Swamwac Seminar on System Leadership Parc y Scarlets , Llanelli Tuesday, 30th March 2010

1. swamwac Seminar on �System Leadership�Parc y Scarlets , LlanelliTuesday, 30th March 2010 Every School a Great School - The Continuing Challenge of System Leadership A presentation by Professor David Hopkins

3. The real challenge we all face is to move the system from National Prescription ? Schools Leading Reform. As the Minister says, to move from a situation where Government delivers policy ? to one that builds capacity. This is not a chronological shift, it takes time and it is always a blend, but we want to shift the balance. The aim is to go from a) ? through b) ? c). When at c) = High Excellence High Equity The real challenge we all face is to move the system from National Prescription ? Schools Leading Reform. As the Minister says, to move from a situation where Government delivers policy ? to one that builds capacity. This is not a chronological shift, it takes time and it is always a blend, but we want to shift the balance. The aim is to go from a) ? through b) ? c). When at c) = High Excellence High Equity

5. System Leadership:A Proposition �System leaders� care about and work for the success of other schools as well as their own. They measure their success in terms of improving student learning and increasing achievement, and strive to both raise the bar and narrow the gap (s). Crucially they are willing to shoulder system leadership roles in the belief that in order to change the larger system you have to engage with it in a meaningful way.�

8. Life Scripts and Adventure We all have life scripts, some of us chose to develop it others are forced to do so. Life scripts evolve as the individual confronts direct experience and adapts and assimilates it with their self. Adventure as the purest form of direct experience has the ability to develop �life script� in the most immediate way. �Adventure leaders� create situations where others can develop their own life scripts. As Mahatma Gandhi said � �You must be the change you wish to see in the world�

9. Every School a Great School School Improvement Strategy

10. Managing Teaching and LearningI wrote (with Bruce Joyce) some time ago that: Learning experiences are composed of content, process and social climate. As teachers we create for and with our children opportunities to explore and build important areas of knowledge, develop powerful tools for learning, and live in humanizing social conditions.

13. The Instructional Rounds Process The collegiate group convenes in a school for a rounds visit hosted by a member of the group. The focus of the visit relates to the instructional core and an aspect of teaching and learning that is currently of critical importance to the school. The group usually divides into two groups that visit a rotation of five or six classrooms for approximately twenty minutes. In each classroom participants collect descriptive evidence related to the agreed focus. After completing the classroom observations, the entire group assembles in a common location to work through a process of description, analysis and prediction. The group analyses the evidence for patterns and look at how what they have seen explains or not the observable student performance in the school. Finally the collegiate group develops a series of �theory of action� principles from the analysis of the observations and discuss their implications with the leadership team and the participating teachers for the next level of work within the school particularly in terms of professional learning and consistency of practice.

14. Ten Theory of Action Principles - 1  When a school places more emphasis on learning as opposed to teaching then the level of student engagement significantly increases When teacher directed instruction becomes more enquiry focused the level of student engagement increases By consistently adopting protocols for teaching and learning student behaviour and engagement is enhanced If teachers use cooperative group structures / techniques to mediate between whole class instruction and students carrying out tasks then the academic performance of the whole class will increase When teachers use techniques such as � to monitor individual student learning in whole class settings they are better able to personalize learning for all students

15. Ten Theory of Action Principles - 2  When teachers systematically use higher order questioning the level of student understanding is deepened When feedback contains reference to practical actions student behaiour becomes more positive and consistent When peer assessment (AfL) is consistently utilized student engagement, learning and achievement increases When teaching embraces the school�s wider learning environment student learning deepens When support staff are involved in differentiating instruction student engagement and learning becomes more focused

16. Three ways of thinking about Teaching

17. Teaching Relationships Expectation effects on student achievement are likely to occur both directly through opportunity to learn (differences in the amount and nature of exposure to content and opportunities to engage in various types of academic activities) and indirectly through differential treatment that is likely to affect students' self-concepts, attributional inferences, or motivation. Good, T.L. and Brophy, J.E. (1994) Looking In Classrooms (2nd ed)

18. Teaching Models Our toolbox is the models of teaching, actually models for learning, that simultaneously define the nature of the content, the learning strategies, and the arrangements for social interaction that create the learning contexts of our students. For example, in powerful classrooms students learn models for:

20. Effect Size of Teaching Strategies

21. Effect Size of Teaching

22. The Dialectic between Curriculum, Learning and Teaching

23. Learning Manifesto � There are a number of steps involved in creating a �learning manifesto for a school: Develop a position on learning for the school through discussion with Staff and Governors � the following slide is a starter The identify the key learning skills you wish the students in your school to acquire � see following slides Then use the the �Learning Manifesto Model� to create a curriculum, teaching and learning framework (remember the Instructional Core?) for your school

24. Powerful Learning � Is the ability of learners to respond successfully to the tasks they are set, as well as the task they set themselves. In particular, to: Integrate prior and new knowledge Acquire and use a range of learning skills Solve problems individually and in groups Think carefully about their successes and failures Accept that learning involves uncertainty and difficulty All this has been termed �meta-cognition� � it is the learners� ability to take control over their own learning processes.

25. In the ALS Handbook, we describe three sets of skills � Functional Skills: literacy, numeracy and ICT. Thinking and Learning Skills: are the skills young people need to acquire in order to become effective learners. Gaining mastery of these skills equips students to raise their achievement by developing their ability to: improve their achievement by applying a wide range of learning approaches in different subjects; learn how to learn, with the capability to monitor, evaluate, and change the ways in which they think and learn; become independent learners, knowing how to generate their own ideas, acquire knowledge and transfer their learning to different contexts. Personal Skills: are the skills young people need to acquire in order to develop their personal effectiveness. Gaining mastery of these skills equips students to manage themselves and to develop effective social and working relations.

26. Dallam School use the IB Learner profile � IB learners strive to be: Inquirers Knowledgeable Thinkers Communicators Principled Open-minded Caring Risk-takers Balanced Reflective

27. Following the last residential Ben Heslop summarised the discussion as follows � Core learning skills of ALS settings Cooperative group work Learning to lead Enquiry Enjoyment High order questioning and listening Adaptability Problem solving Social Capital (A concept built on self reliance, self confidence, self belief, and self worth) This seemed to encapsulate the key ideas and ethos an ALS setting would be aiming to instill in its learners and help them address, access and eventually achieve.

28. Developing People � change takes place over time; change initially involves anxiety and uncertainty; technical and psychological support is crucial; the learning of new skills is incremental and developmental; successful change involves pressure and support within a collaborative setting; organisational conditions within and in relation to the school make it more or less likely that the school improvement will occur. [Adapted from Michael Fullan � Change Processes paper, 1986]

29. Joined up learning and teaching� in Schools Make space and time for �deep learning� and teacher enquiry Use the research on learning and teaching to impact on student achievement Studying classroom practice increases the focus on student learning Invest in school-based processes such as coaching, for improving teacher�s pedagogical content knowledge By working in small groups the whole school staff can become a nurturing unit This takes me to my concluding thought. I believe we are living in exciting times in education. There is national and international interest in levering improved student outcomes through a massive effort to understand learning and improve teaching. Just before I was about to write this paragraph I happened to pick up the May 28 issue of Education Week which reported that the ��National Science Foundation in the USA is planning a 10-year effort to underwrite research to unlock the secrets of how people learn and how to put those lessons into practice.� They plan to spend $20m in the first two years to get things underway. This will, of course, be a top down process, but I see many signs of bottom-up interest in understanding learning and improving teaching among ordinary teachers in schools everywhere I travel. When there is both a top-down and a bottom-up interest of this magnitude, then big things are likely to happen. I feel both excited and optimistic about what cognitive scientists, neurologists and educational researchers are going to find out over the next few years, but equally by what staff in schools working with university colleagues in the disciplines are going to create in terms of a new kind of pedagogical content knowledge that has the capacity to transform teaching and learning. This takes me to my concluding thought. I believe we are living in exciting times in education. There is national and international interest in levering improved student outcomes through a massive effort to understand learning and improve teaching. Just before I was about to write this paragraph I happened to pick up the May 28 issue of Education Week which reported that the ��National Science Foundation in the USA is planning a 10-year effort to underwrite research to unlock the secrets of how people learn and how to put those lessons into practice.� They plan to spend $20m in the first two years to get things underway. This will, of course, be a top down process, but I see many signs of bottom-up interest in understanding learning and improving teaching among ordinary teachers in schools everywhere I travel. When there is both a top-down and a bottom-up interest of this magnitude, then big things are likely to happen. I feel both excited and optimistic about what cognitive scientists, neurologists and educational researchers are going to find out over the next few years, but equally by what staff in schools working with university colleagues in the disciplines are going to create in terms of a new kind of pedagogical content knowledge that has the capacity to transform teaching and learning.

30. Make space and time for �deep learning� and teacher enquiry Whole staff PD days on teaching and learning and school improvement planning as well as �curriculum tours� to share the work done in departments or working groups; Inter-departmental meetings to discuss teaching strategies; Workshops run inside the school on teaching strategies by Cadre group members and external support; Partnership teaching and peer coaching; The design and execution of collaborative enquiry activities, which are, by their nature, knowledge-generating.

31. Six Approaches to Staff Development Achieving Consistency Specific Observation Schedules Japanese �Lesson Study� Coaching Instructional Rounds Peer Coaching

32. Achieving Consistency �The �Robert Clack� Good Lesson In terms of teaching and learning, three residential courses were held for teachers in the first term of Paul�s headship, out of which emerged the staff-created model of the Robert Clack Good Lesson. Regardless of subject, all departments explain the objective, content and process of each lesson, followed by a summary and a review. A modular curriculum was also introduced, whereby all pupils are tested to National Curriculum standards at each half and end of term in every subject. Not only do teachers know exactly where each pupil stands, but parents get a short and long report each term, which charts their children�s progress and behaviour.

33. Specific Observation Schedules Higher order questions Dealing with low level disruption Wait time Differentiation Level of task Pace etc

34. Japanese �Lesson Study� Choose a research theme Focus the research Create the lesson Teach and observe the lesson Discuss the lesson Revise the lesson Repeat the process with another teacher Disseminate and share the lesson

35. Structuring Staff Development Workshop Understanding of Key Ideas and Principles Modelling and Demonstration Practice in Non-threatening Situations Workplace Immediate and Sustained Practice Collaboration and Peer Reflection and Action Research

36. The Instructional Rounds Process The network convenes in a school for a rounds visit hosted by a member or members of the network. The focus of the visit is a problem of practice related to teaching and learning that the school is currently wrestling with. The network divides into smaller group that visit a rotation of four or five classrooms for approximately thirty minutes. In each classroom network participants collect descriptive evidence related to the focus of the problem of practice. After completing the classroom observations, the entire group assembles in a common location to work through a process description, analysis and prediction. The group analyses the evidence for patterns and look at how what they have seen explains or not the observable student performance in the school. Finally the network develops a series of �theory of action� principles from the analysis of the observations and discusses the next level of work recommendations for the school and system to make progress on the problem of practice.

37. Peer Coaching Peer coaching teams of two or three are much more effective than larger groups. These groups are more effective when the entire staff is engaged in school improvement. Peer coaching works better when Heads and Deputies participate in training and practice. The effects are greater when formative study of student learning is embedded in the process.

38. Redesign the Organisation The journey of school improvement A clear reform narrative is created, and seen by staff to be consistently applied, with: a vision and urgency that translates into clear principles for action. Organizing the key strategies Improvement activities are selected and linked together strategically; supported by robust and highly reliable school systems with clear SMT roles in key areas. Professional learning at the heart of the process Improvement strategy informs CPD; knowledge is gained, verified & refined by staff to underpin improvement; networking is used to manage risk and discipline practice. Cultures are changed and developed Professional ethos and values that supports capacity building are initiated, implemented and institutionalized, so that a culture of disciplined action replaces excessive control.

39. Every School a Great School Improvement Strategy The Goal: All our students will be literate, numerate and curious.

40. Every School a Great School Improvement StrategyGuiding Principles Principle 1 : School leadership matters Principle 2: The quality of teaching matters Principle 3: The best professional learning takes place in classrooms Principle 4: Standards for teaching practice matter

41. Principle 5: Collaboration matters Principle 6: Curriculum standards matter Principle 7: Accountability matters Principle 8: Reliable data informs the best judgements about school improvement

42. Every School a Great School Improvement Strategy - 1

43. Every School a Great School Improvement Strategy � 2

44. Every School a Great School School Improvement Strategy � 3

45. Every School a Great School School Improvement Strategy � 4

46. Every School a Great School School Improvement Strategy � 5

47. Every School a Great School School Improvement Strategy � 6

48. Every School a Great School Improvement Strategy Leading School Change The Head Is the key driver Ensures the pre-conditions for school improvement are in place Leads the School Improvement Team Monitors the progress of all students Is out of the office and into the classrooms Leadership team to ensure a safe orderly environment is in place.Leadership team to ensure a safe orderly environment is in place.

49. Every School a Great School Improvement Strategy Focus: Instructional Leadership Creating an Instructional Culture Principal commitment and active participation Developing leadership capacity Organising for learning Using data to understand school context � strengths and weaknesses � priorities for improvement Structures to support work � School Improvement Team, Learning teams, Triads / Rounds Clarity around roles and responsibilities � School Improvement Team, Learning Leaders, Data Managers Resourcing

50. Every School a Great School Improvement Strategy Focus: The Instructional Core Use of data Testing Monitoring student progress, tracking Planning for next level of learning Differentiated teaching Learning environment Student behaviour/Developmental Management Teacher practice High reliability procedures (practice that works) Literacy Numeracy Models of Teaching Peer Observation/TRIAD Rounds Model Coaching

51. Every School a Great School Improvement Strategy Drivers: School improvement team (SIT): Take responsibility for school improvement and drive the process Identify priorities Data manager: Member of SIT Develop and maintain a data system Build assessment literacy in the school Participate in �Use of Data� Professional Learning Learning leaders: Support whole school approach and implementation of effective literacy and numeracy teaching practices Participate in Developmental Management, Literacy and Numeracy Professional Learning Learning team leaders: Driver of evidence based developmental learning Participate in �Use of Data� Professional Learning

52. What this looks like in schools in challenging circumstances In schools in challenging circumstances the key activities are: Creating an orderly environment Ensuring consistency in teaching practice Prioritising the work on literacy and numeracy Taking ownership for the progress of students and creating high expectations Developing and supporting leadership capacity Establishing systems for data use

53. What this looks like in schools with high levels of internal variation In schools with high levels of internal variation, the key activities are: Creating a learning environment within the school Sharing the best of teaching practice through rounds Strengthening the work on literacy and numeracy across the curriculum Introducing assessment for learning to enable students to take more control over their own learning Distributing leadership capacity Monitoring student progress through data use

54. What this looks like in successful schools In successful schools, the key activities are: Creating a self directed and inclusive learning environment Introducing innovations in teaching and sharing with other schools Strengthening cross curriculum working and enquiry based projects Encouraging student voice to enrich the curriculum monitor their own progress and to champion curiosity Engaging in system leadership Using data formatively to enhance the progress of all students

56. A Secondary School�s Line of Success�

57. System Leadership Roles A range of emerging roles, including Heads who: develop and lead a successful educational improvement partnership across local communities to support welfare and potential choose to lead and improve a school in extremely challenging circumstances partner another school facing difficulties and improve it. This category includes Executive Heads and leaders of more informal improvement arrangements act as curriculum and pedagogic innovators who develop and then transfer best practice across the system Work as change agents or experts leaders as National Leader of Education, School Improvement Partner, Consultant Leader.

58. Networking and Segmentation:Highly Differentiated Improvement Strategies

59. Support an acting head rather than �take over� Draw detail plans for improvement which included: Diagnosis of the key practices needed to develop Clarity on teaching and learning and behaviour systems A visit to witness the behaviour management, assemblies, and teaching and learning in action so as to give an insight into what was possible in very similar circumstances The export and refinement of these systems from one school into the other, employing key staff to deliver, in particular, Ofsted demands for immediate improvements in behaviour. A 2 days a week consultant leadership to support implementation of the behaviour systems The school got out of Special Measures! Supporting a school in �Special Measures�The Head teacher as a consultant leader

60. Confidence for the leadership to know what needed to be done to get a school out of special measures A committed contribution for staff both To help another school through a situation they had faced themselves and To gain unique professional development An experience which now underpins Robert Clack�s roles as a mentor school for the London Challenge and a lead school for an SSAT network The flip side: personal reputations and the school�s resources were put to the test Benefits for the Robert Clack School

61. Turnaround Schools �Emerging Themes Develop a narrative for sustained improvement : The ability to determine the capacity needed to undertake improvement activities An understanding of the regularities needed to sustain improvement in a school To identify and transfer best practice internally, with the potential to work externally The creation of an ethos of high expectations To work and negotiate with a range of stakeholders and other schools

62. Segmentation requires a fair degree of boldness � Schools should take greater responsibility for neighbouring schools so that the move towards networking encourages groups of schools to form collaborative arrangements outside of local control. All failing and underperforming (and potentially low achieving) schools should have a leading school that works with them in either a formal grouping Federation or in more informal partnership. The incentives for greater system responsibility should include significantly enhanced funding for students most at risk. A rationalisation of national and local agency functions and roles to allow the higher degree of national and regional co-ordination for this increasingly devolved system.

63. Taken together research, informed comment and governmental policies suggests that the concept of �system leadership� is an idea whose time has come as it is seen to have the potential to provide: a wider resource for school improvement, making more of our most successful leaders� by encouraging and enabling them to: identify and transfer best practice; reduce the risk of innovation and change in other schools; and develop and lead partnerships that improve and diversify educational pathways for students within and across localities; a wider and authentic response to low attaining schools. Our most successful heads hold the potential to impact on schools that are in special measures or in serious weaknesses, by working to develop and mobilize leadership capacity in the pursuit of whole school improvement; a potential to resolve, in the longer term, challenges such as the declining demographic supply of well-qualified school leaders, falling student rolls and hence increasingly non-viable schools, and yet ongoing pressures to sustain educational provision in all localities Responding to challenges �System Leadership 

64. The Logic of System Leadership

65. So, for Transformation, System Leadership needs to be reflected at three levels: System leadership at the school level � with, at essence, school Heads becoming almost as concerned about the success of other schools as they are about their own. System leadership at the local level � with practical principles widely shared and used as a basis for local alignment with specific programmes developed for the most at risk groups. System leadership at the national level � with social justice, moral purpose and a commitment to the success of every learner providing the focus for transformation and collaboration system wide.

66. Voices from the groups � Commitment, energy and altruism Practitioner exchanges, data bases and websites Differential approaches and self evaluation Time and resources Embed by linking to existing practices and resources Governors and students as advocates and participants

67. Ways forward � Clarity on practice and instructional core Identifying, accrediting and disseminating practice Audit leadership skills From serendipity to marriage brokering Time and resourcing LA / DCELLS / WAG / Estyn alignment Making the SEF and system leadership the work

68. Discussion 1What are the most appropriate System Leadership Roles for Wales?

69. System Leadership Roles A range of emerging roles, including Heads who: develop and lead a successful educational improvement partnership across local communities to support welfare and potential choose to lead and improve a school in extremely challenging circumstances partner another school facing difficulties and improve it. This category includes Executive Heads and leaders of more informal improvement arrangements act as curriculum and pedagogic innovators who develop and then transfer best practice across the system Work as change agents or experts leaders as National Leader of Education, School Improvement Partner, Consultant Leader.

70. In Wales � Members of system leadership teams could be drawn from across the education service, from local authorities as well as schools, so as to make best use of the widest pool of system leadership talent. There is a balance of advantage to having system leaders that are able to call upon other resources from their institutions rather than acting simply as free-standing agents. The difference can be represented by the difference between successful head teachers of schools which have developed the capacity to undertake outreach work, and free-standing consultants, retired head teachers or specialist local authority advisers � unless these agents can tap additional expert resources. The formation of system leadership teams offers the potential, however, for drawing on the range of skills and experience offered within a team.

71. It is assumed that system leaders in Wales (SLW) may work with a (another) school or schools in one or more of the following capacities: Mentoring a new head teacher, or the acting head teacher of a school in which the head teacher is absent for a month or more; Coaching a head teacher or senior leadership team so as to increase their effectiveness and build leadership capacity Providing professional challenge and support to the school; helping its leadership to evaluate its performance, identify priorities for improvement, and plan effective change, in the context of the School Effectiveness Framework; Taking responsibility for a school as executive head teacher where leadership is ineffective and the school has low internal capacity to improve; Promoting local collaboration of schools; Evaluating and supporting networks of schools as attached system leader.

72. Discussion 2What are the qualities ofSystem Leaders in Wales?

73. System Leaders in Wales We are proposing that system leadership teams are identified to promote and support the implementation of the School Effectiveness Framework. Their work will include promoting networks for sharing and disseminating good practice, working with and supporting individual schools, within the tri-level concept, in implementing the Framework and potentially being part of intervention strategies for schools that are not making sufficient progress. The system leadership teams will be formed of successful educational leaders appointed, seconded or attached to the teams on a full- or part-time basis. The role of the system leaders will be to provide professional support, guidance [and where necessary direct leadership] for those schools which face the greatest internal or contextual challenges in providing the highest outcomes for the children and young people they serve.

74. A System Leader in Wales will normally: Either: Be a serving head teacher with successful headship experience in one or more schools for a minimum of five years and normally longer, with the expectation of remaining a serving head for a minimum of two years Be leading a school which at its last inspection under current leadership was judged grade 1 for leadership and management and no less than grade 2 for pupils� achievement and teaching, learning and assessment Be leading a school in which outcome standards have improved in the last three years Be able to demonstrate strategies used to ensure high levels of consistency in the quality of teaching and learning and strength in the broader leadership capacity of the school Have the ability to work sensitively and collaboratively with a range of partners and stakeholders Be able to demonstrate emotional intelligence skills that will allow you to work effectively with schools in the most challenging circumstances Be committed, if necessary, to taking responsibility for another school or schools Have made a contribution to educational developments or school improvement beyond the home school Have experience of influencing thinking, policy and practice so as to have a positive impact on the lives and life chances of all children and young people Have continued to develop professionally as well as foster the professional development of colleagues, and have a full understanding of the School Effectiveness Framework and its implications . [Newly retired head teachers who otherwise meet the criteria above will be considered.]

75. A System Leader in Wales will normally: Or: Be a serving school improvement professional with a minimum of three years experience who normally was formerly a head teacher of a minimum of five years experience and with the expectation of remaining in post for a minimum of two years. Have led a school in which leadership and management under the candidate�s leadership was judged grade 1 if inspected or otherwise recognised as such by the local authority; Be able to demonstrate impact on school improvement in the current role; Be able to demonstrate effective leadership and management in the current role; Have the ability to work sensitively and collaboratively with a range of partners and stakeholders; Be able to demonstrate emotional intelligence skills that have allowed effective working with underachieving schools and other partners; Be committed, if necessary, to taking responsibility for a schools in challenging circumstances; Have made a contribution to educational developments in the organisation; Have experience of influencing thinking, policy and practice so as to have a positive impact on the lives and life chances of all children and young people; Have continued to develop professionally as well as foster the professional development of colleagues, and have a full understanding of the School effectiveness Framework and its implications. [Newly retired local authority officers or inspectors will be considered.]

76. A System Leader in Wales will normally: Highly desirable key skills Skilled communicators both orally and in writing Knowledgeable about improving schools facing difficulties Ambitious for children and young people and determined to improve outcomes for them Expert in managing and sustaining change Strategic in their approach Collaborative as a leader and team member, able to work closely with partners such as head teachers and the staff of schools, governors, HMI and local authority officers Decisive in identifying issues and addressing them while remaining sensitive Experience as a peer mentor and/or training as a coach Analytical ability, understanding performance indicators and being able to interpret complex and detailed quantitative and qualitative data accurately and quickly, and pursue challenging and rigorous questions, probe explanations of root causes and apparent inconsistencies Have good judgement, being able to identify key issues accurately; and give accurate feedback, both oral and written Understand the principles and practice of quality assurance systems, including school self-evaluation and performance management Understand equal opportunities legislation and the issues surrounding the achievement of different groups of pupils, for example children in care, boys, girls, those of different ethnic or socio-economic groups and those with a disability or special educational need.

77. Paulo Freire once said� �No one educates anyone else Nor do we educate ourselves We educate one another in communion In the context of living in this world�