Warwickshire's Ethical Leadership model goes international

What, you might ask, is a long-serving headteacher from Warwickshire doing at a conference in Shanghai presenting a paper on ethical leadership? Well, it is a long story…

The poet John Donne famously wrote that ‘no man is an island'. In education we can extend that metaphor to say that no school or education system is an island.

When serving as President of the Association of School and College Leaders in 2014-15, I attended the Helsinki Convention of the International Confederation of Principals (ICP), the only group that aims to represent school leaders worldwide. Having gained a huge amount from the chance to compare notes with teachers and leaders across the world, I stood for election to ICP’s Executive and since then have tried to play my part in fostering these worldwide connections.

Rather foolishly, when I first stood for election I thought it would just be a matter of attending a series of video-conferences and sharing a few ideas from the UK’s rather mixed recent experiences of education. Four years on I realise there is rather more to it than that.

My current role involves overseeing the constitution and governance structure that draws together leaders from different continents, a process that is fascinating but not always straightforward. And yes, I have also had the privilege of working with the organising committee that is putting together a worldwide conference of school leaders in Shanghai from 23-25 October.

The aspect of the English system that particularly interests delegates from around the world is our current focus upon ethical leadership. As one colleague from Australia observed ‘We all agree that you need to do the right thing - the problem is, how do you know what it is?’

As part of the conference I will be leading a seminar on ethical leadership and plan to share some of the excellent work that has been done in Warwickshire. I believe that the approaches we are developing are at the cutting edge not just in the UK but also worldwide.

Perhaps instead of John Donne, a better poet to express my experience with ICP is Robert Burns, who wished that 'some power would the gift give us to see ourselves as others see us'. Despite some fuzziness and smudges, that reflection in the international mirror continues to be fascinating.

Dr Peter Kent

Headteacher, Lawrence Sheriff School and Chair of the Education Challenge Board