This piece is written by Jonathan Roe Thrive’s CEO, and is the eighth in a series that shines a light on the Thrive Teacher Workload Charter. Along with our headteacher team, we have devised 11 statements that will help manage workload so that great teachers still have the energy to be great family members and great friends.
I had a dream last night - I was presenting a report to a joint meeting of Trustees and Governors.
I reported that our schools have all been on a successful development journey for the last five years resulting in high and sustainable pupil attainment and progress. Their curricula are entirely fit for purpose, they are equipping pupils with the skills they need for employment and life. Staff tell us that their workload is manageable. Staff turnover is low with qualified subject specialists in every classroom. Feedback from parents is overwhelmingly positive. Every year group is full.
In my dream I then went on to explain that a political peace has broken out. All political parties, and unions were agreed on a national education strategy for the next ten years, including the and the funding to make it work, resulting in the removal of education from the political football pitch. There is no need for any DfE reforms for the foreseeable future. The academic community are agreed that we have reached a conclusion in our understanding of the neuroscience of learning and the pedagogies that follow - there is nothing left to learn about learning. Ofsted are finding that their inspection handbook is so fit for purpose that any revision is decades in the future - some Ofsted insiders have even daydreamed about Ofsted being of no future use. The economy is buoyant, employment is high, tax receipts are healthy, public services are adequately funded.
In my dream I finished my presentation by recommending that there would be only one sentence in our schools’ improvement planning document, ‘Keep doing what we do.’
And then my alarm went off, and reality swept in.
Revision and change are going to eternally be a part of the school landscape, there will always be things we can do less off, and more off, things that we can do smarter, things that we can stop doing altogether and new things that we need to start to do. Life is a constant challenge to adapt to new circumstances. That is why we call our school improvement plans the School Development Journey - words chosen purposefully to convey the idea of a perpetual evolution from where we are to somewhere better.
So the challenge is to manage change so that we can, a) change as quickly as possible, and b) take staff with us every step of the way. To make this happen we have two guiding principles.
Firstly no change for the sake of it. Change should aim to improve the school experience for pupils and reduce staff workload. Secondly, time is finite and so if something new is to get added in, something old needs to be taken out, or we need to get smarter in the way tasks fill our time.
I have been involved in turning around schools for a long time now. In every case where a school was significantly underperforming, part of the problem was that staff were working too hard at the wrong things and not hard enough at the right things. This lack of right focus always results in an early conversation about things that we need to stop doing. This particularly applies to teachers. The joy is to present overworked teachers with a list of things that they can stop doing so that they can adequately do what they are paid to do which is plan great lessons and deliver great lessons. And if that sounds too simple just sit down with any group of teachers and ask them to give you the list of things they see as meaningless to the central task of teachers teaching and learners learning.
That is a good place to begin a change conversation. What can we do less of without damaging the quality of what we do.
Then we move on to managing necessary change. Top tips.
Plan for sustainable change. Most meaningful change in circumstances of underperformance begins with big ticket items, including the biggest one of all - changing the culture of an organisation. This doesn’t happen overnight, so let’s stop promising ourselves that everything will be ok by this time next year, it just won’t, especially if we try to change everything at one. Of course the fact that Ofsted might pop up in the middle of a big turnaround plan isn’t great, but if we respond to that particular pressure by changing everything right now for Ofsted the change will not be sustainable. It will falter and we’ll be back to where we began. Maybe the right outcome right now is RI with a plan for sustainable improvement is secure, and we’ll get good in a couple of years.
Prioritise change agendas. What comes first, second … last? I’ve always liked Sir David Carter’s thinking on this. Start with Attendance, then Behaviour, then Curriculum, then Teaching, it sounds commonsensical but how many school improvement plans include introducing a new behaviour policy alongside a new curriculum, alongside new teaching and learning standards, alongside new marking and feedback expectations. Best to avoid too many priorities all at once unless the school in question is capable of cutting out a lot of superfluous non-priorities into the bargain.
Promise staff and those in governance, that unless some huge unforeseen calamity arises, you will stick to your plan. Be very open about what will happen in year 1, year 2 and year 3. This will create some psychological safety for those who change generates anxiety, or who feel jaded because they have seen it all before. We give staff three big ideas for each year, and feedback on our progress towards realising them. A current example is:
Big Idea 1 - Improve inclusive provision so that attendance continues to rise, and persistent absence, suspensions and exclusions fall.
Big Idea 2 - Embed an effective curriculum and pedagogy across KS3 and KS4 so that the foundations for academic achievement are in place for all pupils.
Big Idea 3 - Implement key elements of Trust practice, including embedding the Thrive Teacher Workload Charter and the Thrive Ethical Leadership Charter, so that all staff feel a valued part of the school and the Trust.
In summary:
Planning change around big priorities;
Prioritise over manageable timeframes;
Promise you will see the plan through and give staff regular feedback.
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