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Tag: school leaders
Thriving, surviving or sinking? 'Leading after Lockdown' 2022 survey results
In the summer term 2021 we surveyed school leaders in England, asking about their experiences of the pandemic. At that time, just over a third (35%) said they had been 'mostly' or 'sometimes' thriving, including 11% who had been 'mostly thriving'. The largest group, just over two in five (42%), said they had been 'mostly surviving', while almost a quarter (23%) had been 'sometimes' (19%) or 'mostly' (4%) sinking. You can see the full details in this report, published last November.
Earlier this year we commissioned Teacher Tapp to survey school leaders again, using a similar question, with overall results shown below (Figure 1). This time, just over a quarter (28%) of leaders said they had been thriving, of whom 6% had been 'mostly thriving'. Once again, the largest group, just over two in five (42%), said they had been 'mostly surviving', while 29% had been 'sometimes' (20%) or 'mostly' (9%) sinking.
The two surveys adopted different sampling approaches, so cannot be compared directly, but the fact that a smaller proportion of leaders were 'mostly thriving' in 2022 (6% vs 11%) while a larger proportion were 'mostly sinking' (9% vs 4%), fits with the findings from our interviews with over 40 Deputy and Assistant headteachers, set out in this new Leading after Lockdown report. For example, two thirds of our interviewees argued that the current academic year has been either the same as, or even more challenging than, previous phases of the pandemic.
Figure 1: Senior leaders' overall experience of the pandemic (state-funded schools, January 2022)
Interestingly, when we compared responses to the 2022 survey from state-funded schools with a weighted sample of responses from private schools we saw some variation, with staff in private schools more positive overall. For example, in private primary schools, 12% of staff described themselves as 'mostly thriving' while 3% described themselves as 'mostly sinking', compared to 3% 'mostly thriving' and 11% 'mostly sinking' in state-funded primary schools. In private secondary schools, 8% described themselves as 'mostly thriving' and 3% described themselves as 'mostly sinking', compared to 5% 'mostly thriving' and 8% 'mostly sinking' in state-funded secondary schools.
Figure 2, below, shows the responses to the 2022 survey differentiated by school phase. The 2021 survey found that leaders in primary schools were less likely to say they had been thriving and more likely to say they had been sinking than their peers in secondary schools. The 2022 survey shows a similar picture. A quarter (24%) of primary leaders say they have been thriving, compared to over a third (36%) of secondary leaders. In contrast, almost a third of primary leaders (31%) have been sinking, compared to a quarter (25%) of secondary leaders.
Fig 2: Senior leaders' overall experience of the pandemic by school phase (state-funded – Jan 2022)
Figure 3, below, shows responses to the 2022 survey differentiated by gender, showing a marked difference between how male and female leaders have experienced the pandemic. Over a third of men (36%) say they have thrived to some extent, while around one in five (21%) say they have been sinking. In contrast, around a quarter (24%) of women say they have thrived to some extent, while a third (33%) have been sinking. Our interviews with Deputy and Assistant Heads did not identify any consistent findings which might explain why women were less likely to be thriving, except for a subset of women who had young children, who commonly indicated that they were expected to work flexibly and 'pick up the slack' at home.
Fig 3: Senior leaders' overall experience of the pandemic by gender (state-funded – Jan 2022)
To read the full findings from the research, download the report and executive summary here.
In the next phase of this project we will be working with NAHT and ASCL to run a series of roundtable events to explore possibilities for how succession planning for senior leaders could be strengthened, at local and national levels. Working with Dr Nick Martindale, at the University of Oxford, we will analyse data from the School Workforce Census to assess wider trends in leadership careers. Please do stay in touch by following this blog.
Photo thanks to Billesley Primary School and the Researching the Arts in Primary Schools Project
Author tobygreanyPosted on June 9, 2022 June 9, 2022 Categories LeadersTags headteacher, pandemic, school leadersLeave a comment on Thriving, surviving or sinking? 'Leading after Lockdown' 2022 survey results
What do we know about the current school leadership labour market?
We are currently finalising the report for the second phase of our Leading in Lockdown research, due for launch in early June.
Our project partners, the NAHT, released figures provided by the DfE based on the School Workforce Census (SWC) this week. These show that the number of headteachers under 50 who left the profession within five years of their appointment rose in the second half of the last decade, to 37% of secondary heads and 25% of primary heads. The findings have been covered widely in the media (see here, here, and here) and are discussed by Professor John Howson here.
One strand of our research has involved working with John Howson and TeachVac to track the number of senior school leadership posts advertised in England in the first four months of 2022 (generally the busiest period for recruitment), comparing these to the equivalent period in the previous two years. These findings show that much higher numbers of school leaders are choosing to either move job or leave the profession in 2022.
Sharp rises in leadership vacancies in 2022
The first chart below shows total adverts for head teachers between January and April over the three-year period. In primary, there has been a sharp increase in the number of head teacher posts advertised this year compared to both 2020 and 2021, increasing by more than a third between 2021 and 2022. In secondary, the situation has been more volatile, but is higher in 2022 (n=261) than in either 2021 (n=169) or 2020 (n=209).
Figure 1: Head teacher job adverts in England between January-April by year. Source: TeachVac.
The next two charts show the equivalent figures for assistant and deputy posts, for primary (Fig. 2) and then secondary (Fig. 3) schools. The number of primary posts increased, by 80% since 2020 in the case of assistant heads. Similarly, in secondary, the number of posts advertised has increased sharply each year, by 75% over two years in the case of assistant heads.
Figure 2: Primary Assistant and Deputy Head job adverts in England between January-April by year. Source: TeachVac.
Figure 3: Secondary Assistant and Deputy Head job adverts in England between January-April by year. Source: TeachVac.
Challenges in tracking change
It is challenging to track the English school leadership labour market 'live', especially after such a turbulent period, so these findings do have some caveats.
Firstly, the fact that a leadership post is advertised does not mean that the previous incumbent has retired or left the profession. Many adverts will reflect leaders moving job, to another school, so it is likely that some the increase in 2022 simply reflects an increase in the number of such moves after the lockdown had largely put them on hold.
TeachVac's ability to monitor adverts and re-adverts for schools across England provides a good indication of changes in the labour market, but there are challenges in tracking job adverts comprehensively over time, for example because some schools and trusts choose not to advertise posts externally and because the number of schools – and therefore posts – changes as a result of changes in pupil demographics.
In addition to these practical challenges, the volatility of the school leadership labour market over the past two years makes it difficult to assess whether any recent changes are significant or not. For example, in most years, the three-month window between January and the end of March is the busiest period for advertising headteacher jobs. Around half of all jobs advertised in any given year tend to appear in this period. However, the pandemic has impacted on advertising patterns in both phases and the proportion of annual adverts in the January to March window was smaller in 2021 than in most 'normal' years. This volatility makes it harder to compare patterns over time.
A wider pandemic picture
These figures chime with the findings in our first Leading in Lockdown research report, published last November, which identified the huge pressures school leaders have faced during the pandemic and how this has impacted on their workloads, well-being and career plans. In the report we included comments from several head teacher interviewees who said they wanted to see their school through the lockdown period before leaving.
Our forthcoming report includes findings from a second national survey, undertaken by Teacher Tapp, as well as interviews with 42 assistant and deputy heads, carried out in early 2022. This provides a far more comprehensive picture of how the pandemic is impacting on leadership than we are aware of elsewhere.
Author tobygreanyPosted on April 26, 2022 April 26, 2022 Categories Assistant Head Teacher, data analysis, Deputy Head Teacher, headteacher, Leaders, UK researchTags assistant headteacher, Deputy Head Teacher, headteacher, leadership labour market, pandemic, school leadersLeave a comment on What do we know about the current school leadership labour market?
Leading in Lockdown – next steps for the research
Last November we published a report based on findings from the first stage of our research into how the pandemic has impacted on school leaders' work, well-being and career intentions. In this post we share two posters which highlight some of the headline findings from that report. In addition, we outline the second phase of the research, which we are currently undertaking, with a view to publishing findings later in the spring.
Project posters
The two posters are shown below, with the option to download the poster with results if you want to share them more widely.
The first poster simply raises awareness of this website and of the research report. The use of post-it notes for 'home' and 'work', each of which includes a long list of 'to do' items, seeks to highlight the range of pressures that leaders have been under and the challenging decisions they have had to make during the pandem
The second poster draws out some headline findings from the research – the main high and main low for leaders, the impact on their well-being and career intentions, and the kinds of changes that might persuade them to stay in the profession. It includes the finding from the national survey carried out last summer that two fifths of leaders (40%) say they plan to leave the profession – for reasons other than full retirement – within the next five years.
We hope that you might want to use these posters to raise awareness of the research findings and to spark discussion about what can be done to support leaders more effectively, at both policy and practice levels, and how we can best equip the next generation to step up to headship.
We will be running a workshop on this theme at the ASCL conference, in Birmingham, on 11th March. We have applied for funding to undertake a wider consultation, in partnership with ASCL and NAHT, around how to enhance local support and succession planning for leadership, which will take place over the summer if we are successful.
Next steps for the research
Building on the report published last November, we are currently undertaking further research into how the pandemic has impacted on school leaders work, well-being and career intentions.
In this phase we:
are interviewing Assistant and Deputy Headteachers in primary and secondary schools to understand their experiences of leading in the pandemic, including how it has impacted on their career plans
have commissioned Teacher Tapp to survey teachers and leaders on their experiences of the pandemic as well as how it has impacted on perceptions of headship
are analysing national datasets, for example on job advertisements with Professor John Howson, to assess whether the pandemic appears to be impacting on the headteacher labour market.
Please do let us know if you have any questions about, or comments on, the research. Subscribe to this blog if you would like to receive notifications of new posts, including when we publish the new research findings, by email.
Author tobygreanyPosted on February 14, 2022 February 14, 2022 Categories career plans, headteacher, Leaders, pandemic, UK researchTags headteacher, pandemic, school leadersLeave a comment on Leading in Lockdown – next steps for the research
Leading schools in impoverished communities during a pandemic
Schools have always been concerned with making sure that all pupils can learn the important "stuff" – stuff that allows meaningful life choices. Schools are concerned to support pupils to belong to the school community. Schools have always been concerned with pupils' physical, social and emotional well-being and with the relationships established with parents and carers. So school leaders make sure that their organisation and distribution of resources – teacher expertise, space and time, materials and kit – allow all pupils to learn and to be, become and belong.
But the two years of pandemic schooling have both heightened – and changed – these concerns. The research we conducted in 2021 evidenced these changes.
Senior leaders quickly adapted their pedagogies, communication practices, routines and operations to the new pandemic demands. Schools maintained a strong focus on teaching and learning but also extended their efforts to support health and welfare. Many schools started breakfast programmes, lent or gave pupils books and equipment and provided advice and counselling. However, schools serving the poorest communities in the country already did these things long before the pandemic hit.
Over the last two years schools in highly disadvantaged neighbourhoods have taken on more welfare work than ever. The communities they serve are now poorer and many families experience severe food insecurity and difficulties in finding secure employment. The most recent report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation paints a grim picture of increased hardship and makes depressing predictions for the immediate future.
There seems little prospect of reversing the trends since around 2012/13 of rising child poverty (which rose by four percentage points to almost a third of children by 2019/20) … Larger families and single-parent families have particularly high poverty rates at almost half for both single-parent families and for families containing three or more children. We are likely to see individuals in Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Black families continuing to have higher poverty rates (over 40% for individuals in households headed by someone of each of these ethnicities) … Most worryingly, our latest data showed a big rise in destitution with more than a million households (containing 2.4 million people, including 550,000 children) experiencing destitution in 2019, a rise of 35% since 2017, with modelling suggesting further increases during the pandemic.
School leaders in locations that have been hardest hit by the pandemic have done whatever they could – started food and clothing banks, advocated for families with government agencies and stretched their budgets to give pupils whatever technology and school supplies were needed. But they need more from government.
During our first webinar we heard from one primary school headteacher about what increased poverty in pandemic times meant for her and her school.
We were agile. We demonstrated strong leadership.
But you felt as if your feet were in concrete.
I can't multifocus. I can't even watch a trite film with a happy ending. I'm twitchy.
I can't afford to not comply but I feel completely rebellious.
I can see that we should be proud of what we did. But I don't feel it.
We got rid of all the teddies, we pulled all our displays down.
We had to ask our children intrusive questions – do you have a table at home you can work on?
I found a Mum crying outside the school gate in the morning…
What most schools did for families during the pandemic we were doing before.
We've extended that even further. We are doing welfare work because nobody else is.
But I've lost contact with some families. There's a loss of trust. It takes a lot to rebuild that.
I don't need tutors. I need support services for families.
The government was beyond disdain.
They need greater understanding of what our families need.
Commentators at our webinar agreed that the current schools pandemic policy had taken little account of the ways in which schools in the most disadvantaged locations had become "one-stop shops". Schools had maintained their focus on teaching and learning but also provided community public services when other over-extended agencies could not. As the head above notes, tutoring services may be useful, but are hardly all that is needed.
The second phase of our project will continue to investigate the impact of the pandemic in schools, deepening the evidence about and understanding of the varied experiences and needs of different leaders and different schools. We are particularly focused on how long the committed staff leading schools in impoverished areas can maintain their current levels of care and effort.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Author pat thomsonPosted on January 24, 2022 January 23, 2022 Categories challenges, disadvantaged schools, headteacher, health, poverty, trustTags disadvantaged schools, poverty, school leaders, trustLeave a comment on Leading schools in impoverished communities during a pandemic
Succession planning for headteachers – could local solutions still work?
In this post we ask how succession planning for headteachers in England could be improved; so that every school is able to recruit and retain a high quality headteacher, and the overall headteacher pool becomes more diverse and representative?
At the end of November we held an online seminar on this topic, at which we shared the finding from our Leading in Lockdown research report that two in five school leaders in England plan to leave the profession early within the next five years. The report highlights that this picture remains fluid: our interviews with headteachers found that the vast majority are struggling with their workload and well-being as a result of the pandemic, but while some have made a firm decision to leave others could be persuaded to stay if national and local conditions were to improve.
The report's findings build on our previous blog post, in which we looked at the existing evidence on recruiting and retaining headteachers. This highlighted that even before the pandemic there were challenges with recruiting and retaining heads, but also that school governing bodies, trusts and wider policy makers can provide individual and systemic support to help grow the leadership pipeline and sustain leaders in role.
A recording of the seminar, which was chaired by Sara Ford from ASCL, and included panel responses to the research from Karen Giles (Executive Headteacher), Emma Knights (CEO, National Governance Association), and Steve Munby (former CEO, National College for School Leadership) is available here.
Steve Munby reflected on how the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) worked to address a significant succession planning crisis between 2006-2011, when large numbers of baby-boomer generation headteachers were approaching retirement. At that time, each of England's 21,000 or so governing bodies was responsible for recruiting and retaining its own headteacher, although Local Authorities, dioceses and others played supporting roles. Many governing bodies lacked the skills to do this well, and there were incentives baked into the system for schools to hoard and compete for talent. Addressing shared strategic priorities, for example to diversify leadership, was particularly difficult in such a devolved system. Furthermore, different schools face different contextual challenges: for example, developing and recruiting heads for small, rural faith schools is very different to doing so in large, urban secondary schools. For all these reasons, the College adopted a 'local solutions' approach, seeking to bring schools and other stakeholders together in each area of the country to collaborate on growing and retaining heads. These local partnerships received funding and support and could tap into a national framework of leadership development programmes, including the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH), which was made mandatory for all new heads. An independent evaluation by Professor Tony Bush found this approach was broadly successful in staving off the crisis.
The panel discussed how equivalent strategic succession planning priorities might be addressed today, for example if large numbers of leaders do decide to leave as a result of the pandemic?
The panellists agreed that many of the core issues pre-date the pandemic, so there was support for the recommendations in the report around rethinking the role of accountability and support for schools. Headteachers consistently report that accountability pressures, bureaucracy, workloads, insufficient funding and wider austerity can all combine to make the job challenging. Potential future headteachers can be put off by these pressures, although when they actually take on the role they often come to see its positive aspects, such as the ability to make a greater difference to more children. To address this, Karen Giles described how she has created associate headteacher roles, which enable talented leaders to step up and take on greater responsibility for whole-school leadership, but within a supported framework, with an expectation that their next step will be full headship. The challenge is knowing when to push them on – 'when are you going to move out and get your own flat? That kind of analogy!'
The panellists also agreed that the pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for heads. However, the evidence on how it is impacting is sometimes contradictory, so it is hard to assess the long-term impact. For example, annual surveys of governing bodies by the NGA indicate that the number who are finding it very difficult to recruit high quality candidates has actually fallen over the last five years, to 30% in 2021. Despite this decline, Emma Knights explained that recruiting and developing leaders is one of the top three priorities for governing boards this year.
There was agreement that some Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) have high quality HR expertise and approaches to developing talent across multiple schools. For example, one of us researched MAT and federation approaches as part of a wider study, finding that many school groups place a high priority on talent spotting and development. One MAT Chief Executive described 'incessant conversations' with and about the trust's future leaders, aimed at ensuring that anyone with 'itchy feet' is given new opportunities before they apply for jobs elsewhere. Most trusts and federations also run or access development programmes for middle and senior leaders, sometimes with a focus on preparing future principals.
However, the panel recognised that the fragmented nature of the English school system means it is hard to see where responsibility and capacity for strategic succession planning now lies. We now have multiple players – MATs, Teaching School Hubs, Regional Schools Commissioners, National Leaders of Education, local authorities, dioceses and, of course, individual schools and their governing bodies. As one participant reminded us, there are still many thousands of schools that are not in a trust or federation.
The government is now seeking to implement a tighter national framework for teacher and leadership development. The Early Career Framework and revised National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) for leadership aim to create a 'golden thread' which all schools and teachers can access via the new Teaching School Hubs. Clearly, the hope is that the new NPQs will enable a pipeline of future leaders to be identified and developed, but this is by no means a given. The new NPQ framework focuses on a largely technical and 'domain-specific' model of leadership, with limited emphasis on the kinds of strategic, organisational and values-based leadership that successive systematic and meta-reviews (for example, here, here and here) have found to be essential for successful senior leadership in schools. The new version of NPQH does not include a placement project in another school, meaning that opportunities for experiential learning, network development and systemic knowledge-sharing will be lost. These issues raise the risk that the new NPQ framework might have limited impact on headteacher recruitment and retention, especially if it operates within a system that remains locally fragmented.
So what might be done? Steve Munby argued that 'local solutions has got to be the way forward, not a national top-down solution'. However, Emma Knights highlighted that the government's forthcoming white paper seems to be heading in a different direction, aiming to encourage all schools to join a MAT, which could make place-based approaches more challenging. She argued that the answer lies in culture change, in particular in terms of how governing boards work with school leaders to provide challenge, support and development. The panellists agreed that although there has been progress in some areas that could make headship more manageable, such as flexible working and job-shares, there is more to do to learn from good HR practices in other sectors. Finally, it was suggested that we need to look for new, potentially disruptive, examples of how schools and school groups can work to rethink leadership for a post-Covid world.
Photo by Rob Wicks on Unsplash
Author tobygreanyPosted on December 13, 2021 December 13, 2021 Categories career plans, headteacher, Leaders, local, retention, Succession planning, supply, supportTags headteachers, local, pandemic, school leaders, Succession planningLeave a comment on Succession planning for headteachers – could local solutions still work?
leaders' work before lockdown
The pandemic brought significant changes to schools in England and elsewhere – school leaders were shifting learning online, inventing and managing new organisational routines, and keeping staff and students safe when face to face teaching resumed. We've been researching these changes. In difficult times, it's easy to lose sight of what's remained constant through the various lockdown phases, and what hasn't.
In order to get a sense of what went before lockdown, we began our interviews with 58 serving school leaders by asking them about why they chose to do the job, and what they most liked about it.
Our interviewees chose to become a head because they wanted to make a difference (35/58). Secondary heads more often mentioned the autonomy to make their own decisions to do what they felt would have an impact. Just under half of respondents (23), evenly spread across the four groups, were driven by the belief they could do a good job and a better one than either their predecessor or, if they were deputy head in the school, someone new coming in who did not know the school as well. 'Working with children' was a main driver for primary headteachers (11/27), also mentioned by a small number (4) of secondary headteachers. 'Developing other professionals' was a secondary motivation, cited by a small number of primary and smaller number of secondary teachers.
When you come into education, it's not a job, it's a vocation… You've got to know that it's not a nine to five job. ( primary head, leaver)
Not surprisingly then, the biggest reward of the job was making a difference to young people's lives (38/58); working with children (11 times by primary heads, 4 in secondary); and developing other professionals. The pleasure of building and working in a strong team was also frequently mentioned:
It's just a lovely working environment, isn't it? It's not like any other- it's vibrant, it's jolly, it's full of chatter. It's very people facing – you've got your staff, you've got your parents. Then you've got the children and I'm very interested in how young children learn. ( primary head leaver)
There's nothing better than seeing a smiling child and when I have spent an hour in front of the screen or I've been doing necessary paperwork, I will always make time at breaks and lunch times to go out and have a conversation with children. ( secondary head stayer)
Several interviewees reflected on headship as an extremely busy and fulfilling role, reflecting the nature of life in schools, but also one that is relatively predictable, with an established annual cycle and set of routines and relationships geared towards school development and children's learning.
Any leader, but a school leader in particular, by 10 o'clock in the morning you have your first cup of tea, and you've explained, you've persuaded, you've calmed, you've bridged, you have solved a little absence crisis. You've knitted everything together. ( primary head leaver).
Leader's motivations did not waver during lockdown. All our interviewees shared a strong sense of duty, borne from the commitment to education, that schooling as an important public service must continue. If anything it was even more important to them that schools were run well and teachers and students did as well as possible.
Interviewees also told us about their key challenges pre pandemic.
Addressing 'disadvantage' was the most frequently mentioned challenge (20/58), more often by leaders who intended to leave the profession (14/27).
A combination of factors made it increasingly challenging for schools to support disadvantaged children. Securing pupil progress, closing attainment gaps and reaching expected targets were often described as increasingly difficult. Interviewees in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage reported severe reductions in the external support available from wider services in recent years, including health and welfare, with worrying shortages of speech therapists and psychologists. However, reductions to CAMHS and other services were mentioned by headteachers from more affluent as well as disadvantaged areas. The increasing complexity of SEND needs was cited by leavers more often than stayers, as was the increase in safeguarding issues.
Possibly the thing that will finally drive me out is the austerity. There's an increase in safeguarding [over] the last 6 to 8 years, particularly, the normalisation of domestic abuse and the lessening of support from other agencies, be it care services and health services, is incredible. That's really changed, and schools haven't got the capacity to do it and I'm not sure whether I've got the mental capacity to keep doing that anymore. PHLThe support that we require from things ( primary head leaver)
The support that we require from things like CAMHS, from alternative education provision and that sort of thing has diminished so spectacularly over the last decade, to now being beyond crisis point. (secondary head leaver)
Evidence suggests that the pandemic heightened economic divides. Far from losing sight of economic and social challenges, and the need to close learning gaps, redressing disadvantage remained a very high priority for school leaders during the pandemic.
The accountability system was also cited as a key challenge for headship pre-pandemic. Eighteen respondents described Ofsted as a source of stress, even outside of inspections, due to the need to respond to the outcome or prepare and wait for the next visit.
The worst part of my career to date, including the entire 16-17 months of the pandemic, was the two-day Ofsted inspection that we had in 2019 and I really, seriously felt like jacking it in at that point, even though we were graded Good… They showed no appreciation of our context. ( secondary head leaver)
Halting inspection visits during the first year of lockdown did provide some relief to schools. Inspection has of course been reinstated, despite the levels of infection still in schools, and we might assume that it has once again become a source of stress.
Eighteen interviewees mentioned reducing school budgets as presenting a range of challenges, including in relation to staffing, resources and maintenance of buildings. Nine primary school leaders cited reducing numbers as a factor, while two secondary leavers explained that reducing pupil numbers was caused by expansion of other local schools or restructuring.
Being a school within a trust where they didn't have enough money and had to make the redundancies. 49 people lost their jobs and it wasn't really their fault and I took over a school where I couldn't understand why it was happening – people in the present had to suffer the consequences of the people in the past so that that will always go down as the worst part of all of my years teaching. ( secondary head stayer)
Financial pressures continued during lockdown.
Finally, HR issues, including teacher recruitment and retention, capability, and sickness was seen as a 'normal' but often unwelcome part of a headteacher's role. These concerns were exacerbated by lockdown conditions, and we have yet to see a reckoning of the impact of the lockdown period on teacher and leader supply and retention.
if you want to find out more about how pre-pandemic rewards and pressures changed during lockdown please see our two background reports and the full research report – launched today 24th November.
Photo by Sandie Clarke on Unsplash
Author pat thomsonPosted on November 24, 2021 November 23, 2021 Categories challenges, Leaders, pre-pandemic, rewardsTags motivations, pre-pandemic, rewards and challenges, school leadersLeave a comment on leaders' work before lockdown
Shaken identities – what does UK research on school leadership in the pandemic tell us?
In a previous blog post we explored what can be learned from international literature on school leadership during and after natural disasters. In this post we consider existing research here in the UK on school leadership in the pandemic and some implications which flow from this.
A number of UK studies are tracking the impact of the pandemic – we have brought together a list of all those we are aware of here. Quite understandably, most studies focus on the impact on pupils, and particularly their learning, progress and well-being. Others focus on related issues, such as the nature and implications of online teaching and learning or how the pandemic has affected school budgets. Some studies are tracking schools' and teachers' experiences overall. A small number of studies – referenced below – have focused more specifically on leadership, although we are not aware of any that consider how the pandemic is impacting on school leaders' career plans, the focus of our research.
Empirical studies show that leading through the crisis has been the opposite of business as usual. Instead, leaders have faced a range of challenges and have needed to adapt and respond in numerous flexible ways:
Policy overload: Fotheringham et al. (2021) show how an 'avalanche of daily information' from the national Department for Education (DfE) frequently overwhelmed school and Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) leaders, with 201 policy updates issued by the DfE over a 90-day period, including 11 documents on one single Sunday in April 2020.
Schools have struggled to pivot in the context of existing system pressures and issues: Nelson et al. (2021) identify issues for schools stemming from lack of funding, an overcrowded curriculum and an overly tight accountability framework. In a similar vein, Moss et al. (2021) include a range of findings on how primary schools are responding, but conclude that 'the pandemic reveals just how patchy forms of support have become and how dependent on local connections and charitable giving schools now are'. Similarly, Jopling and Harness (2021) focus on school leaders' well-being and vulnerability in the pandemic, but conclude that 'What is more surprising is that leaders interviewed felt that, rather than being overwhelming in itself, the pandemic had had an amplifying effect on the greatest challenges they faced, which remained finance and accountability'.
School leaders have needed to prioritise flexible, values-based responses: Beauchamp et al. (2021) interviewed school leaders across the UK in the early stages of the pandemic. They highlight how responding to the challenges required considerable versatility and adaptive leadership. Many heads reported a need to distribute leadership more, as they sought to work flexibly and at speed. At the same time, they had to work hard to maintain a sense of 'collective "us-ness" and commitment to shared values, which required transformational and values-based leadership backed by strong communications.
Shifts in school-community relations: Both Nelson et al (2021) and Moss et al (2021) highlight how the pandemic has driven changes in how school leaders think about and engage with families and their local community,withleaders needing to focus on communication and pastoral care, in particular in the most deprived contexts.
MATs have adopted robust, centralised approaches: Day et al. (2021) studied responses within a sample of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), showing how they adopted robust, centralised approaches to supporting member academies while seeking to ensure collective, efficient and effective approaches to student engagement and learning.
Beauchamp et al's (2021) study chimes with the findings from our own research in highlighting how the removal of most of the regular school improvement routines which give structure and purpose to the work of leaders has had a profound impact on their identities and sense of confidence. For example, they quote this interviewee:
"I think from quite a personal point of view quite a large part of my identity is the job that I do, and I feel quite strongly that that identity has been taken away rather which has led to all sorts of levels of anxiety and worry."
In a similar vein, Harris and Jones (2020) conclude that the pandemic has raised fundamental questions about the kinds of leadership we need in schools. They suggest that 'unpredictability and uncertainty are now the watchwords of all those leading schools' and that, as a result, 'a new chapter in educational leadership is currently being written because of COVID-19… This leadership has no national standards, no guidelines, no stipulations no rubrics, at least not for now'.
It has long been argued that schools, like other organizations, now operate in contexts that are volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA), and that both leaders and the organizations that they lead must therefore become more adaptive – capable of continual change and innovation as well as efficiency and effectiveness. In practice, though, as Joe Hallgarten and his colleagues argue, England's school system is the opposite of adaptive – rather, it is stuck 'in improvement mode', too often characterised by narrow technical and implementation-focused approaches to leadership. The question is whether, as we start to emerge from the pandemic, England's system can better support its school leaders to lead adaptively to address the recovery challenges we face.
Join the debate:
We will publish the report of findings from our research in late November. Sign up here to attend two free themed webinars at which we will discuss the findings:
24th November – School Leadership in the Pandemic: What can we learn from local and national responses to the crisis?
29th November – School leadership in the pandemic: what can be done to support leaders in role and avert a succession crisis?
Photo by Colton Sturgeon on Unsplash
Author tobygreanyPosted on November 8, 2021 November 7, 2021 Categories DfE, headteacher, Leaders, pandemic, UK researchTags DfE, headteacher, pandemic, school leaders, UK researchLeave a comment on Shaken identities – what does UK research on school leadership in the pandemic tell us?
How does it feel to lead a school during the pandemic?
The research we conducted towards the end of the last school year showed that school leaders were exhausted. While some wanted to leave, others were hopeful that this current school year would be better. Leaders we interviewed hoped that they would be able devote less time to dealing with crises, and spend more time on thinking strategically about dealing with students' disrupted learning. Sadly, this is not yet the case.
Last week the Times Educational Supplement reported that "nearly three out of four headteachers have seen a colleague cry". NAHT President Tim Bowen commented that people had been brought to their lowest point by the pandemic. Wales online had a similar report – "We are on our knees" say headteachers as they struggle with Covid chaos". This story was echoed on social media. Vic Goddard, the head made famous by the Educating Essex television series, tweeted "I am on the ropes. Guard up. Just taking a beating with nothing to throw back, We have staff very seriously ill in hospital and have lost others to Covid and still we get tone deaf responses from our political leaders".
As researchers, we want to try represent the intensity of feelings that were conveyed during our interviews with school leaders. We have therefore been doing some creative work with transcripts. In addition to the more usual coding and thematising, we have used an approach similar to that used to develop verbatim theatre. We have been making narrative prose poems that we hope capture not only what individual heads told us, but also how.
Here is a section of one prose poem in advance of publication.
You tend to forget how terrifying it was.
When it was starting to rip through the population and
you literally didn't know whether or not
you were going to survive the experience.
But you had to convey a sense of competence and confidence.
The "Don't worry I've got this you can do your job because I've got your back".
The workload was just punishing.
Absolutely punishing.
Learning a vast array of completely new skills
in a frighteningly short period of time.
Working beyond insane hours.
It's hard to overstate how much harder the DfE made an incredibly challenging experience.
So over-directive and not trusting.
Having to go through colossal amounts of instructions.
Bewildering stuff with precious little guidance other than
You just do it.
Here is a model we found somewhere.
Just get it done.
It was an experience. A bruising experience.
We're out of the choppiest waters, but
I no longer have the reserves within me to be able to continue.
I know plenty of other school leaders who've fared differently,
and I admire them.
I don't know how they did it.
The thought of having to go through another Ofsted inspection
fills me with horror.
I think I would struggle
to get out of bed
and come into school
and not be sick.
I started saying to colleagues,
"I prefer to leave school vertically rather than horizontally".
It's pretty black humour.
I've got no reserves left in me at this point.
There will be several prose poems in our final report, due in November.
Author pat thomsonPosted on October 25, 2021 October 24, 2021 Categories data analysis, feelings, Leaders, prose poemTags data analysis, feelings, pandemic, prose poem, school leadersLeave a comment on How does it feel to lead a school during the pandemic?
Leading school recovery
We have begun thinking about the implications of the research we have been doing on school leaders' work and wellbeing. One of the resources we have consulted are the literatures on leading during and after natural disasters.
Tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and fires are not directly analogous to the pandemic as they tend to be short-lived and catastrophic. This is not our current situation, which is a very extended period of difficulty with peaks of crisis. However, there may be some lessons to be drawn for thinking about the recovery period. We have therefore been going to published research to see what might be instructive. Other UK researchers have also been looking at this literature – Sinead Harney and Gemma Moss have looked at disaster recovery in New Orleans and elsewhere in terms of impact on student learning – we are looking at it in terms of impact on schools and school leadership.
We are particularly interested in the literatures about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The devastation caused by ferocious winds and flooding wiped out an enormous swathe of the city, and its schools. It was an opportunity for the newly named Recovery School District to completely rethink its school provision. Their solution was a new mix of public and private via the introduction of charter schools – schools funded by the taxpayer but operated by private organisations. Some 60% of schools in the district are now charter schools, making it something like the mix of academy, free and local authority schools that now exists in England.
One study ( Beabout, 2014) which looked at post-Katrina school leaders in New Orleans (n=10, interviewed over 3 years) noted the considerable autonomy this new configuration of schools afforded. However, despite significant local differences, there were common principles that underpinned the post disaster change processes the leaders used:
Collaboration – the importance of establishing meaningful collaborative practices within the school after the disruption – distributed responsibilities and devolved decision-making were key to rebuilding staff cohesion and commitment to their common endeavour. There was an inevitable tension between the need to get going quickly and meet re-imposed accountability and the necessarily slower pace of addressing wellbeing and morale.
Community connections – school leaders in the study saw connections with parents and community organisations as an essential part of rebuilding community, accessing expertise and support, (re)generating a positive school reputation and ensuring local solutions for local needs.
Generating public support – linked to the need for re-establishing strong local bonds was a need to address the poor reputation of pre-hurricane urban schools. This required collective political action on school boards and in the state legislature, as well as in media.
Meeting student needs – because of the terrible damage done to homes and health, school leaders saw the non-academic needs of their students as crucial. Addressing trauma and regaining a sense of belonging and wellbeing were seen as vital accompaniments to improvements in learning.
Setting goals and meeting them – the leaders in the study had very different approaches to planning, but all paid serious attention to the management of staff, time, space and resources. Getting the infrastructure working to support other aspects of change was a key part of leaders' work.
Improving instruction – the post-hurricane period created an opportunity to revisit previously taken for granted teaching and learning practices, to support and resource carefully staged and supported instructional innovation.
Much of this particular study resonates with the results of our research. English school leaders told us about the importance of within school collaboration, the benefits of community connections, the need to address wider public support for schooling, particularly from the very top, and the importance of attending to the whole student – their emotional, social, physical, aesthetic and intellectual development.
As English schools have not been closed, as was the case in New Orleans, the heads in our study had not stopped being concerned about management of resources or instruction. But they were looking forward to a time when they could spend more of their time focused on learning, and less on the continued reinvention of everyday managerial requirements.
However, the question in England is what systemic support leaders need in order to move most effectively into the recovery phase.
Our full results will be published in late November. Stay tuned!
Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash
Author pat thomsonPosted on October 11, 2021 Categories headteacher, recoveryTags post Katrina New Orleans, recovery, school leadersLeave a comment on Leading school recovery
Australian school leaders' pandemic experiences
Australians have had a very different Covid-19 experience from those of us living in the UK. Until recently, rates of infection were kept low through a combination of restricted entry and quarantine, an effective track and trace system, internal border controls and extensive periods of lockdown. Melbourne has had the longest sustained period of lockdown in the world. Australian schools have offered various combinations of face to face and remote learning, depending on how the state was faring.
How have Australian school leaders coped? Recent Australian research give us some insights. Unlike our own research and that conducted in other jurisdictions, Australian researchers have been able to compare the current situation with continuous pre-pandemic data. The Australian Principal Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey has been running for over a decade. It has consistently shown that Australian principals have complex jobs characterised by heavy workloads and considerable pressures and demands. Many Australian principals are at risk of suffering from adverse health conditions resulting from their work.
Professor Phil Riley and his colleagues have been able to identify changes in key aspects of school leaders' work arising from the pandemic. They have recently reported on data from 2020, the first year of the pandemic. They found that:
The quantity of work expected of leaders declined. Leaders were still working at very high speeds, but for slightly fewer hours – from an average of 55.2 hours per week in 2019, to 54.5 hours per week in 2020. Some however still worked more than this (up to 69 hours). This is still a long working week, despite the small decrease.
The stress caused by workload did not decrease. Leaders still reported workload as the most significant stressor.
Jobs were less predictable in 2020 than before. Leaders were less likely to receive important information at the right time.
School leaders felt they were treated less fairly by their employers than before the pandemic. Trust and good relations between employees at the school level had however improved slightly.
School leaders reported higher levels of support from their immediate supervisor, and less family-work conflict.
Symptoms of burnout and depression were slightly higher than in 2019.
Leaders reported being more committed to the job than before.
The researchers' conclusion is that "while Australian school leaders' work environments remain very challenging and they continue to suffer from adverse health and wellbeing outcomes, the Covid-19 pandemic may have slightly reduced some of the usual pressures and hardships of the school leadership role."
We note three things about this report. Firstly, some similarities. Our research also showed significant problems with late information, declining levels of trust in the system but greater levels of local trust. Secondly, the differences are important reminders that school leaders' experiences vary over time, but also in different places. When we compare our data with this Australian study, we are struck by how much more leaders in England appear to be impacted by events and demands. Thirdly, in research terms, we can see the value of having stable longitudinal data which shows how workload and wellbeing change over time, not only in response to external events, but also to policy changes.
We are monitoring other international research and are compiling a list of relevant studies. We hope our study will contribute to national understandings of the impact of the pandemic on school leaders and their work, as well as this wider international picture.
Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
Author tobygreanyPosted on September 27, 2021 September 27, 2021 Categories headteacher, International, Leaders, trust, wellbeingTags Australia, headteacher, pandemic, school leadersLeave a comment on Australian school leaders' pandemic experiences


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CSUSM has many established programs that are actively using high-impact practices to engage students. If you are a faculty member looking to incorporate high-impact practices into existing classes or to become involved with one of the programs, explore the menu on the left to get started. You will find a brief description, links to the programs, contact information of affiliated faculty, and reasdings to engage the topic further.


The history of Paintless dent removal or PDR, is often believed originated in Europe, in the production rooms of some of the big car manufacturers. And over the years has evolved into what it is today, a massive global industry.
There is some conjecture about who created it, but there is no denying the facts, and that is that who ever did start it had no where near the amount of tools and equipment that we are blessed to have today.
Back in 1994 I was fixing hail damage with a elderly South African gentleman in Sydney Australia, he had been fixing cars Paintless since the 50's, back then they would use spoons, yes simple everyday spoons, and by placing the spoon upside down and balancing it on your thumb, they would use a rolling motion to massage the dent out.
Of course there is no need for that now, as there is a countless amount of PDR tools that could do the job, but it was that sort of thinking that helped create the history of PDR and Dent company's and technicians around the world are still trying to perfect the trade.
The latest development in the PDR industry is PDR-Online this amazing software lets you practice your art with out having the pressure related to having a customer looking over your shoulder. This software takes every PDR technician from student or master, and gives them a medium to develop new methods and refine skills. With full video tutorials explaining every step of the way.


Next Alumni Gathering: July 25 in San Francisco!
Miami University gerontology alumni are invited to our next gathering, which will take place in San Francisco on Tuesday, July 25, 5:00 – 6:30 pm. We will meet at the ThirstyBear Brewing Company, located at 661 Howard Street. If you live in the area or will be attending the IAGG conference, please join us for happy hour!
We are pleased to announce that Heather Menne is the recipient of the 2017 Cottrell Distinguished Alumni Award. A 2001 graduate of the Master of Gerontological Studies program, Heather went on to earn a PhD in Sociology with a concentration in Sociology of Aging and Medical Sociology from Case Western Reserve University in 2006.
A highlight of the 2016 GSA Conference in New Orleans in November was gathering with many of our alumni at our 2nd Annual Alumni Networking Break.
Alumni Advisory Group meeting On August 1, 2016, Scripps Gerontology Center convened the inaugural meeting of the Gerontology Alumni Advisory Group. Executive Director Suzanne Kunkel noted that "Our history is rooted in the groundbreaking demographic research that took place here in the first five decades since our founding in 1922. We are deeply proud of that legacy. But we are equally proud of the next generation of pioneering work that began in the 1960's-research and education about aging. Our gerontology alums represent this momentous new legacy." The Alumni Advisory Group was formed with the purpose of advising the Scripps Gerontology Center regarding best ways for alumni to connect with each other, with current and future students, and with the broader Miami University and Scripps communities.
A Miami faculty member and a Scripps Gerontology Center researcher collaborated with Anthony Williams BA '10 MGS '12 in publishing work based on his Master's thesis in the Gerontologist, a national journal on aging research.


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Billionaire Ren Zhengfei says his firm is fully prepared to face the trade restrictions. Picture: AFP
Incredible zoom on Huawei 'spy camera'
23rd May 2019 7:13 AM
CONSPIRACY theorists are claiming the real reason for the US ban on Huawei is the incredible 50X zoom of its mobile phones.
Chinese diplomat Zhao Lijian, the deputy chief-of-mission at the Chinese embassy in Islamabad, has suggested the ban could be linked to its cameras.
He wrote on Twitter: "Why is Huawei making America tremble and go insane? Huawei's new phone camera's optical zoom is just insane."
Chinese diplomat Zhao Lijian filmed two boys playing chess from his skyscraper.
Accompanying this was a video recorded on his P30 showing two boys playing chess in the street below his skyscraper.
At 1X, they appear as tiny dots in the distance.
But when zoomed in at 50X, a viewer can distinguish the different chess pieces.
The Huawei camera captured the individual chess pieces.
The footage came as the founder of Huawei has warned "there will be conflict" with the US and its goal to "stand on top of the world".
Ren Zhengfei said the US "underestimates" his firm and is fully prepared to face the trade restrictions, The Sun reports
He told Chinese state media: "The current practice of US politicians underestimates our strength.
"Huawei's 5G will absolutely not be affected.
"In terms of 5G technologies, others won't be able to catch up with Huawei in two or three years.
"We have sacrificed ourselves and our families for our ideal, to stand on top of the world.
"To reach this ideal, sooner or later there will be conflict with the US."
His comments came after it emerged that the Beijing Chinese telecom giant will be able to roll out its own operating system by early next year at the latest.
Huawei was cut off from using Google's popular Android system after being placed on a US banned "entity list" last week.
Nevertheless, the company's chief executive of the consumer division, Yu Chengdong, said a Huawei operating system for smartphones, computers, tablets, televisions, cars and smart wearable devices will be available soon. The Huawei operating system will be rolled out at the earliest this autumn and at the latest next spring, Yu told Chinese publication Phoenix iFeng Tech in an article published late Tuesday.
In March, Yu told German publication Die Welt that Huawei had developed its own operating system in case US tech companies would be banned from continuing to supply theirs.
He said at the time an original operating system was a "plan B" and that Huawei preferred using the systems developed by Google and Microsoft. As the China-US trade war intensified in recent weeks, the US Commerce Department barred US firms from selling Huawei technology without government approval. On Monday, the department announced a 90-day grace period on the policy.
The United States accuses Huawei of helping the Chinese government to spy on other countries, though it hasn't shown any evidence.
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But HEY…if you can't stay home to see the games, why not bring them right into your classroom?!
Here are 6 Ways to Incorporate The Winter Games Into Your Classroom!
1. Get your students familiarized with some great videos on Youtube!
This is a great video to introduce your students to the Olympics. This video will take you back in history and will bring you to the current state of the Olympics today. Comparing the ancient Olympics and the modern Olympics would make a great compare and contrast lesson for students. Also covered are the different variations of the Olympics, such as the Paralympics. Olympics symbols such as the rings and the torch are discussed along with their meanings.
This video takes you to the Origins of the Olympics in the 8th century B.C. This video covers the reemergence of the modern-day Olympics in Athens, and how the games became popular all over the world. Also covered is how the Olympics were used to send messages during social movements throughout history.
This video is full of real pictures that feature each Olympic Sport for the Winter Games. This will surely get your students excited about all the different sports, and some may take a particular interest in several that are featured in the video!
This video features some of the most inspirational moments from the Paralympics 2010 in Vancouver. Truly depicting what it means to overcome challenges, this video will be a memorable one for your students.
Sometimes the most fascinating part of The Games is the magnificent venues that were built specifically for the Olympics. This video will give your students an opportunity to see the venues with a birds-eye view.
This video is all about the great city of PyeongChang and it's role in the Olympics 2018! This video also talks about places that are popular in PyeongChang and nearby areas.
Now that you have a few videos to show your students, let's get to the real life stuff!
2. Watch real live footage of the Olympics.
All listings are available on the NBC website. If you plan ahead, you can pencil any big races you want your students to see as they happen.
Their easy to read calendar is a great way to plan which events/races you would like to view with your students.
3. Dive into some great Olympics literature with your students.
One of my all-time favorite books is "Tacky and the Winter Games," by Helen Lester. The book starts off by Tacky learning about the Games and wanting to compete. Tacky hasn't trained all year but his penguin companions have worked very hard. While this plot unfolds, Lester covers many facts that surround the Games.
Another great read-aloud with a strong message is "Olympig," by Victoria Jamieson. The main character in this story is Boomer the Pig. He is participating in the Animal Olympics and just can't win any of his events! Frustrated, Boomer learns an important lesson about not being able to win them all.
4. Immerse your students in reading passages that are FULL of facts about each Olympic Event!
In my Winter Sports Unit, I created FOURTEEN reading passsages that feature each sport in the 2018 Winter Games. I wanted you to have a chance to immerse your students in meaningful text that is needed to spark interest in each winter sport!
5. Get your students excited about the Winter Games by allowing them to create an interactive Winter Games Writing Activity for your bulletin board display!
Students LOVE being able to take ownership of their learning by writing! This interactive writing activity features different activities on each page. Leading up to the FINAL writing activity will be an idea generator that will help with that writing piece at the end. By the time your students get to the final piece of this activity, their pencils will be ready to hit the paper!
6. Ensure your students can have a conversation both in and out of the classroom by ensuring they know Winter Sports Vocabulary!
Just when you think, "It can't get better than this!" I have one more thing and I am just giddy about it!
I created a FREE Winter Sports Vocabulary Game so your students can get really good at identifying the different sports that will be in the Olympics this year!
Now, I am sure by now you might be asking, "How in the world did you turn that vocabulary game into a cookie pan center." Simple! Just print your free vocabulary game on Avery Magnetic Sheets!
Then grab a cookie sheet, and you've got a Winter Sports Center!
My hope is that your classroom will be buzzing with excitement during the Winter Games 2018! I hope you enjoyed these ideas incorporating the winter games into your primary classroom.
Whether you choose to share videos, read alouds, nonfiction passages, the writing activity, or EVERYTHING that was shared, I know these will be a HIT with your students!
P.S. If you'd like to save this post, be sure to pin it to your teaching Pinterest Board!
Education to the Core is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Nice article ……..thank you so much for sharing.


I have the same problem. Were you able to fix it. If so,what was involved. Can I repair it myself. Please help.
CALIBRATION IS COMPLETELY MESSED UP. CANNOT LINE UP RED, BLUE WITH GREEN. HAS AUDIBLE NOISE IN MULTI POINT CALIBRATION.
My Pioneer PRO-200 60 in. Rear Projection Television picture looks great however it appears to be dark and blacks all blend together on the screen.
The tv have a problems known as a convergence problems,it dead.Tv have colors lines R,G,B mis alignment,have colors shadows pictures or 3D pictures look alike.The tv convergence board have dead 2 STK convergence ICS and some or all it resistors are dead.These parts on the convergence board must be replaced to solved the tv convergence picture problems.The shop,will cost u like $300-350 for parts and labors.
How do I get rid of a red shadow in the upper left of the screen?
U can't tv have parts problems.Ur tv have a problems known as a convergence problems,it dead.Tv have colors lines R,G,B mis alignment anywhere in the picture,have picture colors shadows or 3D pictures look like.The tv have 2 STK convergence ICS and some or all it resistors are dead.These parts on the tv convergence board,must be replaced on the tv convergence board to solved the tv convergence picture problems.The Shop,will cost u like $300-350 for parts and labors.
Sounds to me like a convergence problem. There are two convergence amplifiers inside the tv that keep the red and blue lined up with the green tube. This repair requires solder/desolder equipment and test equipment. What needs to be done is the parts need to be replaced on a circuit board. Most repair shops charge about 200-350 to do this repair. This set was very expensive and has many years of good life in it. If the service person says they need to replace the entire circuit board they are wasting your money. This board can be rebuilt by anyone with some experience in tv repairs. I would think that if a repair on that set doesn't exceed 450 most people would fix it. The set should stay in the home although some shops prefer to remove the circuit board to return to their shop for repair. Good luck, Russmann.
Look in users manual or internet you should find how to access service mode, this is different from regular setup CONVERGENCE, this involves getting into changing parameters to tweek convergence, even after amps are changed. These projection tv's are known for loosing convergence if bumped, moved and amps go bad in time.
I have an RCA rear projection TV big screen and today it messed up its blurry and you can see three colors red blue and green but you can see a good pic again its blurry how do I fix it and whats wrong???
Replace conv ICs. This usually does it.
HEY DF-YOU SET HAS 2 BAD STK392-110 CONVERGENCE ICS.THEY WILL NEED TO BE REPLACED AND IF NO OTHER CONVERGENCE CIRCUIT PARTS HAVE FAILED YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SET YOUR CONVERGENCE ALIGNMENT PROPERELY.TV REPAIR ESTIMATE SHOULD BE ABOUT 300.00$.DO IT YOURSELF FOR ABOUT 40.00$.
Convergence Pioneer Elite Pro-118 60" Reference Projection Monitor Receiver convergence is off and can no longer be tuned properly, is this a lost cause. Per web searches it looks like if the convergence chips were replaced it might be all set. Everything else is in great shape on this set. Any suggestions for repair in the Foxboro, MA area?
Pioneer Elite Pro 118: 1) Bottom half picture Pioneer Elite Pro 118: 1) Bottom half picture only with Red/Green/Blue across middle, no upper half picture. 2) Now... Standy by only, no green power light. Does the Is IC SANYO IC 15-PIN SIP 2 CHANNEL VID CONVER CRXN CKT I.C, part # Sanyo STK4274 need to be replaced? Thanks!
Have a manual for Pioneer PRO-200 60" Rear Projection Television?


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Northumbria's vision for improving treatments for Parkinson's disease
Northumbria University is leading research on the effects of technological visual training as a potential rehabilitation tool for people affected by Parkinson's disease.
Dr Sam Stuart, a senior researcher in the Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation at Northumbria, is working with American company, Senaptec, an industry leader in the design and production of sensory performance asses
EXPERT COMMENT: How to dissuade parents from believing in anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories
New research carried out by a team of psychologists has found that sharing what you believe about vaccines could be a very simple way of dispelling vaccine hesitancy in others. In an article written for The Conversation, the academics share their research and its findings.
Northumbria's Autumn 2021 Newspaper is out now!
Packed with the latest news, features and interviews, Northumbria University News is the perfect way to keep up to date with the exciting developments taking place across the University – with the latest edition available to read online now.
Belief in anti-vaccination conspiracies can be cut by correcting misperceptions of what others believe – new study
Belief in anti-vaccination conspiracy theories can be reduced by correcting misperceptions of what other people believe, according to psychologists who have examined the impact of a new social intervention approach.
EXPERT COMMENT: Sleeping longer than 6.5 hours a night associated with cognitive decline according to research – what's really going on here?
Dr Greg Elder, Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Associate Director of Northumbria Sleep Research explores why a good night's sleep is important and how our sleeping patterns can be linked to conditions like dementia for The Conversation.
The knock on the door that military families never forget
As we remember and honour the fallen through remembrance traditions, new research from academics at Northumbria University has revealed the true experiences of bereaved military families, following a first-of-its-kind study exploring the impact of death in military service on surviving family members.
EXPERT COMMENT: Disabled children still face exclusion in PE – here's what needs to change
Kevin Dixon, Senior Lecturer in Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation at Northumbria University and Tom Gibbons, Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise at Teesside University discuss the challenges faced by disabled children in physical education and the action needed to create inclusive education.
Forensic science is unlocking the mysteries of fatal lightning strikes
New research by scientists from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) in South Africa and Northumbria University could help forensic teams understand whether people or animals were the victims of fatal lightning strikes, based solely upon an analysis of their skeletons.
EXPERT COMMENT: William Shatner oldest astronaut at 90 – here's how space tourism could affect older people
Professor Nick Caplan of Aerospace Medicine and Rehabilitation and Professor Chris Newman of Space Law and Policy at Northumbria University provide expert commentary on the effects of space travel on older people following the news of William Shatner being the oldest person to go to space.
EXPERT COMMENT: COVID: how worried should we be about the new AY.4.2 lineage of the coronavirus?
Following the growth of a new Covid-19 variant in the UK, Dr Matthew Bashton and Professor Darren Smith from Northumbria University's Department of Applied Sciences, explore the growth of the variant in various European nations and the need for further genomic surveillance of the coronavirus.
New national nurse training centre brings major boost for University and North East health sector and wider economy
Up to 7,000 new nurses and midwives per year will complete the final stage of their training at Northumbria University after it was awarded a contract to become one of five national OSCE testing centres.
The University worked in partnership with The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle City Council to submit the bid for centre status, which will also boost the wider
Major government funding injection for bioscientists of tomorrow
A new Collaborative Training Partnership (CTP), led by Procter & Gamble and including Northumbria University, has received funding as part of a £22.5m investment from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to address skill gaps in the UK bioscience industry.


Bayonne, Anglet and Biarritz sprawl seemlessly together, around the Adour and Nive rivers, which flow through Bayonne, to their estuary at Anglet and onwards south down the coast to Biarritz but they are all actually quite different. Bayonne, of Roman origins with a Vauban-fortified old town, prides itself on being the Basque cultural capital of France, Anglet is the surfers paradise, blessed with the best surfing beach in Europe and Biarritz is humble fishing village, raised up to a glittery imperial jewel by Napolean III and his wife Eugenie in the mid 19th centuary.
We had planned to stop in Bayonne, figuring it would be cheaper, but unaccountably, according to the tourist office, there were no open campsites and nowhere to park a camping car nearer than St Jean de Luz or St Pee several km away. Fortunately, the list of aires de camping she gave me proved her wrong by indicating one in Biarritz which we duly found for a mere €10 (which you pay to the police when they come knocking - scared us a bit when they first pulled up and started knowcking on vans... ) - there was water and electric, but we had to walk to the beach for toilets (although it was no St Clements, my new standard for how far away toilets are from where we stop!).
We were woken by an enterprising bakery van which came round and tooted its horn at about 9am - I don't think they actually got any business, I think most people did what we did and buried their heads under the pillow and hoped the yobs would go away :) - and after a couple of hours of breakfast, hair washing and chatting to an English couple across the way, and in t-shirts in the balmy 17 degree sunshine, we headed off up the hill into town on our bikes.
- and the grande plage, which is indeed a very grand expanse of sand sweeping northwards to the light house.
We spent a happy hour or so on various rocky promotories watching the waves crash on the rocks and the fishing harbour walls - honestly, if that was the best place to built a harbour it says something about that whole bit of coastline and how on earth they did it I have no idea.
and the waves continued to crash.
After lunch of cheese, bread and fresh pineapple and a chat with the man selling little oil pictures (very nice and quite reasonable but unfortunately probably wouldn't survive the journey) who was lamenting the fact that biarritz was quiet and every one was in San Sebastian, we set off to the lighthouse.
Unfortunately the lighthouse was only open on Saturdays and Sundays (which we knew) but the view was good and there was a big propeller from a beached russian ship which had been en route to santander for scrap and which wound up on a one of the Biarritz beaches - the story of how they got it off was impressive - and a sundial where you are the pointy bit (although it was inexplicably an hour out!).
Cycling on through Anglet we reach the "end" and set off back through the forest path and wended our way back van-wards through the back streets until we once more found the Biarritz casino. Deciding to follow the prom back, we rounded the corner and there, over the waves, was Spain, beckoning us on.
Back at the van, we were pleased to find that the solar shower, which had been basking in the sun on the roof of the van, had acually worked!
After a bit more fettling, some refusing to start (hardware/software issues, not unreliability on Jules' part I hasten to point out, it is stoically putting up with an awful lot!) we set off towards Bayonne for dinner as we had promised ourselves so proper basque food, via a McD's for some free wifi.
Unfortunately, such was the extent of our faffing, fettling and need for interweb that it was later than we thought when we eventually arrived in Bayonne and for a while we feared everything was shut. But we walked down the quay in the cold night air anyway for the second time this trip, found that the Lonely Planet recommended restaurant was still open and buzzing and it was good! The LP promised hearty basque food in a tapas bar environment and with the recommendations of the owner (who had lived near oxford for several years) we had the basque fish and meat specialites of squid cooked in its ink with rice (much much more delicious than it sounds!) and spit roast pork topped with Brebis cheese (ewe cheese I think), salsa, chips and fried egg. yum yum yum!
But in the morning, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and as we emerged from the subway under the road bridge we found an unexpected and beautiful gem! St Jean de Luz and its twin town Cibourn on the other side of the river, circle a natural bay estuary (with unnatural protective breakwaters) with golden sand and gently lapping waves.
They are working fishing harbours with stalls on the quayside selling freshly caught fish and fishermen mending nets and it is all rather lovely.
We wandered into town and foraged a sticky breakfast tutti frutti brioche encrusted with pearls of sugar and bejewelled with gems of dried fruit - truly scrumptious! - and then once the practicalities of clothes washing were out of the way, had moules frites at a pavement cafe - and they were even better, and bigger and juicier than the last lot!
then I went out for a walk in the setting sun whilst Will fettled some more. We are still Arm powered and running the new throttle but as the lamda sensor is so far away from the engine (albeit in a better, less bodged position than stuffing it up the exhaust pipe) it is not learning any more, it is now logging readings as we drive using a static map and every time we stop, Will can graph the min, max and average lamda sensor reading for each amount of air flow and use this data to manually poke the fuel map so it will hopefully eventually converge on the right average for all airflows. He has also rigged up a longer cable so I can now have the laptop in the front whilst still being connected to the "project" in the engine bay and, on instruction, I can change the idle position as we go for when Will feels we need more "umph". clever eh? This will all eventually be automated in some way but that requires the assembly for more hardware which isn't yet done (although apparently we have the bits).