Conversation with the headmaster from hell.

I recently visited a grammar school in the county (for a job I wouldn't have taken for all the money in the world). I arrived at about 3:30PM. School was out and a seemingly endless line of smug looking pupils came through the huge wooden entrance doors. I stood -invisible perhaps -at the side, waiting in awe as not one of them had the good grace to either step aside and let me through, or do so little as smile! The headmaster -who to me appeared a smarmy, egotistical, singularly ill-mannered man -had me sit in an unneccesarily large leather chair and proceeded to lecture me about the evils of his current ICT teacher. (perhaps I will dedicate another entry to this particular conversation and the utter unprofessionalism of it all). The evil he referred to of course, had nothing to do with morality -but was entirely tied in to this thing schools use as a yardstick for success -exam results. The man went on and on, producing fat book after fat book, and photocopied document after photocopied document, to substantiate his displeasure with the 2008 ICT exam results. The evidence of course pointed to two ICT teachers (both still at the school, although one has now found a job elsewhere ) that had managed to get all their pupils a pass but not enough of them through to A*s!

During the process of the interview, the conversations we had were many, but the comments he made about his staff outshone everything else. The words "useless", "duff" and "lazy" were used. One of the other men in the interview, who appeared -for the record -to be all these things -was a little more subtle. His questions revolved around how I would go about motivating an "unmotivatable" member of staff.

I am intrigued, truly intrigued, as to how this headmaster has managed to remain so (and indeed get the job in the first place) for a number of reasons (most of which wouldn't be politically correct to comment on here). I am also amazed as to how he has gotten this far in his career without someone pointing out to him that staff are among a schools greatest assets and that a certain degree of professionalism in Education is expected if not crucial. What unnverved me most was that the interview may as well have been for a position in business development. Heads would roll, he clarified, if targets weren't met -exactly the sort of thing you would expect to happen in a cut throat sales world. Surely not in a school!