Robson Davison

Deputy Secretary DENI

Robson Davison began his career in teaching.  After 12 years he became an Inspector of Schools with the Department of Education Northern Ireland (DENI).  In 1994 he moved from the professional side of education to educational administration taking up post as an Assistant Secretary in DENI and, since devolution, in the Department for Employment and Learning.  In April 2001, he was promoted to Deputy Secretary. He returned to DENI 3 April 2006 to head the Schools and Youth Policy Group.

With the co-operation of the schools, the Department of Education offers senior officers the opportunity to spend some time in a school to observe education at the sharp end. I had such an opportunity earlier this year and was fortunate to be placed in Belvoir Park Primary School ( Principal Billy Tate), in the SEELB area, a school with an integral nursery and speech and language unit. I went to the school to learn and in my three days with the teachers, other staff and children I learned a lot.

 

What did I learn? The principal, vice-principal, teachers and other staff go about their business in an organised, professional manner. They make a complex organisation look straightforward. The principal, a teaching principal by choice, leads the school and balances a varied set of demands across each day and week by a combination of good planning and responsiveness. He has clear goals for the school formed on a strong theoretical and practical basis, and an appropriate plan for achieving them. He recognises the value of working with the staff, the governors and the wider community in pursuit of changes that are in the interests of the school and its pupils. He is accessible, and thoughtful and perceptive about the problems he faces.

 

The principal receives the support of both the teaching and other staff. The vice-principal, teachers and classroom assistants have created an orderly atmosphere; they bring their experience, their obvious professional commitment and good common sense to bear during the normal run of the school day and sustain very good relationships with the children.  I was struck often by the pressures they face – balancing whole class teaching, group work and individual support; organising resources; judging the pace of work; offering pastoral care in the classroom. I enjoyed the new experience of the nursery unit and the speech and language unit and appreciated better the constant need for the teachers and classroom assistants to be engaged and to be vigilant. The caretaker, the school secretary, the cleaning staff and other ancillary support staff play their part in sustaining a well functioning school.

 

I am more aware of the importance of links between school and the community it serves. The principal gives considerable time and thought to how better the school can provide a service to the people of the estate, whether through the youth provision, the better use of the school buildings and grounds and co-operation with community organisations. He sees the benefits as being two-way.

 

On a policy level I have been able to bring back to the Department a sharper understanding of the process of change within a school and the nature of school leadership; an awareness of the growing importance of special needs provision and especially the need to link health and social care provision more directly to schools – the inter-play of different professionals can bring real benefits; the need for the Department to communicate more effectively with principals and the classroom teachers around the reasons for policy change; the extent of the pressures on schools from the “system”, from parents, from the few more difficult children to teach and from meeting the individual needs of children. These will all be fed into the policy debate.

 

Like my other colleagues who have undertaken this form of contact I found the three days in Belvoir Park Primary School immensely enjoyable and valuable. I am very grateful to Billy Tate and his staff for making me so welcome and for being so open in their professionalism. I wish the principal and the school every success for the future. I hope that any principal reading this will get in touch with the Department and offer my colleagues the opportunity to learn how things really work in schools.