Catalyst

Are you looking for evidence-informed resources to support and promote collaborative professional learning and development of teacher leaders in and across schools? Catalyst is designed to help you.

Catalyst consists of two sets of resource cards and a clear and detailed facilitator guide, with supporting photocopiable resource sheets.

Who is Catalyst for?

This resource is designed for schools in all contexts and across all student age groups. It is for use by middle leaders and other teacher leaders, as well as senior leaders who support them. 

Middle leaders have a formal role, with responsibilities for a subject, cross-curricular aspect of teaching and learning, social development of students, or for a stage or phase of schooling. 

Teacher leaders are informal leaders. Teaching is central for them, but they also choose to play a collaborative role in leading change and supporting the professional learning of colleagues in their school and other schools.

The resource can also be used by:

• senior leaders, for refreshment, reinvigoration and to further develop their capabilities,
• senior leadership teams, to audit their own situation,
• headteachers/principals interested in creating a supportive culture,
• leaders supporting all colleagues across/in other schools,
• colleagues involved in specific improvement programmes with an interest in change,
• facilitators of leadership development, especially teacher/middle leadership.

Contributors

• Louise Stoll is Professor of Professional Learning at IOE, and an international consultant, focusing on how schools and systems create capacity for learning.
• Carol Taylor is a former school leader and former Associate Professor (Teaching) in the Centre for Educational Leadership, IOE.
• Karen Spence-Thomas is a former teacher, school leader and Associate Professor (Teaching) at the UCL Centre for Educational Leadership, IOE.
• Chris Brown is Professor in Education and Director of Research in the School of Education, at Durham University.

Reviews

As a scientist I was drawn to this resource by the use of the word ‘catalyst’ in the title. 

A catalyst is a substance which speeds up reactions between other chemicals but remains unaltered after the process. In these challenging times I think we all want to make change, but without being ‘consumed’ ourselves.

This resource really delivers on the promise of its title – it doesn’t try to offer you a step-by-step prescription for success, but rather it provokes you to think about the issues you want to solve. Through a combination of self-reflection and consultation with colleagues, you are guided by key questions and research findings which can help you think beyond your normal constraints. 

At a time when people are searching for answers, Catalyst provides some great questions. My compliments to the authors." 

 

Dave Harris, Managing Director at Independent Thinking Ltd, author and consultant

“

For leaders and teachers who are tight for time but passionate about improvement, Catalyst presents a fantastic way to engage with the latest educational research and come up with personalised action plans for change.

Practical, evidence-based and transformative, it presents the latest research, asks the right questions and then empowers us all to be catalysts for change. The exercises will help to move us beyond an individual journey of leadership and towards deeper conversations, stronger communities and more reflective cultures." 

 

Emmie Bidston, teacher, Associate Fellow of the Oxford Character Project, and co-author of Leader: Know, Love and Inspire Your People

Catalyst is a highly effective resource that combines a rigorous research-informed approach with prompts for reflective and collaborative learning. It is appropriate for a wide range of professional roles and situations and has a consistent focus on sustainable capacity-building and professional and organisational change."


John West-Burnham, Visiting Professor, University of Suffolk

Catalyst offers a brilliant dissemination of much of the research around educational leadership, but it is also much more than this. The evidence-based Research Findings cards provide bullet-pointed lists of the most impactful attributes of leadership, and the Professional Learning cards provide leaders, at all levels, with activities and themes to help lead development, thinking and change. 

In the enthusiasm-rich but often time-poor environment of schools, Catalyst is a brilliant jumping-off point for leadership development."

 

Rob Earrey, Head Teacher, Fitzjohn’s Primary School

Catalyst connects school leaders with the research base through a set of multi-use practical resources in an accessible and user-friendly way. The pack offers a flexible approach to leadership professional development and self-assessment, which could be used by individual schools, MATs or alliances. A great professional development resource."


Sarah Seleznyov, Co-Head Teacher, School 360

Original, eye-catching, mind-engaging, practice-improving and brim full of professional learning practices which we know work well. The Catalyst cards are the perfect catalyst for professional growth and in turn the development of more capable leaders. This resource underscores the power of learning for all teachers and school leaders." 


Professor Bill Lucas Director: Centre for Real-World Learning at The University of Winchester

This unique resource will be highly useful to every professional learning educator. The research findings are insightful and the format of the catalyst materials will allow users in many parts of the world to place important and evidence-informed ideas into their school change practices."

Dr. Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser, Co-authors of Spirals of Inquiry, and British Columbia network leaders, Canada
“Original, eye-catching, mind-engaging, practice-improving and brim full of professional learning practices which we know work well. The Catalyst cards are the perfect catalyst for professional growth and in turn the development of more capable leaders. This resource underscores the power of learning for all teachers and school leadersOriginal, eye-catching, mind-engaging, practice-improving and brim full of professional learning practices which we know work well. The Catalyst cards are the perfect catalyst for professional growth and in turn the development of more capable leaders. This resource underscores the power of learning for all teachers and school leaders