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INTERVIEW / STEPHEN DREWStephen Drew became headteacher of Brentwood CountyHigh School in Essex in September 2012. A school of about1400 pupils aged 11 to 18 and 200 staff, Brentwood recentlyacquired academy status, after being rated Good by Ofstedearlier this year.A history teacher by training, “Mr Drew” shot to fame in thefly-on-the-wall Channel 4 documentary Educating Essex whenhe was deputy head of Passmores Academy in Harlow. He hasrecently embraced television again to address the issue of tacklingthe behaviour of young pupils faced with exclusion from school.Here he tells agenda about his own career and the challenges hefaces as a headteacher.What has been your path into yourcurrent role?I trained to teach at the Institute ofEducation in 1997, with most of mytraining in Tower Hamlets. I taught forfour years at Stowupland High Schoolin Suffolk before moving to be head ofhistory at Passmores in Harlow in 2002. AtPassmores, I was head of department, headof faculty, assistant headteacher and finallydeputy headteacher from 2008. I becameheadteacher of Brentwood County HighSchool in September 2012.What do you like about working in thefield of education?Working with young people is a privilege.Schools are special places where we getthe chance to improve the lives of youngpeople in a unique way. What happens tous when we go to school affects us for therest of our lives. Every day is a new chanceto be better. Young people never cease tosurprise you, to energise you, to challengeyou or to entertain you. Most of all though,young people make you endlessly proudof what they can achieve. I love the factthat our young people prove the doubtersand the cynics wrong every single day withtheir hard work, responsible attitude anddedication to success.Who do you admire in your field?There are so many amazing teachers andheadteachers in our schools who I aminspired by every day. Tom Sherrington(@headteacherguru) is a headteacherwho writes with great clarity on teachingand learning. Ross Morrison-McGill (@TeacherToolkit) is a deputy headteacherwho has a profound understandingof what makes schools succeed. PhilBeadle (@PhilBeadle) is a fantastic Englishteacher whose passion, teaching skill anddedication to young people is secondto none. I also have to highlight the twobrilliant headteachers who I worked for atPassmores, Kevin Sadler and Vic Goddard.Their inspiring leadership influenced megreatly.Was your own experience of educationa positive one and what lessons didyou learn from it?I loved school. I am not sure that my ownteachers always loved having me in theirclassrooms however. I learned that as ayoung person you only get one chance atyour education and sometimes you needthe adults around you, both teachers andparents, to help you to ensure that you donot waste that chance. I have learned thatteachers and parents have an absoluteresponsibility to support young people tosucceed. We must always remember thatwe are the adults and that this means thatwe must never accept second best eitherfrom a young person or from ourselves.What do you do when – if – you havetime off?I enjoy time with my family. I play rugbyevery Saturday for Bishop’s Stortford RugbyClub. On a Sunday evening, I play five a sidefootball with friends. I am a member of theBritish Museum and pay regular visits.I enjoy cycling and walking. As a family, weenjoy visiting great cities. This summer weare going to Warsaw, Prague and Budapest.I particularly love camping, but I am startingto understand that my teenage childrenand my wife are not as keen as I am!If you weren’t a teacher, what wouldyou be?All the things I would want to do would notbring me an income.Travelling the world’s key historical sites isnot something that qualifies as a job! I reallyhave no idea what else I would do if I wasnot a teacher.What are the greatest challenges facedby schools such as your own over thenext five years?Aside from the financial challenges that areincreasingly becoming desperate for manyschools, the issues of changes to curriculaand exams are key. With the DfE decidingthat there should be complete change tothe curriculum in all Key Stages and at thesame time making radical changes to theexams system, schools face an absurd levelof change.This situation is compounded by theinability of the various political parties toagree that any changes currently beingintroduced in 2014 will remain in place afterthe election in 2015. To me, the issue is notwhat changes are made, it is about schoolsactually being able to know what is goingto happen and what work we need to do.As a headteacher, how do you knowwhen you are doing a good job?When my students, parents, staff andgovernors tell me that they are happy withwhat we are achieving as a school. Praisefrom Ofsted, the Department for Education,the media and politicians are valuablebut are a secondary issue. The job of theheadteacher is to serve your communityand your stakeholders.8 OCR AGENDA Summer 2014