Reviewing The Project Against Current Knowledge

1. Reviewing The Project Against Current Knowledge Professor David Reynolds E-mail: David.Reynolds@exeter.ac.uk

2. Within School Variation (WSV): The Extent • WSV relates to individuals in schools, years in schools & Departments in secondary schools • WSV (value-added) is 3 to 4 times bigger than variation between schools • WSV seems to be greater in the UK than other societies (e.g. PISA) • there may be barriers within schools related to professional autonomy, school management, a lack of time, a lack of effective systems & the inherent difficulties of learning from others that make it difficult to impact upon WSV & learn from it • WSV is in most schools ‘part of the furniture’, has been there for years & is seen as natural

3. Within School Variation: Using it Productively As opposed to ‘school to school’ transfer of good practice, using ‘within school’ variation is potentially fruitful because: • it is closer to teachers than other schools a distance, geographically & emotionally, away • the children taught by different teachers are largely the same, removing ‘alibis’ • every school has relatively good practice to be learned from • it is less patronising to learn from one’s own colleagues than those in other schools • schools may need to develop their capacity to learnfrom each other before learning from other schools

4. The WSV Project Wide variety of schools participating - included a large number of the leading edge of LEP schools with outstanding results that could have been expected to have had lower than average WSV, plus additional schools often in challenging circumstances coming out of a problem phase that may have had above average WSV. Data gathered: • school reports to conferences, 2003 & 2004 • met representatives from 85% of schools for presentations • school written documentation There were lightbulb moments!

5. The Project Overall • aim was to let schools discover what worked • very slow start in many schools (a slightly messy start is normal in school improvement) • difficulty in being clever about exactly what was wanted • difficulty in seeing how WSV initiatives differ from general school improvement • there was difficulty in getting into WSV because of pressure of other initiatives, absence of WSV in 2003/4 development plans etc • the pace quickened from Spring 2004: great majority of schools now doing very interesting things with great enthusiasm CONT.

6. the area of data shows the greatest volume of attempts & the greatest sophistication of attempts, with middle management training & teaching / learning being less addressed • WSV ran into the sand where it wasn’t identified as a programme, rather than an event

7. Some Thoughts On Culture • it is clear that in every case where WSV was being pursued effectively it followed cultural change in the school, not preceded it • without cultural change, it is impossible to get responses to data etc, & the sharing of practice that is necessary • a culture of open-ness, collaboration, laterality & transformative leadership needs to be established • trying to do WSV without the culture would be highly damaging - need to audit to see if the culture is present? • Holding on to collegiality at the same time as admitting there is WSV, & learning from WSV, is very difficult

8. Some Thoughts on Data • need to focus on all years - yr 10 & 11 or yr 6 too late • need to include ability & achievement measures to see gap if it exists • need to include achievement data on all subjects to check variation over time for individual children, involving letter grading or the equivalent • need to have training of Departments to ensure reliability in grading • adding material at individual and class level on attitudes, classroom climate etc. is helpful • need to perhaps start with softer, easier to handle pupil ‘voice’ data before going on to harder achievement areas • need to have data from feeder schools also

9. Some Thoughts on Middle Management • variation between Heads of Year is probably even more than between Departments / Heads of Departments & may be even more damaging • methods should be appropriate to where Departments are - direct buddying of the worst, direction of the average & leaving the best alone • In most schools, relying on the self respect of middle managers as the motivator is better than punitive measures • training should begin with data usage, & move on to teaching & learning issues

10. Some Thoughts On Teaching & Learning • difficult to address without common ‘language’ • needs to include pupil open-ness & voice - perhaps as the start point • use of videos of own pupils much better than anything from outside the school • needs a better observation system than PM • needs to begin with learning (as an easier subject to address than teaching) • needs to result in consistently applied ‘cores’ of behaviours across staff in particular subjects

11. Recommendations • Schools need to look at all these areas of data systems, middle management training & learning / teaching rather than one or two (interaction effects) • the vehicle to address WSV will be different in every school, but should be something that is - new - practical - easy to train for - easy to check compliance with - has maximum possible staff agreement on its importance CONT.

12. the emphasis on using something new is crucial: without it, it will be difficult to get any major change since schools cannot suddenly deal with their taken for granted. The ‘new’ thing as it moves through the school will show the variation, and provide an opportunity to continue • the phasing should be embedding culture, data systems, middle management training & concentrating on teaching & learning (teaching & learning cannot be addressed without middle management competence) in that order • on data systems, middle management training & teaching / learning, we place all school reports on the web, catalogued, with all other material that we can find of use CONT.

13. We evoke resources for 2004/5, & adopt a common plan in our different contexts • if we have enough resources we try work in this area with a partner school(s), to see what might ‘work’ just as we did for ourselves for the year 2003/4

14. Please find the High Reliability Schools project website at: http://www.highreliabilityschools.co.uk