UnorthodoxOrthodoxy: Building Trust in a Culture of Scepticism
Jeremy Hannay: Headteacher of Three Bridges Primary School, London, UK

Throughout the last thirty years, with the initiation of standardised national curriculum testing (SATs) and the inception of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), England’s education system has been a leader in the Global Education Reform Movement (Hargreaves & Fullan; Sahlberg, 2o12).  This is often characterised by great intentions – the improvement of educational outcomes for all children. However, these are ultimately let down by an over-reliance on narrow performance data, prescriptive control and compliance measures, and a dependence on high stakes enforcement – corporate infused support programmes, capability procedures and job insecurity. The unintended consequences of this toxic approach to reform have been widespread; teachers leaving the profession in droves and staff morale at all time lows.  Arguably, the system designed to improve schools is ultimately holding it back.

 

Three Bridges is a large, two-form entry primary school in west London. Although it always had a friendly atmosphere, it was subject to the same problems pervasive in the English educational landscape.  Staff worked in competition to each other; practice was judged on short-term, surface success; change was enforced upon teachers and quickly compliance checked; the school was losing 30-40% of its teaching staff each year. Results were staggeringly low, with only 58% of children meeting the expected standards by the end of primary school.  Teachers’ tacit beliefs told them the children could not achieve: they came from a tough neighborhood; they didn’t speak English at home; they were highly transient. Teachers were being regularly monitored and observed; the pupil books were being regularly scrutinised alongside teacher planning; overly prescriptive policies were in place to enforce compliance.  Results flatlined towards the expected standard.

 

I began working at Three Bridges in 2012, having transitioned to England from Ontario.  Using a model of Professional Capital (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012), we made intentional shifts to our school development and improvement approach.  This approach centred on removing the harmful metrics that were driving teachers out of the school and replacing them with meaningful teacher driven/pupil centred approaches. We re-professionalised the teachers by connecting them, giving them scope and agency to redesign professional learning with direct influence over pedagogy and practice.  We stopped monitoring and scrutinising teachers and engaged them in research, enquiry, and learning study. No more regular lesson observation. Agency-laden marking. No planning proformas. Growth and development meetings replaced performance management. No more data targets. We designed opportunities for enquiry and micro-research for every teacher. Results reached the top 3% of the country. A school in the top 10% for disadvantage was now in the top 10% for achievement.

 

Although widely accepted in top performing nations, this was unorthodox, untested and potentially dangerous leadership in England.  This presentation will use Three Bridges as a case study of the challenges in leading an English primary school, building trust in a culture of scepticism.  It will explore our successes, struggles and lessons learned. It will ultimately position the approach as an evidence-based, compelling alternative to traditional English school improvement and leadership.