Nick Brook Deputy General Secretary, NAHT
Raising awareness of cross-sector partnerships
13 September 2017
As a member of the Independent State School Partnership forum, I have been fortunate to see and hear first-hand the difference that partnership between sectors is making, up and down the country.
I’d like to start by paying tribute to the ISC and other longstanding partners on the forum, for their incredible work over the last few years[tribute to Deborah Leek Bailey…]
Speaking to her recently, Deborah reminded me that when the Schools Together website started there were just nine school partnerships on it. Now there are several thousand. This is testament to the importance that Independent schools place on engaging with state schools.And testament to the important of partnership.
The first point I’d like to make is that partnerships are a very good thing!
Partnerships and collaborations are now common place across the state sector. I doubt that there is a single school in the country that is not involved in one form of partnership or another.
And yet, in some quarters, partnership between state and independent schools almost appeared taboo. When it came to independent and state schools there were some who felt that never the twain should meet. Well the experience of colleagues in this room proves that those people were wrong.
The simple truth is that we are in the same business – the art of imparting knowledge to young people, developing their skills and preparing them for life.
We have much more in common, many more areas where we can learn from one another, than areas of difference.
And whether, within state or private sector, school leadership can be a lonely business.
It is easy for any school leader to be inward looking, there often are not enough hours in the day to do everything you need or want to do. Partnership can help you step backfor a moment, to look upfrom the day to day, and challenge your thinking, in ways you might not imagine. Put simply, partnership is good for the soul!
But my second point is this – Partnerships need to mean something.
To be blunt, if partnership working does not make a jot-of-difference to pupils inyour school then we must ask ourselves whether it is an aid or distraction to school improvement.
Last year NAHT published a report on effective school to school collaboration within the state sector. Let me share with you some of the key lessons learnt:
- Firstly, that effective collaborationsknew preciselywhat value the activity adds to the work of teachers, and the experience of pupils;
- Secondly, that effectivecollaborations wereclear at the outset what they wanted to achieve, and recognised the reciprocal benefits to both partners; they were pragmatic in scaleand had sensible plans for growth
- Thirdly, that effective collaborations do not rely on personality alone – that collaborations become embedded within day to day activityand overseen with clear MOUs or agreements.
It strikes me that these lessons are just as relevant to effective cross-sector partnership working as they are for effective collaboration within the state sector. [refer to report]
My third and final point is that – as a system – we need to focus support where it is most needed:
Often, it is schools that might benefit most from partnership support who have the least time available to pursue it. A big complaint of schools is that they don’t know who to talk to, even if they are sold on the potential benefits. Which is why Sir David’s announcement of additional partnership support is so welcome, if it helpsto broker the sort of arrangements that we know can make a difference.
This announcement is also significant as it recognises some obvious but important truths:
In partnership and more broadly:
- it is support not sanction that will deliver school improvement;
- it is carrot not stick that makes progress most rapid; and
- it is commitmentnot compulsion that encourages the embedding and extension of good practice.
Compelling schools to enter partnerships is a recipe for disaster. It drives us to the lowest common denominator, by incentivising schools to ask:
‘what is the least I must do to meet requirements?’ as opposed to
‘what is the most I can do to make the greatest difference?’
Forcing independent schools to run rather than help state schools just won’t work.
And so, whilst we should be clear of the limitations of partnership, we should not be limited in our ambition, for it.
End with thanks.