In a 20-year career, I’ve jumped ship a few times. Sometimes it’s for good reasons (a cabin upgrade), sometimes for not such good reasons (the captain’s acting like he’s been at the rum rations).
However, while you can know what you’re leaving, it is almost impossible to know what you’re joining. Committing yourself to a school you don’t know much about is a big gamble and, come September, you don’t want to look down and discover that you’ve just bought a return ticket for the Titanic. Believe me, I know that feeling.
On one memorable occasion, two days into a new post, I found myself around the conference table with seven senior leadership team colleagues. Within five minutes it was clear that the only voice that would be heard was the head’s; our job was to sit and nod as the interminable monologue rolled itself out like a one-act, modernist play.
There is hope, however. Following some hideous experiences, I have learned a thing or two about spotting dysfunctional organisations. Take heart: this is far less complex than it sounds as, in reality, there is only one type of dysfunctional organisation – all the others are mutations of the same virus.
The diagnosis
On visiting a prospective employer, I now look for small details that are likely to be symptoms of a toxic working environment. The greater the number of symptoms, the more likely my diagnosis is accurate.
Start with a school’s website, building, playground, lobby and correspondence. They can tell you a lot about how it functions – after all, these features constitute the public face of the institution and, if you are planning to look at that face on a daily basis, it should be well scrutinised.
Look for signs of twitching, uncontrollable gurning or the blank, thousand-yard stare of corporate culture. If the overall impression is chaotic or cold, it is likely this is how you will feel working there.
Standing outside a playground and analysing the type of noise generated by it can also be useful as it can tell you about the quality of behaviour and social interaction that is acceptable in the school. If the games seem dangerous and the adults are shouting, you can draw some easy conclusions.
Spending 10 minutes in the school’s reception area can also provide clues as to how adults and children deal with each other once inside. It is also worth noting how adults relate to each other, especially school management. If you don’t feel any warmth, pay very close attention to any other interactions you come across as you take the pre-application tour.
On any walkabout, you will get good opportunities to see how “the suits” deal with the school staff and pupils. On one such visit I made, it was clear that there was absolutely no rapport between the headteacher and the children – we walked and talked as the children passed by like dull weather. The only exchange initiated by the adult was a reprimand about school uniform.
On entering a classroom with this head, the poor teacher’s face adopted a look that I last saw in Evil Dead II: a spasm of horror that slumped back into ground-down despair. This told me as much as I needed to know about communication, culture and, more precisely, who the school had been set up to serve. If the sole purpose of a school is to anoint the ego of the headteacher, there is no need to inform anyone else of a walk round with a prospective employee.
These are the schools where you will find that reduced teaching hours are a signifier of importance and increased teaching hours are a punishment. If you are ambitious and not interested in your profession, this is perfect for you.
Downton divide
In these non-collaborative environments, you are also likely to hear the word “staff” used in a way reminiscent of Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey, and there will be an equally clear divide between upstairs and downstairs. Such a “top-down” approach will ensure that any stakeholder consultation, including those undertaken with “staff”, will be viewed with disdain. This cannot fail to lead to an exploitative culture. In such an environment, you are likely to end up working with those who value data over humanity.
It is also likely that you will be treated as a Job Description whose aim is to Add Value to the business by having Structured Conversations with another Job Description. If you are really lucky and do exactly what the policies tell you to, you could fast-track your way to having no contact with children whatsoever.
Unsurprisingly, these cultures are more common in larger schools and multi-academy trusts because posturing grandeur is laughable when placed on the small stage. However, the size of the organisation is only one indicator of possible dysfunction. Others to look out for are: an excess of logos, Xeroxed classroom environments, joyless or fearful pupils, a general lack of character and an abundance of personnel who conduct themselves with clipped efficiency or a corporate swagger in the Clarkson vein. If you are a creative or intellectual type, avoid these schools at all costs – they will destroy you.
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