Wayne Buisst

Wayne Buisst, National Lead Practitioner for Religious Education, Ormiston Academies Trust on how the CSTG Leadership Programme has impacted his career.

In 2020, I decided to join the Culham St Gabriel’s Pilot Leadership Programme because I wanted to try and be more constructive within the RE community. I had been moaning from the sidelines for ages. I set myself the target of becoming more active. I have come to trust Culham St Gabriel’s as a provider of great quality support, so felt it was worth the plunge. I also felt like I’d hit the limit of what I could achieve as a Head of RE and needed some signposting for how to make those lateral steps.

I was challenged! There were times when it felt like I was out of my depth, especially engaging in a Reading Group with some of the fiercest intellects I’ve ever met (you know who you are). From the level of research to engage with, to the robust challenge from my mentor, I had to step up to a level I didn’t know I was capable of.

There is some sort of wizardry involved in matching mentor/mentee, as my mentor was a perfect complement to my own working style. It was great having someone to bounce ideas off and also someone pushing me to try things which I was worried about. I stay in touch with my mentor even now. She made such a contribution to the version of my professional self that I became; such brilliant influences should not be lightly cast away.

Throughout my career imposter syndrome has been a constant companion. At other times I feel a bit of a seed on the wind. I spent most of my early career just putting one foot in front of the other and had no idea whether I was objectively any good as a teacher or leader. I became a Head of Department really early in my career and felt that I lost the really influential first few years of shaping my teaching. Luckily I had managerial experience in my pre-teaching life, so I just needed to learn the nuance of educational leadership and strategy. Even with experience, I was still full of doubt. I only did the RE Quality Mark to see where we were falling short, and we got Gold on the first try! The realisation that we had created a successful department was genuinely a surprise as I had really low confidence.

My favourite consequence of the course has been the positive confirmation from my mentor as to the quality of my work. This has empowered me to put myself into the public arena and share ideas. I feel quite humbled to think that people read my thoughts and find them helpful or attended my impromptu online CPD and enjoyed it.

Since graduating from the Leadership Programme I have a new role with my Trust, the Ormiston Academies Trust. I am the National Lead Practitioner for Religious Education. This role is a dream come true as I get to share ideas with colleagues all over the country and hear students everywhere sharing their experiences of Religion and Worldviews.

For what it’s worth, my advice for those thinking of stepping up into leadership is not to rush in, but don’t hold back if you feel you’re ready. Being a great teacher is not the same as being a great manager of teachers. ‘Strategy’ and ‘operations’ are two very different skillsets, but both are needed to create a great manager. Leadership is a skill, not a talent, you can get better at it with practice and effort. Allow others to be honest. Take praise and criticism with equal humility. Teaching is a huge mantle of responsibility, shepherding teachers is even more so, take it seriously but don’t let it consume you. To paraphrase Mary Myatt, ‘You are a human being first, a leader second’ don’t get the balance wrong.

Wayne is National Lead Practitioner for Religious Education at the Ormiston Academies Trust

You can find information on the Leadership Programme here