School Improvement - 2 e-modules and masterclass courses

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
is Everybody’s Business

School improvement continues to be a top agenda item and perhaps most importantly, is now everybody’s business. CEOs, Executive Heads, Principals, Head Teachers, Governors and Senior School Leaders will need to harness the collective efforts of Teachers, Pupils, Administrators, Support Staff, Parents, Local Authorities, Community Organisations, Local Business and other Stakeholders to ensure that improvement strategies impact on learning and progress of pupils and students, in a consistent manner.

Distributed, shared and collective leadership at all levels, effective management in the classroom, the nurturing and development of talent, staff engagement and team work are all essential elements for driving school improvement through collaborative and cooperative partnerships.

School improvement, i.e strategies and actions concerned with improving the quality and performance of teachers and schools, should be consistent and closely aligned with strategies and actions for enhancing school effectiveness, i.e. the focus on student outcomes and the characteristics of schools and classrooms.

Ofsted’s (2012) Getting to Good points to evidence to support the importance of 3 sets of key conditions and elements for delivering on school improvement as follows:

1. Getting Started: raising expectations
2. Moving to Good
3. Sustaining Improvement: good and beyond

An inside/outside partnership [which unites what happens both inside and outside the school] via a collaborative approach can enhance the development of the school as a “learning organisation.” Imagine also the vast potential that can be fostered and realised by an all teach: all learn strategy, peer coaching-peer mentoring, closer team working and tighter team support via whole school staff development strategies.

Schools on their own, within Teaching School Alliances, Academy Trusts, or aligned with LAs are making good headway on their own school improvement journeys. This blended learning programme can be aligned with and sit alongside these in-house offerings whilst aiming to build on what is working to add valueto enhance pupils’ and students’ progress and school performance.

Aims of the Programme.

This year-long masterclass series and 2 e-learning modules [by a national and international faculty of experts, thought-leaders and practitioners] aims to promote and sustain whole school transformation through:

• Adding value from a strategic and systematic approach on whole school improvement.
• Supporting schools to become more effective at delivering on their visions.
• Adapting and adopting better practices and evidence-base findings for enabling school effectiveness
• Getting better at collaborative/partnership approaches for developing high performing schools with pupils, governors, school staff, parents, community groups and others. 
• Nurturing and sustaining shared and distributive leadership practices.
• Harnessing the potential of CPD/PDP, reflective practice and enquiry by matching it to with Schools’ mission statement, vision documents and objectives.
• Promoting personal effectiveness through emotional and social intelligence, resilience, mentoring, coaching and effective team work.
• To nurture smart, innovative and research-focused ways of working in schools.
• Implementing action plans, and delivering impact on becoming better at what they do through effective delivery of curricula, reflective-practice and self-evaluation

Key features of the programme include:

1. A stand-alone year-long masterclass series by an internationally renowned faculty of thought- leaders, researchers, academics and School Leaders.
2. 2 separate e-modules comprising 8 themes and incurring approximately 3 hours of study/learning time per week over 8 weeks that participants can access in their own time on their pc, lap top, i-phone, android phone etc. Participants may care to use the e-modules for CPD purposes only or to study for M level credits via Accreditation of Experiential Learning Assignment Portfolio [which carries extra cost at their local university].
   The 2 modules are:
   
   Module 1 is on Effective Leadership, Governance and Management for Whole School Improvement and is for Principals, Executive Heads, Head Teachers, Senior School Leaders and Governors at Nursery, Primary and Secondary Schools. £80 for one person, £70 per person therafter
   
   Module 2 is on Teachers and Teaching for Whole School Improvement and is for Teachers, Learning Support and Teaching Assistants and Student Teachers. £50 for one person £40 thereafter.
    
3. Handbooks, augmented e-books and accompanying learning resources.
4. Hiive for Schools: A web based app/platform for sharing and spreading good practice and learning resources.

How to participate

You can subscribe as an individual or via a School based subscription.

We are hoping that many schools will find these e-modules of great value and as a central part of their whole school development programme and will share them with all their staff.

You can subscribe either as an individual or as a whole school.

Masterclass Topics & Speakers

• Harold Jarche on - Personal Knowledge Mastery: Leading, Teaching and Learning
• Prof Carol Dweck on - Growth Mindset: believing we can improve:
• Dr Daniel Goleman - EI, SI to FOCUS- the hidden driver of Excellence:
• Prof John Hattie - What works best for Learning
• Prof Andy Hargreaves - Nurturing and Sustaining Improvement Capability
• Prof Michael Ford: School Governance and School Performance
• Prof Ken Blanchard - Leaders, Collaboration and High Performance