BOWDEN ROOM
School leadership and educational
reform: interpreting national mandates
School leadership and educational reform:
interpreting national mandates
Professor Tony Bush
Professor of Educational Leadership
at the University of Nottingham
SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND EDUCATIONAL
REFORM: INTERPETING NATIONAL MANDATES
Tony Bush
Educational reform – a global
phenomenon
• England is not alone in seeking to reform
education – many countries are doing so
• Reform is driven by concern for the impact of
school outcomes on global competitiveness
• Reform is also underpinned by ideology –
based on political beliefs about schooling
• Global comparisons of learner outcomes
influence politicians and policy-makers
PISA RANKINGS 2012
• PISA rankings are the ‘world’s premier
yardstick’ for evaluating the quality, equity
and efficiency of school systems (OECD
Secretary-General)
• ‘PISA allows governments and educators to
identify effective policies [to] adapt to their
own contexts (Ibid)
• The foci of PISA in 2012 were maths, reading
and science, based on tests of 15 year olds
Comparing three countries
• Nottingham university operates in China (near
Shanghai), Malaysia (near KL) and the UK
• Shanghai tops the world rankings but does it
represent China?
• Malaysia is in the bottom quarter (and its
Education ‘Blueprint’ focuses on how to
improve its ranking)
• UK has a middle ranking, with little change
since the 2009 evaluation
Selected PISA scores - Mathematics
1. Shanghai 613
2. Singapore 573
3. Hong Kong 561
OECD average 494
26. UK 494
36. USA 481
52. Malaysia 421
65. Peru 368
Selected PISA scores - Reading
1. Shanghai 570
2. Hong Kong 545
3. Singapore 542
23. UK 499
OECD average 496
24. USA 498
59. Malaysia 398
65. Peru 384
Selected PISA scores - Science
1. Shanghai 580
2. Hong Kong 555
3. Singapore 551
20= UK 514
OECD average - 501
28. USA 497
53. Malaysia 420
65. Peru 373
PISA scores – what can we learn?
• Is the sampling reliable?
• The top systems are in Asia (mainly Chinese)
• Spending levels are not a reliable guide to
learning outcomes – see USA scores
• Policy reforms appear to have limited impact –
PISA scores change only modestly over time
• How can we improve English outcomes?
Factors influencing learner outcomes
• The socio-economic context – poverty, family
structures, language capability & background
• The policy framework – formation and
implementation
• Classroom practice – subject knowledge,
pedagogy, classroom management
• School leadership – heads, senior leaders,
middle leaders, leadership teams
Implementing reform in England
• Policy change is problematic in education
• Many centres of change – 20,000 schools and up
to 250,000 classrooms
• Implementation varies according to the skills and
motivation of teachers and leaders
• Enforcement (by Ofsted) leads to a unidimensional approach
• Changes are too frequent – 20 major acts since
1988 (Gibton 2013) – leading to implementation
‘fatigue’
NCSL – an agency for change?
• The NCSL (launched in 2000) was a prime
vehicle for policy implementation (e.g. NPQH,
modular curriculum, succession planning)
• Never the ‘independent voice of school
leaders’ (Southworth 2004) but there was
two-way communication
• Now amalgamated with the TA as NCTL
• Now a government agency (no independence)
• Leadership dimension has been reduced
Qualified teachers and leaders
• QTS has been compromised and now relies
too much on subject knowledge
• The removal of mandatory status for NPQH is
a backward step
• NPQH is not perfect but having qualified
leaders is better than unqualified heads (think
medicine, law, engineering, airlines)
• China and Singapore have mandatory
headship training
Conclusion
• Reform is a global phenomenon, driven by international
comparisons
• England is ‘mid-table’ in the PISA rankings
• Learner outcomes depend on context, policy imperatives,
teaching, and leadership
• Implementation is problematic with so many schools and
classrooms
• NCTL has been reduced to an agency with a narrow agenda
(what happened to research?)
• Consistent policies are the key to success (see China and
Singapore)
• What can we expect post-2015?
Thank you
• Comments and questions welcome
• You can contact me at:
tony.bush@nottingham.ac.uk
School leadership and educational
reform: interpreting national mandates