This is the start of my thinking about school development – or school improvement. I suspect it there will be many smaller pieces to make up this whole part, that may, or may not follow an order. It is likely, like the process of working in schools, to be messy and complicated. It is only when you get off the dance floor and stand on the balcony evaluating what you see that you get a sense of how far long the journey you have gone, what is working and what would benefit from an additional tangent.

But, in this first small piece, I want to consider some of the principles that I have come to work from. I find it helpful to share these with colleagues, regularly- they underpin why I might do and say things and how I come to suggestions and decisions. They are my ground rules for working in what is often difficult and challenging circumstances. I present them in no particular order- the importance will vary from school to school and situation to situation.

1. School improvement and school development are not the same – we need to decide where you are.
2. If you carry on doing what you have always done, you will always get the same thing. Change must happen, no matter how uncomfortable that it
3. Working together, in collaboration – you are the experts in your school.
4. At some point, I will say something or do something that you will not like. It is never my intention to do this. I am here to help and if I am not being helpful, then there is no point in us working together. Please let me know if I am not being helpful.
5. Unkindness is not my style. Blame does not really help. We are looking for ways forward, but it is important to understand what might have happened, so we can avoid it. I ask questions, a lot of them.
6. Using research to help us make decisions. It can help takes away the personal heat and opinions from difficult situations. But research is only ever there to suggest what might help. It describes the past, not the possible future.
7. Using a research-ly process can help us make everything clear and transparent for everyone.
8. The aim is to build capacity and capability in everyone – we are not finished until everyone can do it by themselves.

Let’s consider each of these principles a little further.

1. School development or school improvement – which place are you in?

Over the 25 years of my career, I have rarely been that confident that Ofsted, as an institution ever really understood what it was there for or how it assessed its effectiveness. However, if they say a school needs Special Measures, or the new rebranded category of Urgent Improvement, I have always been inclined to agree with them. The different shades of grey between outstanding, satisfactory, requires improvement, or the new report card gradings of requires attention, expected standard, strong standard or exceptional have always seemed to rely more on opinion than any soundly developed criteria and over the past 15 years or so, have be firmly based on a secondary school view of the world.

However, Ofsted and I agree. A school judged as in need of Special Measures or Urgent Improvement is in a mess. A huge almighty pickle and there is little capacity within the school to effect the change necessary, quickly enough. But it is not surprising that we agree. It is not hard to see that a school has reached this point. It may be challenging for those working in the school to accept, but generally schools that are in trouble are not happy places to work and have a sad and lost air to them. Teachers and leaders are exhausted by the daily grind, children are often under-stimulated and over- controlled. Before you even walk through the doors of the school, you can often get a sense that things are going wrong by a brief trawl through an inadequate website, poorly organised with out of date information and policies. Statutory documentation is not available, or difficult to find. The data, what is available, might seem to show a declining trend – although data is always the start of a conversation, not the end. As you enter, on your first visit, you might find clutter, everywhere. Possibly the need for a deep clean. Poorly maintained facilities for both the staff and the children (always ask to go to the loo). Displays may be tattered, unkempt and unloved. But it is always important to remember that appearances can be deceptive.

But, how, if Ofsted has not been and cast its judgemental eye, might we make the distinction between school development and school improvement? Well, it isn’t that hard. Schools that are in a pickle, that do not function as happy communities for children, staff and parents, need improvement – I like to call it emergency measures. Like most emergency services, this is most helpfully supported by external experts who can bring additional skills and knowledge that the school does not possess at the time. Otherwise, school need to develop and so benefit from school development. School development usually lies within the capacity of the school – to be a self- extending, learning and growing community.

There is nothing mysterious about school development. It is simply the process of reflecting on the children who are arriving and considering whether the educational experience they get is still appropriate for them. This is because the world continually changes and the lifetime experience of young children starting school in Reception in 2026 will have been completely different from the pre-school years of children who started Reception in 2020. Schools, especially primary schools, need to be continually reflecting on these changes and responding accordingly. By the time children get to secondary schools, the education they have received will have washed out many of the starting point variations. For most children, who attend consistently, they will arrive at secondary school having learnt most of what they have experienced. Secondary schools are reliant on the curriculum presented by the primary school and need to recognise that. As most secondary schools receive children from a wide number of different primary schools, they typically try and a some form of standardisation when the children arrive. Tests, such as Cognitive Aptitude tests, reading assessments and other data is collected in an attempt to rank children, ready for setting and streaming and to identify those who may benefit from additional learning support. It is increasingly common for secondary schools to test children’s reading ability, on entry to Year 7. It is common to find those test scores misinterpreted and mis-used.

But, let’s return to the main point of this principle. In summary, school improvement describes the process of supporting a school that has lost its way and does not have the capacity to create the thriving community the children deserve. Emergency measures are needed. External support from experts who are familiar with the ways and whiles of emergency services is necessary. It is long commitment, with many, many bumps along the way. Emergency measures is not for the faint hearted.

School development is what every school should be continually doing, as a self-extending and self-developing community. It involves tweaks, adjustments and sometimes new strategies and approaches to ensure that the children can receive the education they need and deserve. School development can be helped along with some external support acting as another pair of eyes. But that is not necessarily always needed. A piece of research, an audit, a meeting in a car park with other professionals, a visit to a conference or even a passing thought in the car on the way home can act as the starting point. Perhaps changes in national or local policy may be the driver. A new inspection framework – although I am skeptical that chasing Ofsted gradings is a successful way to ensure school development that works for the children and community. What is important is the reflection and the willingness to change.

• If you carry on doing what you have always done, you will always get the same thing.

Undeniably change is hard and the sunk cost fallacy (see another small part for more descriptions of cognitive biases that psychologists have identified and how they affect our thinking) is one of the most common biases that I have experienced amongst school leaders and teachers. This bias leads us to suggest that we just need to give something a little more time, a bit more energy and opportunity to work. After all, we have put a huge amount of time/effort/money into getting it up and running. But then how long should we give something new to start working? At what point do we make a decision to try something new? I often see this type of thinking in play when it comes to supporting children with difficulties in reading. How long, I ask, are you going to continue to keep providing those same phonics lessons to that child in the belief that they are going to learn? In the worse scenarios, I have worked (and successfully taught to read) children in Year 4 and 5 classes who had been attending the same phonics lesson in Reception every day of their primary school career (there is an expensive and popular phonics scheme in England which advocates this as the best way to support children who find phonics hard). The same lessons, each day, because they could not “pass the test” to move up to the next level. Why any school leader lets this unfathomably cruel practice happen in their school is beyond me. But then, the past 15 years has seen some unspeakably cruel practices implemented in schools, in the name of flattening the grass, zero tolerance or achieving high standards (yes, I am furious – not least because some of the most fervent advocates of these approaches are now in positions of considerable influence in the education sector).  This is the type of thinking that leaves schools crippled in indecision and can further entrench the challenges they are in. In order to get different results, we do have to look at things differently and then change how we respond. To carry on doing the same and expecting a different outcome is just foolish. Sometimes, it feels like we are doing something different because we might give it a different name, or a new glossy brochure or a new proforma – but if you look closer, we are doing the same thing – say the same phonics lesson, delivered by a teaching assistant, louder and slower. Unfortunately, policymakers are experts are carrying on doing the same thing, whilst strenuously trying to convince us that they are doing something different. Especially, when they continue to listen to the same voices, rather than seeking alternative interpretations.

• Working together, in collaboration – you are the experts in your school.

This principle sounds obvious, but reality it is hard to get right. When I come to your school, I come with knowledge and skills around literacy development and school improvement that I do not think you have. If you had these skills, I would not need to be visiting. But equally, I am acutely aware that I am a visitor in your school and every school is a unique community. You are the experts in the school and its history, its community, the students and the staff. This really matters – nothing good can happen unless we respect everything that has happened and everyone involved. We will need to agree some ground rules for collaboration, but the most important thing for me is that you are honest with me and we can trust each other.  

• At some point, I will say something or do something that you will not like. It is never my intention to do this. I am here to help and if I am not being helpful, then there is no point in us working together. Please let me know if I am not being helpful.

Again, this sounds like an obvious assumption, but experience has taught me that it is important to say, aloud, frequently. Working in collaboration, as partners involved in the sticky challenging process of school improvement will be challenging. There will be uncomfortable moments and difficult conversations. Of course, I will do everything I can to ensure I am careful, gentle and kind (see below), but I am only human and I get things wrong. I have learnt that apologising in advance helps reaffirm my intentions. I am there to help. No other agenda. Together, I think we can do good work and make things better. But, if, for any reason this is not the case, then we need to stop.

Added to this is the commitment that I have no agenda, other than to work together with you to help the community thrive. I have seen so many school improvement initiatives fail because, at heart, they were simply a front for a different intention- perhaps a school takeover, or personal ambition. But there is no room for other agendas, or politics in school improvement – the children deserve better than people playing games.

More soon…..