Some suggestions for reflection

“Educators and policy-makers alike seek a framework for leadership that will produce sustainable school improvement. The development of leadership capacity can provide such a framework…broad-based, skillful participation in the work of leadership.”    Linda Lambert

The following questions are intended to aid the process of reflection before the leadership school. Note the overlap between some questions.

What current educational practices and assumptions get in the way of delivering: 

1. effective learning for each and every pupil

2. effectively delivering the aspirations of Curriculum for Excellence

What are the big issues facing school systems if they are to meet all the needs of each and every pupil for which they are responsible?

What are the blocks to improvement processes?

How do we get real and effective 'out of the box thinking' at individual school level, across schools, across an educational authority and across the whole school system?

Does our educational system adequately encourage, recognise and support significant and innovative contributions toward improving the quality of learning?

How do we more effectively build leadership capacity throughout our school system?

How do we create a culture where professional learning permeates through all our teachers and schools?

To what extent do you keep up to date with current thinking in your area of responsibility?

The following materials from David Jackson and Denis Mongon will help participants in their preparations for the leadership school.  The notes have been added by the Leadership School team as a guide to participants dipping in and out of the materials as they wish.

The New Zealand International Review of Effective Leadership

“School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration [BES]”

Viviane Robinson, Margie Hohepa, and Claire Lloyd, The University of Auckland http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/series/2515

This research is a synthesis of New Zealand and overseas research studies or reviews on effective leadership practices. One of the main findings is that when school leaders promote and/or participate in effective teacher professional learning this has twice the impact on student outcomes across a school than any other leadership activity. New Zealand principals spend less time on those activities that make most difference than many of their international peers. Another key finding is that when school leaders promote or participate in effective teacher professional learning and development they have more than twice this impact across a whole school, not just one class. The findings come to life for readers through vignettes and easy-to-read cases (p.214 onwards). These cases provide examples of principals and others in leadership activities that advance achievement and social outcomes for students.

This is what one of the leadership team said on dipping into the material:

“I went on to case study 7 which is referred to on the page at http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/series/2515

Te Kotahitanga, is a project to improve outcomes for Màori students.  I was particularly struck by a quote on page 260 that said that  ' Rather than tell teachers what changes they should make, opportunities were provided for them to engage in dialogue about issues that they themselves had identified.'  

This mirrors the work that Scotland is doing in Learning Rounds, where teachers will identify what they should see around a particular problem of practice they have identified if things are going well.  For example, if the problem of practice is Effective Teacher/Pupil questioning and dialogues then a group of teachers will  identify what they expect to see if things are going well.  This can include things like a balance between open ended and closed questions, extended answers from pupils, questions from pupils themselves, all pupils involved, thoughtful responses from pupils showing evidence of higher order thinking and so on.   We then observe classes in different groups watching only for evidence around our perceived problem of practice.  The groups will then spend the afternoon using the descriptive voice to draw up a list of statements about what they saw.  For instance, most questions asked were closed questions, few higher order questions asked, all pupils answered at least one questions, few extended answers from pupils and so on.   The groups will then use their evidence to identify the gap between the desired state and the actual state.  This forms the basis for some quite transformational thinking around devising and implementing a sustainable improvement strategy. 

By putting an emphasis on the learning of the observers rather than those observed a ‘safe’ environment is created that uses the collective expertise of all present and encourages teachers to take responsibility for their own development. The result is significant as improvements in learning and teaching impact positively on pupil outcomes across a whole school.  The Learning Rounds  process has profound implications for schools. 

This fits with some of the research from the New Zealand study above. Here they presented stories to teachers (compiled in an earlier phase of the project) from students (engaged and non engaged), parents, principals, and teachers, expressing their perception of the influences that shape student engagement and achievement.  The result was improvement in teacher practice.  Under the title of 'Why did this work' the answer was that:

“Cultural and cognitive dissonance was created by exposing teachers to the considerable gap that exists between the assumptions that typically underpin teacher analysis of classroom dynamics and the actual experience of students, as revealed in their stories. By using the relatively non-confrontational approach of presenting stories from different groups, the context was created for an alternative understanding of classrooms, and an opportunity offered to teachers to reflect critically on the part they might play in student learning [page 261]”

“Leadership for narrowing the gaps and reducing variation in outcomes: Developing a framework for action”

Professor Denis Mongon University of London, Institute of Education and Professor Christopher Chapman University of Manchester, School of Education

This attached article reflects issues that will be at the heart of day 2 of the leadership schools and explores issues around narrowing the gap using English data.  However many of the lessons are easily applicable to Scotland.

Leadership for Public Value (2) Understanding valuable outcomes for children, families and communities

Denis Mongon and Charles Leadbeater

This article highlights 8 schools that have moved beyond their ‘core of teaching and learning to engage in a collaborative effort with pupils, families, neighbourhoods, extended services, other providers and volunteers and to improve a wider range of outcomes for young people and communities.’ Its conclusion alone is worth a read and begins:

“Industries are shaped by dominant designs which allow for efficient, large scale production; specialisation and a division of labour within and between organisations; standardisation of outputs and interfaces between organisations. Education is clearly such an industry. The dominant design of the school is not just the chief means to deliver learning; it also defines the output. Education means going to school.”

A lot of learning and improvement, innovation even, can go on within dominant designs as people work out how to do things better. But how does an industry learn how to do new things and even realise that new things might be needed? That is a vital question for all modern education systems and the schools profiled in this report provide the starting point for an answer.'

NC-Co-location report

This attachment the 'NC-Co-location report' is an account of a schools co-locating with other services. This is prevalent in England and a  definition of co-location is ‘a place where a school or a children’s centre shares its site with a school of a different type or with another service and where there is a strong link across governance, leadership and management which is intended to be enduring.

Sucessful Leadership

The following two publications ‘Successful leadership for promoting the achievement of white working class pupils’ , one a Report and Vignettes, are very useful to dip into and reflect on what exactly is the role of effective leadership in promoting achievement.

Who’s Poverty is it Anyway?

This challenging and detailed PowerPoint presentation entitled ‘Whose Poverty is it anyway?’ explores issues of poverty, inequality and our educational aspirations and ambitions for children from poorer backgrounds.

Looking to Learn

The attached information is entitled ‘Looking to Learn’. Its essentially a guide to innovative and disciplined collaborative enquiry. It outlines an approach that combines peer observation and written accounts of practice. It is designed specifically to act as a self-facilitation guide.

National College (for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services)

The following link takes you into some great National College resources on networks. These include:

Cracking the Concrete, an interview between David Jackson and Madeline Church - in it David Jackson reflects on how networks work across, around and within standard structures.

20 Questions about learning networks: a guide for school leaders’ is just that!  This is a distillation of core questions that people had about networks or clusters with accessible answers.  Each answer references one core resource and a couple of additional ones.  The links take you to the resources

http://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/index/about-us/national-college-initiatives/previous-initiatives/networked-learning.htm