Giving teaching back to teachers

Mel Ainscow, of the University of Manchester, and Maija Salokangas, of Trinity College Dublin, discuss the findings of their new book, Inside the Autonomous School, which is published tomorrow.

There is extensive research suggesting that when teachers are involved in decision-making this is likely to promote a better climate for learning within a school. There is also evidence that schools which encourage teachers to collaborate in developing their practice are more able to improve student outcomes and reduce achievement gaps

 

Evidence such as this was part of the justification for the introduction of academies in England. Freed from the restrictions imposed by local authorities, it was argued, such schools would become centres of innovation that would stimulate wider system change.

 

Sadly, the evidence so far is that this has not been the outcome. Whilst academies have been given space to innovate, this has usually focused on aspects of management and organisation, rather than on the development of new, more creative teaching practices.

 

We saw a striking example of this in one of the academies introduced in the early 2000s by the then Labour government. Tracking developments over more than ten years, we saw how this new school - which replaced one that was seen to be failing - achieved remarkable improvements. This was reflected in massive progress in examination results and was recognised by inspectors, who determined that the school was ‘outstanding’.

 

As a result, the school came to be seen as an example of the success of the academies programme. Gradually, however, the performance of the school slipped back, such that it eventually lost its outstanding designation.

 

In a new book, we analyse the factors that led to its early success and those that led to its subsequent decline. We show how the imposition of standardardised procedures stimulated rapid improvements, both in terms of school climate and student outcomes. However, this also led to the erosion of teacher autonomy, which may well have been a factor in its regression.

 

Put simply, once teachers’ professional autonomy has gone, a school has much less resilience to deal with the difficulties it faces. This suggests that, despite the short-term success of the school’s strategies for improving examination results, they were not a way of ensuring sustainable improvements.

 

Our account also throws light on the pressures on those involved. In particular, we show how a narrow, standards-driven culture and highly regulated policies limited teachers’ pedagogical decision-making. Within this context, the overhanging fear of failure in examinations was seen to make staff reluctant to become involved in any form of risk-taking, even though there was evidence of considerable collaboration amongst the staff.

 

In such contexts, teachers need to be autonomous only insofar as this means being free (and competent) to follow instructions from above. There may be some real autonomy at different levels, but this is always prescribed. If the instructions from on high are flawed, or if they fail to deal effectively with local circumstances, there is nothing else for the system to fall back on.

 

This led us to conclude that, because an academy’s performance is measured against the same national performance indicators as other schools, in reality, examinations and inspections set a narrow frame for their educational practices. The pressures this creates encourages academies - and, where they exist, their sponsoring organisations - to centralise much of the decision-making.

 

Despite these worrying trends, greater autonomy for schools still makes sense, particularly if it provides space for teachers to exercise their judgement. The problem is that other policies based on the idea of education as a market place have prevented this from happening. Rather, they have led to a search for one-size-fits-all strategies for improving examination and test scores that can be imposed on teachers.

 

What then needs to happen to make school autonomy work? First of all, more emphasis should be placed on the improvement of teaching and learning though powerful forms of school-based professional development. Well supported staff, who are encouraged to refine their practices and explore new approaches, are in the best position to respond to the varied needs of their students.

 

Secondly, there should be a fundamental rethink of national accountability systems, not least the school inspection system, so that there is a focus on the encouragement of greater experimentation and a concern for much broader range of outcomes.

 

Related to all of this, incentives need to be provided that encourage greater collaboration within schools and between schools, in order that successful practices are made available to more students. This emphasis on collaboration then needs to move beyond the school gate, with schools drawing on the energy and resources that exist within families and local communities. For all of this to happen, teaching must be given back to teachers.

 

 

Inside the autonomous school: making sense of a global educational trend is published by Routledge on Thursday, November 30^th