A self-improving school system

Stephen Drew: Headteacher, Brentwood County High School

My belief in collaborationI have pursued collaboration for the benefit of all throughout my career – either deliberately or accidentally!

In 2002 I became Head of History at Passmores School and Technology College (Harlow)• Surrounded by weak subjects – Geography and RE / Citizenship• Shared new history curriculum resources online from Year 7 to Year 11• Supported behaviour management across whole school• Mentored various heads of subject before moving on to SLT

In 2011 Passmores was featured in Educating Essex• Opened up our practices to a huge audience• Received enormous feedback and commentary from teachers, parents, students and others

In 2012 I was acting headteacher of Harlow PRU / CSS• Experienced differences between local schools in their approaches to complex behaviour management

In 2013 I was School Improvement Partner for Leverton Hall secure children’s home in Brentwood• Started process of sharing teachers and support staff to drive shared improvement

In 2014 the series Mr Drew’s School For Boys was shown on Channel 4• Worked with teachers from five schools across England in running a four week residential family school

Brentwood’s secondary schools – partnership?

Brentwood County

High School

St Martin’s

Shenfield High

School

Anglo European

School

Becket Keys

Brentwood Ursuline Convent

High School

Do we have a imperative to work collaboratively?

Our natural inclination as teachers?

Where we are driven…..

Our natural inclination as teachers?

Our natural inclination as teachers?Think of all that you do in order to make your schools effective places for your staff and students

What is the common thread that runs through it all?

Collaboration – Co-operation – Teamwork – Sharing – Partnership – Alliance – Group Effort

How many of us lead our schools by stopping our staff from sharing best practice?

How many of us lead our schools by making decisions which seek to separate one part of our school from others?

Why do we change our principles or what works when we move beyond the gates of our own schools?

How do our schools gain from not working together?

What issues in education in our local areas are not relevant to us all?

What do we gain from being “on top”?

What should influence us to collaborate as a tool of control?

• The DfE’s open belief that competition drives improvements in school

• The impact of at best flat funding settlements for duration of the next parliament

• The ever increasing difficulty of recruiting and retaining teachers

• The pace of change in curricula and exams from KS1 to KS5

• The removal of the traditional routes of support from local authorities

• The “football manager” culture for replacing headteachers

• The pressure on budgets for staff CPD

• The simple truth that collaboration in education trumps competition as a tool for improvement every time!

Is collaboration too hard in the modern education system?