Introduction – collaboration and improvement
This article draws on some of the experiences and lessons from a major School Improvement Partnership Programme (SIPP) as an example of a collaborative research and development programme designed to build individual, institutional and system capacity. A team from the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change (ROC) at the University of Glasgow was commissioned by the Scottish Government to assess the impact of the programme and to support the building capacity of teachers, local authorities and their partner organisations to implement the SIPP. We outline the programme’s principles and how it was implemented and then reflect on the specific contribution it has made to building teacher leadership capacity within the system. The article is structured in two sections. In the first we outline the principles and practice whilst the second reflects on the contribution the programme has made to teacher leadership.
Principles and practice
The programme is an evidence-based approach to educational change, underpinned by partnership, networking and disciplined collaborative enquiry designed to close the poverty related attainment gap. It involves schools and Local Authorities working in partnership, drawing on a range of methods or ‘tools’, including lesson study, collaborative action research, improvement science and instructional rounds, to provide a set of processes that teachers and others can draw on to implement focused improvements in their classrooms and schools. This approach combines locally initiated and led practitioner collaborative enquiry across classrooms within schools with school-to-school collaborative enquiry that often spans local authority boundaries.
The knowledge that underpins this approach has been generated over decades of development and research activity and can be found in a diverse range of systems including Hong Kong, Australia, USA and Canada and, more recently South America, Russia and parts of Asia. (e.g. Chapman and Hadfield, 2010).
Research has demonstrated that the most effective school improvements are also locally owned and led by teachers and school leaders, collecting and using data appropriately, conducting enquiry, and working in partnership and collaboration with like-minded professionals and stakeholders (Ainscow et al 2012; Chapman 2008, 2012 and 2014; Cochran-Smith and Lytle 2009; Earl and Katz, 2006; Hadfield and Chapman 2009; Kerr et al 2003).
Key principles
The programme adopts a ‘solution-focused approach’ to Scotland’s attainment issues with an emphasis on supporting innovation and promoting sustainable collaboration across classroom, school and local authority boundaries to tackle educational inequality.
The programme is underpinned by a philosophy that encourages staff to take leadership responsibility for embedding collaborative enquiry to learn from each other, experiment with their practice and monitor and evaluate practice to close the attainment gap. The work of the Partnerships also promotes broader leadership opportunities and professional learning at all levels. The programme seeks to promote disciplined innovation by fostering a culture of mutual respect, ‘co-production’ and partnership, rather than replicating traditional hierarchies and ways of working. In this sense the approach moves beyond the simple sharing of knowledge and ideas to what David Hargreaves (2010) argues is “joint practice development.”