From Raising the Floor to Raising the Ceiling

Whole Education 6th Annual Conference

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Wifi | Whole Education WholeEducation

Establishing a shared vision for school improvement

Seizing the Agenda

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Seizing the Agenda‘Finding the gaps in the hedge’

Professor Tim Brighouse

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Seizing the AgendaExploring the ways forward

Sir David CarterRegional Schools Commissioner

for South West England

“Building a Collaborative Base for the Education System”

Sir David CarterRSC for the South West

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

Leadership has to Improve first in any system wide reform

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?

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

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

The Twin Leadership Intelligences for Collaboration

IMPACT INTELLIGENCE

SELF AWARENESS

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

IMPACT ON OTHERS

IMPACT ON OTHERS

SELF AWARENESS

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

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

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

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

We have more Executive Leaders and CEO of School

Groups

We need a lot more…..

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

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

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

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

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Seizing the AgendaExploring the ways forward

Drs. Linda Kaser and Judy HalbertCo-leaders, Network of Inquiry and

Innovation in British Columbia

Exploring Some Ways Forward

An International PerspectiveJudy Halbert & Linda Kaser

Perspectives from…

British ColumbiaWhole Education Network

International study on Innovative Learning Environments, OECD

…and three considerations moving forward

BC Networks of Inquiry and Innovation2000 - 2015

Vision-drivenEvidence-informed Inquiry-oriented

www.noii.caFloating stones

Clear, compelling, shared goalsInquiry-based Inclusive, not role boundSustained micro credit approachPassion & persistence

Context matters – learning principles are universalStart with learners and learningA medium and long term viewCollaboration, expertise and and networks

Innovating for Good – design principlesCourage in facing challenges - as a teamBuilding on ideas across widely different environments

MOVING FORWARD

Metaphor and imageFrom sorting to learningThink about the Whole

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Seizing the AgendaReflections 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