Lekha Sharma, School Improvement Lead, Avanti Schools Trust
At the CST Directors of Improvement Conference in April, Steve Rollett and ImpactEd’s Owen Carter put out a call for evidence to trusts across the country to share our stories of school improvement.
As a trust leader who grapples with the complexity of school improvement at trust-level every day, I would strongly urge colleagues to share their journeys of school improvement as part of this large-scale research, which seeks to build on a model of school improvement launched at the same event.
This is because this approach to uncovering what works can address a concern that I’ve always held about the limited evidence base for in trust-led improvement and therefore, the replicability of successful strategies employed by different trusts.
During my career, I’ve led school improvement across a number of different trusts. Each time I was faced with new and unique contexts and I became acutely aware of the tension that can exist between universal ‘golden threads’ and the elements of school improvement that felt more reflective of individual settings.
This tension is a difficult one to grapple with but as more trusts have done this – and importantly shared what they have done - it very quickly became clear to me that collaboration across trusts is the best way to develop intelligent insights about how to navigate trust-led school improvement.
By doing so, we are able to chart a context-considerate course and – in the words of the EEF’s Putting evidence to work implementation guide - "combine faithful adoption with intelligent adaptation”. We can be more confident in the knowledge that our chosen path is rooted in insights established from pooled collective knowledge from the sector.
We do not have to have all the answers ourselves. We create a rich network of colleagues who we can to discuss, soundboard and collaborate with. As any senior leader knows, this is crucially valuable in what can be a high intensity and sometimes isolating role.
CST has been working on the foundations of this project for some time, and conceptual model it published in April - The DNA of trust-led school improvement – aims to set out components of how school improvement is successfully enacted within a trust. I had the privilege of being a part of a year-long inquiry that helped forge the model, with input from CEOs and leaders from trusts across the country.
The rich conversations we had reminded me of the work of Gary Klein. In his book Seeing what others don’t: The remarkable ways we gain insights, Klein eloquently explores how we develop insights amidst complexity. He puts forward what he calls a connection strategy: "The strategy offers a clear image of insights as connecting the dots. And it suggests that we can increase insights by exposing ourselves to lots of different ideas that might help us form new connections.”
For me, Klein’s connection strategy beautifully captures the essence of the conceptual model that CST has developed with the sector. By looking at the ‘dots’, the model both deeply respects what makes trusts unique and distils the strands that transcend individual context.
CST’s conceptual model sets out three intertwined strands, broken down into individual components – like Klein’s dots - that helps us truly grasp some otherwise abstract ideas.
For example, within the Build Capability and Capacity strand is a Grow Culture and Leadership component. Despite decades of research on the subject, the definition and meaning of culture remains a contentious topic. Culture, specific to the context of organisations and teams, has been regarded as notoriously difficult to pin down and its nebulous nature has led to great variation in its understood meaning.
Without being prescriptive, the conceptual model and accompanying guide usefully describes ways in which we as leaders can strengthen culture at scale – for example "being explicit about how we do things around here” or "consciously curating leadership behaviours through coaching or mentoring.” This offers us the seed of an idea, the beginning of a potential path and the ability to shape improvement in this area dependant on their individual trust’s needs.
The School Improvement Hub website that launched alongside the model builds on this with real-world examples and with our help can grow in to a powerful library of practice. Each case study is linked to the conceptual model, enabling it to go beyond that particular school or trust’s context.
There are some great case studies already on the Hub but it needs us as a sector to be a little brave and volunteer our knowledge. By working with ImpactEd to create a case study, we can benefit our own trusts by thinking that bit more clearly about what we have done and why, and trusts across the country benefit by being able to share in what we have learnt.
Through joining the dots and sharing our ideas and observations, new insights will emerge, and ultimately benefit every trust, every educator, and every pupil.
- Trusts can submit an initial case study idea by going to the School Improvement Hub website. ImpactEd will work with trusts to develop case studies across a range of topics.
The CST Blog welcomes perspectives from a diverse range of guest contributors. The opinions expressed in blogs are the views of the author(s), and should not be read as CST guidance or CST’s position.
