School Improvement Partnership Programme:From principles to practice

Chris Chapman

A rationale for collaborative working

• The system has untapped capacity to improve itself

• There is a need to strengthen collaboration both within and between institutions

• Evidence can be used to bring a critical edge to new arrangements

• Action has to be focused on specific issues, adapted to and owned by local context

• Some co-ordination of effort is needed to optimise improvement efforts

• This approach can close the achievement gap and support the development of a more equitable education system.

• Collaborative working across boundaries

• Focus on closing the achievement gap

• The commitment to mutual benefit and the creation of leadership opportunities and professional learning of staff

• Commitment to long-term sustainability and capacity building

• Explicit links to strategic improvement planning in schools and local authorities.

• The use of systematic enquiry to develop innovative practices and monitor developments

The SIPP:Core Principles

TheSIPP: Enquiry process

Phase 1: Preparing the groundWhere are we now?What are our key concerns?What would success look like? 

Phase 2: Exploring the evidenceHow do we exploit internal and external knowledge?What further evidence do we need?What new insights do we have?

 

Phase 3: Testing change What changes do we need to make?

How do we lever and embed change?How do we know we have made a difference?

•Identify a shared focused concern

•Based on collecting evidence, making changes to practice and monitoring and evaluating their impact

•Led and coordinated by a ‘Partnership Innovation Team’ or existing appropriate structure

•Supported by an “external trio” of critical friends

The SIPP:Developing an approach

• Locally owned and led

• Generating and sharing new ways of working

• Using evidence to inform practice

• Tailored context specific programme

• Technically simple but socially context

• Frameworks not prescription

The SIPP:Reflections