STRATEGY MATTERS... PASS IT ON!

We are moving from the old hierarchical, command and control school improvement structure rooted in the local authority which I lived with for about twenty years, into an emerging, chaotic and fragmented, landscape of academies, trusts, chains, federations and partnerships.

The challenges are the same of course, and they continue to fill the agenda with schools constantly criticised for all the ills of our society. GCSE results are all over the place and the focus constantly shifts with the latest DfE and OFSTED fads and fashions. We are also trapped between the 'content and facts' approach and the 'skills and attitudes' approach both important and both part of the solution. We need a long-term strategy built on the characteristics of outstanding learning in the 21st century, rooted in the kind of teaching necessary to deliver that learning, and underpinned by the school conditions needed to achieve it. Discuss!