Transforming teaching and learning lessons learnt from the London - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transforming teaching and learning – lessons learnt from the London Challenge

Professor David Woods CBE

• 1813 primary schools
• 484 secondary schools
• 144 special schools
• 63,500 teachers
• 43,000 support staff
• 32 Local Authorities
• 311 languages
• 38% English as an

Additional Language across London (50% inner London)

• 30% Free School Meals

across London (43% inner London) – National Average 15%

London – the learning city Context and scale

(10% of London’s children are educated privately)

THE CHALLENGE

• Lowest performing region in terms of attainment and

achievement.

• Low morale and motivation.
• High levels of deprivation especially in inner London and

high percentages of children with English as an additional language (EAL).

• Too few good and outstanding schools - too many schools

requiring improvement.

• A poverty of expectations in some local communities about

what schools can achieve but also amongst some teachers and school leaders.

• Professional isolation of schools – not linked to best

practice elsewhere in leadership and teaching and learning.

Rigorous attention to closing gaps in student and school performance

PURPOSE, PASSION, PROGRESS AT A PACE

THE PROGRAMME

Effective partnership and networking Structural and radical solutions Strong accountability A relentless focus

• n teaching and

learning Shared vision, purpose and objectives Making full use of the performance data System leadership and school-to-school support

RAISE THE BAR AND CLOSE THE GAP

• Ambition, aspiration, high expectations and moral purpose backed by shared,

committed leadership. ‘This great city needs and deserves a truly world-class education system which serves every community and entitles everybody to fulfil their potential’ ‘Make London the world’s leading learning and creative capital city’ ‘Make London increasingly the place where it can be demonstrated that the link between deprivation and worse education outcomes can be broken’ Core objectives

• A system focus on improving leadership and teaching and learning.
• Raise standards of performance and close attainment gaps.
• Create more good and outstanding schools.

Shared vision, purpose and

• bjectives

Moral Purpose

• An unswerving belief in the difference

that education can make to children’s life chances.

• A compelling and inclusive moral

purpose based on equity, social justice and unshakeable principles to be shared and acted upon by everyone.

• All London’s children’s and young

people deserve the best possible education whatever the realities of race, poverty and other social barriers.

• London’s leaders first responsibility is

to their own schools but they should also support other schools and children.

• A compelling and inclusive moral purpose and

strong, shared values, principles and beliefs.

• Ambition, aspiration and the highest expectations

to drive and secure improvement.

The DNA of the London Challenge

• A clear focus on raising standards and

closing attainment gaps between groups of pupils and schools so that all children and young people achieve their potential.

• Support and challenge through expert

leaders, teachers and advisers designing strategies and brokering solutions.

• System leadership which involved the best

school leaders directly supporting other schools in strengthening leadership and teaching.

The DNA of the London Challenge

• Well mobilised intellectual, social and
• rganisational capital maintaining vision,

energy, depth and staying power to produce excellent educational outcomes.

• Collaboration, partnership working and

practitioner networks managing knowledge of teaching and learning and sharing best practice through a range of activities and programmes.

• A sense of place, pride, purpose

and partnership

• ‘Confront the brutal facts’ related to standards at pan-London,

local authority and individual school levels – Raiseonline.

• Forensic tracking and analysis at school and student level

using data and evidence to challenge assumptions and expectations.

Make full use of the data

• Challenge, intervention, and support

based on data and targets for improvement.

• Benchmarking through families of

schools data sets based on prior attainment and deprivation factors with particular attention to ‘trend busting’

• schools. (Now Department for Education

‘Similar Schools’)

X

Average of all schools

QUADRANT A QUADRANT B QUADRANT C QUADRANT D Rate of improvement over 3 years

Family of schools of similar socio-economic background including prior attainment

14 X 15 X 17 X 18 X 16 X 7 X 8 X 6 X 9 X 5 X 4 X 3 X 2 X 1 X 12 X 11 X 13 X 10 X

Key Stage 2 or GCSE Key = X: These are 18 schools, numbered 1 - 18

Families of schools

• Performance of particular groups of children, particularly

those on Free School Meals, with English as an additional language, special needs and gender.

• Benchmark performance between ‘similar’ schools and

‘similar’ Local Authorities.

• Free School Meals link to attainment / sharing of best

practice among schools with similar profiles.

Rigorous attention to closing gaps

• Pan London English as an

Additional Language programme/ sharing of best practice.

• Partnership with agencies re-

vulnerable groups [Now the Pupil Premium].

The Challenge

DEMOGRAPHICS, DEPRIVATION AND DISADVANTAGE

SHOULD NOT BE

DESTINY

‘What the best and wisest parent wants for his own

child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy’

John Dewey

SYSTEM LEADERSHIP AND SCHOOL-TO SCHOOL SUPPORT (1)

• London Leadership Strategy is run by executive groups of Heads for

Heads with expert support from Challenge advisers.

• The best schools and leaders extend their reach across other

schools so that all schools improve in the system.

• Specific partnerships between London Consultant Heads and

schools (now National Leaders of Education) and ‘keys to success’ (underperforming) schools – support for leadership, teaching and learning, and other key issues.

• A range of programmes to develop leadership capacity with an
• verall focus on learning partnerships, sharing expertise and best

practice to secure the best outcomes for all schools and students. E.g. ‘Securing Good’ and ‘Going for Great’.

SYSTEM LEADERSHIP AND SCHOOL-TO SCHOOL SUPPORT (2)

• A model of partner schools and groups of schools -

towards a school led system of improvement.

• Evaluation, support and challenge well established within

and between schools including peer review.

• Leading from the Middle programmes designed and run

by the London Institute of Education.

• The emergence of Teaching schools (on the model of

Teaching Hospitals) and alliances taking responsibility for leading leadership development and school-to-school support.

• Pan-London recruitment and retention programmes.
• Chartered London Teacher status – morale, motivation &

recognition.

• Teach First and Teaching Leaders.
• The Teaching and Learning syllabus – improving teacher

programmes, outstanding teacher programmes – practitioner networks.

• Use of system wide expertise e.g. Expert practitioners

(Specialist Leaders of Education) – moving knowledge and expertise around.

‘THE QUALITY OF AN EDUCATION SYSTEM CANNOT EXCEED THE QUALITY OF ITS TEACHERS…’

A Relentless focus on teaching and learning

• A model of inter-school ‘excellence’ visits, learning walks and

innovation exchanges, ‘stop looking down and start looking out’.

• An overall focus on collaboration and partnerships in outward-facing

schools sharing expertise and best practice – “communities of practice”.

• Joint Practice Development in well established within and between

schools developing leadership and teaching capacity to raise standards.

• The development of Teaching Schools and Alliances to act as hubs

to promote teaching and learning – ‘professional learning communities’.

LOOKING OUT TO IMPROVE WITHIN A SYSTEM FOCUS ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

EXCELLENCE VISITS

Some Principles and Practices:-

Systemic Leaders of Teaching and Learning (expert practitioners) – Going Deeper and Wider

Systemic leaders of teaching and learning share a strong professional motivation to collaborate.

• In providing support and challenge they seek reciprocal

benefits that leads to self-improvement through observation, evaluation, reflection, joint practice development and the dissemination of best practice.

• Systemic leaders help ensure that autonomy does not lead to

isolation, diversity does not become a barrier to collaboration and accountability does not simply rely on regulation.

• They take professional responsibility for leading, co-ordinating

and delivering sustainable School improvement.

“Give them teaching that is determined, energetic and

• engaging. Hold them to high standards. Expose them to as much

as you can, most especially the arts. Root the school in the community and take advantage of the culture the children bring with them. Pay attention to their social and ethical development. Recognise the reality of race, poverty and other social barriers but make children understand that barriers don’t have to limit their lives… above all, no matter where in the social structure children are coming from, act as if their possibilities are boundless”

Charles Payne

The big message

“So Much Reform, So Little Change”

The London Child / Student

Boosting Learning Opportunities

• The London Student Pledge (access to a range of

curriculum enrichment experiences) – e.g. The Arts, Sport, Personal and Social education, the Work- related curriculum.

• Programmes for improving behaviour for

learning.

• Specialist Support for children with English as

an Additional Language.

• Inclusive education programmes.
• Provision for ‘gifted and talented’ children.
• Progression to Higher Education - Widening

Participation programmes.

• Partnerships with parents, families and

communities including celebration and awards

• School-to-school and practitioner networks.
• Local Authorities and school support teams.
• London Leadership Strategy.
• Higher Education / School partnerships.
• Business partnerships.
• Partnerships with parents,

families and communities

• Links to various Agencies -.

Health, Housing, Social Care

Effective partnership and networking

‘HARVEST AND HARNESS KNOWLEDGE, TALENT, CREATIVITY AND ENERGY’

• Holding people and systems to account at: -
• Individual school level
• Local Authority Level
• Education Departmental level.
• Tight monitoring and review systems in schools (termly

and annual reviews)

• Regular meetings with Local Authorities.
• Reporting directly to senior civil servants and the

Minister for London schools. ‘A COLLECTIVE SPIRIT COMBINED WITH A MASSIVE SENSE OF URGENCY’

Strong accountability in a system of support and challenge

Impact of the London Challenge

• From the lowest performing region to the highest

performing region in terms of attainment at 11 and 16.

• Most successful region in closing gaps for free school

meals students (half the National average gap).

• Highest performing EAL groups – above national

averages for Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African and East European students.

• Well above national averages in the percentage of good

and outstanding schools.

• Influenced changes to national education policy eg school

to school support, national and local leaders of education, teaching schools, benchmarking schools performance data, closing gaps.

Overall 92 per cent of London’s schools are rated as good or

• utstanding by Ofsted, the highest of any region.

Greater London Authority: Annual London Education Report 2017

London Challenge / Evidence and Evaluation

The Story of London Challenge 101 Quotable Quotes and more

• n Teaching

Available for download on Amazon

• Prof. David Woods CBE

& Prof. Sir Tim Brighouse

• Prof. David Woods CBE

Questions for Victoria

• Does Victoria know what Victoria knows?

How does Victoria identify and disseminate best practice?

• Taking account of context and data, how

does Victoria close gaps in school and pupil performance?

• What is the DNA of Victoria as the learning

state?