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Working Together

Research shows that by working together in a structured way, teachers and academies can improve faster and more sustainably. Excellence is not exclusive or elitist and it is not a zero-sum game.

Recent research on sustainable improvement in multi-school groups, commissioned by the DfE, sets out how school-to-school collaboration and support can generate enhanced capacity for school improvement at scale. Academies benefit from looking beyond local and regional boundaries to ensure they remain outward-looking and open to new ideas. 

We believe we can be most effective when we work in meaningful partnerships with identified strategic partners.  At the heart of this joint working should be a comprehensive model for professional development.

This should cover four domains:

• Acquiring and deepening knowledge (both subject knowledge and pedagogical practice)
• Applying and transferring that learning effectively into the classroom
• Knowing and assessing the impact of initiatives and programmes on pupil progress
• Sharing knowledge of what works and ensuring that it is applied and/or replicated effectively
• Leadership development

The nature and level of this support will vary from academy to academy according to their internal capacity, unique circumstances and the nature of the challenges they are facing. There is no such thing as an off-the-shelf approach to partnership work. We should not assume that academies can improve by simply replicating the work of other successful academies in completely different circumstances. Imposing solutions without a deep understanding of the particular circumstances on the ground is unlikely to prove successful.