NCETM Conference
May 18th 2011
Queens Hotel Leeds
Seizing the Agenda
The purpose and approach to professional
development in the current landscape
David Crossley
Executive Head, Wildern School, Hampshire,
Director of Strategy Inspirational Schools Partnership, Tribal
david.crossley@tribalgroup.com
www.inspirationalschoolspartnership.com
Schools are better
today than they have
ever been…?
Schools are better today than they have
ever been…?
 In 1988, only 25% of pupils were awarded a qualification at age
16 that was valued. In 2009, 70% of pupils gained % A*-C; 50%
including English and Maths
 In 1988, those staying on post-16 was less than 10% and
progress to University was only 3-5%. In 2008, 50%+ of all
students stay on post-16 and in 2010 the new A* at A level
challenged critics of dumbing down in terms of subjects taken and
of outcomes achieved
 In 2000 there were 600 out of 3000 secondary schools with
results below 25% 5 A*-C by 2006 there were less than 40. In
Autumn 2007 there were 600 schools with less than 25% 5A*-C
including English and Mathematics in summer 2010 this had
reduced to approx 130 (200 32% or below)
 There has been a revolution in the availability of technology in
schools and classrooms
“ Anything that exists in the world before
you are born is part of the normal way in
which the world operates.
Anything invented while you're between
the ages of 15 and 35 is revolutionary and quite possibly something you can get
a career out of.”
Anything invented after the age of 35 is
against the natural order of things.
Douglas Adams
Recognising the both / and
of professional development and
school improvement…
Learn to Transform
Developing a 21st century approach to
sustainable school transformation
David Crossley and Graham Corbyn
Aiming to offer a positive but
rigorous model and n journey
The core underpinning
aim is surely to be
committed to high
standards and at the
same time being a centre
of creativity, innovation
and enjoyment
“
Background and Key Influences:
Raising Achievement; Transforming Learning (RATL)
a major school improvement program involving 700 schools
Raising
Achievement
Transforming
Learning
Achievement
• Raising
Always ask
the question
does
it raise
achievement
with
Dignity
and how do you know?
“It combined a sense
and a push
•of urgency
Embed use of
performance data – know
for
success
with
a
every
student and
know
their potential
culture
of optimism and
inspiration".
•
Sequence, harmonise and
integrate
theand
short,
Professors
Hargreaves
Shirley
medium and longer term
Boston College, 2006
Key Influences:
How the world's most improved school
systems keep getting better?
• You can have the best curriculum,
best infrastructure and best
polices but if you don’t have the
best people…
• (but is the key focus satisfactory
to good?)
McKinsey – How the World’s best systems come out
on top
• All improving systems (schools)
use a similar set of interventions
at a similar stage in their
development. Context determines
how not what you do.
McKinsey - How the world's most improved school
systems keep getting better
How do we achieve our moral purpose?
Make sure less
can be more?
– you can do
anything but
not everything
Sustain what we
achieve?
Learn from how the
world's most improved
school systems keep
getting better?
Enable a greater degree of
informed professionalism
to drive the next stage in
school improvement?
Help more
young people to
achieve their
potential in
mathematics?
Help raise the ceiling
as well as the floor?
Foster a
positive
“culture”?
Moral Purpose
“combining vision, optimism and realism”
“There are good grounds for thinking that we are
underestimating the potential of many students, even
entire groups and communities.”
“The reality is that in learning we do not know what the
boundaries of human capability are – What we do
know is that barriers that seem impossible are
eventually broken and performance gets better.”
Ben Levin - How to Change 5000 Schools
If you believe you can or can’t you are right!
How much has and how can
organisations like NCETM
through the professional
development of teachers best
contribute to....
- the improvement of our schools
and life chances of our
students...
-fostering creativity and
innovation?
david.crossley@tribalgroup.com
and how do we know?