Innovation in Education Grasping opportunities arising from collaboration and comparing and contrasting different models of working in a competitive landscape December 2012

School partnerships – where are we now? Schools working mostly in isolation from other schools Schools working in formal partnerships but with no accountability to each other Schools in federations or chains with a shared or evolving pedagogical approach Loose to tight spectrum Schools working in informal partnerships Schools are part of a partnership, federation or chain with executive leadership and formal accountability

Developing depth in partnership is also vital Depth takes time to achieve and comes as partners build trust and work together more extensively Depth is linked with hard-wiring how partnerships work together

What makes a partnership effective – the core features Shared vision Ethos Values Ambition Strategy

What makes a partnership effective – the core features Shared vision Standard systems Shared data Common approach to classroom observations Peer review or inspection

What makes a partnership effective – the core features Shared pedagogy Curriculum design Teachers learning together though joint practice development Joint research Shared vision Standard systems

What makes an effective partnership – the importance of geography Cross-chain leadership deployment and development Cross-chain teacher development

What makes an effective partnership – the importance of organisation Integrated support services Quality assurance Executive leadership Cross-chain development of teacher capacity Cross-chain leadership development and deployment Shared vision Shared pedagogy Standard systems Corporate governance

But many partnerships are not yet in the right shape to be effective