CONNECT, COLLABORATE AND CHALLENGE!

Everyone I talk to about the challenges we face recognises that to achieve world-class outcomes we need a new and different approach to education and learning. This isn't going to be easy in Michael& Michael's world! But always remember that...

This new approach must be rooted in a deep understanding of where we are now and a new shared vision built on equity, opportunity, access and fairness. A shared vision that sets out very clearly what we, as a learning community, want our schools to be like, with clear milestones guiding action and driving change. Of course, schools across the UK are at different places on this journey and we need to capture the brilliant stuff and use it alongside a programme of sustained, focused and deliberate action. We need to build on what works, on the research, on the evidence and on the success stories to achieve deeper levels of understanding and engagement by headteachers, teachers and other stakeholders.

To transform education and learning, schools, at the heart of this new order, need to:

• Connect and collaborate more routinely and systematically;
• Challenge learners and teachers to set high expectations for themselves and their peers;
• Drive out complacency in performance and generate an organisational culture where provision and practices are not just shared but genuinely challenged, reviewed and improved;
• Find, nurture, innovate and implement extraordinary practice, encouraging people to design their own solutions and make excellence common place;
• Constantly search for, learn from and build on the best available evidence and contribute to a growing evidence base about what works to improve outcomes; 
• Create a more inclusive educational culture, which empowers individuals and groups from all social backgrounds and helps create a sense of common purpose across different institutions.