ABSTRACT
Leaders should act solely in the interest of children and young people. Schools leaving Local Authority control could ignore old structures and set pay differently. Deregulation of all pay scales gave every teacher the right to negotiate his or her worth – especially at times of teacher and school leader shortage. Leaders should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from scrutiny unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing. Governance can itself be compromised when professional school leaders use boards for rubber-stamping, or seek to evade governors’ legitimate scrutiny. Leaders must act and take decisions impartially and fairly, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias. Schools have finite resources and at the time of writing, shrinking funding. Services provided are no longer affordable. School leaders must choose what to fund.
