Seizing the agenda: a better future for schools in the North East?

1. Seizing the agenda: a better future for schools in the North East? SCHOOLS NorthEast Summit Conference 14 October 2011 John Dunford

2. V I P Values Innovation Partnership School leaders creating a new narrative

3. Seizing the agenda • Principles underpinning school leadership • Autonomy • Curriculum freedom • Partnership working: the lessons so far • Partnership working: the new context • A self-improving system • Leadership development • Accountability and data • Seizing the agenda

4. Principles underpinning school leadership Cameron: freedom, fairness, responsibility Gove: autonomy, accountability, leadership School leaders: values-led All: moral purpose and social justice; closing the gaps Engaging local communities What principles and values underpin our work? Building professional networks How strong are our professional networks?

5. Autonomy • Liberated leaders: do you feel liberated? • How will you use your increased autonomy? • Curriculum • Pay and conditions • Varying the school year, day, week • Professional development (incl. governor training) • Freedom to … or just freedom from … ? • Going it alone – or working together?

6. Curriculum freedoms National Curriculum review A more limited range of knowledge English Baccalaureate ROPA and the need for progression A new assessment regime What curriculum does a C21 student need? Developing knowledge and skills Looking out, not looking up Building a “whole education” How will you use the promised curriculum freedom?

7. Partnership working: the lessons so far • Growth of system leadership • Specialist schools and RATL • London Challenge and later City Challenge • National Leaders of Education • Trust schools • School chains

8. Partnership working: the new context SoS recognises evidence of successful S2S support Academies required to partner another school Groups may apply for academy status NLEs and LLEs, now also SLEs and NLGs Teaching Schools – hub and partners Partnership within and between phases Choose your partners! What drives partnership working in a highly devolved system?

9. A self-improving system “A new vision of school improvement in which the school system becomes the major agent of its own improvement” David Hargreaves, Creating a Self-improving System, National College, 2010 http://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/docinfo?id=133672&filename=creating-a-self-improving-school-system.pdf

10. A self-improving system • Strong clusters: groups of schools working together, sharing resources and expertise • Local solutions: local self-evaluation leading to local action • Raising aspirations across the area • Building leadership capacity across groups of schools • Can the North East be a self-improving system?

11. Leadership development • Priorities: focus on learning, focus on values • Leadership throughout the school – CLD • Middle leader development programmes • Subject leadership • Growing your own leaders, but growing leaders for the system too • Local succession planning • How can this happen best in the North East?

12. Accountability and data Centralisation and decentralisation – the lesson from history More accountability – probably Different accountability – certainly Intelligent accountability – still some way off How will this happen in a more localised system?

13. Accountability and data More local accountability – but how? Ofsted role changing, SIP role gone, LA improvement role weakened Where is the external challenge coming from? The position of governing bodies in the accountability structure Opportunities to re-think governance Accountability direct to parents Could a local North East solution be devised collaboratively?

14. Accountability and data Data for accountability and data for improvement Self-evaluation after the SEF Measuring added value after the CVA Better data needed Build your own data Be more transparent with data Use data better and use it more coherently Extract maximum value from your MIS

15. Accountability and data National accountability measures still dominate ‘Families of schools’ data to be published regionally 5 A*-CEM grades; A*-G grades Progress measures English Baccalaureate Measure of how well deprived students do Measure of how students do when they leave Floor standard – 35 per cent %A*-CEM and rising Information on expenditure Quality assurance = external + internal Can a local QA system be developed?

16. Seizing the agenda Taking responsibility for the development of schools in the North East Reinforcing values Holding together in a more atomised system Learning from each other: shared professional development Creating an effective partnership system – within and between phases Collaborating and competing Devising a local accountability system There is a cost to this … but there is a bigger cost in not doing it

17. Seizing the agenda: a better future for schools in the North East? Values Innovation Partnership