Slides from Sir David Carter, Regional Schools Commissioner for South West England and Drs. Linda Kaser and Judy Halbert, Co-leaders, Network of Inquiry and Innovation in British Columbia

1. From Raising the Floor to Raising the Ceiling
Whole Education 6th Annual Conference
Twitter | @WholeEducation
#Seizingtheagenda
Wifi | Whole Education
WholeEducation
Establishing a shared vision for school
improvement
Seizing the Agenda

2. Twitter | @WholeEducation
#Seizingtheagenda
Seizing the Agenda
‘Finding the gaps in the hedge’
Professor Tim Brighouse

3. Twitter | @WholeEducation
#Seizingtheagenda
Seizing the Agenda
Exploring the ways forward
Sir David Carter
Regional Schools Commissioner
for South West England

4. “Building a Collaborative Base
for the Education System”
Sir David Carter
RSC for the South West

5. A Sequence of Structural and Cultural
Shifts
• From
– Changing the status of your
school
– Being part of single
Teaching School Alliance
– Governance
– Single School Leadership
– Informal Partnerships
– School led Accountability
– Relative Isolation
• To
– Using the status to drive
change
– Joining TSA together to
add capacity
– To strategic capability
– Multi School Leadership
– Formal Partnerships
– Trust led Accountability
– Collaborate to Improve

6. Leadership has to Improve first
in any system wide reform

7. Questions and Reflections
• Questions I pose to myself after 32 years
experience as a teacher and leader
– Do Leadership skills remain the same so that only
the scale and scope change?
– Do Leadership skills mature with challenge?
– Do Leadership skills transmit to others if you
model them well?
– Do Leadership skills change to reflect the political
landscape?

8. Identifying the 7 Stages of
Leadership
• Pre-teaching Leadership Experience as a student or
professional in a different field
– Experience that shapes the individual that is not related to teaching
• NQT
– Leading in my classroom
• Team and Departmental Leadership
– Leading in other classrooms
• Senior Leadership
– Leading and being accountable for my section of the school
• Leader of my School
– Leading my school and its community
• Leader of my Collaboration
– Leading outcomes for staff and children beyond my building
• Leading in my Region
– Leading projects or advising schools on their improvement

9. What are the Key Progression Points
leaders have to get right?
• Progression 1-ENTRY to
SCHOOL
• Progression 2-
RECEPTION to Y1
• Progression 3-Y2 into
Y3
• Progression 4-YEAR 6
into YEAR 7
• Progression 5-
TOWARDS GCSE
• Progression 6-ENTRY
POST 16
• Progression 7-HE and
WORK
– Each School leads on at
least one transition
point

10. The Twin Leadership
Intelligences for Collaboration
IMPACT
INTELLIGENCE
SELF AWARENESS
EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE
IMPACT ON OTHERS
IMPACT ON OTHERS
SELF
AWARENESS

11. Core Components in School
Change Leadership
Understand what
needs to
Be improved &
Planning to Do it
Turn the Plan into Actions that are
Understood by the
team members who hold
responsibility to make the change
and those needing to work differently
Execute the Action Plan so well
that there is a seamless switch
from traditional practice to new
practice
Evaluate the Execution
so that change will
become embedded

12. What are the System Wide Challenges
facing the stand alone school?
• New Performance Measures
– Coasting Schools in 2016
• New Inspection framework
• Change to assessment processes-”Life
beyond levels”
• Teacher & Headteacher Recruitment
• Budget challenges in the public sector
• How to sustain and support our smallest
Primary Schools
– 180 in the SW with less than 100 children

13. Benefits of Formal Collaboration
• Collective Responsibility for
the results of all children
– “If one fails we all fail”
• Flexibility to deploy staff in
the most effective way to
benefit the largest number
of children
• Career Progression for staff
– Retain the best staff in the
trust if not in the same
school
• Economies of Scale
– Procurement and bulk
purchasing
– Trust Appointments on
behalf of the schools
– Trust Leadership Structure
that incorporates Executive
Heads, Curriculum
leadership
– Collaborative Practice
• Transmission of the best
practice into some/all
schools
• Strategic Governance allied
to educational focus at LGB

14. Does membership of a Formal
Partnership reduce Autonomy?
• Yes it Probably does!
• But the benefits
outweigh the dis-
incentives
– Systems and Operating
procedures
– Data Collection Points
– Common Exam Syllabi
– Assessment and
Reporting
– Key Educational Policies
– HR practice as one
employer
• Not in every respect
– Culture of the school
– Uniform
– Enrichment
– Relationship with the
local community
– Educational networks
unique to the school

15. We have more Executive
Leaders and CEO of School
Groups
We need a lot more…..

16. What are the personal Skill Sets needed
by Collaborative Leaders?
• Vision, Values and
Beliefs
– What does the leader of
the collaboration believe
in?
• Change Management
Expertise
– Scale, Scope and Reach
of Influence
• Holding others (senior
leaders) to Account for
their decisions
– and not making
decisions for them
– Leading through others
• Using data to inform
strategy
– Test decisions against
the core values
• Communication Skills
– Written and Spoken
• Performance Manager
– Every Meeting and
Interaction counts
• Insight to see how a
successful strategy in
one context could be
applied to a different
one

17. The Performance Challenges
• Challenge 1-Progression
for the most vulnerable
children in our schools
• Challenge 2-Making sure
that our most able
children achieve
• Challenge 3-Ensuring
that the culture of
Continuous Improvement
is true in every school
• Challenge 4-”Growing
the Top” whilst we
improve standards
nationally
• Challenge 5-Recognising
that poverty and
deprivation is not unique
to urban areas
• Challenge 6-Ensuring
that there are enough
great schools and leaders
willing to support schools
to become great

18. Great Leadership will help us meet
the challenge NOW
• Being Effective Now
– Learn to be a great coach
– Learn from a great coach
– Practice your teaching
– If vulnerable students do not perform well in
your part of the region make sure you are part
of the solution!
– Do not avoid the difficult conversations
– Look beyond your context

19. Great Leadership will help us meet
the challenge in the FUTURE
• Preparing for the Future
– Observe leaders around you
– Observe leaders in different contexts
– Read avidly but critically
– Keep a learning journal
– Understand Change Management
– Understand EY to Post 16 to see the whole
learning journey
– Learn to delegate but be brilliant at holding
people to account

20. Twitter | @WholeEducation
#Seizingtheagenda
Seizing the Agenda
Exploring the ways forward
Drs. Linda Kaser and Judy Halbert
Co-leaders, Network of Inquiry and
Innovation in British Columbia

21. Exploring Some Ways Forward
An International Perspective
Judy Halbert & Linda Kaser

22. Perspectives from…
British Columbia
Whole Education Network
International study on Innovative
Learning Environments, OECD
…and three considerations
moving forward

23. BC Networks of Inquiry and Innovation
2000 - 2015
Vision-driven
Evidence-informed
Inquiry-oriented
www.noii.ca
Floating stones

24. Clear, compelling,
shared goals
Inquiry-based
Inclusive, not role
bound
Sustained micro credit
approach
Passion & persistence

25. Context matters – learning principles are
universal
Start with learners and learning
A medium and long term view
Collaboration, expertise and and networks

26. Innovating for Good – design
principles
Courage in facing challenges - as a
team
Building on ideas across widely
different environments

27. MOVING FORWARD
Metaphor and image
From sorting to learning
Think about the Whole

28. Twitter | @WholeEducation
#Seizingtheagenda
Seizing the Agenda
Reflections and questions
• What has resonated most from the introductory session?
• What they are hoping to explore during the day
• What is the key challenge they face and opportunity there is
for those committed to delivering an entitlement to a Whole
Education