Before I became an Assistant Principal, I'd already worked out what the job would cost me. I'd watched the people doing it and decided I couldn't afford it. I was wrong, though not in the way you'd expect. It did take something. It just wasn't the thing I'd been dreading, and the biggest price of all was one nobody ever asked me to pay.
Being a mum wasn't enough for me. I loved my children and I still wanted to lead, and wanting more on top of motherhood felt greedy in a way I couldn't shake for years.
Women are 65% of the FE workforce but only 54% of leaders, and that hasn't shifted in four years. The drop happens at one step, manager to senior leader. Here's why I think that is, and the senior role I turned down without ever testing my own assumptions.
You want senior leadership, but the sensible reasons for not going for it keep piling up. At 38, a single mum of two, I told myself the same things for two years. Here's the model that finally showed me what was really going on.
If you want senior leadership but can't quite make yourself go for it, I'd put money on there being a pros and cons list somewhere. Several versions, probably. Here is why it feels like progress and why it might be the very thing keeping you stuck.
Your HoD knows how to be a senior leader. She just doesn't believe she can be one. There's a difference, and it matters.
You've been thinking about that VP role for months. You know you could do it. You know you want it. But every time you imagine the conversation with your partner, your stomach tightens.
So instead of being direct, you test the water. "There might be a restructure coming up." "Do you think I could do an AP role?"
Here's what I know from progressing through senior leadership whilst being the primary parent: avoiding this conversation doesn't make it easier.
If you're serious about stepping up, you need five specific conversations with your partner. Not vague "are you okay with this?" chats. Proper, uncomfortable, necessary conversations that test whether what you need and what they're willing to give actually match.
Many women in FE avoid networking because it feels like cold calling or awkward breakfasts at dawn, but building your network is really about meaningful connections. Here’s how to grow a strong, genuine network that supports your move into senior leadership, without the hard sell.
When I was a single mum working in Further Education, I almost didn’t apply for a senior leadership role because I was convinced family life and leadership couldn’t mix. I imagined endless crises, guilt, and judgement. The reality turned out to be very different — and taught me that the biggest barriers weren’t practical at all, they were the stories I was telling myself.
When we talk about reinventing your career, it’s easy to think it means starting over. But reinvention is rarely about wiping the slate clean. Looking back at my three careers – catering, further education, and now coaching – I can see the same thread running through them all. Reinvention is really about building on what you already have.
