Transforming school leaders’ practice through international knowledge exchange

As part of the ‘Maximising peer-led school improvement in three European countries’ programme, participants from three international partners visited each other’s countries to develop their understanding of school collaboration, peer learning and research engagement.

Working with the La Caixa Foundation in Spain, Vrije University Amsterdam and the Schools Partnership Programme (SPP) in England, the project team observed the development practices in each country, visiting schools and universities and observing key events. The team also gathered insights from policymakers, school improvement experts, academics and leading practitioners.

With funding from UCL Innovation and Enterprise, the project built on the findings of UCL’s evaluation of the Schools Partnership Programme (Education Endowment Foundation).

Following recommendations from the UCL report, the knowledge exchange visits aimed to: 

• Maximise the benefits of peer-to-peer collaborative learning on schools 
• Develop knowledge about integrating academic research and evidence into the process of school improvement, and 
• Explore the potential for trans-national learning, including school peer reviews across national boundaries. 

The project funded two school leaders from each country, enabling them to join representatives from UCL's partner organisations. Including representatives who were funded by their own organisations, there were 23 participants on the programme.

Learning from England

The team’s first visit was to a primary school in Essex, where they received an overview of the methodology of the SPP, one of three partner organisations.

They observed an improvement workshop, where ‘improvement champions’ from the school cluster initiated a coaching-style discussion with a partner school.

This made a particular impression on participants from the Spanish and Dutch delegations, who noted the depth of collaboration between schools and the ways professional discussion can drive school improvement.

After returning home, the Spanish headteachers incorporated the practice into their trio of schools within a matter of weeks.

Learning from the Netherlands

The team next visited a signatory (expert) school in Utrecht.

There they received an overview of the Ontwikkelkracht (‘development power’) programme, a multifaceted, government-funded school improvement project that aims to help schools integrate research into their teaching practice.

They also heard from the Leerkracht (‘teacher power’) Foundation, who developed a methodology that engages teachers in regular internal collaborative work to improve their practice. It is used in over 1,000 schools.

Participants also observed a pupil voice session led by the principal, and a weekly 15-minute board meeting, which enabled teachers and school management to collaboratively discuss progress towards their goals.

The delegation noticed similarities between the English and Dutch approach, which encouraged dialogue between schools, teachers and leaders.

Learning from Spain

In Spain, the team visited a school in Barcelona and heard about several local initiatives that prioritise pupil voices. They also observed a conference and workshop event at the Cosmo Caixa Museum, which explored the impact of a UCL-Caixa project on 30 Spanish schools and included a lecture by Dr Godfrey on research engagement.

The conference highlighted school leaders’ commitment to employing a peer enquiry process in Spanish schools and to continue collaborating after the project funding has concluded.

The knowledge exchange team shared many personal reflections during the last leg of the trip, discussing what might help or hinder peer-led school improvement partnerships, like the need for more supportive infrastructure and the involvement of expert facilitators.

Turning knowledge into practice

Last December, participants met up for a webinar to reflect on the impact of the knowledge exchange visits on their institutions, six months on.

The experience of travelling to new countries to observe and discuss school practices left a lasting impression on the headteachers and other participants and inspired firm intentions to take forward their learning to benefit their schools.

Outcomes stemming from the project learnings included: 

• Developing a project to set up the SPP peer review pilot in the Netherlands; 
• Three school leaders are improving the integration of research into their organisational improvement and staff professional development; and 
• The SPP team are developing modifications and innovations to their peer review methodology in England, including a new ‘inclusion’ focused review framework.

One of the programme participants, an English headteacher and now Director of Education of the primary schools in his trust, said:

He continued, "We were inspired by what we heard in the Netherlands where they involved universities in the really sticky problems.

“All the heads of the primary schools decided we were going to take a three-year approach to transforming outcomes in writing across the trust. We are trying to develop an ecosystem that is evidence informed, where evidence and research is used as a currency in some ways within our organisation.”

Reflections on the programme

Dr Godfrey reflects on the impact of this transnational collaboration in shaping the practice of participants going forward. He hopes these types of experiences will be open to other teachers, school leaders and students where possible.

Future discussions will explore how to take this forward within funding capabilities.

Related links

• Dr David Godfrey’s research profile 
• UCL Centre for Educational Leadership 
• Department of Learning and Leadership
• UCL Innovation & Enterprise

Image

Permission from Dr David Godfrey.