Workshop 8: Continuous Improvement

1. Workshop 8: Continuous Improvement Audience: All staff and any wider stakeholders Deliverable: Final evaluation and case study

2. Prerequisites for this Workshop • From the introduction workshop – key features of this workshop such as the ‘Parts’, ‘Suggested Agenda’ and ‘Overview’ are described in the introduction to the workshops which is a general guide to the workshop series. • From workshops 2 and 3 – your school’s vision, set out using the REORDER framework together with the innovation planning documents. • From workshop 6 – baseline data taken at the start of each individual project. • Data against which to compare baselines – a copy of the process taken at workshop 6 but this time at the end of the process to allow comparison and progression.

3. Workshop 8 of 8: Continuous Improvement • There are eight broad workshops in the Innovative Schools Toolkit. • Each workshop provides ideas, activities, links to other resources, strategies and frameworks. • Please use the resources and PowerPoint called ‘Introduction to the IST workshop series’ for detailed guidance on the workshops. • Consider your local context to select the most appropriate strategies offered in these workshops. On-going Continuous Improvement

4. Overview • After a year of effort towards whole school core aims it is essential that the school collectively evaluates the progress that has been made against the vision set out at the start of the process. • This is an opportunity to share reflections and re-connect with the core purpose and vision of the school. • This workshop provides example analysis and evaluation tools for staff and will help to structure an event at which collective progress can be evaluated and recognised.

5. Guiding Questions • Over the last year, what event, project or story best captured the essence of what the school stands for? • What are our objective measures and subjective measures telling us? • How do you improve the ability of all teachers to be reflective and able to evaluate what is moving the school forward? • Which projects and successes from this year will form the basis of our continuing work next year and which were just good projects that have served their purpose?

6. Progression towards effective evaluation

7. Suggested Agenda for the workshop

8. Part 1. Build individual and group capacity for evaluation • In preparation for the final workshop you should first reach your own conclusions about what was successful this year, then meet in your PLC to present your conclusions. • Members of each PLC will then debate each others’ evaluations and draw up a set of recommendations and findings that will be presented at the workshop. • This section is to help you and your PLC compile this presentation.

9. Questions for each teacher (researcher) For each of the projects you have done this year: • Did you enjoy doing the project? • Do you think the learners enjoyed the project? • Which of the school’s core aims were you attempting to improve? • What was the baseline measurement you took before you started? • When you repeated this measurement at the end, what improvements were there? • Were the improvements in line with what you expected? • How would you do the project differently next time? • Would you recommend this project to other teachers? • What would be the one piece of advice you would give to other teachers? • Could your project be scaled to other schools in other countries? Look at the school vision document – can your project be used as an example to other schools of how the vision in your school is moving forward?

10. Presenting to your PLC Prepare a short five minute presentation to your PLC team • Use the questions on the previous slide to go through each project you have done this year. • Which project is the best one to carry forward into next year? • How should it be carried forward: • By you, extending it to other classes or improving it • By teachers that you will work with and support • By teachers in the school working just from your case study • By teachers in other schools working towards similar goals. • What evidence do you have that it has improved outcomes in the core aims for learners? • Can the project scale to become a whole school initiative? What work would need to be done? If it was already part of a whole school ‘project’ how can your contribution inform the whole school direction next year?

11. Suggested agenda for your PLC meeting

12. Suggested ‘hot seat’ questions • Which core aims from the school vision does it address? • What evidence do you have that it improved outcomes for learners? • Why do you believe that the project would raise outcomes in the same way if it was carried out by other teachers? • Name another teacher in this school that could use your findings next year to also improve outcomes as you have done? What extra information or support would they need? • If every teacher in the school repeated a project along the same lines would the overall school vision be accelerated forward? Should we suggest this?

13. Example presentation • The following slides provide a template that can be used by the team to produce their presentation at the whole staff meeting. • The template has been filled in with a real example so it is easier to see how it works. • The example chosen should be deleted from the template and replaced by your group’s own answers. A blank version of the template is provided for this purpose afterwards. • Please remember you will only have five minutes to make your presentation so select which items you will speak about in more depth.

14. Project ‘Wake and Shake’: Before A project to help the following whole school core aim: ‘Improving the responsibility and leadership skills of all learners’. The basic idea: • Each week a team of four learners become the ‘Wake and Shake team’ and organise five minutes of exercise for the whole group. • The team self organise to decide on the exercise and ensure they have everything they need to be successful. • At the end of the week the class rate the service, how well it was organised and led and how many times they got 100% participation from the class. • This provides all learners with an opportunity to lead and take on a real responsibility. How the baseline was measured: • A questionnaire asked what experience of leadership each learner had, how important leadership was and they assessed their current skills against the PbyP framework. Expected impact: • I predicted that the project would be seen as a genuine leadership opportunity and their view of the importance of leadership skills will increase.

15. Project Wake and Shake: After Opinions and perceptions before and after (selected results) Measured improvements before and after (Selected results)

16. Project ‘Wake and Shake’: Expansion Does the evidence demonstrate improvements to core aims? Yes, strong evidence – it was effective in improving the core aim of ‘improving the responsibility and leadership skills of all learners’ and should be repeated. It is recognised by learners as a real and valued experience that improves the school’s core aims and also contributes towards the core aim of ‘respect’. How widely could it scale – what are the limiting factors? Space is a limiting factor – this would need to be one of many opportunities as the outside covered space could only support half of the registration groups. Was this successful just because of your passion for the project and your ownership? What challenges would others need to face? Trust from the learners was key. Perhaps it could only be offered initially to those with a level 4 leadership certificate until the trust built up. What surprised you most? Learners’ views on the importance of leadership was really high and they were able to employ the skills of others in the class much more than I thought previously.

17. Project [‘Project Title’]: Before A project to help the following whole school core aim: [‘The whole school core aim that was the focus of the project’] The basic idea: [Outline description of the project] How the baseline was measured [The method for capturing the baseline (not the actual measurements)] Expected impact: [What were your predicted results] Suitable Image

18. Project [‘Project Title’]: After Opinions and perceptions before and after (selected results) Measured improvements before and after (Selected results)

19. Project [‘Project Title’]: Expansion Does the evidence demonstrate improvements to Core Aims? [Be careful to use actual evidence from the previous slide over your own perception] How widely could it scale – what are the limiting factors? [Ask for support from the PLC for this question] Was this successful just because of your passion for the project and your ownership? What challenges would others need to face? [Ask for support from the PLC for this question] What surprised you most? [Important to explain that learning is not linear and even with the best planning, the surprises can be the most interesting part]

20. End of Part 1. Presentation prepared • As a result of this section you have a completed case study that is ready to present to the whole school. • The case study is either the best example voted by all of the PLC team members having discussed each others’ work, or it is a combination of the learning from all the projects developed by the group over the year. • Remember that your presentation is focussed on; ‘what should be expanded on next year to further move the school towards its vision’, so excellent projects that do not answer this question may not be the ones you choose to represent your group. • The link to the core aim and vision is vital as is the objective evidence of success.

21. Part 2. Hear success stories and consider what has been learnt • The event is split into three sections; one for each core aim. • In each section, each PLC has 5 minutes to give their prepared core aim presentation as a team, followed by five minutes of questioning. • The question, ‘have we been effective in making progress towards this core aim’ is debated using just this array of opinion and successful projects. • At the end of this section, progression in all three core aims will have been debated.

22. Some questions about scalability and growth to consider while listening to presentations • Which projects do not resonate very well with you personally and you could not imagine adopting? • Which projects do you understand the purpose and value of but do not feel able to put into practice yourself? • Which would you personally feel confident to implement? • Which projects can you imagine becoming part of everyday procedures and practice to improve the school? • Which projects are really good ideas that are likely to spread this year but have potential to be improved again and again? • Which is the most likely to spread to other schools in the long term? • What features of innovations make them more likely to be widely implemented rather than be single projects?

23. End of Part 2. Final Evaluation Case Study Use the final innovation case study template provided to help you complete an evaluation of your school’s key innovations

24. Part 3. Create coherence and decide on the key success stories of the year • A collection of excellent projects does not necessarily create a coherent whole school ethos, philosophy and direction. • This section brings together all of the success stories and the whole school vision to re-imagine where the findings could take us. • Whole school surveys and data are also presented here if available so that the mission and success of the school can be evaluated.

25. 1. Report from the Headteacher/principal A review of the year from the perspective of the headteacher /principal and senior leaders: • Other results such as examination success • Indictors and trends • Surveys and reports • Visits and external perceptions • Reminders of press releases and events during the year • Moments in the year that captured the ethos • Stories that illustrate direction.

26. 2. Revisit the REORDER vision of the school Provide copies of the reorder vision and allow time to discuss the following points: • Share examples of when the vision statement came alive during the year – what single event exemplified it for you? • We have discussed the core aims in some depth as separate aims – what was in the space in the middle? When did they work together in the year to great effect? • Have we missed anything in terms of the work we need to do on relationships, environments etc (REORDER)? • What were the biggest surprises from the year?

27. 3. Strengthening the philosophy In your groups describe the one story, project, event or outcome this year that is the single best description of: • The nature of the learners, teachers and other stakeholders that make up this community. Qualities which we are both drawing from and building upon. • The direction the school is heading in, its ambition and philosophy. Agree on the best of each and write a brief description with a name of someone who could explain it further on a Post-it.

28. 4. Moving forward In your groups discuss: • How does all this work combine? • Is there a bigger step or larger change that should be happening and which the school is ready for? • Which projects and events from this year are the ones showing the direction for next year? • What should we stop doing to make space for new work? • What did we get right and wrong this year and what would be three recommendations from the group for next year?

29. End of Part 3. Preparing to restart the cycle • At the end of this session, clear success stories and significant events that have moved the school forward have been shared. • The continuous improvement cycle is most effective if all of these key learning points are celebrated, recognised and documented so that they form solid building blocks for re-starting the cycle. • The conclusions from the year must be based on a rich mixture of objective data, emotions, passions and aspirations. Capturing all this is the goal of this final workshop and the requirement of the next cycle.

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