In a hotel recently, I found myself surrounded by a group of salesmen gathering for a conference. Five minutes of snatches of spreadsheets, monthly targets, client groups and loss leaders were enough and I was out, overwhelmed by their shop talk. “As bad as a group of teachers!” my friend commented.

He wasn’t wrong. However, as the job teachers do continually widens its horizons and redefines its aims, their isolation can be a dangerous attitude.

Although the teaching and learning process is central to every school, we have long passed the days when this could be delivered solely by chalk and talk in the classroom. As a result, every school has contacts with a variety of outside agencies, and it is an important part of a school senior management’s remit to ensure that these contacts are advantageous to the pupils and agencies.

There are agencies who work with every pupil in school, such as medical services, careers advisers and the Scottish Qualifications Authority. There are those with specific remits who may offer a short-term contact: work experience placements, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service and higher education establishments for example. Finally, there are the agencies who operate as a support network for pupils with special needs or difficulties during their schooling. These include those dealing with physical disabilities as part of an inclusion programme, second language support units, social work, educational psychology, educational welfare and community education officers, and police juvenile liaison officers and the children’s panel.

This is not an exhaustive list as personal and social education programmes and other subjects are increasingly augmenting the usual teaching methods with visits from relevant outsiders.

Schools clearly need a member of the senior management who has an overview of who comes in, with what remit and how they operate. At the core of successful schools is a recognised and effective ethos. Anyone who is working with the pupils needs to be aware of that ethos and to deliver their service in a manner compatible with it. Parents expect no less.

There also needs to be in place a system for auditing and monitoring the work of outside organisations. The school should know how effectively they work with pupils and on what basis.

Visitors may require some help to operate successfully. It is easy to forget that even people who are highly confident in their chosen field may find the prospect of addressing 200 adolescents in a hall more than a little frightening.

School staff, under pressure and enmeshed in routine, may well appear a little offhand to visitors unless there is an awareness of their needs and time and space is made available for them to work effectively. Whether it is a cup of coffee and a quick chat on arrival or a well prepared room with all the necessary equipment, visiting agencies should feel they are valued and respected as part of the team in the school.

In return, they should respect the school’s aims and expectations and be aware that they are operating within an established ethos.

Part of management’s role is to be available to visiting agencies and to be interested in and aware of their contribution to school life. Including these agencies in staff social events, inviting them to share their work and methods with teachers on in-service days and flagging to the whole school community how valuable is their involvement are all useful ways to cement the relationship.

Along with the guidance team, it is members of the senior management who most often meet with visitors to school. They should be aware that this role requires skill and forethought and should no more be left to chance than the welcoming of guests into one’s own home.

While a friendly face will work wonders, professional standards require much more than that. Some agencies negotiate a service agreement, on an annual basis, with the schools they serve: this gives both parties a formal opportunity to express their needs and concerns and agree on shared aims for the year ahead.

At the very least, schools should prepare a welcome pack for all those who come to work there, containing all the necessary information about ethos and expectations, not to mention a map of the school showing the toilets.