Do schools have intelligence when it comes to inspection?
My wife is a supply teacher and this week, the day before she went in to teach, she found the school was being inspected. My wife’s recollection of the impact of a pending inspection, from when she was full-time, was in line with what she was hearing from the staff at this school. Essentially it was a feeling of fear-induced panic and crazy behaviour; hardly conducive to the ongoing education of children. How did we get to this state, where teachers, and of course leaders, ar
‘The Times They Are Achangin’ – but is your School Ready and Able?
Education is changing, and rapidly. Okay, that’s not news, but for anyone who thinks this is almost over, think again. It gives me no pleasure in saying that we are still experiencing ‘cause’ and the ‘effect’ is in its early stages. Some would say education didn’t need to change at all. Others, that as a public sector, it was riddled with inefficiencies that could no longer be afforded and as this became obvious, it presented a perfect opportunity for the political ideologist
Making performance management count in school improvement
It might be tempting to see performance management as an irksome box-ticking task. However, if it is planned in the right way and built on s
Is Accountability Getting In The Way Of Real School Improvement?
Getting every professional in a school to contribute to improvement will deliver real gains for pupils but significant barriers, such as acc
Is a professional learning culture possible?
Today the reality is that if schools are going to fully realise their ambitions, leadership has to be at the very core of the organisation,
Identifying education’s CPD priorities
Leadership isn’t just a case of a strong headteacher or senior leadership team. If schools are going to fully realise their ambitions, leade
Making a difference: How can schools empower every professional to play a part in school improvement
Making a difference: How can schools empower every professional to play a part in school improvement? A Bluewave.SWIFT white paper January 2015 Contents Contributors Foreword Introduction The discussion Conclusions Case studies Further reading Contributors We would like to express our thanks to the following round table participants for their time and their valuable contributions. They were: Dr Martin Airey Head of School, Darrick Wood School, Kent Nigel As
Performance related pay for teachers - 5 steps to ensure a robust policy
Performance related pay may have many detractors but it is a reality and it is happening. The preparations really should have started back i
Four steps to school improvement
School improvement is a complex recipe that takes time to perfect. Keith Wright looks at some of the key barriers to school improvement and
If schools want professional development to work, they should do it themselves
Each Wednesday, staff spend the first half of a two-hour session in 'teaching and learning communities'. These may include managemen
