Month: March 2024

Whilst women make up 76% of the teaching workforce, according to the 2023 DfE school workforce survey, only 70% of school leaders are female. In primary schools, women made up 85% of the workforce in 2020 but only 74% of headteachers were women. In secondary schools, women made up 63% of the workforce but only  40% of headteachers were women.

This statistical imbalance gives us all the more reason, on International Women’s day and all year round, to celebrate some of the amazing women in leadership.

We can all think of women leaders who have inspired us, we can probably also think of many men for whom we can say the same. We may have encountered poor leaders of both genders. This is a celebration of women in leadership, not a denial that some may be less strong and also not ignoring the many great male leaders out there too.

Them picture at the top is me, on my wedding day with the senior leadership team from my school when I was a headteacher. Some fantastic women leaders, and you will notice Paul, a superb male leader too.

Benefits of Women in Leadership

There is a range of evidence showing the benefits women leaders bring to the world of business. It is reasonable, I believe, to suggest that this research would be relevant to the world of education as leading teams has similarities across sectors. This research is not always new, a meta-analysis of 61 studies completed by Eagly et al in 1992 concluded that female leaders demonstrate more transformational leadership style and that women are more likely to model what’s good in the organization and inspire people to go along with its mission.

A study into team effectiveness (Woolley et al 2010) showed that team collaboration is greatly improved by the presence of women in the group. The research showed that groups that included more women or that were led by women exhibited greater equality in conversational turn-taking, which enabled the group members to be responsive to one another and to make the best use of the knowledge and skills of members.

In a national survey by the Pew Research Centre, (Taylor et al 2008), women ranked better than or equal to men in seven of eight traits relevant to leadership. Women were also ranked as being more compassionate, outgoing, and creative.

A social psychology study (Mansi P. Joshi, 2022) showed where organisations had a female leader, there was a perception and anticipation of fairer treatment amongst members of the organisation. They also found that female leaders generated organizational trust in both male and female dominated industries.

Research also shows that where female leaders were appointed to posts such as CEO and board members, stereotypes were less likely to be expressed through language within the organisation (Lawson et. al 2022). The research found that female representation can systematically change gender stereotypes and overcome the trade-off between women being perceived as either competent or likeable.

Celebrating Women Headteachers

It was a privilege to talk to two inspirational women leaders in my Teachers Talk Radio Show on International Women’s Day this year. I spoke to Caren Earp, Head of Henlow Academy in Bedfordshire and Jess Pather, Headteachers of Lea Manor High school in Luton. Both are leading their schools through phases of transition and significant change. Both show strong, purpose driven leadership, care and nurture.

Caren is also a mum, her daughter now in year 11 has been her first priority and has been an interested visitor to her schools. Caren spoke about how she has been inspired by Stella Rimington, former Director general of MI5, who spoke openly about balancing motherhood and leadership at a high level.

Caren spoke with genuine pride of the growth in her school, the role that her team have played in this. She shared some wise words too which she hopes will inspire female leaders to step up. Caren says, “Sometimes the opportunity that is in front of you may not be the one you had in mind”. This has been true for Caren, who stepped in to lead Henlow Academy, growing it form a small Middle School to a flourishing Secondary School – with their first year 11s this academic Year. Congratulations Caren on this journey and for the support you continue to provide to other women in leadership, as a role model to women, including your own daughter, I celebrate you. You are a true example of a woman in leadership championing other women.

https://teacherstalkradio.podbean.com/e/celebrating-women-leaders-in-education-on-international-womens-day-the-twilight-show-with-maxine/

Jess spoke of her own journey and her purpose driven leadership and desire to change lives for young people and the communities she serves was clear. Jess also spoke with genuine pride of the leaders who she has seen grow, particularly from her previous school, who are now taking on major roles and whose influence on the communities they serve is significant. The change in her current school has been phenomenal and continues at a fast pace. She has a broad and diverse team, totally bought into her vision and continues to drive these improvements forward. Jess spoke about her own belief in seeing colleagues as people first and professionals second, of prioritising her people in this way. This is clear in her work too. Jess also advised women to be confident in our abilities, and to pursue your dreams with integrity.

Caren shared a quote from Elbert Hubbard that feels like a common theme in the conversations with both these women leaders, “It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test”. Whether we are talking about women in leadership or leadership in general, this is an important quote.

Celebrating Women in Leadership

I’d like to give a mention to some other women in leadership. Sue Teague, she was headteacher where I was deputy head and taught me a lot about distributed leadership, strategy and giving people the space and skills to do their job. I would also like to give a mention to Anna Rogers, her integrity, determination and purpose, always wanting to ensure the best for the children is a real inspiration.

And Finally – Celebrating The Most Important Woman to Me

Finally, I want to give a mention my first teacher, before I had got as far as school – my mum. My mum taught me to read and write before I had even started school. She didn’t have the opportunity to stay on at school for any further study, leaving school to work in Leicester’s hosiery industry as a factory worker at 15. She was a bright lady and was determined for things to be better for me, she was a talented artist, (much of her work ended up displayed around my primary and secondary schools) and she wrote beautifully. She devoted so much of her life to looking after me and my dad and taught me to work hard, reinforcing key messages like if you want something, work hard and you can achieve it. She taught me to be confident and to speak up if something isn’t right. So my final biggest shout out, for International Women’s Day and for Mothers day this Sunday is my mum, Helen Warner. My biggest inspiration. Thank you. You may not have been around on Earth for some time, but to me, you’re still here, inspiring me every day.

References

Eagly, A. H., Makhijani, M. G., & Klonsky, B. G. (1992). Gender and the evaluation of leaders: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.111.1.3

Eagly, A. H., Nater, C., Miller, D. I., Kaufmann, M., & Sczesny, S. (2020). Gender stereotypes have changed: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of U.S. public opinion polls from 1946 to 2018. American Psychologist, 75(3), 301–315. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000494

Mansi P. Joshi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8780-4612 joshimp@iu.edu and Amanda B. DiekmanView My Fair Lady? Inferring Organizational Trust From the Mere Presence of Women in Leadership Roles Volume 48, Issue 8
https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211035957 personality and Social Psychology bulletin

Lawson M.A, Martin A.E, Huda I, and Matz SC, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; received December 30, 2020; Hiring women into senior leadership positions is associated with a reduction in gender stereotypes in organizational language
February 22, 2022

Paul Taylor, Rich Morin, D’Vera Cohn, April Clark, Wendy Wang, Pew Research Center 202 419-4328 http://pewresearch.org AUGUST 25, 2008 A Paradox in Public Attitudes Men or Women: Who’s the Better Leader?

WILLIAMS WOOLLEY A , CHRISTOPHER F. CHABRIS, ALEX PENTLAND, NADA HASHMI, AND THOMAS W. MALONE Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups
30 Sep 2010, Vol 330, Issue 6004 pp. 686-688

What is Positive Thinking?

Positive thinking means making the most of potential obstacles, trying to see the best in other people, and viewing yourself and your abilities in a positive light. Seligman (1990) defines positive thinking as “approaching life’s challenges with a positive outlook.” Positive thinking doesn’t mean seeing the world through rose-coloured lenses by ignoring or glossing over the negative aspects of life, equally, it doesn’t mean avoiding difficult situations.

Positive thinking is similar in many ways to Positive Psychology and indeed, the terms are often used interchangeably. It is important to understand, however, that they are not the same thing. Positive thinking is about looking at things from a positive point of view. It is a type of thinking that focuses on maintaining a positive, optimistic attitude. It comes from Positive Psychology; a branch of psychology that studies the effects of optimism, what causes it, and when it is best utilised. Martin Seligman is credited as the father of Positive Psychology and its efforts to scientifically explore human potential.

Why is Positive Thinking Important?

Research tells us that positive thinking helps us to manage stress and can even improve our health. Park et al (2016) found a range of health benefits of positive thinking, including:

• Better stress management and coping skills
• Enhanced psychological health
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Increased physical well-being
• Longer life span
• Lower rates of depression
• Reduced risk of cardiovascular disease-related death

The exact reason for the physical health benefits is not always clear, it may be that those who think positively would be more likely to have healthier lifestyles, or that healthier lifestyles enable people to think more positively. We know there is a link between diet and mood, as well as the mental health benefits of exercise. It is also likely that those who think positively would be less likely to partake in unhealthy pursuits such as heavy alcohol or drug use or smoking and may be less likely to comfort eat and choose less healthy foods.

There is also evidence to suggest that people who think positively tend to be less affected by stress. Research suggests that having more positive automatic thoughts helps people become more resilient in the face of life’s stressful events. People who had high levels of positive thinking were more likely to walk away from stressful life events with a higher sense of the meaningfulness of life (Boyraz & Lightsey, 2012).

Positive thinking also helps promote greater feelings of happiness and overall satisfaction with life.

A word of caution about toxic positivity

It is important to create a distinction between positive thinking and toxic positivity. The latter is unhelpful, it involves insisting on maintaining a positive mindset no matter how upsetting or dire a situation is. It means ignoring more difficult emotions, and this type of excessive positivity hampers communication and can lead to feelings of guilt or shame in people who feel they should only be positive all the time. An acceptance of difficult emotions is important for mental wellbeing.

Positive thinking doesn’t mean that you ignore life’s less pleasant situations, it means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way. It also means that you think the best is going to happen, not the worst.

The Challenge of Positive Thinking

Whilst we may be aware of the benefits of positive thinking, our brains may not be naturally wired this way. There is significant evidence showing that adults display a negativity bias, or the propensity to notice, learn from, and use negative information far more than positive information. This bias will have helped enormously through evolution, highlighting dangers and prompting adaptive functions which have enabled the survival of the species, but may be less helpful in the modern world.

Negativity bias explains why the media is so focussed on bad news; we are more likely to watch bad news than good. We also notice the bad so much more than the good.

The Key(s) to Positive Thinking

Whilst some of us are more naturally positive in our thinking, may be more optimistic as a result of our genes and past experiences, it is possible to shift our mindset and think more positively. We can learn positive thinking skills.

So how can we do this? It is all about building up habits over time and taking a number of small steps.

Awareness

The first step is to establish an awareness of our natural negativity bias. To know that it is normal and natural to recall the one thing that hasn’t gone so well so much more clearly than all the successes and positive things. To be aware that we may dwell on the negatives, and to ask ourselves the facts. How many times has that really happened? Balance that against the positives that we don’t recall so easily to check for a more balanced picture.

Self-talk

Self-talk is the endless stream of unspoken thoughts that run through our heads. These automatic thoughts can be positive or negative. Some of our self-talk comes from logic and reason but other self-talk may arise from misconceptions that you create because of lack of information or expectations due to preconceived ideas of what may happen. It may be based on beliefs, assumptions and biases, all of which, due to our natural negativity bias are more likely to be negative.

Checking on these thoughts for facts as opposed to assumptions is important in order to create a more balanced and positive outlook.

Some common forms of negative self-talk and ways to address them are:

• Filtering. You magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filter out all the positive ones. For example, your day at work was good. You completed your tasks ahead of time and were complimented for doing a speedy and thorough job. That evening, you focus only on your plan to do even more tasks and forget about the compliments you received. Once you notice this, look at all the things you have achieved, write them down or list them in your head. Create a balance and make sure you are aware of all the positives – now think logically about the best course of action.
• Personalising. When something bad occurs, you may automatically blame yourself. For example, you hear that an evening out with friends is cancelled, and you assume that the change in plans is because no one wanted to be around you. Again, once you are aware that this is a possibility, look for the facts. Why else could it be? Realistically, how likely is it to be because of you? What are the other possibilities?
• Catastrophising. You automatically anticipate the worst without facts that the worse will happen. Look at the evidence, what realistically is the worst that could happen, how likely is that? What else might happen?
• Saying you “should” do something. You think of all the things you think you should do and blame yourself for not doing them. Who says you” should” do these things? Which are important? What have you done? Remember, you are likely to be ignoring all the things you have done.
• Magnifying. You make a big deal out of minor problems. Again, look at the facts. How much of an issue is it really? What is the worst that could happen? Will this still matter in 5 weeks? 5 months? 5 years?
• Perfectionism. Keeping impossible standards and trying to be more perfect sets yourself up for failure. Who is setting these standards? What is “good enough”?
• Polarising. You see things only as either good or bad. There is no middle ground. Again, here look at all the possibilities, write them down, look logically for facts and evidence.

If you examine your self-talk and look for any of these forms of negative self-talk, you can challenge them, check for facts, and hopefully move to a more positive view. An awareness is an important first step. From here, sense check and take a conscious move to reframe to something more positive.

Journalling or talking to someone neutral, like a coach can be a good way to identify and challenge unhelpful, negative thinking, helping you to think in a more positive way.

A simple rule is also to imagine, when you are talking to yourself that you are talking to a friend/respected colleague or someone you care about. Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to them. Be gentle and encouraging with yourself. If a negative thought enters your mind, evaluate it rationally, check for accuracy/facts and respond with affirmations of what is good about you.

Follow a healthy lifestyle. 

You are more likely to think positively if you engage in physical exercise, eat well, and get enough sleep. Exercise can positively affect mood and reduce stress, you should about 30 minutes on most days of the week as this can bring about real benefits to your thinking. Techniques to manage stress will also help, mindfulness and meditation, bringing yourself to the here and now rather than fretting about what has happened and worrying about the future is very beneficial for our thinking.

Positive Company

Being around positive, supportive people you can depend on to give helpful advice and feedback will also help your thinking. People who demonstrate negative traits may increase your stress level and make you doubt your ability to manage stress in healthy ways.

Gratitude

Gratitude is associated with optimism and has been determined that grateful people are happier, receive more social support, are less stressed, and are less depressed.

Think about things you’re thankful for in your life. This doesn’t mean that toxic positivity of “at least you have X, Y or Z….”, but taking a moment to pause, think about what is good and appreciating it.

Simple things, noticing beauty in your surroundings, a sunrise (or sunset), a flower, painting, pet or something else you appreciate. Draw this into your consciousness, as our negativity bias draws the negative things. This creates a balance.

Professional Context

Thinking of the profession I know the best; we know that teaching and school leadership is tough. We also know that our negativity bias and the negativity bias in the media will bring all the worst parts into focus and emphasize them, often ignoring the good parts.

This is true of other professions too, although they may not get the same negative media attention. It may be that when you have evaluated, looked at the facts that you decide it is time to move on and to have a change, and that’s fine too. As I have written about before, jobs for life are a thing of the past and a change is fine.

Whatever choices you make, looking to the facts, an awareness of negativity bias and potential unhelpful thinking and reframing this into a more positive view will bring immense benefits.

References

Boyraz G, Lightsey OR Jr. (2012) Can positive thinking help? Positive automatic thoughts as moderators of the stress-meaning relationship. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2012;82(2):267-77.

Park N, Peterson C, Szvarca D, Vander Molen RJ, Kim ES, Collon K. (2016) Positive psychology and physical health: Research and applications. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2016;10(3):200-206.

Seligman, Martin E.P.  (1990) Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life Vintage Books