Developing a System of Great Schools in England!

I read 'The Missing Middle: The Case for School Commissioners. Developing a System of Great Schools in England' over the weekend. This interesting and thought-provoking RSA report explains that "international evidence suggests that the impact of individual policies aimed at improving school and student performance are more effective if they are coordinated and steered at a sub-regional level."

The report believes that "the current arrangements for an intermediary or middle tier to provide a link between central government and the work of groups of schools are dysfunctional and bedevilled by a lack of trust between ministers, local authorities and many school leaders. In addition there is confusion about other middle tier roles and functions." It goes on to argue that we desperately need a system for supporting the development of networks of great schools and ensuring that no school and no child is left behind. "If there is one word that characterises the school system in England it is variability. We have thousands of outstanding schools producing excellent results. But they sit alongside schools that continually struggle, are complacent or do not realise that they are failing their students – in either comparative or absolute terms. Our education ambition should not be limited to increasing or doubling the number of outstanding schools but should aspire to all 20,000 schools in England providing a great education."

The report sets out a framework for School Commissioners working with local authorities to establish a coherent system based on "seven principles of good governance.

• The role of government to set policy priorities and exercise overall accountability should be acknowledged. Governments are elected with a mandate and it is entirely appropriate therefore that they should set the overarching policy framework for education and other services. 
• Power should be diffused and responsibility shared. It is neither possible nor desirable to manage the whole education system from the centre. 
• Markets need managing and regulating.In a system where greater diversity and choice is being promoted then checks and balances are needed to ensure that competition and collaboration can both play their part in improving education outcomes. 
• Diversity is healthy.The system does not need to look exactly the same in all parts of the country and it can aid learning if different parts of a system pursue different strategies. 
• The education system will be more effective if it maximizes social capital (Hargreaves, 2012). Building trust between schools and maximising the contribution of social entrepreneurs, employers, universities, cultural and voluntary organisations, parents, grandparents and local people will deepen and spread educational progress. 
• Form should follow function.The tier or body exercising responsibility should be determined by the nature of the function. Too much talk about the middle tier bundles all the potential roles into one – school improvement is talked about as a single entity; though it actually embraces a collection of functions. Delivery and oversight roles are conflated and confused. 
• Alignment is key. The role of the middle tier cannot be viewed in isolation from the role of schools and school clusters on the one hand and that of government on the other. Ideally the roles complement each other to form a coherent approach where each is clear about their responsibilities and accountabilities and how they relate to each other."

If you want to read the full report you can find it at the RSA website at http://www.thersa.org/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/630053/RSA-The_Missing_Middle_report_2012.pdf