Transcript System Leadership for School Transformation ‘Dean’s

“Every School a Great School”
Being a relentless focus on improving the learning outcomes of
‘every student’ in ‘every school’ across the whole system …
Limestone Coast Region Leader’s Conference, SA
Monday and Tuesday, 18th and 19th October 2010
Professor David Hopkins
Overview of Workshop – Day One
Session One – Every School a Great School - The Big Picture of
School Reform
• Professional Discussion – Moral purpose, systemic reform and the four
drivers for improvement
• Professional Activity – SWOT analysis
Session Two – The Challenge of Leadership
• Professional Discussion – Effective leadership practices that relate to
enhanced student learning, change agent skills and managing adaptive
challenges
• Professional Activity – School and classroom level conditions scales
Session Three – The Pedagogy of Personalised Learning
• Professional Discussion – Personalised learning, the instructional core and a
framework for teaching
• Professional Activity – Models of teaching jigsaw
Overview of Workshop – Day Two
Session One – Professional learning and development
• Professional Discussion – Differentiated approaches to professional
development, classroom observation strategies and developing capacity
through the school improvement team
• Professional Activity – Classroom observation activity
Session Two – Taking school improvement to scale
• Professional Discussion – Intelligent accountability, networking and systemic
reform
• Professional Activity – Strategies for assessing regional capacity
Session Three – Developing our school improvement journeys
• Professional Discussion – Developing a school improvement or networking
action plan based on the SWOT analysis
• Professional Activity – Presentations of school or network plans
Session One
Every School a Great School –
The Big Picture of School Reform
Moral Purpose of Schooling
I know what my
learning objectives are
and feel in control of
my learning
I get to learn lots of
interesting and
different subjects
I can get a level 4 in
English and Maths before
I go to secondary school
I know what good work
looks like and can help
myself to learn
I know if I need extra
help or to be challenged
to do better I will get the
right support
My parents are
involved with the
school and I feel I
belong here
I can work well with and
learn from many others
as well as my teacher
I enjoy using ICT and
know how it can help
my learning
I know how I am being
assessed and what I need
to do to improve my work
I can get the job that I
want
All these …. whatever my background, whatever my abilities,
wherever I start from
Life Scripts and Adventure
We all have life scripts, some of us chose to develop it
others are forced to do so. Life scripts evolve as the
individual confronts direct experience and adapts and
assimilates it with their self. Adventure as the purest
form of direct experience has the ability to develop ‘life
script’ in the most immediate way. ‘Adventure leaders’
create situations where others can develop their own
life scripts.
As Mahatma Gandhi said – ‘You must be the change
you wish to see in the world’
The G100 Communique
A group of 100 principals from fourteen countries
(G100) met at the National Academy of Education
Administration (NAEA) in Beijing, China 16-19
October 2006 to discuss the transformation of and
innovation in the world’s education systems.
They concluded their communique in this way We need to ensure that moral purpose is at the fore of all
educational debates with our parents, our students,
our teachers, our partners, our policy makers and our
wider community.
We define moral purpose as a compelling drive to do
right for and by students, serving them through
professional behaviors that ‘raise the bar and narrow
the gap’ and through so doing demonstrate an intent,
to learn with and from each other as we live together
in this world.
Mean performance in reading literacy
High Excellence High Equity –
Raising the Bar and Narrowing the Gap
560
540
High excellence
Low equity
U.K.
520
High excellence
High equity
Finland
Canada
Japan
U.S.
Korea
Belgium
500
Germany
480
Switzerland
Spain
Poland
460
Low excellence
Low equity
440
Low excellence
High equity
420
60
80
100
120
140
• 200 – Variance (variance OECD as a whole = 100)
Source: OECD (2001) Knowledge and Skills for Life
Ingredients of successful systems
from the PISA studies
• Systematic and equitable funding
• Universal standards - mirrored in the views of students,
•
•
•
•
•
•
parents and school principals
School autonomy
Mix of accountability systems - internal and external
Continuous monitoring of standards and quick interventions when
failure to achieve them is identified
Creating the appropriate environment to achieve the standards set
• get the right people to become teachers
• develop teachers into effective instructors (PD internal and
external)
• place incentives and differentiated support systems to ensure that
every child get the supported that it need
Focus on the curriculum and introduce skills required for the 21st
Century
Networking and innovation
Excellence and equity are achievable!
‘Every School a Great School’
as an expression of moral purpose
• What parents want is for their local school to be a great school.
(National Association of School Governors; Education and Skills Select Committee 2004).
• The three system leadership commitments:
• primacy of student learning and achievement;
• relentless focus on reducing within school variation;
• collaborative working to eradicate between school variation
and enhance social equity.
Brief History of Standards in Primary Schools
11 plus dominated
"Formal"
Standards and
accountability
NLNS
Professional control
"Informal"
2004
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
4
575
550
525
500
475
450
425
400
375
350
325
300
Belize
Morocco
Kuwait
Iran, Islamic Rep of
Argentina
Colombia
Macedonia, Rep of
Turkey
Moldova, Rep of
Cyprus
Norway
International Avg.
Slovenia
Israel
Romania
Iceland
Slovak Republic
Greece
France
Hong Kong SAR
Russian Federation
Singapore
Scotland
New Zealand
Czech Republic
Germany
Italy
United States
Hungary
Lithuania
Canada (Ontario,Quebec)
Latvia
Bulgaria
England
Netherlands
Sweden
Distribution of Reading Achievement in
9-10 year olds in 2001
Source: PIRLS 2001 International Report: IEA’s Study of Reading Literacy Achievement in Primary Schools
New Labour Policy Framework
Intervention
in inverse
proportion
to success
Accountability
Ambitious
Standards
High
Challenge
High
Support
Access to best
practice and quality
professional
development
Devolved
responsibility
Good data and
clear targets
Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or
above in Key Stage 2 tests 1998-2003
English
80
Maths
Percentage
75
70
65
60
55
50
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
Test changes in 2003
•
Major changes to writing test/markscheme
•
Significant changes to maths papers
2003
The Key Question - how do we get there?
• Most agree that:
• When standards are too low and too varied
• some form of direct state intervention is necessary
• the impact of this top-down approach is usually to raise
standards.
• But when:
• progress plateaus - while a bit more might be squeezed out in
some schools , and perhaps a lot in underperforming schools,
one must question whether this is still the recipe for sustained
reform
• there is a growing recognition that to ensure that every student
reaches their potential, schools need to lead the next phase of
reform.
• The 64k dollar question is how do we get there?
Towards system wide sustainable reform
Prescription
Building Capacity
Professionalism
National Prescription
Every School a
Great School
Schools Leading Reform
System Leadership
Professional Discussion
• How do you define ‘moral purpose’ in your school?
• Do you agree with this analysis of system reform?
Four key drivers to raise achievement and
build capacity for the next stage of reform
i. Personalising Learning
ii. Professionalising Teaching
iii. Building Intelligent Accountability
iv. Networking and Collaboration
(i) Personalising Learning
‘Joined up learning and teaching’
• Learning to Learn
• Curriculum choice &
entitlement
• Assessment for learning
• Student Voice
‘My Tutor’
Interactive web-based
learning resource
enabling students to
tailor support and
challenge to their needs
and interests.
(ii) Professionalising Teaching
‘Teachers as researchers,
schools as learning communities’
• Enhanced repertoire of
learning & teaching strategies
• Evidence based practice with
time for collective inquiry
• Collegial & coaching
relationships
• Tackle within school variation
‘The Edu-Lancet’
A peer-reviewed
journal published for
practitioners by
practitioners & regularly
read by the profession
to keep abreast of R&D.
(iii) Building Intelligent Accountability
‘Balancing internal and external accountability and
assessment’
• Moderated teacher assessment
and AfL at all levels
• ‘Bottom-up’ targets for every
child and use of pupil
performance data
• Value added data to help
identify strengths / weaknesses
• Rigorous self-evaluation linked
to improvement strategies and
school profile to demonstrate
success
‘Chartered
examiners’
Experienced teachers
gain certification to
oversee rigorous internal
assessment as a basis
for externally awarded
qualifications.
(iv) Networking and Collaboration
‘Disciplined innovation, collaboration and building
social capital’
• Best practice captured and
highly specified
• Capacity built to transfer and
sustain innovation across
system
• Keeping the focus on the
core purposes of schooling
by sustaining a discourse on
teaching and learning
• Inclusion and Extended
Schooling
‘Leading Edge
Practice
Partnerships’
Schools develop
exemplary curriculum
and pedagogic practices
and share with others
4 drivers mould to context through
system leadership
Personalised
Learning
Professional
Teaching
SYSTEM
LEADERSHIP
Networks &
Collaboration
Intelligent
Accountability
System Leadership: A Proposition
‘System leaders’ care about and work for the
success of other schools as well as their own. They
measure their success in terms of improving
student learning and increasing achievement, and
strive to both raise the bar and narrow the gap(s).
Crucially they are willing to shoulder system
leadership roles in the belief that in order to change
the larger system you have to engage with it in a
meaningful way.’
System leaders share five striking
characteristics, they:
• measure their success in terms of improving student
•
•
•
•
learning and strive to both raise the bar and narrow the
gap(s).
are fundamentally committed to the improvement of
teaching and learning.
develop their schools as personal and professional learning
communities.
strive for equity and inclusion through acting on context and
culture.
understand that in order to change the larger system you
have to engage with it in a meaningful way.
Professional Discussion
• How far do the four drivers apply to the your context?
• Do you agree with this description of system leadership?
Professional Activity
SWOT Analysis
• What are the preconditions of improvement in a school?
• How does a school organize for improvement?
• What are the key strategies employed to raise
achievement?
• How does professional learning take place?
• How are cultures changed and developed?
• How effective is your own school’s approach to
improvement?
Session Two
The Challenge of Leadership
The impact of Educational Leadership and
the Emergence of System Leadership
In order to understand the current role and contribution of
leadership in innovative education institutions I will:
• Discuss the challenges facing school leaders in OECD
countries;
• Identify six key trends on the future of school leaders in
England and relate them to Australia;
• Report on large scale research that links leadership
practices with higher levels of student achievement;
• Propose ‘System Leadership’ as a core practice for meeting
the challenges of contemporary education.
Background: The OECD Improving
School Leadership (ISL) activity
An International Perspective
Australia
Austria
Belgium (French)
Belgium (Flanders)
Chile
Denmark
Finland
France
Hungary
Ireland
Israel
Korea
The Netherlands
New Zealand
Network of experts
Norway
Portugal
Slovenia
International
Spain
Sweden
organisations
United Kingdom (England)
United Kingdom (N. Ireland)
United Kingdom (Scotland)
School leadership: why does it matter?
School
Leadership
Classroom
School
Local
level
System
level
• At the school level, leadership can
improve teaching and learning by
setting objectives and influencing
classroom practice
• At the local level, school leadership
can improve equal opportunities by
collaborating with other schools and
local communities
• At the system level, school
leadership is essential for successful
education reform
School leadership: a policy priority
The role of leadership has changed dramatically
School autonomy:
“Running a small business”
Administration and management
Human and financial resources
Accountability for outcomes:
A new culture of evaluation
Assessment, (self) evaluation, quality assurance, public reporting
New approaches to teaching and learning
More diverse student populations
More emphasis on raising performance of all
Need to invest in the
knowledge and skills of
leaders on the job
School leadership: the challenges
Role expansion & intensification
More and more tasks have been added to school leaders’ workload.
Most of the leadership tasks are carried out by one individual
Lack of coherent frameworks to define and distribute the new roles
Insufficient preparation and training
Most school leaders are former teachers. Experience as a teacher does
not guarantee that leaders have the knowledge and skills necessary to
run a school
Lack of systematic and career-staged training
School leadership: the challenges
Shortages in leadership personnel
The current workforce is retiring, but few people are interested in moving
up to leadership
Application numbers are decreasing: 15 out of 22 participating countries
report difficulties in finding a sufficient number of qualified candidates
Unattractive working conditions (1)
Barriers to potentially interested candidates:
Long working hours
Poor work-life balance
Inadequate salaries
School leadership: the challenges
Unattractive working conditions (2)
Traditionally most principals had lifelong tenure
Inflexible and hierarchical career structures
Few opportunities for career development
Problems of principal burnout & lack of opportunities to move up to new
tasks
School leadership: the policy
(Re)defining school leadership
responsibilities
Distributing school leadership
Developing the knowledge and skills of
school leaders
Making school leadership a more attractive
profession
Challenges facing School Leaders in England
There are a set of key challenges at the heart of school leadership. These
are:
• ensuring consistently good teaching and learning;
• integrating a sound grasps of basics knowledge and skills within a broad
•
•
•
•
and balanced curriculum;
managing behaviour and attendance;
strategically managing resources and the environment;
building the school as a professional learning community; and
developing partnerships beyond the school to encourage parental support
for learning and new learning opportunities.
There is also a set of specific contemporary challenges such as:
• the synergy between standards and welfare;
• personalisation;
• the implementation of workforce reform;
• the impetus for school diversity and parental choice;
• the progression of particular groups of students.
Professional Discussion
• How far does the OECD research capture the
reality of leadership on the Limestone Coast?
• How similar are the challenges facing school
leaders in England similar to those of leaders
on the Limestone Coast?
‘Seven Strong Claims about School Leadership’
• School leadership is second only to classroom instruction as an
•
•
•
•
•
•
influence on student learning.
Almost all successful (school) leaders draw on the same repertoire of
basic leadership practices.
It is the enactment of the same basic leadership practices – not the
practices themselves – that is responsive to the context.
School leaders improve pupil learning indirectly through their influence
on staff motivation and working conditions.
School leadership has a greater influence on schools and pupils when it
is widely distributed.
Some patterns of leadership distribution are much more effective than
others.
A small handful of personal “traits” explain a high proportion of the
variation (such as being open minded, flexible, persistent and
optimistic) in leader effectiveness.
Use of
Data
Distributed
Leadership
0.18
Setting
Directions
0.36
Developing
People
Teacher
Collaborative
Culture
0.41
0.27
0.25
0.10
0.32
Assessment
for Learning
0.15
0.30
0.54
0.21
Use of
Observation
0.20
Staff
High
Academic
Standards
0.16
0.53
0.17
0.14
0.26
0.17
0.24
Redesigning
Organisation
Improvement
in School
Conditions
0.35
0.41
0.29
SLT
Collaboration
0.40
0.31
Pupil
Motivation
& Learning
Culture
0.45
HT Trust
SLT:
L&T
0.17
Changes
in Pupil
Academic
Outcomes
0.40
0.25
Change in
Pupil
Attendance
0.27
0.16
0.19
0.23
Change in
Pupil
Behaviour
0.17
Pupil &
External
Participation
0.14
Structural Equation Modelling –
Connecting Headteacher
Effectiveness and Pupil Outcomes
Building
Vision, Setting
Directions
Pace / Timing
Leadership
- Improvement
Group
- Time in
post
- FSM
Understanding &
Developing
People
-Succession
planning
-Monitoring and
accountability
- Sector
Pace / Timing
- Ethnic
Diversity
Organisational
Redesign
-Distributive
leadership
practices
-Correspondenc
e with teaching
& learning
purposes
School
- Internal
states
- Provision of
leadership
- Age
- Values
- School size
- Urban/rural
- Level of
deprivation
in area
Pace / Timing
Managing
Teaching and
Learning
- Innovative
practices
- Use of data
Culture &
Climate
Academic
Altered
Practices
Personal
and Social
Pedagogic
Focus
Behaviour
Student &
Staff
Engagement
& Motivation
Affective
Key Messages
Building vision and setting directions
1. The Head is the driver for creating and realising the
school’s vision.
2. Creating a clear vision for the school (usually with the
support of the SLT).
3. Creating the right conditions for the realisation of the
school’s vision:
•
•
releasing stuff that are reluctant to change; and
strategically building the practical blocks for the
realisation of the school’s vision (usually with the support
of SLT)
4. Propagating the school’s vision.
Key Messages
Understanding and developing people
1. Most school leaders take succession planning very
seriously.
2. Staff motivation is increased when trust between the head
teacher and staff is built.
3. School leaders impose strong accountability frameworks
and monitor practice.
4. CPD is strategically built, is predominantly delivered
internally and is of high quality.
5. Becoming a training school impacts positively on
teaching and learning.
Key Messages
Organisational Re-design
1.
2.
3.
All secondary schools have undergone some
sort of
organisational re-design.
Changes are specific to context.
The most powerful forms for improving pupil outcomes are:
• the restructuring of the SLT;
• the creation of a pastoral team;
• distributed leadership – some forms as more effective
than others;
• collaborating with other schools, Heads and external
agencies - collaboration is most effective when all staff
are engaged; and
• parental engagement.
Key Messages
Teaching and Learning
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
All schools focus relentlessly on teaching and learning.
Managing teaching and learning depends on context and pupil
needs
A disciplined environment is important for learning.
The three part lesson has been instrumental for the initial
phases of school improvement. However, to sustain
improvement it seems that innovation and risk taking in
teaching and learning are required.
The use of data, AfL and the systematic tracking of pupil
progress improves pupil outcomes.
Enrichment activities support students motivation to learn and
build up their confidence.
Summary – Leadership and Learning
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Certain leadership practices are effective in all contexts (vision,
direction, developing people, distributing leadership, focus on T and L
and data driven developments).
Effective leaders know when to switch strategies.
Leadership levers -are the same but utilised differently in different
contexts.
Distributed leadership as a means to an end rather than an end in
itself.
Proximity of leadership practice to learning (instruction) has a positive
impact on student outcomes.
Effective leaders maximise formal and informal leadership structures
and practices.
Effective leaders instil norms of school renewal and regeneration.
Deprivation remains a key determinant of performance at
school and pupil level – but It can be done!
The Attainment of FSM and Non-FSM Pupils Living in Rich, Moderate
and Poor Areas and in Low and High FSM Schools
100%
Percentage Achieving 5+ A*-C
90%
80%
70%
‘Affluent’ Pupils
77%
60%
50%
57%
‘Deprived’
Pupils
Non-FSM Pupils in Moderate
Means Area
50%
40%
39%
30%
20%
Non-FSM Pupils in Wealthy
Achievers Area
27%
FSM Pupils in Hard Pressed Area
23%
10%
0%
Low Deprivation Schools
(<= 5% FSM)
High Deprivation Schools
(>35% FSM)
Secondary School FSM band
These Twelve Secondary Schools …
Are in the highest category of deprivation (35% or
more FSM, yet, they all:
• Achieve over 80% good GCSE passes at 16, with a
consistent trajectory of improvement
• Have at least two recent inspection reports judged as
‘outstanding’
• Received outstanding grades for teaching and
learning, leadership and the school overall
• Record a pattern of high contextual value added
scores from Key Stage 2 (age 11) to Key Stage 4 (age
16)
They defy the association of
poverty with outcomes
Yet the scale of challenge faced by these schools is
considerable:
• Higher than average proportion come form poor or
disturbed family backgrounds where support for learning
and expectation of achievement are low
• Many students are subject to emotional and psychological
tension and regular attendance is a problem
• They are open to a range of ‘urban ills’ that often
characterise poorer communities – drugs and alcohol,
peer pressure of gangs and fashion and overt racism
which tend to attract behaviour which ranges from antisocial to violent.
• Getting these students ready and willing to learn is a
constant challenge, which the schools strive to meet by
providing a better daytime alternative to being at home
or on the streets.
21st Century Schools succeed for the
following reasons:
•
•
•
•
•
They excel at what they do not
just occasionally but for a high
proportion of the time
They prove constantly that
disadvantage need not be a
barrier to achievement
They put their students first,
invest in their staff and nurture
their communities
They have strong values and
high expectations that are
applied consistently and are
never relaxed
They fulfil individual potential
through providing outstanding
teaching, rich opportunities for
learning and encouragement and
support for each student
•
•
•
•
•
They are highly inclusive, having
complete regard for the
educational progress, personal
development and well being of
every student
Their achievements do not
happen by chance, but by highly
reflective, carefully planned and
implemented strategies
They operate with a very high
degree of internal consistency
They are constantly looking for
ways to improve further
They have outstanding and well
distributed leadership
At the heart of this is outstanding leadership
practice
The Heads of these
schools are not by and
large iconic – they have
taken on challenging
schools out of a deep
commitment to improving
the lot of their students
and communities. Moral
purpose may be at the
heart of it but successful
Heads need a range of
attributes and skills if they
are to succeed in dealing
with the challenges
presented by turbulent
and complex
communities.
• Clear and unshakeable principles and
sense of purpose
• Vigilance and visibility
• Courage and conviction
• Predisposition to immediate action,
letting nothing slip
• Insistence on Consistency of approach,
individually and across the organisation
• Drive and determination
• Belief in people
• Ability to communicate
• leadership by example
• Emotional intelligence
• Tireless energy
A change for the better …
Before the change of head
teacher, the school:
• Was comfortable and happy
• Had a strong pastoral system
•
•
•
•
although this was reliant on
personalities rather than systems
Had little culture of change and
improvement
Had a questionable work ethic
Set expectations around happy,
well-adjusted students with little
discussion of whether they should
also achieve higher academic
levels
Had a well liked head who was
easygoing, genial and supportive
but not challenging, often absent
and who allowed poor staff to
remain in post.
The new head teacher:
• Faced initial staff resentment with
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
data; there was a belief that the
school was happy and did not need
to change
Gradually changed the culture over a
few years
Retained what was good
Maintained a relentlessly positive
attitude showed high energy
Was a lateral thinker, prepared to
take a gamble
Had a very ‘can do’ attitude and said
‘yes’ wherever possible
Was prepared to tackle difficult
issues such as weeding out poor staff
Trusted and motivated staff
Was approachable and relaxed
Made good use of promotion to
bring alienated staff onside
Used the wider senior team to
involve more staff as leaders
It is not surprising …
• … that a number of themes emerged which were
common to most or all of the schools. These included, for
example, attention to the quality of teaching and
learning; the assessment and tracking of student’s
progress; target-setting, support and intervention;
attracting teachers and growing leaders.
• It is important to stress that the success of these schools
is due not simply to what they do but the fact that it is
rigorously distilled and applied good practice, cleverly
selected and modified to fit the needs of the school. The
schools do not value innovation for its own sake, but only
when it adds something extra. The practices described
here are not ‘off the peg’ tricks; they mesh together and
work synchronously.
Diana’s Line of Success
1. Coming out of
special measures
(1999-2000)
Enriching teaching and
learning environment
Making school secure
Success of
leadership in
terms of
effect upon
broad pupil
outcomes
Improving teaching and
learning in classrooms
Vision and values: developing
school’s mission
Distributing leadership
Persisting priority on teaching
and learning:
Ofsted
Inspection
2002
(Very Good)
• becoming a thinking school
Leading by example
• curriculum development
Establishing a student
behaviour policy and
improving attendance
Performance management and
CPD
Vision and values
Developing resources
Ofsted
Inspection
2007
(Outstanding)
2. Taking ownership: an
inclusive agenda (2000–2002)
Inclusivity: integrating
students from different social
and cultural backgrounds
Restructuring leadership
Involving community
Assessment
(personalised)
Focus on monitoring and
evaluation
Placing staff well-being
at centre of school
improvement
Ofsted Inspection
1998
(Special Measures)
1999
3. Developing creativity
(2002-2005)
Broadening horizons
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
4. Everyone a
leader (2005present)
Creative
partnership
and creativity
Self evaluation
Personalised
learning
2005
onward
OFSTED and SATs Results
1. Coming out of special
measures (1999-2000)
2. Taking ownership: an
inclusive agenda (2000–2002)
3. Developing creativity
(2002-2005)
Enriching teaching and
learning environment
Vision and values: developing
school’s mission
Restructuring leadership
Making school secure
Distributing leadership
Improving teaching and
learning in classrooms
Persisting priority on teaching
and learning:
Leading by example
• becoming a thinking school
Establishing a student
behaviour policy and
improving attendance
• curriculum development
Vision and values
Developing resources
Performance management and
CPD
Inclusivity: integrating
students from different social
and cultural backgrounds
Focus on monitoring and
evaluation
Involving community
Assessment
(personalised)
Placing staff well-being
at centre of school
improvement
Broadening horizons
4. Everyone a
leader (2005present)
Creative
partnership
and creativity
Self evaluation
Personalised
learning
Act as a
Community
Leader
Work as a
Change Agent
Managing
Teaching and
Learning
Developing
Organisations
Personal Development
Lead a
Successful
Educational
Improvement
Partnership
Moral Purpose
Strategic Acumen
Developing People
Lead and Improve a School in
Challenging Circumstances
Partner
another
School
Facing
Difficulties
and Improve
it
Leadership for Learning
Setting direction
• Total commitment to enable every learner to reach their potential
• Ability to translate vision into whole school programmes
Managing Teaching and Learning
• Ensure every child is inspired and challenged through personalized learning
• Develop a high degree of clarity about and consistency of teaching quality
Developing people
• Enable students to become more active learners
• Develop schools as professional learning communities
Developing the organization
• Create an evidence-based school
• Extend an organization’s vision of learning to involve networks
System Leadership Roles
A range of emerging roles, including heads who:
• develop and lead a successful educational improvement partnership
across local communities to support welfare and potential
• choose to lead and improve a school in extremely challenging
circumstances
• partner another school facing difficulties and improve it. This
category includes Executive Heads and leaders of more informal
improvement arrangements
• act as curriculum and pedagogic innovators who develop and then
transfer best practice across the system
• work as change agents or experts leaders as National Leader of
Education, School Improvement Partner, Consultant Leader.
Professional Discussion
• How far does the model of system leadership
capture the reality of leadership on the
Limestone Coast?
• How far does this approach to leadership mirror
the research of Viviane Robinson and her
colleagues and your self assessment against
their dimensions?
Professional Activity
School Level Diagnostic
•
•
•
•
•
•
Enquiry and Reflection
Planning
Involvement
Staff Development
Co-ordination
Leadership
Session Three
The Pedagogy of Personalised Learning
Effect Size of Teaching
Student
Performance
McKinsey & Company, 2007:11
100th
percentile
90th
percentile
53 percentile
points
50th
percentile
37th
percentile
0
percentile
Age 8
Age 11
Mean task input as percentiles of the 1960 task distribution
How the demand for skills has changed
Economy-wide measures of routine and non-routine task
input in the USA (Levy and Murnane)
65
Routine manual
60
Nonroutine manual
55
Routine cognitive
50
45
Nonroutine analytic
40
Nonroutine interactive
1960
1970
1980
2002of schools:
The1990
dilemma
The skills that are easiest to teach and test
are also the ones that are easiest to digitise,
automate and outsource
“What does it mean to be educated?” at
any particular phase of education
Being educated at any particular age has four central elements:
• a breadth of knowledge gained from a curricula entitlement;
• a range of skills on a developmental continuum that reflects increasing depth at ages
7, 11, 14,16, and in many cases, 18;
• a range of learning experiences;
• a set of key products, projects or artifacts.
It also means that students are sufficiently articulate to:
• sustain employability through basic skills;
• apply their knowledge and skills in different contexts;
• choose from and learn in a range of post-14 study (assuming an entitlement
curriculum up until then);
• draw on wider experiences to inform further learning and choice.
Most educational systems use examination results as a proxy measure for this range of
quality outcomes
“All our students will be
literate, numerate and curious … “
I wrote (with Bruce Joyce) some time ago
that:
Learning experiences are composed of
content, process and social climate. As
teachers we create for and with our
children opportunities to explore and
build important areas of knowledge,
develop powerful tools for learning, and
live in humanizing social conditions.
Powerful Learning …
Is the ability of learners to respond successfully to the tasks
they are set, as well as the task they set themselves In
particular, to:
• Integrate prior and new knowledge
• Acquire and use a range of learning skills
• Solve problems individually and in groups
• Think carefully about their successes and failures
• Accept that learning involves uncertainty and difficulty
All this has been termed “meta-cognition” – it is the
learners’ ability to take control over their own learning
processes.
A Typology of Skills
These skills fall into three categories:
Functional Skills: literacy, numeracy and ICT.
Thinking and Learning Skills: are the skills young people need to
acquire in order to become effective learners. Gaining mastery of these
skills equips students to raise their achievement by developing their
ability to:
• improve their achievement by applying a wide range of learning
approaches in different subjects;
• learn how to learn, with the capability to monitor, evaluate, and change
the ways in which they think and learn;
• become independent learners, knowing how to generate their own ideas,
acquire knowledge and transfer their learning to different contexts.
Personal Skills: are the skills young people need to acquire in order to
develop their personal effectiveness. Gaining mastery of these skills
equips students to manage themselves and to develop effective social
and working relations.
Professional Discussion
The Key Question
What teaching strategies do I and my
colleagues have in our repertoires to
respond to the student diversity that
walks through our classroom doors?
Elephant in the Classroom - 1
Confusing people and practice is deeply rooted in the culture of
schools, and it is especially resilient because it resides in the
beliefs and the language of school people. We speak of ‘gifted’
or ‘natural’ teachers, for example, without ever thinking about
the implications of that language for how people improve their
practice. If practice is a gift that falls out the sky onto people,
then the likelihood that we will improve practice at any scale at
all is minimal. There are only so many sunbeams to go around,
and there aren’t enough for everyone.
That is the first problem.
Elephant in the Classroom - 2
The second stems from the first. It is that in education there is
no common agreed on shared practices or shared understanding
of the cause and effect relationship between teaching and
learning. This is not to say that there is no agreement on
curriculum content, or that some teachers do not have a clear
philosophy about linking teaching to learning. What it is to say is
that in teaching one’s practice in the sense we are using it here is
based not on taste or style, but rather on evidence and that this
practice is open up to public scrutiny and one holds oneself and
each other accountable for that practice.
Focus on the Instructional Core
CURRICULUM
POWERFUL
LEARNING
TEACHING and
LEARNING
STRATEGIES
STUDENT
ENGAGEMENT
Intervening in the ‘Instructional Core’
 Increases in student learning occur only as a consequence of




improvements in the level of content, teachers’ knowledge and
skill and student engagement.
If you change any single element of the instructional core, you
have to change the other two to affect student learning.
The tasks students do predict their performance; so the real
accountability lies in the tasks the students perform.
We learn to do the work by doing the work: people have to
engage in sustained description and analysis of instructional
practice before they can acquire either the expertise or the
authority to judge it.
In developing a practice around the instructional core description comes before analysis, analysis before prediction, and
prediction before evaluation.
What is ‘Professional Practice’?
• By
practice
we
mean
something
quite
specific.
We mean a set of protocols and
processes
for
observing,
analyzing,
discussing and understanding instruction that can be
used to improve student learning at scale. The
practice works because it creates a common
discipline and focus among practitioners with a
common purpose and set of problems.
• The real insight here is that you can maintain all the
values and commitments that make you a person
and still give yourself permission to change your
practice.
Your practice is an instrument for
expressing who you are as a professional; it is not
who you are.
Three ways of thinking about Teaching
Teaching
Skills
Teaching
Models
Reflection
Teaching
Relationships
Teaching Skills
•
Active teaching
•
Engaged time – ‘time on task’
•
Structuring information
•
Effective questioning
•
Consistent success
•
And … ???
Some Theory of Action Principles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
When teacher directed instruction becomes more enquiry
focused the level of student engagement increases
By consistently adopting protocols for teaching and
learning student behaviour and engagement is enhanced
If teachers use cooperative group structures / techniques
to mediate between whole class instruction and students carrying out tasks
then the academic performance of the whole class will increase
When teachers systematically use higher order
questioning the level of student understanding is
deepened
When feedback contains reference to practical actions student behaiour
becomes more positive and consistent
When peer assessment (AfL) is consistently utilized student engagement,
learning and achievement increases
When learning tasks are purposeful, clearly defined, differentiated and
challenging, (according to the students Zone of Proximal Development),
then the more powerful and precise the learning for all students
Teaching Relationships
Expectation effects on student achievement are
likely to occur both directly through opportunity to
learn (differences in the amount and nature of
exposure to content and opportunities to engage in
various types of academic activities) and indirectly
through differential treatment that is likely to affect
students' self-concepts, attributional inferences, or
motivation.
Good, T.L. and Brophy, J.E. (1994)
Looking In Classrooms (2nd ed)
Teaching Models
Our toolbox is the models of teaching, actually models for learning,
that simultaneously define the nature of the content, the learning
strategies, and the arrangements for social interaction that create
the learning contexts of our students. For example, in powerful
classrooms students learn models for:
•
Extracting information and ideas from lectures and presentations
•
Memorising information
•
Building hypotheses and theories
•
Attaining concepts and how to invent them
•
Using metaphors to think creatively
•
Working effectively with other to initiate and carry out co-operative
tasks
Professional Activity
Models of Teaching
“Every School a Great School”
Being a relentless focus on improving the learning outcomes of
‘every student’ in ‘every school’ across the whole system …
Limestone Coast Region Leader’s Conference, SA
Monday and Tuesday, 18th and 19th October 2010
Professor David Hopkins
Overview of Workshop – Day Two
Session One – Professional learning and development
• Professional Discussion – Differentiated approaches to professional
development, classroom observation strategies and developing capacity
through the school improvement team
• Professional Activity – Classroom observation activity
Session Two – Taking school improvement to scale
• Professional Discussion – Intelligent accountability, networking and systemic
reform
• Professional Activity – Strategies for assessing regional capacity
Session Three – Developing our school improvement journeys
• Professional Discussion – Developing a school improvement or networking
action plan based on the SWOT analysis
• Professional Activity – Presentations of school or network plans
Professional Discussion
Reflect individually and then share on
tables the learning from yesterday’s
workshop
Session Four
Professional learning and development
Mean performance in reading literacy
High Excellence High Equity –
Raising the Bar and Narrowing the Gap
560
540
High excellence
Low equity
U.K.
520
High excellence
High equity
Finland
Canada
Japan
U.S.
Korea
Belgium
500
Germany
480
Switzerland
Spain
Poland
460
Low excellence
Low equity
440
Low excellence
High equity
420
60
80
100
120
140
• 200 – Variance (variance OECD as a whole = 100)
Source: OECD (2001) Knowledge and Skills for Life
Three ways of thinking about Teaching
Teaching
Skills
Teaching
Models
Reflection
Teaching
Relationships
Some Theory of Action Principles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
When teacher directed instruction becomes more enquiry
focused the level of student engagement increases
By consistently adopting protocols for teaching and
learning student behaviour and engagement is enhanced
If teachers use cooperative group structures / techniques
to mediate between whole class instruction and students carrying out tasks
then the academic performance of the whole class will increase
When teachers systematically use higher order
questioning the level of student understanding is
deepened
When feedback contains reference to practical actions student behaiour
becomes more positive and consistent
When peer assessment (AfL) is consistently utilized student engagement,
learning and achievement increases
When learning tasks are purposeful, clearly defined, differentiated and
challenging, (according to the students Zone of Proximal Development),
then the more powerful and precise the learning for all students
Teaching Models
Our toolbox is the models of teaching, actually models for learning,
that simultaneously define the nature of the content, the learning
strategies, and the arrangements for social interaction that create
the learning contexts of our students. For example, in powerful
classrooms students learn models for:
•
Extracting information and ideas from lectures and presentations
•
Memorising information
•
Building hypotheses and theories
•
Attaining concepts and how to invent them
•
Using metaphors to think creatively
•
Working effectively with other to initiate and carry out co-operative
tasks
Number of students
Reaching for the “Double Sigma Effect”
Achievement of students
Effect Size of Teaching Strategies
• Information Processing – a mean effect size over
1.0 for higher order outcomes
• Cooperative Learning – a mean effect between
0.3 to 0.7
• Personal Models – a mean effect of 0.3 or more
for cognitive, affective and behavioural outcomes
• Behavioural Models – a mean effect between 0.5
to 1.0. Best representatives are for short term
treatments looking at behavioural or knowledge of
content outcomes
I wrote (with Bruce Joyce) some time ago
that:
Learning experiences are composed of
content, process and social climate. As
teachers we create for and with our
children opportunities to explore and
build important areas of knowledge,
develop powerful tools for learning, and
live in humanizing social conditions.
Leading Change
‘You must be the
change you wish to
see in the world’
Leadership as Adaptive Work
Technical Solutions
Adaptive Work
System Leadership
Technical problems can be solved through applying existing know how - adaptive
challenges create a gap between a desired state and reality that cannot be closed
using existing approaches alone
The Nature of Adaptive Work
An adaptive challenge is a problem situation for which solutions
lie outside current ways of operating.
• Adaptive challenges demand learning, because ‘people are the
problem’ and progress requires new ways of thinking & operating.
• Mobilising people to meet adaptive challenges, then, is at the heart
of leadership practice.
• Ultimately, adaptive work requires us to reflect on the moral
purpose by which we seek to thrive and demands diagnostic
enquiry into the realities we face that threaten the realisation of
those purposes.
From Ron Heifetz – ‘Adaptive Work’ (in Bentley and Wilsdon 2003)
The Ring of Confidence
Circles of Competence
The ‘Iceberg Model’ of Educational
Change
Content & Structures
Values and Beliefs
Behaviours
Three Phases of Educational Change
Institutionalisation
Initiation
Implementation
“The Implementation Dip”
Time
Change Agent Skills - Initiation
The initiation phase is about deciding to embark on
innovation, and of developing commitment towards the
process. The key activities in the initiation phase are the
decision to start, and a review of the school's current
state as regards the particular change. This is a list of
factors that make for successful initiation:
• the innovation should be tied to a local agenda and high profile
•
•
•
•
local need
a clear, well-structured approach to change
an active advocate or champion who understands the
innovation and support it
active initiation to start the innovation (top down is OK under
certain conditions)
good quality innovation
Change Agent Skills - Implementation
Implementation is the phase of the process that has received the most
attention. It is the phase of attempted use of the innovation. The key
activities occurring during implementation are the carrying out of action
plans, the developing and sustaining of commitment, the checking of
progress and overcoming problems. The key factors making for success at
this stage are:
• clear responsibility for orchestration/co-ordination (Head, Co-ordinator,
External Consultant).
• shared control over implementation (top down NOT OK); good crosshierarchical work and relations; empowerment of both individuals and
the school.
• mix of pressure, insistence on 'doing it right', and support.
• adequate and sustained staff development and in-service.
• rewards for teachers early in the process (empowerment, collegiality,
meeting needs, classroom help, load reduction, supply cover, expenses,
resources).
Change Agent Skills - Institutionalisation
Institutionalisation is the phase when innovation and
change stop being regarded as something new and
become part of the school's usual way of doing things.
The move from implementation to institutionalisation
often involves the transformation of a pilot project, to a
school wide initiative, often without the advantage of the
previously available funding. Key activities at this stage
are:
• an emphasis on 'embedding' the change within the school’s
•
•
•
•
structures, its organisation and resources
the elimination of competing or contradictory practices
strong and purposeful links to other change efforts, the
curriculum and classroom teaching
widespread use in the school and local area
an adequate bank of local facilitators, (e.g. advisory teachers)
for skills training.
Matt Miles on Change Agent Skills
TRUST
DIAGNOSIS
PLAN
WORKING IN GROUPS
KNOWHOW
CONFIDENCE TO CONTINUE
Change Agent Meta Skills
Besides the specific activities required during each of the
phases, there are also a series of ‘cross cutting’ or generic
skill clusters that characterise the behaviours of effective
change agents.
• to generate trust
• to understand and diagnose the state of the school’s
organisation
• to plan into the medium term and to see the bigger
picture
• to work productively in groups
• to access the required technical resources and advice
be it research, good practice, or specifications of
teaching and learning
• to give people the confidence to continue.
The Experience of Educational Change
 change takes place over time;
 change initially involves anxiety




and
uncertainty;
technical and psychological support is crucial;
the learning of new skills is incremental and
developmental;
successful change involves pressure and
support within a collaborative setting;
organisational conditions within and in
relation to the school make it more or less
likely that the school improvement will occur.
Joined up Professional Development for
the Whole Workforce … in Schools
• Make space and time for ‘deep learning’ and
•
•
•
•
teacher enquiry
Use the research on learning and teaching to
impact on student achievement
Studying classroom practice increases the
focus on student learning
By working in small groups the whole school
staff can become a nurturing unit
Invest in school-based processes for
improving teacher’s pedagogical content
knowledge
Make space and time for ‘deep learning’ and
teacher enquiry
• Whole staff PD days on teaching and learning and school
•
•
•
•
improvement planning as well as ‘curriculum tours’ to share the
work done in departments or working groups;
Inter-departmental meetings to discuss teaching strategies;
Workshops run inside the school on teaching strategies by Cadre
group members and external support;
Partnership teaching and peer coaching;
The design and execution of collaborative enquiry activities,
which are, by their nature, knowledge-generating.
Six Approaches to Staff Development
•
•
•
•
•
•
Achieving Consistency
Specific Observation Schedules
Japanese ‘Lesson Study’
Coaching
Instructional Rounds
Peer Coaching
Achieving Conisistency –
The Robert Clack “good lesson”
• In terms of teaching and learning, three residential
courses were held for teachers in the first term
of Paul’s headship, out of which emerged the
staff-created model of the Robert Clack Good Lesson. Regardless
of subject, all departments explain the objective, content and
process of each lesson, followed by a summary and a review.
• A modular curriculum was also introduced, whereby all pupils
are tested to National Curriculum standards at each half and end
of term in every subject. Not only do teachers know exactly
where each pupil stands, but parents get a short and long report
each term, which charts their children’s progress and behaviour.
Specific Observation Schedules
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Higher order questions
Dealing with low level disruption
Wait time
Differentiation
Level of task
Pace
etc
Japanese “Lesson Study”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Choose a research theme
Focus the research
Create the lesson
Teach and observe the lesson
Discuss the lesson
Revise the lesson
Repeat the process with another teacher
Disseminate and share the lesson
Structuring Staff Development
Workshop
• Understanding of Key Ideas and Principles
• Modelling and Demonstration
• Practice in Non-threatening Situations
Workplace
• Immediate and Sustained Practice
• Collaboration and Peer Coaching
• Reflection and Action Research
With thanks to Bruce Joyce
The Instructional Rounds Process
•
•
•
•
The network convenes in a school for a rounds visit hosted by a member or
members of the network. The focus of the visit is a problem of practice related
to teaching and learning that the school is currently wrestling with.
The network divides into smaller group that visit a rotation of four or five
classrooms for approximately thirty minutes. In each classroom network
participants collect descriptive evidence related to the focus of the problem of
practice.
After completing the classroom observations, the entire group assembles in a
common location to work through a process description, analysis and
prediction. The group analyses the evidence for patterns and look at how what
they have seen explains or not the observable student performance in the
school.
Finally the network develops a series of ‘theory of action’ principles from the
analysis of the observations and discusses the next level of work
recommendations for the school and system to make progress on the problem
of practice.
Peer Coaching
• Peer coaching teams of two or three are much more
effective than larger groups.
• These groups are more effective when the entire staff is
engaged in school improvement.
• Peer coaching works better when Heads and Deputies
participate in training and practice.
• The effects are greater when formative study of student
learning is embedded in the process.
Elmore’s Principles for Large Scale
Improvement
• Maintain a tight instructional focus sustained over
time
• Routinise accountability for practice and
performance in face-to-face relationships
• Reduce isolation and open practice up to direct
observation, analysis, and criticism
• Exercise differential treatment based on
performance and capacity, not on volunteerism
• Devolve increased discretion based on practice
and performance
Professional Discussion
1. How do you develop a repertoire of teaching
models in your school?
2. What exactly is the role of the teacher?
3. What are the implications for staff development?
4. What are the monitoring mechanisms
implemented so as to ensure the effectiveness of
the model?
Professional Activity
Classroom Diagnostic
• Authentic Relationships
• Boundaries and expectations
• Planning for Teaching
• Teaching Repertoire
• Pedagogic Partnership
• Reflection on Teaching
Session Five
Taking school improvement to scale
A Framework for School Improvement
Priority for School
Development
Conditions for
Classroom
Development
Strategy
Enhanced Student
Learning and Teacher
Development
Conditions for
School
Development
A Three Phase Strategy for School
Improvement
• Phase One: Establishing the Process
• Phase Two: Going Whole School
• Phase Three: Sustaining Momentum
Phase One: Establishing the Process
• Commitment to the School Improvement Approach
• Selection of Learning Leaders and School
Improvement Group
• Enquiring into the Strengths and Weaknesses of
the School
• Designing the Whole School Programme
• Seeding the Whole School Approach
Devise your programme around core values
• Every school can improve
• Improvement is assessed in terms of enhanced
pupil outcomes
• Every individual in the school has a contribution to
make
• Start from where the school is, but set high goals
• Model good practice with precision
• Raise expectations of what is possible.
Preparing for School Improvement
Pre-conditions
 Commitment to
School
Improvement
 General
consensus on
values
 Understanding
of key
principles
School Level
Preparations
 Shared values
 A mandate from
staff
 Leadership
potential
 Identification of
change agents
 Willingness to
make structural
changes
 Capacity for
improvement
Unifying Focus
Improvement
Theme
An enquiry into
Teaching and
Learning
Means
School
Improvement
Strategy
School Improvement Group Development
Phase 1 - Uncertainty about focus
• What is School Improvement?
• What is the role of the SIG group?
• Where is it all going? It’s hard to make things happen.
Phase 2 - Clearer about focus
• Using existing structures in new ways, e.g. department meetings with
single item research agendas.
• New ways of working.
• Beginning to shift from staff development mode to school improvement
mode.
Phase 3 - Change/renewal of the SIG group
• Establishment of research culture within the school
• Involvement of students as researchers
• The school generates its own theory
Phase Two: Going Whole School
• The Initial Whole School PD Day(s)
• Establishing the Curriculum and Teaching Focus
• Establishing the Learning Teams:
− Curriculum groupings
− Peer coaching or ‘buddy’ groups
• The Initial Cycle of Enquiry
• Sharing Initial Success on the Curriculum Tour
Curriculum Tour
WHOLE SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT PRIORITY
An Enquiry into Teaching and Learning
Stage
I
Dept. A
(Inductive
Teaching)
Dept C
(Inductive
Teaching)
‘Curriculum Tour’
Stage
II
Stage
III
Dept. B
(Inductive
Teaching)
Group Work
Memory
Synectics
WHOLE SCHOOL WORKING TOWARDS REPERTOIRE OF
TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES
In addition, SIG members are involved in:
• Out of school training sessions on capacity building
•
•
•
•
•
and teaching and learning;
The pursuit of their own knowledge in support of their
role – about leadership, the management and
implementation of change, the design of professional
development activities etc.;
Planning meetings in school;
Consultancy to school working groups;
Observation and in-classroom support;
Study visits to other schools within the network.
Phase Three: Sustaining Momentum
• Establishing Further Cycles of Enquiry
• Building Teacher Learning into the Process
• Sharpening the Focus on Student Learning
• Finding Ways of Sharing Success and Building
Networks
• Reflecting on the Culture of the School and
Department
Action Plans for Student Achievement
• Specific targets related to pupils’ learning, progress and achievement
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
that are clear and unambiguous;
Teaching and learning strategies designed to meet the targets;
Evidence to be gathered to judge the success in achieving the targets
set;
Modifications to management arrangements to enable targets to be
met;
Tasks to be done to achieve the targets set and who is responsible for
doing them;
Time it will take;
How much it will cost in terms of the budget, staff time, staff
development and other resources;
Responsibility for monitoring the implementation of the plan;
Evaluating its impact over time.
Moving to Scale
Cohorts of 6 - 8 Schools
6 - 8 Members of School Improvement Group
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
PLAN
Cohort A
Cohort B
Cohort C
|
| ……………………….
|
|
|
………….........
| ………….....
Processes of School Improvement
The journey of school improvement
• A clear reform narrative is created, and seen by staff to be consistently applied, with: a
vision and urgency that translates into clear principles for action.
Organizing the key strategies
• Improvement activities are selected and linked together strategically; supported by robust
and highly reliable school systems with clear SMT roles in key areas.
Professional learning at the heart of the process
• Improvement strategy informs CPD; knowledge is gained, verified & refined by staff to
underpin improvement; networking is used to manage risk and discipline practice.
Cultures are changed and developed
• Professional ethos and values that supports capacity building are initiated, implemented
and institutionalized, so that a culture of disciplined action replaces excessive control.
The Logic of System Leadership
Learning Potential of all Students
Repertoire of Learning Skills
Models of Learning - Tools for Teaching
Embedded in Curriculum Context and Schemes of Work
Whole School Emphasis on High Expectations and
Pedagogic Consistency
Sharing Schemes of Work and Curriculum Across and
Between Schools, Clusters, Districts, LEAs and Nationally
Act as a
Community
Leader
Work as a
Change Agent
Managing
Teaching and
Learning
Developing
Organisations
Personal Development
Lead a
Successful
Educational
Improvement
Partnership
Moral Purpose
Strategic Acumen
Developing People
Lead and Improve a School in
Challenging Circumstances
Partner
another
School
Facing
Difficulties
and Improve
it
System Leadership Roles
A range of emerging roles, including heads who:
• develop and lead a successful educational improvement partnership
across local communities to support welfare and potential
• choose to lead and improve a school in extremely challenging
circumstances
• partner another school facing difficulties and improve it. This
category includes Executive Heads and leaders of more informal
improvement arrangements
• act as curriculum and pedagogic innovators who develop and then
transfer best practice across the system
• Work as change agents or experts leaders as National Leader of
Education, School Improvement Partner, Consultant Leader.
Supporting a school in Special measures
The Head teacher as a consultant leader
Support an acting head rather than ‘take over’
•
•
Draw detail plans for improvement which included:
a) Diagnosis of the key practices the neighbouring school needed to
develop
b) Clarity on Robert Clack’s teaching and learning and behaviour
systems
c) A visit to Robert Clack for 20-30 staff in early September to witness
the behaviour management, assemblies, and teaching and learning
in action so as to give an insight into what was possible in very
similar circumstances
d) The export and refinement of these systems from one school into the
other, employing key staff from Robert Clack to deliver, in particular,
Ofsted demands for immediate improvements in behaviour
A 2 days a week consultant leadership to support implementation of
the behaviour systems
The school got out of Special Measures!
Benefits for the Robert Clack School
•
Confidence for the leadership to know what needed to be
done to get a school out of special measures
•
A committed contribution for staff both
a) To help another school through a situation they
had faced themselves and
b) To gain unique professional development
•
An experience which now underpins Robert Clack’s roles
as a mentor school for the London Challenge and a lead
school for an SSAT network
The flip side: personal reputations and the school’s
resources were put to the test
Turnaround Schools – Emerging Themes
Develop a narrative for sustained
improvement :
•
•
•
•
•
The ability to determine the capacity needed to
undertake improvement activities
An understanding of the regularities needed to sustain
improvement in a school
To identify and transfer best practice internally, with
the potential to work externally
The creation of an ethos of high expectations
To work and negotiate with a range of stakeholders
and other schools
The Challenge of Public Sector Reform
What this looks like in schools in
challenging circumstances
In schools in challenging circumstances the key
activities are:
• Creating an orderly environment
• Ensuring consistency in teaching practice
• Prioritising the work on literacy and numeracy
• Taking ownership for the progress of students and
creating high expectations
• Developing and supporting leadership capacity
• Establishing systems for data use
What this looks like in schools with
high levels of internal variation
In schools with high levels of internal variation, the key
activities are:
• Creating a learning environment within the school
• Sharing the best of teaching practice through rounds
• Strengthening the work on literacy and numeracy across
the curriculum
• Introducing assessment for learning to enable students to
take more control over their own learning
• Distributing leadership capacity
• Monitoring student progress through data use
What this looks like in successful
schools
In successful schools, the key activities are:
• Creating a self directed and inclusive learning
environment
• Introducing innovations in teaching and sharing with
other schools
• Strengthening cross curriculum working and enquiry
based projects
• Encouraging student voice to enrich the curriculum
monitor their own progress and to champion curiosity
• Engaging in system leadership
• Using data formatively to enhance the progress of all
students
“One Size Does not Fit All”
A3
B2a,2b
Differential Strategies for School Improvement
• Type 111 strategies are those that assist effective schools to become
even better. Exposure to new ideas and practices, collaboration
through consortia or 'pairing' type arrangements seems to be common
in these situations.
• Type 11 strategies are those that assist moderately effective schools
become effective. These schools need to refine their developmental
priorities and focus on specific teaching and learning issues, and build
the capacity within the school to support this work. These strategies
usually involve a certain level of external support.
Type 11a strategies are characterised by a strategic focus on
innovations in teaching and learning that are informed and
supported by external knowledge and support.
Type 11b strategies rely less on external support and tend to be
more school initiated.
• Type 1 strategies are those that assist failing schools become
moderately effective. They need to involve a high level of external
support. These strategies have to involve a clear and direct focus on a
limited number of basic curriculum and organisational issues, in order
to build the confidence and competence to continue.
Segmentation of the Secondary School System
100
90
N = 3313
Actual 5+A*-C % 2003
80
70
Low Achieving
Below 30% 5+A-C
N = 483
60
Underperforming
50
N = 539
40
Progressing
N = 1495
30
High Performing
20
N = 696
10
Leading the System
0
N = 100
Estimated 5+A*-C % from pupil KS3 data
5+A*-C >=30%, lower
quartile value added
5+A*-C >=30%, 2575th percentile value
added
5+A*-C >=30%, upper
quartile value added
Networking and Segmentation:
Highly Differentiated Improvement Strategies
Type of School
Key strategies – responsive to
context and need
System Leadership Role
Leading schools
- Become curriculum and
pedagogical innovators
- Formal federation with lowerperforming schools
- Leading Edge
- Consultant Leaders and
National Support Schools
Succeeding
schools with
internal variation
- Regular local networking
- Subject specialist support to
particular depts.
- Education Improvement
Partnerships
- 14-19 partnerships
Underperforming
schools
- Linked school support
- Consistency interventions
- Raising Achievement
Transforming Learning
- School Improvement
Partners
- Formal support in a Federation
structure
- New provider
- Consultant Leaders and
National Support Schools
- School Sponsored
Academy
Failing schools
Collaboration – the offer to schools
• Every school will have the opportunity to benefit from and
contribute to network learning
• The focus of collaboration will be on student learning and
achievement and the creation of professional learning
communities in schools
• Networking arrangements will be based on the twin
principles of inclusivity and local accountability
• Regional Offices will co-ordinate, support and encourage
collaboration and network to network learning
• Regional, State and Federal levels will actively support
networking for specific purposes – Federations,
Achievement Zones …
Segmentation requires a fair degree
of boldness …
• Schools should take greater responsibility for neighbouring schools so
that the move towards networking encourages groups of schools to
form substantive collaborative arrangements.
• All failing and underperforming (and potentially low achieving) schools
should have a leading school that works with them in either a formal
grouping Federation or in more informal partnership.
• The incentives for greater system responsibility should include
significantly enhanced funding for students most at risk.
• A rationalisation of national and local agency functions and roles to
allow the higher degree of national and regional co-ordination for this
increasingly devolved system.
Responsible System Leadership
• System leadership at the school level – with school principals
almost as concerned about the success of other schools as they
are about their own
• System leadership at the local level – with practical principles
widely shared and used as a basis for local alignment so that
school diversity, collaboration and segmentation – that all
schools are at different stages in the performance cycle on a
continuum from “leading” to “failing” – are deliberately
exploited and specific programmes are developed for the groups
most at risk
• System leadership at the system level – with social justice,
moral purpose and a commitment to the success of every
learner providing the focus for transformation.
Coherent System Design
Hardware
Operating system
Software
Infrastructure
Reform model
Teaching and learning
Recurrent funding
Personalised Learning and
Professionalised Teaching
Leadership and
School ethos
Physical capital
Human capital
Knowledge creation and
management
Intelligent accountability,
Governance and
Segmentation
Qualifications
framework
Curriculum
High quality
personalised
learning for
every student
Teaching quality
Innovation, Networking
and System Leadership
U
N
I
V
E
R
S
A
L
S
T
A
N
D
A
R
D
H S
I
G
H
New Labour Policy Framework
Intervention
in inverse
proportion
to success
Accountability
Ambitious
Standards
High
Challenge
High
Support
Access to best
practice and quality
professional
development
Devolved
responsibility
Good data and
clear targets
Towards system wide sustainable reform
Prescription
Building Capacity
Professionalism
National Prescription
Every School a
Great School
Schools Leading Reform
System Leadership
Complementary Policy Framework for System
Reform
Intervention
in inverse
Ambitious
proportion
Standards
to success
High
Accountability
Challenge
Devolved
responsibility
High
Support
Access to best
practice and quality
professional
development
System
Leadership
Intelligent
Accountabil
ity
Personalised
Learning
Every
School a
Great
School
Good data and
clear targets
Innovation and
Networking
Professionalised
Teaching
Governance
and
Segmentati
on
Every School a Great School Framework
Intelligent
Accountability
Personalised
Learning
System
Leadership
Every
School a
Great
School
Innovation and
Networking
Professionalised
Teaching
Governance
and
Segmentation
“All our students will be
literate, numerate and curious … “
In 2013 …
A student finishing primary school will demonstrate:
− individual performance at or above national standards in
literacy and numeracy
− a sharp curiosity for learning.
A student finishing secondary school will have:
− a clear, well-defined pathway to further training and education.
A parent will have:
− a substantive, meaningful engagement with their child’s school
and their child’s teachers
− a clear understanding of their child’s progress against national
standards.
In 2013 …
Teachers will have:
− world class professional skills
− enjoy high regard in their school communities
− continuing access to quality professional learning
opportunities.
The community will have confidence that:
− individual student performance meets national standards
− graduates are capable of making valuable contributions as
citizens and employees.
Our success will be marked by:
− students who are proud of their schools and what they
have achieved
− parents who are confident that sending their child to a
public school is a sound educational decision.
Every School a Great School
Improvement Strategy - 1
Every School a Great School
Improvement Strategy – 2
Every School a Great School School
Improvement Strategy – 3
Every School a Great School School
Improvement Strategy – 4
Every School a Great School School
Improvement Strategy – 5
Every School a Great School School
Improvement Strategy – 6
Professional Discussion
The future reform agenda is about schools supporting
each other in a new educational landscape:
• Schools exist in increasingly complex and turbulent environments,
but the best schools ‘turn towards the danger’ and adapt external
change for internal purpose.
• Schools should use external standards to clarify, integrate and raise
their own expectations.
• School benefit from highly specified, but not prescribed, models of
best practice.
• Schools, by themselves and in networks, engage in policy
implementation through a process of selecting and integrating
innovations through their focus on teaching and learning.
• Schools use the principles of segmentation to transform the system
Discuss how you do this
Professional Activity
•
•
•
•
•
There are five key variables in any regional approach to
systemic reform:
Clear and comprehensive model of reform
Strong leadership at the regional level
Substantive training related to the goals of the programme
Implementation support at the school level
An increasingly differentiated approach to school
improvement.
A now well-established methodology for assessing the
performance of public services is by ‘RAG rating’. This
involves red, amber, green rating on a range of critical
variables such as those noted above.
Session Six
Developing our school improvement journeys
Professional Discussion
SWOT Analysis
• What are the preconditions of improvement in a school?
• How does a school organize for improvement?
• What are the key strategies employed to raise
achievement?
• How does professional learning take place?
• How are cultures changed and developed?
• How effective is your own school’s approach to
improvement?
Professional Activity
1. Agree groupings for activity – individual schools,
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
clusters, pre-prep, twilight etc
Review the SWOT analysis and other data generated
during the workshop
On the basis of that reflection produce a poster of
your school improvement journey
Display your poster and leave an advocate to describe
the work for others and tour around all the posters
noting key ideas and strategies
Return to tables and discuss key strategies
Share 3 top strategies with whole group
Paulo Freire once said…
“No one educates anyone else
Nor do we educate ourselves
We educate one another in
communion
In the context of living in this world”
Professor David Hopkins
David Hopkins is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Education, University of London,
where until recently, he held the inaugural HSBC iNet Chair in International Leadership.
He is a Trustee of Outward Bound and is Executive Director of the new charity
‘Adventure Learning Schools’. David holds visiting professorships at the Catholic
University of Santiago, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Universities of
Edinburgh, Melbourne and Wales and consults internationally on school reform.
Between 2002 and 2005 he served three Secretary of States as the Chief Adviser on
School Standards at the Department for Education and Skills. Previously, he was Chair of
the Leicester City Partnership Board and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the
University of Nottingham. Before that again he was a Tutor at the University of
Cambridge Institute of Education, a Secondary School teacher and Outward Bound
Instructor. David is also an International Mountain Guide who still climbs regularly in
the Alps and Himalayas. His recent books Every School a Great School and System
Leadership in Practice are published by The Open University Press.
Website: www.davidhopkins.co.uk