MAKING ALL SCHOOLS IN WALES STRONG AND SUCCESSFUL LEARNING ORGANISATIONS!

I have argued for years that a new school curriculum needs a new learning culture and it is great to see that Wales is placing this at the heart of their school development strategy to ensure that all Welsh schools become strong and successful learning places. 

The ‘schools as learning organisations’ (SLO) is or has been a key component of education strategies in countries around the globe, like the Netherlands, Norway and Singapore and its development in Wales has been supported by the OECD.  Developing schools in Wales as learning organisations is part of wider reforms set out in 'Education in Wales'. The ambition is to develop all schools in Wales as learning organisations, which is key to catalysing the desired change and innovation capacity and developing a professional learning culture in and across schools to implement a new curriculum and ultimately realise the national mission for all learners. The seven dimensions of the model are:-

• developing a shared vision centred on the learning of all learners

• creating and supporting continuous learning opportunities for all staff

• promoting team learning and collaboration among all staff

• establishing a culture of enquiry, innovation and exploration

• embedding systems for collecting and exchanging knowledge for learning

• learning with and from the external environment and wider learning system

• modelling and growing learning leadership

The ‘schools as learning organisations’ model for Wales supports schools to develop a professional learning culture through sharing knowledge and experience with other schools. Engagement with the model will inspire new approaches to professional learning and support schools to successfully implement the new curriculum. The development of a thriving learning culture in schools and other parts of the education system across Wales is essential for the successful implementation of this new curriculum.