Transforming teaching and learning –

lessons learnt from the London Challenge

Professor David Woods CBE

• 1813 primary schools

• 484 secondary schools

• 144 special schools

• 63,500 teachers

• 43,000 support staff

• 32 Local Authorities

• 311 languages

• 38% English as an

Additional Language across

London (50% inner London)

• 30% Free School Meals

across London (43% inner

London) – National Average

15%

London – the learning city Context and scale

(10% of London’s children are educated privately)

THE CHALLENGE

• Lowest performing region in terms of attainment and

achievement.

• Low morale and motivation.

• High levels of deprivation especially in inner London and

high percentages of children with English as an additional

language (EAL).

• Too few good and outstanding schools - too many schools

requiring improvement.

• A poverty of expectations in some local communities about

what schools can achieve but also amongst some teachers

and school leaders.

• Professional isolation of schools – not linked to best

practice elsewhere in leadership and teaching and learning.

Rigorous attention to

closing gaps in student

and school performance

PURPOSE, PASSION, PROGRESS AT A PACE

THE PROGRAMME

Effective partnership

and networking

Structural and

radical solutions

Strong

accountability

A relentless focus

on teaching and

learning

Shared vision, purpose

and objectives

Making full use of

the performance

data

System leadership

and school-to-school

support

RAISE THE BAR AND CLOSE THE GAP

• Ambition, aspiration, high expectations and moral purpose backed by shared,

committed leadership.

‘This great city needs and deserves a truly world-class education system which serves

every community and entitles everybody to fulfil their potential’

‘Make London the world’s leading learning and creative capital city’

‘Make London increasingly the place where it can be demonstrated that the link

between deprivation and worse education outcomes can be broken’

Core objectives

• A system focus on improving leadership and teaching and learning.

• Raise standards of performance and close attainment gaps.

• Create more good and outstanding schools.

Shared vision, purpose and objectives

Moral Purpose

• An unswerving belief in the difference

that education can make to children’s

life chances.

• A compelling and inclusive moral

purpose based on equity, social justice

and unshakeable principles to be

shared and acted upon by everyone.

• All London’s children’s and young

people deserve the best possible

education whatever the realities of

race, poverty and other social barriers.

• London’s leaders first responsibility is

to their own schools but they should

also support other schools and

children.

• A compelling and inclusive moral purpose and

strong, shared values, principles and beliefs.

• Ambition, aspiration and the highest expectations

to drive and secure improvement.

The DNA of the London Challenge

• A clear focus on raising standards and

closing attainment gaps between groups of

pupils and schools so that all children and

young people achieve their potential.

• Support and challenge through expert

leaders, teachers and advisers designing

strategies and brokering solutions.

• System leadership which involved the best

school leaders directly supporting other schools

in strengthening leadership and teaching.

The DNA of the London Challenge

• Well mobilised intellectual, social and

organisational capital maintaining vision,

energy, depth and staying power to produce

excellent educational outcomes.

• Collaboration, partnership working and

practitioner networks managing knowledge of

teaching and learning and sharing best practice

through a range of activities and programmes.

• A sense of place, pride, purpose

and partnership

• ‘Confront the brutal facts’ related to standards at pan-London,

local authority and individual school levels – Raiseonline.

• Forensic tracking and analysis at school and student level

using data and evidence to challenge assumptions and

expectations.

Make full use of the data

• Challenge, intervention, and support

based on data and targets for

improvement.

• Benchmarking through families of

schools data sets based on prior

attainment and deprivation factors with

particular attention to ‘trend busting’

schools. (Now Department for Education

‘Similar Schools’)

X

Average of

all schools

QUADRANT A QUADRANT B

QUADRANT C QUADRANT D

Rate of improvement over 3 years

Family of schools of similar socio-economic background including prior attainment

14

X15

X

17

X18

X

16

X

7

X

8

X

6

X

9

X

5

X

4

X3

X

2

X1

X

12

X

11

X

13

X

10

X

Key Stage 2 or GCSE Key = X: These are 18 schools, numbered 1 - 18

Families of schools

• Performance of particular groups of children, particularly

those on Free School Meals, with English as an additional

language, special needs and gender.

• Benchmark performance between ‘similar’ schools and

‘similar’ Local Authorities.

• Free School Meals link to attainment / sharing of best

practice among schools with similar profiles.

Rigorous attention to closing gaps

• Pan London English as an

Additional Language programme/

sharing of best practice.

• Partnership with agencies re-

vulnerable groups [Now the Pupil

Premium].

The Challenge

DEMOGRAPHICS,

DEPRIVATION AND

DISADVANTAGE

SHOULD NOT BE

DESTINY

‘What the best and wisest parent wants for his own

child, that must the community want for all its children.

Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely;

acted upon, it destroys our democracy’

John Dewey

SYSTEM LEADERSHIP AND SCHOOL-TO SCHOOL SUPPORT(1)

• London Leadership Strategy is run by executive groups of Heads for

Heads with expert support from Challenge advisers.

• The best schools and leaders extend their reach across other

schools so that all schools improve in the system.

• Specific partnerships between London Consultant Heads and

schools (now National Leaders of Education) and ‘keys to success’

(underperforming) schools – support for leadership, teaching and

learning, and other key issues.

• A range of programmes to develop leadership capacity with an

overall focus on learning partnerships, sharing expertise and best

practice to secure the best outcomes for all schools and students.

E.g. ‘Securing Good’ and ‘Going for Great’.

SYSTEM LEADERSHIP AND SCHOOL-TO SCHOOL SUPPORT(2)

• A model of partner schools and groups of schools -

towards a school led system of improvement.

• Evaluation, support and challenge well established within

and between schools including peer review.

• Leading from the Middle programmes designed and run

by the London Institute of Education.

• The emergence of Teaching schools (on the model of

Teaching Hospitals) and alliances taking responsibility for

leading leadership development and school-to-school

support.

• Pan-London recruitment and retention programmes.

• Chartered London Teacher status – morale, motivation &

recognition.

• Teach First and Teaching Leaders.

• The Teaching and Learning syllabus – improving teacher

programmes, outstanding teacher programmes –

practitioner networks.

• Use of system wide expertise e.g. Expert practitioners

(Specialist Leaders of Education) – moving knowledge

and expertise around.

‘THE QUALITY OF AN EDUCATION SYSTEM CANNOT EXCEED

THE QUALITY OF ITS TEACHERS…’

A Relentless focus on teaching and learning

• A model of inter-school ‘excellence’ visits, learning walks and

innovation exchanges, ‘stop looking down and start looking out’.

• An overall focus on collaboration and partnerships in outward-facing

schools sharing expertise and best practice – “communities of

practice”.

• Joint Practice Development in well established within and between

schools developing leadership and teaching capacity to raise

standards.

• The development of Teaching Schools and Alliances to act as hubs

to promote teaching and learning – ‘professional learning

communities’.

LOOKING OUT TO IMPROVE WITHIN

A SYSTEM FOCUS ON TEACHING AND

LEARNING

EXCELLENCE VISITS

Some Principles and Practices:-

Systemic Leaders of Teaching and Learning (expert practitioners) –Going Deeper and Wider

Systemic leaders of teaching and learning share a strong

professional motivation to collaborate.

• In providing support and challenge they seek reciprocal

benefits that leads to self-improvement through observation,

evaluation, reflection, joint practice development and the

dissemination of best practice.

• Systemic leaders help ensure that autonomy does not lead to

isolation, diversity does not become a barrier to collaboration

and accountability does not simply rely on regulation.

• They take professional responsibility for leading, co-ordinating

and delivering sustainable School improvement.

“Give them teaching that is determined, energetic and

engaging. Hold them to high standards. Expose them to as much

as you can, most especially the arts. Root the school in the

community and take advantage of the culture the children bring

with them. Pay attention to their social and ethical development.

Recognise the reality of race, poverty and other social barriers but

make children understand that barriers don’t have to limit their

lives… above all, no matter where in the social structure children

are coming from, act as if their possibilities are boundless”

Charles Payne

The big message

“So Much Reform, So Little Change”

The London Child / StudentBoosting Learning Opportunities

• The London Student Pledge (access to a range of

curriculum enrichment experiences) – e.g. The Arts,

Sport, Personal and Social education, the Work-

related curriculum.

• Programmes for improving behaviour for

learning.

• Specialist Support for children with English as

an Additional Language.

• Inclusive education programmes.

• Provision for ‘gifted and talented’ children.

• Progression to Higher Education - Widening

Participation programmes.

• Partnerships with parents, families and

communities including celebration and awards

• School-to-school and practitioner networks.

• Local Authorities and school support teams.

• London Leadership Strategy.

• Higher Education / School partnerships.

• Business partnerships.

• Partnerships with parents,

families and communities

• Links to various Agencies -.

Health, Housing, Social Care

Effective partnership and networking

‘HARVEST AND HARNESS KNOWLEDGE, TALENT, CREATIVITY AND ENERGY’

• Holding people and systems to account at: -

• Individual school level

• Local Authority Level

• Education Departmental level.

• Tight monitoring and review systems in schools (termly

and annual reviews)

• Regular meetings with Local Authorities.

• Reporting directly to senior civil servants and the

Minister for London schools.

‘A COLLECTIVE SPIRIT COMBINED WITH A MASSIVE

SENSE OF URGENCY’

Strong accountability in a system of support and challenge

Impact of the London Challenge

• From the lowest performing region to the highest performing region in terms of attainment at 11 and 16.

• Most successful region in closing gaps for free school meals students (half the National average gap).

• Highest performing EAL groups – above national averages for Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African and East European students.

• Well above national averages in the percentage of good and outstanding schools.

• Influenced changes to national education policy eg school to school support, national and local leaders of education, teaching schools, benchmarking schools performance data, closing gaps.

Overall 92 per cent of London’s schools are rated as good or

outstanding by Ofsted, the highest of any region.Greater London Authority: Annual London Education Report 2017

London Challenge

/ Evidence and Evaluation

The Story of London

Challenge

101 Quotable

Quotes and more

on Teaching

Available for download on Amazon

Prof. David Woods CBE

& Prof. Sir Tim Brighouse

Prof. David Woods CBE

Questions for Victoria

• Does Victoria know what Victoria knows?

How does Victoria identify and disseminate

best practice?

• Taking account of context and data, how

does Victoria close gaps in school and pupil

performance?

• What is the DNA of Victoria as the learning

state?