International Women’s Day – Head Teacher Claire Meakin

Historically, teaching is a highly gendered profession.

In primary schools, teachers are overwhelmingly female, and yet their male counterparts are almost twice as likely to hold leadership positions in secondary schools.

Is Orkney bucking the trend to some degree, with both Orkney’s Mainland secondary schools headed up by women?

We caught up with Kirkwall Grammar School’s Head Teacher Claire Meakin to hear some of her views as part of International Women’s Day on Tuesday 8 March, and this year focuses on the theme #BreaktheBias. The campaign asks you to call out gender bias, discrimination and stereotyping.

Does Claire – a young, female secondary school Head Teacher – feel there’s still a need for further equality in the workplace?

“Yes, always. But there’s no simple, quick fix.  At school, we teach our young people every day that we should be proud of our individuality.  Our role as staff is to work with every individual to help remove any barriers to their learning, so that every one of them can achieve remarkable things.  My role as Head Teacher is to create those same conditions for all staff – we need to celebrate their vast knowledge, skills and experiences and make sure that every one of them is supported to achieve the remarkable.  It’s no easy task but it’s one I’m completely committed to!”

Claire is modest to a fault and can be her own harshest critic declaring herself to be “really average”. Others may beg to differ. For Claire was appointed a school Principal just before her 35^th birthday in 2017 – and that is a little unusual.

“During my time as Principal (and then Head Teacher), I’ve had a few challenging experiences because someone else has thought I was too young to be leading a school, or they’ve expected the Head to be a man etc., but these have just made me more determined to do my role to the best of my abilities for all the young people who attended the school at the time.

“I have been (and continue to be) incredibly fortunate to have been surrounded by strong, brave and inspirational people throughout my career. Not all of them were women, but many just happened to be. This meant I’ve always had people there to support me and maybe 50 years ago, I wouldn’t have had this as much – becoming a young, female secondary Head Teacher may be a little unusual, but it’s not completely unheard of now. The most successful teams I’ve been part of have always benefitted from variety.  They’ve included younger and older, new and experienced, assertive and gentler, and those who are operationally focused and those who are more strategic.”

Claire completed a Mathematics degree at Manchester University, before moving on to Cornwall to do a PGCE (teaching qualification). She taught Maths for three years, became Head of Mathematics then assistant Principal (2011), vice Principal (2012) and finally Principal in 2017.

As a school leader, the buck stops with you and Claire has had to tackle some challenges head on.

“All schools face challenges at one time or another; it’s how you react and deal with them that is important. I have been incredibly proud of staff teams who have worked so brilliantly supporting pupils, parents, community and each other every single day. This focus on supporting others is definitely something that I see at Kirkwall Grammar School, and I’m determined to help this have the very greatest impact possible.”

She’s been in post at KGS for six months and remains disappointed that COVID has prevented the face-to-face contact with the school community that she would have wished for, however, the young students have stood out for all the right reasons.

“The young people at KGS are remarkable and I am really proud of how dedicated they are to their own studies, as well as how determined they are to find opportunities to support each other. I really like KGS’ school vision as I definitely see my role as ensuring every young person, and every member of staff, has ‘every opportunity to achieve the remarkable’ – what a brilliant aspiration for our school community!”

Some of you may find it hard to comprehend but Claire openly admits to lacking in confidence all her life.

“I still lack confidence in myself today. But that doesn’t stop me trying because what’s the worst that could happen? I’m not successful? That will just give me an opportunity to learn and hopefully be stronger / better next time. There have been lots of times when I’ve had to make difficult decisions, but I’ve known they’ve been for the right reasons. I wouldn’t say I’m brave – but I am determined to ensure I support others who need it. I am my worst critic but when I started to really believe that my best was good enough, I was able to support others so much better – because I was happier and healthier.”

Claire’s advice to everyone is:

Be positive – you can achieve whatever you set your mind to, you just have to believe!

Be brave – choose to do the thing you believe in most, even when it’s difficult, because it’ll be worth it in the end.

Be kind – treat everyone how you would want to be treated and remember the power you have to make someone’s day that little bit happier