Overview

The Compassionate Leader offers an honest and refreshing guide to leading schools with purpose and heart. Drawing from the author's personal experiences as a school leader, interviews with head teachers and the latest research, this inspiring book demonstrates that compassionate leadership is not a soft alternative to strong leadership – but the cornerstone of strong leadership itself. The book explores the key skills of ‘compassionate leadership’ and how they can be used in a school context to get the best out of yourself, your staff and your pupils. Covering values and ethos, coaching and professional development, well-being strategies and much more, the chapters reveal how you can create cultures of trust, inclusion and psychological safety, where everyone from support staff to families feel seen, heard and valued. Packed with actionable strategies and reflective insights, this is essential reading for all current and aspiring school leaders wanting to create a healthy and authentic culture where the whole school community can thrive.

Full Product Details

9781032904443

Table of Contents

Reviews

‘This book is brilliant; deeply honest, full of fascinating research and most importantly practical ideas to support school leaders navigating the stormy seas of working in Education. Sarah openly shares her leadership story, one which is dangerously close to that of so many fantastic school leaders and indeed my own. It hits hard with vital messages for leaders currently serving in schools, and those who may have left their roles, about how to develop awareness of physical and emotional health and signs of burnout. She pairs the stark data with real examples calling out practises which are damaging to the health and wellbeing of educators across the country. Sarah's exploration of what it means to align values, to belong, and to lead with compassion and kindness are refreshing and powerful. If you have left leadership read this to know you are not alone, and if you are still serving in Educational Leadership read it to better understand how you can protect yourself and your teams from some of the storms that threaten to engulf you.’ Emma Lewry, Early Education Consultant and Former Headteacher, UK ‘I guess it depends if you are content with just forcing compliance or whether you have the appetite to strive for commitment? Your call? If your staff are compliant to your wishes then you will never get there. If your pupils are compliant to your teaching, it will be hard work and their growth will be compromised! But if you can gain the commitment from staff and pupils, then with commitment comes engagement, dialogue, ownership, innovation, well-being, happiness and performance. Now I reckon that is worth working toward and that is where compassion comes in. Sarah Hussey shines a clear and bright light on the power that a compassionate leader wields. In this excellent and most readable exposé, Sarah makes a compelling argument that leading with kindness, courage and purpose is precisely what’s needed in our education system. These are super-powers, not weaknesses. Anyone can shout and demand, and they will get what they deserve. But to lead in such a way that through nurturing your understanding of others and then responding with positive intent you gain their commitment, their energy and their effort, is a no-brainer to me. Now, I have taken on many challenges in my life, but I have never spent a wet Friday afternoon in a reception class with no teaching assistant! How would I manage I wonder? I know the outcome I would like (an enthusiastic sea of smiling, attentive faces hanging on my every word), and I believe that Sarah knows how to get there and how to help others do the same. Read on and you will too!’ Manley Hopkinson, Director of the Compassionate Leadership Academy, UK ‘Reading Sarah’s book feels like sitting with a trusted friend and putting the world to rights. It makes you feel seen and heard and reminds you you’re not alone. It is a distillation of her wisdom, wit and warmth and chock-full of practical tips and rich research for exactly the kind of authentic and compassionate leadership our schools so desperately need today. For so long now, school leadership has felt for many an impossible step too far, requiring the sacrifice of any life outside school and the compromise of values – but if you follow Sarah’s guidance, you CAN make it work.’ Dr Emma Kell, Teacher and Education Coach, UK

Author Information

Sarah Hussey is a former head teacher who began her career as a midday supervisor and now brings her 25 years of educational and leadership experience to her work as a performance coach, keynote speaker, trainer and author.

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