Federation

I’m told that this Education board has the highest number of “education professionals” for some time.
 
You’d think they’d know better then.
 
If you want to introduce any radical change then the first step is to bring on board those whom the changes will affect the most.
 
Instead, this Board seem to think that they can treat their staff like chess pieces. We’re a bit weak in this corner so let’s just move you where we think you’ll be of more use.
 
Maybe that chess piece was more than happy where they were. 

Maybe they even made a conscious decision that being in that particular square was the best place for them. But no, the chess master knows better.
 
This is not the way to do things.
 
People are not chess pieces and you cannot just chop and change as you think best.
 
This Board seem to have forgotten that their most valuable asset is their staff, and I don’t mean those manning the desks in HQ or those few brains deemed capable of having Visions.
 
You have, in the main, a dedicated and hardworking set of professional people who spend every day at the sharp end and who just might have some ideas of their own for getting out of the mess your predecessors have created. Stop treating them as the enemy and consult.
 
Consult as a precursor to potential change and not as an afterthought when your minds and plans are already set in concrete.
 
Be open and frank about what you want to strategically achieve and seek comments and input as to how this ideal might be made real. 

It’s a long way down from your tower and you probably can’t see the potential problems on the ground from up there.
 
Schools are communities to be nurtured and not silos to be stormed and defeated.
 
By all means share best practice but let it be done willingly and voluntarily. No horse is going to drink from this well of knowledge if they are forced to the water's edge at the wrong end of the whip.
 
It’s just not good enough and you should know better.