THE ANSWER IS LEARNING LEADERSHIP, BEAUTIFUL SYSTEMS AND INTELLIGENT ACCOUNTABILITY NOT INSPECTION AND TESTING !

At the end if yet another week working with some great young people in Sheffield, I am confused that people keep telling us that our education system in Yorkshire and the Humber is performing so poorly when compared to the best in the UK or the best in Europe let alone the best in the world.

My work around the country and visits to Helsinki, Stockholm and Singapore suggest that colleagues elsewhere are no cleverer, no more skilful or talented than our colleagues here in Yorkshire and the Humber. Their young people appear to be very much the same as our young people. Their parents and carers want the same for their children... as they do the world over! Successful school systems do however have some elements which are worth considering but it's interesting that whenever the going gets tough we constantly think that inspection and testing must be the answer. Interesting, when we already have one of the most inspected, assessed, moderated and tested education system in the world! We all know that you don't improve the pig by continually weighing it.  The answer is learning leadership, beautiful systems and intelligent accountability supporting colleagues and driving great teaching and learning in every classroom.