School improvement: how collaboration can play a vital role

1. School improvement: how collaboration
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can play a vital role

2. What drives school improvement?
1. The
quality of
the
teaching
and
learning
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3. What drives school improvement?
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“The quality of leadership in a
school is second only to teaching
in its impact on student outcomes”
The Hill report 2013
2. The quality
of school
leadership
Quality leadership in schools is
about more than having effective
headteachers: it also involves
developing and empowering senior,
middle, classroom and student
leaders

4. Robert Hill Consulting
So how does collaboration
help improve the quality of
teaching and learning and
school leadership?

5. It helps a school to know itself
• Benchmarking performance
• Moderating assessment
• Running joint lesson observations
and learning walks
• Conducting peer reviews
• Jointly investigating common
areas of concern
• Sharing school development plans
• Learning from student voice
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6. It helps a school to develop expertise
• Deploying lead practitioners
• Training and using classroom
coaches across groups of
schools
• Sharing subject experts
• Buying in joint programmes to
improve outcomes in specific
subject areas – e.g AfL
• Enabling joint curriculum and
lesson planning
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7. It helps a school develop its staff
• Holding joint inset/training
sessions
• Linking joint training to coaching
and classroom review
• Setting up action research or
lesson study to address common
challenges
• Sharing NQT development
• Sharing middle and senior
leadership programmes
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8. It helps a school develop a leadership pipeline
• Appointing
executive heads
• Providing emerging
leaders with
opportunities for
assignments and
secondments
• Using experienced
heads as coaches
and mentors
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9. It helps a school improve its governance
• Holding joint training and
development sessions
• Opportunities to observe each
other’s meetings
• Sharing data and practice
• Picking up new ideas
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10. The form of collaboration depends on context
• Is it a rescue mission?
!
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11. Good rescue partnerships – phases of support
Sorting the
basics
• Provide intensive coaching for weak teachers & support the best
• Show what good and excellent teaching looks like
• Use capability procedures where necessary
• Insist on basic systems – especially for behaviour & attendance
• Amend curriculum where necessary
• Set individual and collective targets for improvement
• Improve the school environment and sort out finances
Developing
capacity
• Develop critical mass of good or better teaching and learning
• Share schemes of work, lesson plans, observation and coaching
• Organise shared insets, CPD and middle leadership development
• Empower teachers and leaders with potential
• Share and compare data
Train governors jointly and observe each Sustaining other’s meetings
improvement
• Ensure that progress and attainment is rising
• Ensure leadership at levels of the school is working well
• Agree long-term arrangements for support of the school
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12. The form of collaboration depends on context
• Is it a rescue mission?
!
!
!
• Is it about accessing specialist
support?
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13. Partnerships providing specific support
From its self-evaluation or development
plan School A may identify that it needs:
• Coaching for the head or senior leadership
team
• Middle leadership development
• Coaching support for specific teachers
• Subject expertise
• Support to develop the curriculum or improve
assessment
• Business management support
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14. Partnerships providing specific support
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School B has
the
necessary
expertise
School A
requiring
support
• It is usually better for the
support to be provided in School
A – i.e. in situ so that practice
can be developed in the context
of School A’s challenges
!
• However, some observation of
outstanding practice in School B
may also be appropriate

15. Partnerships providing specific support
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School B has
the
necessary
expertise
School A
requiring
support The support should be structured
and commissioned in a proper way
with inputs, expected outcomes
and reimbursement formally
agreed

16. Partnerships providing specific support
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School B has
the
necessary
expertise
School A
requiring
support Over time the relationship
between the schools may develop
to the point where expertise is
flowing both ways and the
partnership is more akin to a
mutual aid arrangement

17. The form of collaboration depends on context
• Is it a rescue mission?
!
!
!
• Is it about accessing specialist
support?
!
!
• Is it about mutual aid?
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18. Ten lessons
1. Build on existing partnerships and relationships
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Source: David
Hargreaves for National
College, 2012

19. Ten lessons
2. Keep local partnerships geographically focused
If a partnership is large it will need to consider splitting into
small localised clusters for key aspects of its work
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20. Ten lessons
3. Develop strong relationships, shared values and commitment to each
other
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• Thinking strategically
• Communicating well
• Developing a shared purpose
• Being honest in relationships
• Celebrating others’ successes
• Facilitating group processes
• Involving others
• Understanding impact of change
• Learning from each other
• Mediating conflict
• Setting
direction
• Commanding
authority
• Being
accountable
• Championing
an institution
• Persuading
through vision
• Understanding
different
organisations
• Making trade-offs
• Modelling
collaboration
Leadership of an institution
Leadership in a partnership

21. Ten lessons
4. Be clear about governance, funding and accountability
Overall governance arrangements for partnership
• Formal schemes setting out in detail respective
responsibilities and accountabilities for funding,
polices and performance
• Mechanisms for consultation and dialogue
• Joint development and training
School governance exercised by local governing bodies
(Focused more on the local school community)
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22. Ten lessons
5. Involve middle leaders in the leadership of partnerships
Operational leadership Deputy and assistant and co-ordination
heads and middle
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Formal governance
Strategic leadership and co-ordination
Individual
lead
Individual
lead
Task
group
Task
group
Task
group
Individual
lead
leaders

23. Ten lessons
6. Use business plans and action plans to prioritise what partnerships
will do together
• Have you identified your key priorities?
• Do your projects reflect your key priorities and help to deliver them?
• Have you assessed how you will jointly deliver your project – and the
level of support, input or resources that will be required?
• Have you agreed your success/impact measures?
• Have you established how you will track and monitor progress?
• Is there a clear structure for reporting back on outcomes and
evaluating impact?
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24. Ten lessons
7. Focus partnership activity on improving teaching and learning
through teacher-to-teacher and pupil-to-pupil engagement
• Data openly shared and
benchmarked – in-year as well as
end of year
• Shared lesson observations linked
to evidence on effective classroom
practice
• Peer and external reviews
• Joint investigations of subjects,
departments and issues
• Student voice
• Tracking measures for partnership
programmes
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25. Ten lessons
7. Focus partnership activity on improving teaching and learning
through teacher-to-teacher and pupil-to-pupil engagement
75% 75%
50%
25% 25%
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50%
Joint practice development
(Coaching in class, lesson study, joint
lesson planning and action research)
Continuous professional development
(Seminars, courses, conferences and insets)

26. Ten lessons
7. Focus partnership activity on improving teaching and learning
through teacher-to-teacher and pupil-to-pupil engagement
Using mentors and coaches is a powerful driver
of improvement
• Share understanding of what is meant by
mentoring and coaching
• Train and accredit mentors and coaches –
particularly middle leaders
• Develop open classrooms and use of video
technology
• Encourage peer mentors, student mentors and
use of external coaches
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27. Ten lessons
7. Focus partnership activity on improving teaching and learning
through teacher-to-teacher and pupil-to-pupil engagement
School-to-school working develops
and deepens the more there is a
dense web of interaction between
staff and pupils
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Network development
nights
Coaching
Practitioners
Joint insets
Lesson study
Lead
Shared lesson
observations
Governor
Action research
Student voice
Joint curriculum & lesson
Leadership Digital contact
planning
development

28. Ten lessons
8. Allocate some resources to pay for some dedicated leadership
or project management time
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Formal governance
Strategic leadership and co-ordination
Operational leadership and co-ordination
Individual
lead
Individual
lead
Task
group
Task
group
Task
group
Individual
lead
Executive head/lead
head/partnership co-ordinator
and all heads
Deputy and assistant
heads and middle
leaders
*May only be one or
two days a week

29. Ten lessons
9. Be prepared to be engaged in multi-partnership activity and for
the form and membership of partnerships to evolve over time
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Denton
Grantham Rural
Schools Village
Partnership
Strategic Partner in
EOS Teaching
School Alliance
Extended School
Partnership led by
local secondary
Collaboration with
Huntingtower
Community Primary
Academy
school
Denton and Harlaxton Federation
Harlaxton
Ad hoc support
for other
schools
Support from
bursar at local
academy

30. Ten lessons
9. Be prepared to be engaged in multi-partnership activity and for
the form and membership of partnerships to evolve over time
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• Is partnership
mainstream or add-on?
• Depth takes time to
achieve and comes as
partners build trust and
work together more
extensively
• Depth is linked with
hard-wiring how
partnerships work
together
Source: David Hargreaves for National College, 2012

31. Ten lessons
10. Monitor and evaluate the impact of partnership activity
• Quality of teaching and learning
• Leadership development and sustainability
• Staff motivation
• Pupil engagement – as measured through
attendance, behaviour, homework completion,
marking of books
• Pupil attainment and progress – both within
year and at end of year
• Ofsted outcomes
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32. Questions for discussion with your neighbour
• What one thing most excites you
about the opportunities this agenda
presents?
!
• What one thing most worries you
about the challenges this agenda
presents?
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33. Partnerships in general – it can be done
It requires:
• Shared moral purpose
• A ‘can do’ culture
• Planning, timetabling and
backfilling
• Communication – so that
everyone knows (governors,
staff, students and parents)
what is happening
• Reinforcing the benefits
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Yes, you
can!