Listening – why it matters and how to do it

Simon Hepburn, of Marketing Advice for Schools, explains how your school can become a better listener

Schools can be difficult places to listen in – there’s a lot going on, people are busy and often in what you might call a ‘problem-solving mode’. It often feels far easier to make swift decisions and focus on making sure they are put into place – but this can be a big mistake.

The stakeholders in schools, of whom there are many, have diverse needs – and often strong opinions about these needs; in the society we live in today they expect to be given a chance to share these. Schools that don’t listen can find it difficult to make changes stick – or they can suffer real reputational damage as parents and other stakeholders speak their minds on social media, with friends and family or, in more and more cases, by calling in local media.

What does listening involve?

The introduction of Ofsted’s ‘Parent View’, and similar inspection tools, has had an impact on schools which can see that stakeholder views do matter – but the narrow nature of these tools means that, in some places, they are seen as something to prepare or even train parents for rather than an opportunity to develop a listening culture.

Other schools talk about using ‘open door’ policies as a way of listening but, in practice, this is also problematic. Many people are conditioned by their previous experience of schools and may, for example, feel extremely nervous about going to the ‘head’s office’ to talk about something they aren’t happy with; others, such as working parents, may never visit school during working hours. The result can be that a small group of confident parents or staff make most use of this time and the views of others are missed.

Real listening means giving all stakeholders equal chance to share their views – it doesn’t mean that you need to do everything you are asked to do by everyone, but it does mean that you know what they want! And, of course, listening is not just about anticipating or avoiding problems – listening is also all about getting amazing new ideas from the huge number of imaginative people in your wider community and creating productive links between different groups of people.

How should schools be listening?

Here are four ideas that could make a real difference.

• Online forums – The McAuley Catholic High School, in Doncaster, runs regular online meetings that allow parents to suggest and discuss ideas. James Tucker, the school’s associate head of school for communications, says that between 60-90 families are usually represented on the call. A further innovation is that videos of the events are posted on YouTube, and the site automatically generates subtitles which can be translated, meaning that those who struggle with English can engage with the process
• Pulse polling – rather than target a whole stakeholder group with a big annual survey (often based on Ofsted’s Parent View), schools can use free tools such as Microsoft or Google Forms to question small groups at more frequent intervals. As well as allowing you to get early notice of any issues, you can also use this to test tactical things you are doing in the short term – for example, at the moment, many schools I know are trying to work out the best balance between remote and in-person parent evenings and events.
• Focus groups – according to a survey last year, only six per cent of schools had used focus groups recently. This may have been because of COVID lockdowns – although I’ve found they can be far easier to organise and run online. Focus groups, especially those run by an independent facilitator, can identify area where schools can make minor changes with significant impact. For example, I worked with one school which was responding to a poor inspection with some great innovations in teaching and learning, but a focus group found they were communicating them in a highly technical way that parents did not understand.
• Exit interviews – only 20% of schools said they had conducted teacher exit interviews in a 2019 TeacherTapp survey, while there are also opportunities to extend the idea to students and parents who choose to leave schools early. This article in the Harvard Business Review points out the benefits of the process, including finding ideas for improvement and creating positive advocates for the school who know they are being listened to.

What do you do once you’ve listened?

It’s not enough just to listen – you need to tell people what you’ve heard and what will happen as a result. There are three stages to this process:

• Feedback what you’ve heard.
• Give time for further responses – this is a real opportunity for stakeholders to add further ideas and innovations.
• Say when and how you will keep listening.