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VSO - Sharing Skills, Changing Lives

Jayne Dingley

Name: Jayne Dingley
Background: Head teacher
VSO role: Education manager, Ghana Education Service, Zebilla

My VSO experience has been much more value to me professionally than I ever anticipated. The last thing I ever expected to do when I returned in March was to continue teaching, let alone take on another headship!

My work in Ghana was a wonderful opportunity to further my own professional skills - training adults, building capacity in individuals and observing a system that appeared to have no accountability nor capacity for staff development beyond initial teacher training.

I had gone through the interminable rigor of OFSTED and Special Measures - HMI visits etc and felt over-inspected and completely disillusioned with education. I then found myself in a situation where none of this existed and I realized that either extreme was ineffectual. I found myself introducing data analysis, action planning and inspection processes! It was an uplifting experience to help staff learn to make judgments on their own schools and to influence the planning at district level.

I went through the expected culture shock on my return and found the lack of focus very difficult. Global education, supply teaching and possible self-employment were some of my chosen options. I saw my present post advertised and decided that maybe I had one more headship left in me. I was amazed that despite my age (55), no degree, no NPQH and 2 years out of the English education system, I was offered the job.

I'm now a month into post and am enjoying myself immensely. I have a much more relaxed attitude to the role and I feel much more confident about my vision and expectations for the school. I'm fully focused on the teaching and learning aims for the school and do not feel pressured by current initiatives.

I'm certainly refreshed but also more objective about my leadership and management. I require much more information about impact and evaluation. For example, I don't want to know that we have interactive whiteboards; I want to know what improvements have been made to pupil's learning because we have interactive whiteboards.

It's early days yet, but I'm confident that I can maintain this level of enthusiasm for school improvement. One factor driving me is that I now have a choice. I can make this work or I can leave - I have literally a world of options open to me. I have brought a global view of life to the school. My experience with VSO was amazing and it is since I've been back that I've been able to appreciate that even my most negative times have had a positive influence.