionals to multiacademy
trust boards. Academy
trusts are essentially charitable
bodies that run schools in a local
area, and at a national level.
Academy Ambassadors research
has shown that relatively few
academy trust school groups
have an HR professional on their
main trustee board. This is no
doubt the same for individual
school governing bodies. School
leaders and trust CEOs therefore
are not getting the challenge and
support they need to develop
great people practice.
Added to this, the academy
trust sector has seen some bad
apples tar its reputation on
governance themes that many
HR directors will be well versed
in: executive remuneration,
culture and ethics.
When I speak to school
leaders about these issues
they often rise to the challenge
and want better HR. The door
is open.
You can make a huge
difference to your local school
and a local or national group
of schools by volunteering
for a governance role. This
could be a school governing
body or a multi-academy trust
(some of which are now major
national charities).
Experienced HR professionals
can bring so much to the table,
contributing to good governance
ethics and supporting school
leadership and the board to know
what to expect from effective HR
practice.You are also having a
direct input into the education
of your future workforce and
can help the school or trust
understand what employers are
looking for.
The CIPD has long
championed school governance
as a great volunteering
opportunity for HR as it
recognises it can give people
good continuing professional
development and board-level
experience. I want as many
HR professionals as possible to
put this on their new year’s
resolution list and volunteer to
get involved.
I can guarantee you won’t
regret it. Working with schools
was the best career decision I ever
made and is full of joy and
reward. While we can’t always
bring rainbows, we can make a
huge difference to the education
and life chances of children. HR
Mandy Coalter is founder of Talent Architects, a trustee of the Diocese of Coventry
Multi Academy Trust and former director of people at United Learning
hrmagazine.co.uk February 2020 HR 15
/hrmagazine.co.uk