futures thinking in action Next Practice in System Leadership Valerie Hannon

1. futures thinking in action Next Practice in System Leadership Valerie Hannon Director, The Innovation Unit OECD/Japan seminar, Hiroshima November 2006

2. Some initiating questions … • How to bring insights from trend analysis and futures thinking to support innovation in leadership and governance, which might impact upon the recruitment challenge? • How do you move from ‘best practices’ – sharing current knowledge – to ‘next practices’ – orchestrating new ways of working, which can impact upon policy?

3. 2006 2016 Many headteachers are nearing retirement age and the challenge will be most acute in 2009-2011 Age profile of teachers: maintained mainstream schools 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Source: DfES Analytical Services Teacher Flows Presentation 2002

4. At current rates, only a small portion of middle leaders will become headteachers PRELIMINARY:CURRENTLY UNDER DISCUSSION 100 Middle Leaders 10 Head Teachers Convert Graduate 43% of NPQH graduates are head teachers within 5 years Ambition 84% of candidates graduate 28% of middle leaders plan to take NPQH Source: MORI “State of School Leadership” Survey Results (RR633) 2005; NCSL research (not in public domain)

5. Other developed countries face similar challenges % England Germany* France Canada** U.S. New Zealand Australia Sweden Scotland Netherlands Opportunity for sharing knowledge * 2 largest states ** Ontario Source: DfES Analytical Services Teacher Flows Presentation 2002; US Department of Education; National Centre for Education statistics; Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) 1999–2000; Australia Dept Education Science & Training-Government Schools Staffing Survey 2004; German state statistics offices; France Ministry for National Education; Scotland national statistics, Statistics Sweden, SBO Yearbook, New Zealand Ministry of Education, Statistics Canada

6. Why Next Practice? Good / best practice asks: what is working? Next Practice asks what could work – more powerfully? Addresses pressing national issues

7. The Innovation Unit Model(not a linear process!) STEP 1Needs Analysis STEP 4Creative & Generative STEP 5 Field Trials STEP 2Horizon Scanning STEP 3Mobilisation Scale Up Project Effective mechanisms to transfer practice (work already commissioned by Innovation Unit and underway) Scale Up

8. What do we mean by Next Practice? • Next Practice: • is aware of conventional ‘good’ practice, its strengths and limitations; and explicitly sets out to take it to a quite new level or disrupt, profoundly evolve, or revolutionise it • by implication it is conducted by very able, informed practitioners • is located in an environment scanning, futures-informed ethos; seeking out alternative expert perspectives • is directed at serious, contemporary problems • is not (yet) officially sanctioned or endorsed; and therefore does entail some risk.

9. Why ‘system leadership’? - the drivers • Support for schools causing concern • Spread high quality leadership across primary schools • Deliver ECM ‘five outcomes’ • Deliver ‘all-age’ learning • Develop 14-19 curriculum provision • Develop ‘whole town’ services • Deliver shared services more efficiently • Resolve headteacher succession issues How has thinking about ‘next practice’ advanced?

10. The ‘offer’ to 16 identified field trials • Access to a wider ideas pool (through tools, events and online) • Access to practice of interest • Creative space (to incubate ideas) • Safer space (to legitimate experimentation) • Obstacle removal (e.g. Power to Innovate) • Social capital and connection (between schools and beyond) • Gateway to Departmental Teams • Confidence and moral support • Resourcing to support the change and development process • Real time learning and enquiry support • Co-design of evaluation

12. Field Trials – Example 1 A cross-phase collaborative of 5 schools seeks to deliver integrated services by forming a hard federation with one governing body drawn from multiple services – including parents and pupils. An overall Executive Director will be supported by five Directors who lead on Community, Inclusion, Teaching and Learning, Business Strategy and Pupil Involvement and Choice. All senior personnel work across all institutions. Holistic approaches to multi-service delivery Enabling personalised & extended opportunities for 14-19 education ‘Chain’, ‘franchises’, developed federations or formal networks of schools Learning taking place outside formal institutions (‘not school’)

13. Field Trials – Example 2 Strategic leadership for a federation of 6 secondary schools is offered by an Executive Federation Principal, who does not have headship responsibility in any of the schools and may not be educationalist. Heads of the 6 schools take overall responsibility for a key area across all the federation schools: e.g. attendance, CPD, 14-19, curriculum development, behaviour, student voice etc An Executive Board is established which holds all heads to account for their federated leadership. Holistic approaches to multi-service delivery Enabling personalised & extended opportunities for 14-19 education ‘Chain’, ‘franchises’, developed federations or formal networks of schools Learning taking place outside formal institutions (‘not school’)

14. Field Trials – Example 3 A cross-phase partnership of 7 schools wishes to evolve ‘not school’ provision for all their students governed by a Strategic Board. All students experience some of their learning within this personalised, ‘not school’, community-based provision – some in workplaces, community and voluntary organisations, or at home online. Leadership of the ‘not school’ provision is through the Strategic Board made up from three headteachers and a number of expert, not school educators with experience of home schooling, e-learning and community placements. Holistic approaches to multi-service delivery Enabling personalised & extended opportunities for 14-19 education ‘Chain’, ‘franchises’, developed federations or formal networks of schools Learning taking place outside formal institutions (‘not school’)

15. Field Trials – Example 4 By establishing a Trust (a commissioning agency), a group of five urban secondary schools seek to offer coherent and highly personalised 14-19 provision for all their students. The headteachers agree to hand over responsibility for 14-19 students to the Trust. At 14, students become the full responsibility of the Trust, which designs and commissions, from the schools and other providers, a 14-19 offer on behalf of the students. The students become clients of the agency. All resources follow the student and go to the agency. The leadership of 14-19 provision becomes the role of a Strategic Group of the Trust (the heads, FE, LSC, Business representatives).. Holistic approaches to multi-service delivery Enabling personalised & extended opportunities for 14-19 education ‘Chain’, ‘franchises’, developed federations or formal networks of schools Learning taking place outside formal institutions (‘not school’)

17. Around system leadership New Tool

19. The project trajectory…. • 16 field trials running until March 2008 • Continuous development through incubation and acceleration • Knowledge management techniques to surface and share learning • Lateral learning through a community of interest • Policy engagement, use of Power to Innovate.