When recruitment teams in schools begin their search to fill vacancies for the next school year, job descriptions are reviewed, pre-requisites for various roles are determined and discussion of the ideal candidates takes place.

In terms of determining the ideal candidate we may consider the ethos of our respective schools and what the ‘right fit’ might be. When determining ‘fit’, significant emphasis can be placed on where the school needs to go next, the longer term vision or the improvements that are needed. Then when reviewing candidates, we may scrutinize whether a candidate either has experience of making the desired improvements or has the capacity to make them.

Sometimes, when considering candidates we neglect to consider where we are on our school improvement journey. An important question to ask first and foremost is whether a candidate has the ability to accept the current situation in our schools and work from that point. Therefore, does the candidate have a degree of tolerance for the things that perhaps are not going so well, the day to day frustrations that need to be addressed while working towards school improvement? Will the chosen candidate be able to adjust and adapt to our current situation yet have the ability to move us forward?

If we overlook our current situation and its challenges when recruiting, we may hire wonderful visionaries and educators with wonderful ideals and aspirations but perhaps unable to make the first few steps on that journey in our schools, as they are unable to address the present circumstances when they arrive.

Change often involves multiple steps but it is those first few steps that are the most important to create the momentum for school improvement even if you know what the destination looks like.

Photo by João Ferrão on Unsplash