Inaugural Conference of the Teacher Professional Network, Eire School Improvement planning

1. Inaugural Conference of the Teacher Professional Network, Eire School Improvement planning Saturday April 21 2007 A presentation from Hilary Street, Senior Associate, London Centre for Leadership in Learning, Institute of Education, University of London Editor, NAHT Leadership Paper series E-mail: hilarystreet@btinternet.com

2. To consider: The context for school improvement planning Why school improvement planning is an essential process for effective leadership and management The importance of ‘joining up’ the processes in school The content of an effective school improvement plan A fresh look at supporting action plans and in particular the process of identifying meaningful success criteria How to ensure impact at the level of individual classrooms and individual pupils Aims

3. The increased emphasis on School Self-evaluation Lessening of ‘top-down’ initiatives The Every Child Matters agenda and multi-agency leadership Continued focus on attainment Emphasis on networks and co-operation Changes to CPD and an emphasis on professional learning communities with schools as ‘research sites’ Workforce remodelling and schools/education and learning for the future The need for ‘Futures literate’ leaders Different models of school and system leadership The imperative of succession planning Evidence informed education and practice Learning centred leadership = a need to ensure schools are ‘self-sustaining institutions’ in a context of relentless change Some aspects of the wider policy context (England)

4. ‘Moving schools are not only effective in ‘value-added’ terms but people within them are also actively working together to respond to their changing context and to keep developing. They know where they are going; they have the systems and the will and the skill to get there.’ (Changing our schools Stoll and Fink)

5. School Improvement Plans: essential leadership and management tools Schools who are engaging effectively in school improvement planning find that the process in an effective leadership and management tool because it is a mechanism : for displaying succinctly how the school will achieve its stated aims to ensure clarity about expectations to ensure that data is analysed and used effectively to inform decision making at all levels in the school to manage the process of change and development and it offers a structure which ensures that monitoring and evaluation processes are integral to the normal work of the school and provides a framework for longer term strategic thinking.

6. Planning to achieve a classroom focus requires the integration of: pupil progress and achievement the quality of the learning and teaching (leadership and) management arrangements to support the previous two B McGilchrist and D Hopkins Development Planning for pupil achievement Ensuring an impact on the classroom

7. Some school improvement plans are too detailed to be strategic and not sufficiently detailed to be operational; It is essential to understand why School Improvement Plans are the ‘lynch-pin’ for all the leadership and management systems and processes in the school and essential for effective improvement; Unless a school has all the necessary management systems and processes in place and ‘joined up’ the school improvement planning process and the SIP will not be as effective as they should be. School Improvement planning and plans: some propositions

8. Joining up the processes LEA EDP School’s monitoring& evaluation data National context ECM School policy and practice on Effective Learning and Teaching which informs detail in the action plans, job descriptions, PMR objectives and CPD School Improvement Plan – taken forward by post-holders and staff Individual Job descriptions Subject and other team action plans Supporting action plans Post-holders individual action plans to support the achievement of each priority in the plan. Individual post-holders (and other individual staff ) Whole school and individual CPD programme in place. Supporting action plans contain details of the CPD required by the post-holder and any CPD required by the school staff or sub-groups of staff in order to achieve the priority. The PMR process also identifies the CPD needed in order for the objectives to be achieved The Performance Management Review process draws on the school monitoring information, individual member of staff’s job description, their supporting action plan and the priority they have to achieve. This informs the choice of individual PMR objectives. .Some of these CPD needs will already have been identified in the action plan.

9. Mission statement and clear aims for the school A clear and effective staffing structure that supports the achievement of the school improvement plan Clear and upto date job descriptions that reflect the national standards for post-holders and the SIP priorities Clear line management systems with transparent and consistent expectations of their purpose, including monitoring of progress with the action plans Clear lines of accountability and clear understanding of what being accountable means An effective MIS (Management Information System) in place to ensure regular and up to date information about pupil progress; budget etc. to support effective decision making and identification of priorities. Thinking through management systems and processes:what needs to be in place?

10. An effective Performance management Review (PMR) process in place Clear policy statements on key aspects of the school’s work to support effective learning and teaching ( teaching and learning policy; monitoring and evaluation policy; assessment, record keeping and marking policy) Transparent and clear financial systems with clear criteria for spending decisions and the monitoring of those decisions A planned programme of professional development which supports the achievement of the priorities in the School Improvement plan A composite calendar for the whole year to ensure that all systems and processes dovetail in order to avoid duplication of effort and where possible to ‘use time twice’ Effective communications systems with and between staff, pupils, governors and parents as well as the LA/Board/District An effective school improvement plan

11. 1. Mission statement 2. Aims of the school 3. The background to the plan current stage of development of the school (Strengths, areas needing development, opportunities, concerns – in the English case now cross- referenced to the SEF) the school’s published pupil attainment targets the link between the priorities in the SIP and the five outcomes for Every Child Matters ECM) and the Children and Young People’s Plan for the LA/District What should an effective School Improvement Plan contain?

12. 4.Summary of priorities for the next three (?) years An overview of the priorities in each focus area and the pupil and teacher ( and other stakeholder) outcomes ( the success criteria) 6. Supporting action plans for each priority (the operational detail of implementation) 7. Summary of the monitoring and evaluation strategies to be used 8. A professional development summary 9. A ‘maintenance section’ 10. Financial summary of the costings of the priorities

13. Focus Area One Pupil Acheivement Focus Area Two Learning and Teaching Focus Area Three Curriculum Focus Area Four Ethos Focus Area Five Leadership and Management Priority One Priority Two Priority Three Priority One Priority Two Priority Three Priority One Priority Two Priority Three Priority One Priority Two Priority Three Priority One Priority Two Priority Three

14. And strategic vision ‘Astrategically focused school is one that is educationally effective in the short term but has a clear framework and processes to translate core moral purpose and vision into excellent educational provision that is challenging and sustainable in the medium to long term.’ Brent Davies success and sustainability: developing the strategically focused school NCSL

15. Three year summary for each focus area

16. Displaying the priorities and outcomes Improvement Area: Pupil attainment

17. The format of many action plans means that they are often not helpful as a tool to plan, manage and review progress towards the outcomes; Completing action plans well so that they are an effective management tool is a skilled activity for which staff need training; Action plans should never be written by one colleague on their own, there should be access to a ‘critical friend’; Action plans should be publicly displayed in staff rooms and progress discussed with the whole staff. More propositions

18. There is still a lack of understanding about what ‘good’ success criteria look like; Action plan holders need detailed help and guidance with the costing of an action plan; CPD needs and the CPD strategies to meet them are often confused as one and the same thing; Action plan holders sometimes find it hard to plan for ‘real time’.

19. The words ‘success criteria’ can sometimes be a block to clarity Success criteria often describe what teachers will be doing or what will be in place. These are ‘interim outcomes’ and often do not ‘get to the pupils’ It is useful to think in terms of concrete outcomes for pupils and teachers ( and other stakeholders, depending on the priority) In order to have success criteria that are specific, concrete and verifiable it is important to answer the following question in a detailed and specific way: ‘What will be different for pupils and teachers if this priority is achieved? Or What specifically will teachers and pupils be doing differently if this priority is achieved? Or In what specific ways will the pupils’ experience in the classroom be improved if this priority is achieved. Thinking through success criteria

20. ‘A learning community emerges a individuals reflect on, assess, critique an reconstruct their personal professional capacity and their capacity for collegial relations and collective practice.’ “a learning community consists of a group of people who take an active, reflective, collaborative, learning-oriented and growth promoting approach towards the mysteries, problems and perplexities of teaching and learning. It is when a school becomes a ‘learning community’ that transformation becomes possible. Mitchell and Sackney 2000 Profound Improvement: building capacity for a learning community