A 3P Themed Symposium Proposal

ICSEI 2018

Conference themes: Partnering for Innovation and Change, Converging Pathways for Policy, Research and Practice

A 3P themed symposium proposal

Symposium Title:Transforming Schools: Transforming Lives- Case studies of Change and Innovation in Policy and Practice.

Symposium Facilitators: Kathryn Riley,Professor of Urban Education, Institute of Education,

London. UK

Anton Florek, Chief Executive, The Staff College,Nottingham. UK

Respondents: Karen Seashore (Louis),Regents Professor of Organizational Leadership,

Policyand Development, University of Minnesota. USA

Boudewijn A.M. van Velzen, EduXprss, The Netherlands

Objectives or purposes of the symposium

The objective of this symposium is to create the opportunity for open dialogue between participants to explore the relationship between research, systems leadership and collaborative professionalism as the means to harness individual, organisational and systemic efforts to achieve excellence through equity for all children.

Background

Over several decades academics, policy-makers and practitioners – including many of those within the ICSEI ‘family’ - have grappled with the many, complexand thorny challenges related to improving schools. Excellent and informative research and development work has been undertaken in a range of areas, including leadership, curriculum innovation, student engagement, professional learning.

Nevertheless, in many countries and contexts, school life can be a grim experience for many young people, with growing concerns about young people’s wellbeing. The picture at national and regional levels is highly variable, with countries, such as the UK, operating in aclimate of contracting resources and a growing culture of ‘survivalism’ which pitseducation organisations and institutions, against each other.

The global context is a world on the move in unprecedented ways that touch the lives of so many people. Half the world’s refugees are children. The world of contradictions is stark: an exciting world of boundless opportunities and possibilitiesand yet a world of rage and 'untruth’ in which social divisions are widening, and the political discourse is increasingly about the ‘alien’, the ‘other’, the ‘outsider’: a world in which ‘belonging’ matters.

Given the intensity of these school-based, local, national and global issues, it can no longer be ‘business as usual’. This symposium will aim to provide the opportunity for participants to hear about several school and local authority change initiatives based on the three topics below:

1.Researching to make the difference

2.Working together in the local system for schooling

3.Harnessing the wisdom of schools and communities for common endeavour

All presented case studies coalesce around the notion of Transforming Schools - Transforming Lives and are based on common values and aspirations about:

·Equity and social justice;

·Voice and agency for leaders, staff and young people;

·Respectful and meaningful partnerships between communities and schools

Through case studies and an interactive symposium format we hope to engage conference participants in discussion and comparative dialogue, to share experiences, learn together, discuss opportunities for collaboration and consider the implications of the presentations for their own policy and practice. The framework below will be used by the facilitators and respondents to focus discussion:

The symposium presenters also recognise the importance of leaders and leadership and, while school transformation depends not just on school leaders, they are typically the initiators, or the resisters and therefore key players in change initiatives. Thus, each presentation will also touch on the options, choices and decisions leadersmake - within schools and across systems and communities.

Presentation 1:

Title of Presentation: Young People: Agents of Change in a Fragile World?

Presenter: Professor Kathryn Riley

This presentation will explore how collaborative research inquiry and creative engagement can be used to help generate a sense of agency and belonging, a critical issue for young people growing up in challenging contexts. In a world of uncertainty, a world on the move, young people living in multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-faith urban communities face many challenges (Putnam, 2007), not least to be heard – and to exert their agency in a positive way. A feature of human agency is the power to organise and take actions within your own sphere of influence.

The notion of agency is well developed. Anthony Giddens described it as the ability to ‘intervene in

The world’ to ‘make a difference’ (Giddens 1984 p. 14). For Giddens, agency was about purpose,

knowledge and competence. It implied intention and was dependent on ‘knowledgeability’ (ibid.). The presentation features two case studies related to agency.

Case Study I: School - A place where I belong? a two-year project, framed within the traditions of collaborative inquiry (Timperley & Earl, 2011) involved teachers, young people and school leaders from inner-city schools. Findings have demonstrated the value ofengaging in research about place and belonging, and the importance of agency in generating a sense of belonging (Author, 2017). The notion of student agency – empowered student voice – has been explored on moral, physiological, social, educational, pragmatic and democratic grounds (MacBeath et al., 2001; Levin, 2000; Pollard et al., 2000; Osler 2010).

Case Study II: Deptford: A World of Possibilities

Deptford is an inner-city London borough, an ever-changing kaleidoscopes of people and ideas: communities with long established roots; arrivals from all over the world; students, artists and performers who come to develop their skills and talents. The project brings voluntary and community organisations, and education institutions together in common purpose, in a creative partnership -The Art of Possibilities - which encourages innovative thinking and practice around place and belonging, using music and poetry as a creative stimulus.

Outcomes

Findings from School - A place where I belong have demonstrated the value ofengaging in research about place and belonging (Author, 2017). The student-researchers have developed their reflective and analytical skills and grown their confidence. Realisingthey were being listened to generated a sense of well-being belonging and agency, and a belief in future possibilities.

Deptford: A World of Possibilities is work in progress. The presentation will offer interim findings

about the potential of the project’s approach to:

Harness the wisdom of the stakeholders and leaders of the organisations and institutions in Deptford, and develop their sense of agency and leadership of place;
Grow the leadership potential of Deptford’s young people.

Our future world is in the hands of young people. The practical and conceptual learning from the two case studies aims to contribute to understanding about how to harness the creativity of young people and unleash their sense of agency.

Presentation 2

Title of Presentation: Towards school-led improvement: one city’s approach to achieving excellence through equity.

Presenter: Anton Florek

The state funded school system in England continues to become increasingly diverse following over ten years of successive central government initiatives aimed at devolving funding, governance and accountability direct to schools in the belief that this approach will improve standards.

As a result, the traditional role of the local authority in school improvement has been significantly eroded and, consequently, it’s mediating influence in what has become known as the “middle tier” is not only at risk but in some instances rapidly diminishing as new school governance arrangements become established.

This presentation describes a large metropolitan city initiative in northern England where the local authority has invited all schools in its increasingly diverse school system to consider how they might collectively design and deliver a new model of school-led improvement based on collaborative professionalism (Fullen, 2016). The aim of this 18-month project is to create a new culture of school collaboration and collective accountability based on the following principles:

Schools leading improvement across the system as the strategic ambition for Newcastle City Council and its schools
Schools will secure school improvement from a wide variety sources, including their own trusts, Multi Academy Trusts (MATS), Teaching School Alliances and existing and emerging system leaders
Schools that struggle to improve and are judged to be inadequate will be adopted by strong local MATs
Coasting schools will have a strategy and action plan for improving performance
The local authority will work with our MATs, teaching schools, the Regional Schools Commissioner, the Dioceses and other partners to try to make sense of an increasingly complex middle tier that is growing and changing rapidly.

The outcomes for this project are:

Great teachers – when and where needed
Great leaders running our schools and at the heart of the system
A school-led system with empowered pupils, parents and communities and a clearly defined role for local government
Preventing underperformance and helping schools go from good to great
school-led improvement, with scaffolding and support where it is needed
High expectations and a world-leading curriculum for all
Fair, stretching accountability, ambitious for every child
The right resources in the right hands; investing every pound where it can do the most good.

The presentation will cover the why, what, who and how this City is working with an external strategic partner on a systems approach to achieve equity for all, across and between schools. Examples of process outcomes, new governance and accountability processes and models of peer to peer challenge and review will be shared with participants in order to promote discussion and comparisons with their own school systems.

Presentation 3

Title of Presentation:The Lincolnshire Ladder – a collaborative whole systems approach to inclusive schooling

Presenter: Anton Florek

There can be no doubt that the effect on pupils who are excluded from a school can be profound and long lasting. The reduction in exclusions, which has been achieved in Lincolnshire has been remarkable and is a powerful example of what can be achieved by a commitment to inclusive schooling, investing in early intervention and placing the child at the centre of provision.

The Lincolnshire Ladder is a strategy for inclusion. It is a complex, collaborative undertaking involving Lincolnshire’s troubled and troubling pupils, aged 5-16 who are at risk of exclusion, their families, schools, the Behaviour Outreach Support Service, local alternative provision and the LA's Pupil Reintegration Team which has a pivotal role at the centre of this system. The work involves harnessing all of the resources available within the collaboration to transform outcomes for Lincolnshire's most vulnerable children and young people.

The Lincolnshire Ladder is a unique example of what can be achieved when a Local Authority working collaboratively with schools adopts a pupil-centred rather than institution-centred approach to managing challenging behavior in schools.

Outcomes

Over the past three years, the Lincolnshire Ladder project has achieved a 41 percent reduction of exclusions in primary schools. For secondary schools, a 20 percent reduction in exclusions was achieved from 2014/15 to 2015/16 and sustained in 2016/17. Overall, 87 percent of Lincolnshire schools are currently zero excluders this year, compared to 78 percent in 2014/15. The local aspiration is to promote zero exclusions from schools in Lincolnshire and this data suggests that the goal, whilst certainly ambitious, is achievable.

This presentation will provide an overview of how these outcomes were achieved and serve as the focus for comparative discussion amongst participants regarding how their school systems are supporting pupils and families who are vulnerable, challenging or simply disengaged.

Abstract

Transforming Schools: Transforming Lives - Case studies of Change and Innovation in Policy and Practice.