Educational Leadership Simplified: A guide for existing and aspiring leaders

About the Book

Leading in education is a difficult job to do well. Political, financial and organisational pressures need to be managed smartly and difficult decisions need to be made. Written in Bob Bates′ trademark style, this guide offers concise and clear support to help you lead and inspire in education. In collaboration with Andy Bailey, a former headteacher and school inspector with recent Ofsted lead inspection experience, Bob combines practical knowledge of leadership roles in education with robust theories underpinning leadership and management.

Covering a wide range of key areas including team-building, coaching, conflict, change and budget management, creating a supportive work environment and working with various stakeholders - this is the go-to companion for anyone who is, or aspires to be, a senior leader in schools, colleges and other educational organisations.

Also from Bob Bates:
Learning Theories Simplified
A Quick Guide to Special Needs and Disabilities

Table of Contents:
Introduction Leadership and Management Equality & Diversity Safeguarding Coaching and Mentoring Teams Motivation Strategy Managing Quality Human Resource Management Managing Budgets Managing Change Stakeholders Culture Project Management Monitoring and Evaluation Managing Communication Managing time Summary: A True Story

About the Author :
Bob Bates was a Senior Executive in the Civil Service for twenty years. During this time, he also worked as a staff trainer and coach and mentor to people with disabilities. He then set up his own Management & Training Consultancy (The Arundel Group), which celebrates its 25th anniversary next year. His work as a management consultant covered a number of local and central government projects as well as working as a trainer with major UK private sector companies. In the late 1990s Bob started a lecturing career, during which time he gained two Masters Degrees in Management and Education and a PhD in Education. He has taught over 1000 teachers and trainers on graduate and post-graduate programmes at two universities. He currently manages and teaches on City & Guild Teaching Award, Certificate and Diploma courses in a Community College The first edition of Learning Theories Simplified was Bob’s third book. His first book, The Little Book of BIG Management Theories, written with Jim McGrath, was on W.H, Smiths’ non-fiction best sellers list for nearly a year, is being translated into fifteen languages, including Japanese and Arabic, and was chosen by the Chartered Management Institute as the CMI’s Practical Management Book of the Year for 2014. His second book, The Little Book of BIG Coaching Theories, published in February 2015, was also a best seller and has been translated into German and Thai. His fourth book, A Quick Guide to Special Needs and Disabilities, was published by SAGE in 2016 and his fifth book, Leadership Theories Simplified, was published by SAGE in 2017. Bob shares his time these days between writing, working voluntarily for a charity that promotes health and education in the Gambia, researching into offender learning and homelessness and teaching Adult Education Teachers. Bob can be contacted through his web site bobbates.co.uk (here you get an option to pick Research or Bad Bob Bates – please choose the former) or email saddlers9899@aol.com Andy Bailey has been an education practitioner for nearly 50 years. He was the Head Teacher of a primary school in the West Midlands for 26 years from 1983 until 2009. From 2000 until 2005 he was an External Advisor for the national programme for the Performance Management of Head Teachers. He was a School Improvement Partner employed by the Birmingham and Walsall Education Authorities to work within a number of schools between 2006 and 2011. From 2012 until 2015 he was an inspector for Ofsted working as a Lead Inspector in 2014 and 2015. Since his retirement from his head teacher’s post he has worked as a consultant in a number of primary schools in Birmingham and Walsall. Andy has also written or co-written a number of educational publications for practitioners and pupils in England and Wales and the Caribbean and has lectured to teachers, managers and advisers in a number of local authorities and universities in England and also in the Caribbean.

Review :

An excellent introduction to the skills and behaviours readers will need to be effective leaders. Linking a range of tools and techniques throughout the book, the authors ensure that readers will become proficient in their use and the introduction to a range academic theories. This is a superb starting point for further research.

This book is not intended only for headteachers, but other kinds of leaders in school too, such as curriculum leaders. The writing style is very engaging; it′s not over-chatty, but neither is it as dry as dust. What is especially refreshing is that it takes a pragmatic view of things. For instance, are you a leader or a manager? In practice, people tend to be a bit of both. The author′s pragmatism may be seen in the kind of topics covered: managing budgets, managing change, managing time, teams and others. Many theories are drawn upon, and are presented in small helpings, usually with bullet points. Case studies of true stories but with names changed serve to both illustrate theories and provide material for theoretical analysis - and the lists of the kinds of people to be found in leadership positions should convince you that, whatever your situation, you are not alone.