Transcript Slide 1

Course Title
LEADING LARGE SCHOOLS:
CHALLENGES & PERSPECTIVES
Richard Fawcett
& Geoff Barton
Course Title
AIMS



To explore the challenges of leading large schools
To develop practical problem-solving strategies that
will make an impact on learning
To develop a specific school improvement project
for your school and evaluate its impact
Course Title
Welcome & Overview




What is distinctive about leading learning in a large
school?
Sharing practice & action planning
Developing a school-based improvement project
Engaging key players
Course Title
Session 1:
What’s distinctive in a large school about …
 Improving teaching & learning
 Leadership at all levels
 Communication
 Evaluating impact?
Course Title
Teaching & Learning:



Getting away from the compartmentalisation of
subjects, the bunker mentality of faculties
Rejuvenating whole-school approaches, such as
literacy
Sharing practice across teachers to move to good
and outstanding
Course Title
Leadership:



How effective is leadership & management at all
levels?
Are you providing training for your leadership team?
Are you talent-spotting and developing your future
leaders?
Course Title
Communication:
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
How do you communicate your vision and values?
How do you ‘keep the herd moving west’?
What are the mechanics of communication and
consultation, and do they work?
Course Title
Evaluating impact:

In successful schools, leaders recognise that only
so much can be done at once and they have the
courage, whatever the pressures, external and
internal, to prioritise. They deal with decisions with
down-to-earth management efficiency, and, most
important of all, they themselves know what
constitutes high-quality teaching and educational
excellence.
Chief Inspector’s Annual Report 1997/98
Course Title
Developing a self-evaluation culture
Whole-school culture:
Some opening assumptions
•
•
•
•
•
•
Good teaching is a set of learnable skills, not a Godgiven gift
Performance management is about performance
We should encourage experimentation and occasional
disasters
We should be intolerant of mediocrity
A genuine evaluation culture builds improvement
Real change comes from within
Developing a self-evaluation culture
THREE GURUS
Carol FitzGibbon (Durham):
Get data into school life, without necessarily doing
anything with it
Developing a self-evaluation culture
THREE GURUS
John MacBeath (Cambridge):
“We should measure what we value, not value what we
can measure”
Developing a self-evaluation culture
THREE GURUS
David Reynolds (Exeter):
“Within-school variation”:
Aim to be a ‘high-reliability’ organisation …
Developing a self-evaluation culture
Such complex social organizations as air traffic control towers
continuously run the risk of disastrous and obviously
unacceptable failure.
The public would heavily discount several thousand
consecutive days of efficiently monitoring and controlling the
very crowded skies over Chicago or London if two jumbo jets
were to collide over either city.
Through fog, snow, computer-system failures, and nearby
tornadoes, in spite of thousands of flights per day in busy skies,
such a collision has never happened above any city, a
remarkable level of performance reliability …
Developing a self-evaluation culture
… By contrast, in the U.S., one of the most highly educated
nations on earth, within any group of 100 students beginning
first grade in a particular year, approximately 16 will not have
obtained either their high school diploma or a General
Education Development certificate 12-13 years later.
In Britain, just under half of all 16-year-old pupils will not have
the benchmark of 5 or more high grade public examination
passes in the national system. Obviously, many nations have
even lower levels of educational performance.
Creating a self-evaluation culture:
Tools for school evaluation:
• Student performance data - results, targets, etc
• Staff, parent, governor feedback
• Ethos data
• Questionnaires and focus groups
• Faculty reviews - inc observation sheets
• Self-evaluation
Staff Evaluations …
1 How would youate
r the performance
of our computer system?

2 How helpful has the ICT Support
Team been?

3 How well have we managed cover?

4 How would youate
r student
behaviour?

5 How visible has the leadership team
been?
6 How would youate
r Geoff BartonÕs
leadership?
7 Has a member of the leadership team
visited your tutor group?

8 Has a member of the leadership team
visited one of your lessons?

9 Are expectations on unif orm clear?
10 Are our expectations about
behaviour clear?

11 Do you findMondaystaf fbriefings
useful?
12 D o you findthe B arton Bulletin
useful?
13 Do you findthe weekly bulletin
useful?
1
(low/poor)
2
3
4
(high/good)
0
2
5
18
45
56
50
24
2
2
2
0
8
2
2
6
19
30
26
11
29
37
56
45
60
78
67
55
23
25
6
9
6
7
2
0
27
29
8
5
YES
60
86
47
59
93
91
82
93
52
46
49
66
NO
40
14
53
41
7
9
18
7
15
18
41
29
92
97
93
96
94
98
8
3
7
4
6
2
9 Are expectations on unif orm clear?
93
91
82
93
7
9
18
7
92
97
93
96
94
98
84
98
32
78
8
3
7
4
6
2
16
2
68
22
98
2
97
100
71
3
0
29
Shorter?
The same?
Longer?
54
40
46
6
54
81
19
10 Are our expectations about
behaviour clear?

11 Do you findMondaystaf fbriefings
useful?
12 D o you findthe B arton Bulletin
useful?
13 Do you findthe weekly bulletin
useful?
14 Do you feel well inf ormed about
thingsthat are happening inschool? 
15 Do you attend too many meetings?
16 Do meetings help you to do your
job better?
17 Are curriculum team meetings
useful?
18 Are tutor team meetings useful?
19 Are support staf fbriefings useful?
20 Should we stop selling all unhealthy
f ood and drink?
21 Next year shouldtutor time be É
22 Do you like the sandwiches
provided for paren tsÕ evening
s?
23 Do you findassemblies interesting?
Routine monitoring …
TUTO R GRO UP:
Do all st udent s have
coats off?
Are st udent s wearing
proper school
sweat shirt /polo
shirt ?
Are all st udent s
wearing shoes (ie no
t rainers except wit h
doctors’ not es)?
Is jewellery
accept able (ie no
facial piercings, no
bracelet s, only t hin
met al necklaces)?
Is th e tu to
r…
T alking ot st udent s?
Signing planners?
T aking t heregist er?
Doing admin?
Ot her?
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
 Yes
 No
Tutor group spot-check
Week be ginning 17 / 1 / 5
24 tutor groups were visited
Heads of Year have individual results
Do all students have coats off?
Are they wearing correct school
sweatshirt/polo shirt?
Are they wearing shoes (not trainer s)?
Is jewellery acceptable?
Is the ethos positive and purposeful?
YES
79%
96%
100%
88%
88%
Cover work set on appropriate form
Cover work left in staffroom tray
Work was clear t o follow for you
Éa nd for students?
Necessary materials were available
Lesson objective set
Work seemed appropriate
Any comments (eg student behaviour / display
/ clarity of instructions, etc):
Planners
Name
TG
Cover
clean*
H-S-A
signed
All dates
com pleted
Parent signed
last 3 weeks
Liam Askew
9WD
No
Yes
Yes
Leon Brown
9WD
No
Yes
No
Yes
Sim on Crack
Yes
Tutor signed
Last 3
weeks
No
Letter / hwk
boxes used
Occasionally
Hom ework
consistently
written in
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Occasionally
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Rarely
No
Com m ents on
hom ework
English - none for 4
weeks
Bio – none for 5
weeks
Tech – none for 4
weeks
Maths – none for 6
weeks
Bio – none since
Novem ber
Hum s erratic
No of
com m endati
ons
67 – but lots
without
stickers
66 - ditto
18
ame
Book sampling…
Year /
Set
Teacher
Cover
clean
YN
Hom ework
evident
YN
Hom ework
m arked
YN
Presentation
GFP
Types of writing
Elsom
TORY
9
WD
Y
Y
Y
G
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
Robotham
TORY
9
WD
Y
Y
Y
G
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Thinking
Notes
Extended
9
YE
Y
Y
Y
G
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Notes
Exercises

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
Notes
Exercises
Some extended
work
ey Ward?
GRAP HY
Simpson
GRAP HY
9
HS
Y
Y
Not
consistently
G
Thinking
Notes
Extended
General com m ents
Clearly sequenced,
challenging, high-level;
exemplary feedback Ğ
positive, precise, personal
V diffe rent ability of
student Ğbut same strong
expectations; tangible
progress instudentÕs
work; supportiv
e, positive
marking
Good positive feedback;
evidence of regular
marking; good range of
writing
Clear and well-used
overall; good to note some
extend worrk;marking
appears to end inlate Sept
Focus groups run by Governors…
What is it like to be a tutor here?
Good bits of the job:
Frustrations:
Good Year Teams
Good communication with Year
Team
Trainees are helpful
Role will be strengthened by
learning plans / target-setting days
Lack of time
Amount of admin
Always dealing with the same
students
What is it like to be a tutor here?
What impact do you have on students and how do you know?
•Informal feedback from students – eg a disruptive student who
admitted privately that he wants to do well
•Seeing decreasing number of referral slips
•Can feel a sense of progress
How would we improve?
•Year 12 mentoring can be inconsistent – role of mentors not
always clear – but principle of them is good
•Small minority – importance of planners not recognised by
students/parents
Heads of Year …
What are the key ingredients in an effective tutor?
•Know and care about students in their tutor groups
•See monitoring and target-setting as a core part of their job
•Understand the need to work with students on skills beyond
the classroom – emotions, motivation, social skills, courtesy,
how to speak appropriately in difficult circumstances
•Are well organised and manage time well
•Listen actively
•Pay attention to small details – courtesy, thanks, etc
•Treat poor behaviour as simply a choice and good behaviour
as a characteristic
•Apologise when they do something wrong or inappropriate
•Catch students being good far more than they catch them
getting it wrong
•Have genuine interest in students’ lives and experiences
Faculty reviews
1 Do you feel supported in your work within the Faculty?
very
mostly
not very
not at
all
mostly
not very
not at
all
mostly
not very
not at
all
mostly
not very
not at
all
2 Do you feel supported in your work within the school as a whole?
very
3 Do you feel that there is a clear vision within the Faculty?
very
4 Do you feel involved in the development of the Faculty?
very
5 What currently impedes your work?
6 What should be the FacultyÕs main priority over the coming year?
Alw ays
1. My teaching approaches and planning have
taken account of the presence of TAs
2. The work of TAs has encouraged student
independence in my classroom
3. TAs working in my classes have ensured
that students remained engaged throughout
the lesson
4. TAs have been encouraged to of fer
feedback to me about classroom
arrangements
5. I kno w and have taken account of the
curriculum strengths of TAs
6. TAs have been involved in the planning of
specific lessons
7. I have hade the opportunity to meet outside
the classroom with TAs who work in my
classroom
8. TAs have contributed positively to the
management of the class
9. I have been pleased with the work of TAs in
my class
10. I am aware of the special needs of the
student(s) who have been supported by TAs
Usually
Som etim es
Neve r
Student Evaluations …
Student …
1 Do you e n joy be i ng at sch ool?
Never
13
Rarely
25
Mostly
53
Always
9
Never
10
Rarely
18
Mostly
67
Always
5
3 Do you th ink be h aviour h ere i s good?
Yes
69
No
31
4 Are our expe ctati on sabout be h aviour cle ar?
Yes
86
No
14
5 Are our expe ctati on sabout uniform cle ar?
Yes
78
No
22
6 Do you fe el you are tre ated wi th re spe ct?
Yes
65
No
35
7 Do we gi ev e n ou gh rpai sean d e n couragemen t?
Yes
49
No
51
Yes
74
No
26
2 Do you fe e lproud of be i n gat th i s
sch ool?
Attitudes to learning
1 What grade did you get in English?

English Literature?

2 Think of all the subjects you studied last year. Circle one of the numbers below to show
where you would place English in a rank order of the subjects you studied
1 (high) 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 (low)
3 Without naming teachers, please name ONE thing you liked most about English lessons
4 Without naming teachers, please name ONE thing you liked least about them
5 Looking back, how did you feel about your usual group for English for É
(a) getting on with other people?
(liked it a lot) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (liked it a little)
(b) learning effectively?
(liked it a lot) 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 (liked it a little)
Of allthe ways the teacher gets you to learn about things which do you enjoy the most?







Activities Ğ not writing, nothing intimidating. More discussion, needs to be variety (maths now =
all from books)
Biology =copy from board Ğ donÕt eve
n read it
VAKi in French to analyse own learning
If teachers drone on = some of us donÕthave the attention span
Unfairness about time given to complete coursework ie some = meet deadlines. Others = 3 months
late so have extra 3 monthsto work on it
T oo many tests in short space of time
W ould help if different subject teachers could talk to each other so we do not get all coursework
assignments at thesame time.
Of allthe ways the teacher gets you to learn about things, which do you enjoy least?



Vague questions that you donÕtknow what it means
I think we should be setted for English because it could be more challenging too long on one piece
of work would be helpful , disruptive people were in difficult group
Humanities Ğ go round and round in circles because donÕthave specialist teachers. Spend time
trying to manage behaviour
S tu de nt perce pti on i n tervie ws
Ye ar 9
4 girls
4 boys
Sets: 1 4 2 3 1 3 2
Rank order: 8 7 3 3 9 3 10 3
W h at do you like abou t MFL le sson s?W h atacti vi ti e sdo you e n joy? W h y?
 Fun, like ICT interactive whiteboard, playing games, practical and group work
W h at





actiivti e sdo you not enjoy? W h y? W h at do you fi nd di ffi cult? W h at would h elp?
T ests Ğ some are useful and some are not
P ractical lessons are good
DonÕt like teachers constantly talking in French. I get behind and de-motivated
DonÕt like having to speak in front of the class Ğ feel under pressure and worried
P anic when asked t o speak and donÕt know how
How



do you le arn be st?W h at h elps you le arn in oth er le sson s?
Objectives are sometimes set Ğ but doesnÕt make any difference
I like t o have some group work and some formal writing
Reinforcing the talking with writing rather than just talking and then moving on and talking
some more
 Group work
 Games
 When behaviour is good. Behaviour is good in languages
How
-
do you fe el duri ng MFL le sson s?W h atmake s you fe el th i sway?
Bored Ğ 1 student
Interested Ğ 1 student
Enjoy Ğ 1 student
Tired Ğ 1 student
DonÕt know Ğ 4 students
Consensus from interviews - languages is ÒokÓ but not a subject which student s would wish t o
choose t o take further. Group consensus that about 30% of the lessons are enjoyable. Most students
preferred languages in the Middle School Ğ more practical, games, etc
What for you is the most important ingredient in a good
lesson?
Enthusiasm of teacher
Fun
Good class control
No disruptive students
Practical activities
Teacher interested in the subject
Sitting with a friend
Clear instructions and
expectations
What do teachers do that helps you to learn well?
Talk less and let us get on with work
Teaching us techniques for learning and
revising
Practice papers
Explain things clearly
Acknowledge different kinds of learners
Praise us
Basic ideas about how to do things
Providing lunchtime sessions
Teach me in a way that I understand
What one thing would you do to improve this school?
Longer breaks
More trips
Don’t give coursework at the end of term
Tougher line on disruptive students
More guidance with coursework
Stop giving detentions for trivial reasons
Smarter uniform
Regular teacher evaluations by students
Clone Mr Green
Be more relaxed about uniform and jewellery
New headteacher
Hotline to support students who are struggling
Shorter lessons
Bus to Newmarket
Longer lessons
Fewer questionnaires!
Don’t have such high expectations of students
Parent Evaluations …
1 My child likes school
2 My child is making good
progress
3 Students behave wel l
4 My child is not bullied or
harassed at school
5 Teaching is good
6 I am kept wellinformed about
how m y child is getting on
7 I feel com fortable about
approaching the school with
questions or a problem or
com plai nt
8 Staff expect m y child to work
hard and do hi s or her best
9 The school is led and managed
wel l
10 Staff treat m y child fairly
11 The school seeks the views of
parents and takes account of
their suggestions and concerns
Strongly
agree
43
57%
Agree
Disagree
50%
36%
7%
Strongly
di sagree
7%
-
DonÕt
know
-
23%
22%
57%
64%
14%
-
6%
7%
6%
29%
23%
64%
50%
27%
-
7%
-
23%
57%
20%
-
-
50%
50%
-
-
-
50%
43%
-
-
7%
23%
7%
69%
67%
13%
-
8%
13%
PARENTSÕ EVENING FEEDBACK
We would welco me your feedbac k about this evening. Please hand this slip to
students at the Reception desk in the Foundat ion Room
1
I h ave found th e e ve n i n g:
o very informative o mostly informative o slightly informative o not informative
2
The organisation was
o excellent o good o fair o poor
3
Two key messageswere given by
o all teachers o most teachers o few teachers o no teachers
An y oth er comme n ts?:
The essential skills of good
teachers
What do you think are the 3
most important ingredients
of good teachers / tutors …?
Communication & Staff Development
•
Establish expectations based on school evaluation
•
Build into school systems - observation sheets, performance
management, Faculty reviews
•
Build differentiated training around them
•
Add self-evaluation opportunities
•
Lessons from Finland!
Readi ng
Eg:
Essential
Literacy
Writing
Use layout and language
Be clear and explicit
to make texts accessible Ğ about the conventions
eg white space,
of the writing you expect
typographical features,
from students Ğ eg
summaries, bullets, short
audience, purpose,
paragraphs
layout, key words and
phrases, level of
formality
Using a range of strategies Providing assessment
to support studentsÕ
criteria and models of
reading Ğ eg reading aloud,
appropriate text types
key words and glossaries,
word ban ks, display, paired
reading, talking about texts
before answerin g
Spelling Ğ marking no
Using shared
more than 3-5 key
composition to show
spellings per work, writing
students how to write
the correct spelling in the
margin with the error
identified; students putting
these into spelling pages in
the middle of exercise
books; usin g starters /
word games / mnemonics /
display / rules / words
within words to support
studentsÕ spelling
Speaking & listening
Using a variety of
groupings for structured
talk Ğ pairs, same-sex,
friendship, triads, ability
groups
Setting objectives for talk
and providing language
models Ğ eg level of
formality, key words and
phrases
Providing alternatives to
traditional Q&A
approaches Ğ eg open
questions, thinking time,
big questions, no-hands,
paired consultation time,
dealin g with answers,
prompts, answer starters
Managing the Talent
•
What training and development
do you give your Leadership
Team?
•
Who are your stars of 1-5 years?
What are you doing for them?
•
Is subject & pastoral leadership
really the way forward? Don’t
schools actually need flexible
project managers?
Course Title
Reflection & discussion


What do you agree / disagree with?
What are the implications for you and your school?
Course Title
Action-planning



What aspect of your school are frustrated by?
What kind of intervention might make a difference?
What could you do in the next 5 weeks to make an
impact?
Course Title
Developing an
improvement project



What do you need to do?
Who do you need to involve?
What will be the early signs of impact?
Course Title
LEADING LARGE SCHOOLS:
CHALLENGES & PERSPECTIVES
Richard Fawcett
& Geoff Barton
Course Title
Project ideas …





Engaging support staff to recognise their impact on
T&L
Giving School Council have a focus on T&L
Using summer term gained time effectively
Using feedback from different cohorts to evaluate
effectiveness
Developing a middle leadership development
programme
Course Title
LEADING LARGE SCHOOLS:
CHALLENGES & PERSPECTIVES
Richard Fawcett
& Geoff Barton
Course Title
Engaging Stakeholders
Course Title
Engaging Stakeholders




Governors: what are they good for?
Students: what do you change as a result of their
feedback?
Support staff: what role do they play in school
improvement?
Parents: do you want anything from them apart
from support (and money)?
Course Title
LEADING LARGE SCHOOLS:
CHALLENGES & PERSPECTIVES
www.geoffbarton.co.uk/teacher_resources
(Number 43)