Towards a self-improving system: the role of school accountability Christine Gilbert LEADING EDGE CONFERENCE SSAT 3 October, 2012

How should the accountability system evolve to support a more autonomous, diverse and self-improving system? School accountability

‘This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognised by yourself as a mighty one….I rejoice in life for its own sake Life is no brief candle-to me it’s a splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want it to burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.’ Shaw Leading change today

 Autonomy held in check by accountability  Public accountability: the 3 pillars  A greater role for school-led accountability  The importance of information History of accountability

Under the last government, accountability was all about accountability upwards, either to the local authority or to the Department. We believe that accountability should also be downwards to the community and to individual parents, and that is why we have published far more data than ever before about the performance of schools. Gove, 2012 Change necessary?

A broader view of accountability 4 key relationships  Pupils, parents & community: moral  Colleagues: professional  Employer/ government: contractual  The market: market 2 key approaches  Accounting for quality: summative  Accounting for improvement: formative

The power of collective capacity is that it enables ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things -for two reasons. One is that knowledge about effective practice becomes more widely available and accessible on a daily basis. The second reason is more powerful still-working together generates commitment. Moral purpose, when it stares you in the face through students and your peers working together to make lives and society better, is palpable, indeed virtually irresistible. Fullan,2010 Using collaboration to support accountability

 Making moral accountability to children collective  Strengthening professional accountability  Building strong professional communities where peer learning is central  An emphasis on classroom observation and related development  Good self-evaluation: pupils, parents, the local community, professionals, governors  The continuing importance of data Accountability within schools

 School to school support  Peer review  Joint practice development Accountability across schools

 The will  Experience of what good looks like  Some training  Practice  Peer engagement at all levels  An agreed plan: audit of need; programme of development rooted in practice; monitoring and evaluation  Skills of reflection, enquiry, coaching  Trust and confidence What's needed for effective collaborations?

 Moral accountability to children and young people beyond the school  Openness and trust between colleagues and a strong accountability to each other  High expectations and an uncompromising approach to quality Characteristics of this sort of collaboration

 The importance of governing bodies in supporting accountability  Do the governance models in federations and chains have system significance?  The development of NLGs.  Untapped potential? Towards school led accountability: the role of the governing body

 The importance of Ofsted's support for a improving system  The contribution of the inspection framework  Greater recognition of the role played both by school to school support and joint practice development  Recognising the value of high calibre self evaluation involving external scrutiny by peers Towards schools led accountability: the role of Ofsted? self-

 The need for a ‘middle-tier’?  How best to enable cross school collaboration, particularly for those least likely to engage in such initiatives?  Support across (and beyond) federations, chains, a range of alliances, clusters and networks  The importance of data Towards school-led accountability: schools leading locally

 What more could be done to establish a school-led system to complement the public accountability framework?  What are the future issues for school accountability in a self-improving system? School=led accountability

Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try. Atul Gawande, Better: a surgeon’s notes on performance, 2007 Moving forward