Making an impact

in schools

(by understanding

their current

priorities)

Louis Coiffait

@LouisMMCoiffait

@LouisMMCoiffait 2

NAHT EdgePearson

Consultancy

Cambridge

TTA

Westminster Council

York/

UCLA

MinisterMP

California

A brief intro

?

Start-up

Gov. Dept.

Lobbying

@LouisMMCoiffait 3

Setting the scene…

@LouisMMCoiffait 4

Policy drivers

Recession (AUSTERITY)

1. Autonomy; academies, free schools, diminished Local Authority funding etc.

2. Accountability; Ofsted, Ebacc, rising ‘standards’, choice etc.

3. What of capability? Recruit, train etc.

Ever more instrumentalism / measurement / performativity ? (the ‘tyranny of impact’)

Schools at the sharp end of constant/ multiple policy churn

@LouisMMCoiffait 5

Unions united / effective?

Lots of good work behind the scenes –

helping individual teachers, batting

away some barmy policies

How much energy do unions spend

collaborating vs competing?

Have they had ‘big wins’?

Gove’s exit?

@LouisMMCoiffait 6

Language matters

Government (and the press) can help

create a climate of hope (not fear) by

using appropriate language…

How do the

public see

education

professionals

today?

Is that

changing?

@LouisMMCoiffait 7

Stubborn achievement gaps

NAO

@LouisMMCoiffait 8

What are schools for now?

NAO

1

•Funding, funding, funding… (inc. Value For Money VFM)

2

•Collaborating creatively to get the staff needed

3

•Using evidence to inform professional judgment

@LouisMMCoiffait 9

3 school priorities today

@LouisMMCoiffait 10

1: School funding cuts

The Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts

12% real terms budget cuts

£450m of ‘non-school’ cuts also to be

found for the Chancellor’s Comprehensive

Spending Review (CSR)

Current funding system is unequal/unfair,

we need a national funding formula from

government, they have a duty to ensure

all schools have the resources they need

@LouisMMCoiffait 11

1: The London weighting

NAO

@LouisMMCoiffait 12

1: PP funds plug gaps

Tough to prioritise PP funding on some students in austere climate of cuts…

EEF/Sutton Trust found 50% of primary and 44% of secondary teachers said their schools fund activities that would otherwise have been cut due to budget pressures

The NAO found 45% of schools faced real-terms cuts e.g. 5 per cent real terms cuts to 16 per cent of the most disadvantaged secondary schools, even with extra PP funding

@LouisMMCoiffait 13

1: Primary funding

NAO

@LouisMMCoiffait 14

1: Secondary funding

NAO

@LouisMMCoiffait 15

1: VFM, VFM, VFM…

Value for money, especially around the

Pupil Premium, will be scrutinised more

and more (£2.5bn spent on 2m PP students

this year)

NAO recently found an over-reliance on

‘high-cost’ PP approaches

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)

toolkit shows cost and impact

@LouisMMCoiffait 16

1: What schools do with PP

@LouisMMCoiffait 17

1: The EEF toolkit

@LouisMMCoiffait 18

1: PP value for money

1:1 tuition (in 71% of schools, ££££/5, +4 months) vs small groups (£££/5, +4 months)

vs peer-to-peer (25% are, ££/5, +6 months)

What’s the cost/impact of using extra teaching assistants? 71% of schools do, relatively expensive ££££/5 (£430m spent), not that effective (+1 month) unless used well

Do schools use feedback effectively? (63% of schools focus on it, can be cheap (££/5) and effective (+8 months), but EEF/ST found only 6% of teachers/leaders prioritise spending on feedback

@LouisMMCoiffait 19

1: New school tactics

Some schools are getting creative -

making the most of the freedoms and

support they have e.g. playing the game

But also in how they share their

challenges, the government does respond

to pressure e.g. Vic Goddard’s letter

@LouisMMCoiffait 20

1: HEIs and schools

Can higher education institutions help

schools (given their own challenges)?

- collaborate closer than ever before

- Be entrepreneurial about partnerships,

funding and bids

- share resources, assets … risks

- Local/regional/national ed. systems

- Usable research about VFM/effectiveness

1

•Funding, funding, funding… (inc. Value For Money VFM)

2

•Collaborating creatively to get the staff needed

3

•Using evidence to inform professional judgment

@LouisMMCoiffait 21

3 school priorities today

@LouisMMCoiffait 22

2: Staffing collaboration

Schools can work collaboratively and

creatively together to get staff they

need (recruit/train)

Current received wisdom: The single best

way to help all learners (especially the

disadvantaged) is through ‘great teachers

who can deliver high quality lessons’

@LouisMMCoiffait 23

2: Staffing challenges

But where will they come from? Especially

in MFL, physics and maths.

Where will the next generation of middle

and senior leader come from?

Perfect storm: we face a dip in the

number of graduates at the same time as a

surge in student numbers, as well as a

rebounding economy offering alternative,

better paid-careers

@LouisMMCoiffait 24

2: New teachers vs target

The Conversation/DfE

@LouisMMCoiffait 25

2: Staffing solutions

Government urgently needs to do more to

make teaching an attractive, rewarding

career for life

Can schools (and HEIs) work together

more? Through secondments, CPD,

mentoring, shadowing, research, shared

roles, projects and co-created solutions

Oh and teacher training…

1

•Funding, funding, funding… (inc. Value For Money VFM)

2

•Collaborating creatively to get the staff needed

3

•Using evidence to inform professional judgment

@LouisMMCoiffait 26

3 school priorities today

@LouisMMCoiffait 27

3: Evidence informed?

NAO found many schools using ineffective

PP approaches without challenge for years

Early days for teaching becoming a truly

‘evidence-informed profession’? To what

extent is this possible and/or

preferable?

Although it’s up from 52% in 2012, still

only 64% of school leaders are using the

EEF toolkit to inform their PP spending

The College of Teaching in its infancy

@LouisMMCoiffait 28

3: School use of evidence

Yes every school/class/student is

different…

But high performing schools focus on

variation between classes and

systematically test what works for each

of their students

They use evidence to inform both practice

and management decisions

Cycle: Hypothesis – Experiment – Evaluate

@LouisMMCoiffait 29

3: How do schools decide?

EEF/Sutton

@LouisMMCoiffait 30

3: How do schools decide?NAO

@LouisMMCoiffait 31

3: Good practice

Good schools also embed innovation and

change into their teaching and learning,

as well as their management practices

They have a clear idea of what the

evidence says and what they’re currently

testing in their school

Can government, Ofsted and others give

them more trust/time/resources?

@LouisMMCoiffait 32

3: HEIs & school evidence

How usable is the evidence you create?

Can you help create virtuous cycles

between theory, research, practice and

policy?

Are you working with brokers/

intermediaries to help disseminate your

evidence?

@LouisMMCoiffait 33

Thank you…

Questions and discussion