School Improvement
Partnership Programme:
Summary of interim findings
March 2014
University research
and support
The main aims of the project were:
• to underpin the use of effective evaluation techniques by
up to 10 individual partnership projects in different areas
of Scotland
• to determine how well the overall Project and individual
partnership projects have been implemented
• to assess whether the Project as a whole has contributed
to teachers’ learning and development – particularly in the
area of tackling disadvantage in Scottish education.
Evidence base to
date
At this interim stage, the project has:
• reviewed research literature to provide a context and to
inform the project’s conceptual framework regarding school
improvement and collaborative enquiry
• monitored and summarised known progress to date
across those partnerships currently engaged with the
Programme
• drawn on a range of data and sources to consider
emerging themes pertinent to the Programme’s aims and
highlighted issues for consideration to inform the
development of the SIPP
Evidence base to
date
The evidence base for the report comprises:
• partnership projects’ feedback both verbal and email to
the Research team and Education Scotland contacts
• accounts gained during research support liaison with the
partnership projects
• researcher observation during support visits and events
• responses (n=38) to a baseline on-line survey
Core Principles
• Collaborative working across boundaries
• Focus on closing the achievement gap
• The commitment to mutual benefit and the creation of
leadership opportunities and professional learning of staff
• Commitment to long-term sustainability and capacity building
• Explicit links to strategic improvement planning in schools and
local authorities
• The use of systematic enquiry to develop innovative practices
and monitor developments
Interim findings
• The partnerships have developed at a different pace to one another.
• There is sufficient information to highlight evidence of interesting
practice, progress and to identify some emerging issues that can
inform the development of the overall initiative
• There are a number of different kinds of partnerships developing
within and across education authorities. Some involve partnerships
within an authority and others involve schools from different
authorities. Some are cross-sectoral whilst others involve different
agencies
Interim findings
• Partnerships have taken time to develop and agree their proposals
and to establish lines of communication to facilitate the organisation
and operation of the partnerships
• This activity has been particularly important where there are
numerous schools and organisations involved and more than one
local authority
• The role and commitment of the local authority coordinator, school
management and those with responsibilities for developing and
running the various partner initiatives has been crucial
• Where partnerships are well-coordinated the trios have been able to
work as an integral component to guide both the educational and
research developments.
Interim findings
• The more established partnerships show signs of developing forms of
working that reflect what is known from the literature about effective
collaboration for school improvement (eg Kerr et al. 2003, Fullan
2013)
• For example, in three partnerships the local authority has been
instrumental in fostering networks that are in line with those that
facilitated joint problem solving as identified by Wohlstetter (2003)
• In such cases, the partnership teams are working collaboratively to
put working groups in place with responsibilities to develop aspects of
their intervention, develop enquiry and evaluation and share lessons
learned across the partnership
Interim findings
• The baseline survey also indicates that there are initial developments
regarding the Programme’s impact on promoting opportunities for
teachers to collaborate and share ideas
• Despite varying levels of research expertise and experience there is a
commitment in these partnerships to work with the research team to
develop their own research and enquiry systems
• The baseline survey reveals that the majority of respondents believed
that the Programme was already having positive impact on raising
awareness and confidence regarding self-evaluation and enquiry
Issues and tensions
The main issues and tensions to emerge to date from our feedback can
be summarised as:
• communication: a) local authorities understanding the proposal
process and deadlines and the levels of funding available and b)
stakeholders establishing a shared understanding regarding the SIPP
project aims and what this means for their partnership.
• issues of the SIPP planning and budget timing not always matching
the planning timetables of schools and local authorities
• finding time for partnership planning activity
• synchronising Trio activity and diaries to match the needs of the
schools.
Conclusion
• The Programme has stimulated the imagination and creativity of
partnership teams to devise diverse and complex collaborative
networks and programmes to tackle inequality in education
• Secondly, there is evidence that some of the partnerships are
becoming established and putting in place interventions that reflect
wider research and principles of effective enquiry and practice
• Third, the Programme is facilitating collaborative networks that are, in
the words of one participant, helping to ‘establish a wiser
‘professional learning community in order to develop teachers’
confidence in using a variety of teaching strategies and working at
inter-authority level’