No fear! Technology will tackle the challenges of school improvement.
Schools are very comfortable
with using technology to closely monitor the progress of pupils and take action
if any issues are uncovered. Pupil tracking and management information systems
that help schools do this have been widely used for several years.
But when it comes to using ICT
for the management and tracking of the school improvement processes that help
staff perform to their best – for example CPD, performance management and school development planning –
schools are less likely to invest.
Instead most schools – around
85 per cent of those in England
and Wales
– use ‘homebrew’ approaches, usually consisting of elaborately constructed
computer spreadsheets or simple box files full of paper, to manage this area.
It seems strange doesn't it that there is this
contrast of approaches, especially when both play an absolutely vital role in helping pupils really achieve.
Money, time and complexity are the main
reasons why this approach still persists but I’m confident school leaders are
waking up to the reality that dislocated systems are simply not doing the job.
It’s too tricky to get an intelligent view with a PC spreadsheet because it
takes too much time to mine the data, interpret it in various ways and link it
to evidence. I’ve seen for myself some wonderfully creative, DIY documents
which at first appear to be a massive step forward for schools. But after a few
months, it becomes quite apparent that maintaining them is a full time job and
it gets out of hand.
As well as clouding a school’s view of what it needs
to do to keep on improving, this traditional approach could also create
problems with Ofsted. The body now wants
schools to give full account of the school improvement processes that
ultimately have a huge impact on pupil attainment.
It
wants evidence that the SLT knows the school’s strengths and weaknesses,
that leaders are immersed in self-evaluation and that
development plans are focused on improving teaching and raising achievement. These are compelling reasons for schools to
change to something more efficient and coherent and which ideally gathers
evidence of impact from grass roots level, yet many still have a bit of a blind
spot in this area. I worry that this
reluctance might be a sign of a deeper, age old, issue – a fear of change.
As well as potentially obscuring
a school’s view of school improvement processes, DIY tracking and management
could have serious implications for the professional development of staff too.
Many opportunities could be
missed because your colleagues don’t have a more complete awareness of their
abilities. But if we can ensure that performance discussions are informed and
evidence led then decision making becomes informed by evidence at an individual
and school level. That’s good for schools and for the professional development and motivation of everyone working
in them.
Schools need to seize the
opportunity to let online technology assume the role in school improvement planning that it is already playing in
supporting student progress. Technology can support change and make it easier.
School improvement planning and the monitoring of impact shouldn’t be about cold
data crunching. We need to use technology to support people in their
development and let them make a real contribution to school objectives. This
applies equally to individuals following their own career path and large
organisations trying to make sense of the bigger picture.
For example, if a school’s performance management systems
show that staff need some professional development in a particular
area it would help if they were given the means to evaluate that CPD themselves and back this up with evidence
that it is making a difference. Many leaders will claim they already do this,
but are the methods they use sustainable, accessible and above all, do they
solve the old problem of how to produce evidence of the impact of CPD on pupil achievement?
Then there are the questions of
time and resources in an age of austerity. Taking a ‘homebrew’ approach to
school improvement planning means time organising the paperwork for performance
appraisals, job applications and CPD.
If school leaders use the technology to get a clear view of what’s
happening in these areas they can make sure everybody plays a part in reaching
school development targets. It also means that leaders can identify which staff
members need more professional support and everyone gets recognition for their
contribution. The result is a better run school in which pupils prosper.
This is easier said than done with traditional
tracking and management methods but it is achievable using the online school improvement planning systems that are now
available. These systems can unify staff rather than
alienate them, giving them a voice in the change management process that
otherwise might not be heard. This is about staff having ownership and control.
And there’s nothing more powerful as an antidote for the fear of change.
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