Session Information
26 SES 08 B, Leading Low Preforming Schools
Symposium
Contribution
This paper reports a case study of a primary school in England which was under-performing in relation to the educational status of its pupil population. It was invisible because many of the teachers, pupils and parents had not recognised this. The study took place at the request of the incoming new principal who has embarked on a major effort to transform the performance of the school. Key research questions were a) What are the culture, characteristics and practices of an underperforming school? b) What led to the school under-performing? c) What contribution did the previous principals’ make to the underperformance? Conforming to ISSPP protocols, a multiple perspective case study was conducted and included: individual interviews with the principal (three interviews), school council president, parent member of school governing body, assistant principal, curriculum coordinator, and six teachers; interview with Chair of Governors; and document collection Over the last decade schools in England have been able to use increasingly sophisticated data collection and analyses of student progress and performance. These have included ways of measuring the value that schools add to pupil performance on entry. Alongside this, teachers have become more accountable for their work in classrooms, through performance management systems, and schools have become more transparent through external independent inspection judgements. The case study school had experienced a principal in his later years who was absent from school because of health issues. This had resulted in a lowering of staff morale, insufficient use of data to inform practice and subsequently, a series of temporary appointments at principal level. The outcome was a decline in results. Despite this, parents remained satisfied with the achievement of the pupils and the conduct of teachers in the school. This study shows the negative drift which can be experienced through inaction in relation to succession planning.
References
Day, C. & Leithwood, K. (Eds.)(2007) Successful Principal Leadership in Times of Change: An International Perspective. Dordrecht: Springer. Day, C., Sammons, P., Leithwood, K., Hopkins, D., Gu, Q., Brown, E. & Ahtaridou, E. (2011) Successful School Leadership: Linking with Learning. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Muijs, D., Harris, A., Chapman, C., Stoll, C. & Russ, J. (2004) Improving Schools in Socio-economically disadvantaged areas – A review of research evidence, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, Vol. 15, No. 2., pp. 149-175. Robinson, V., Hohepa, M. & Lloyd, C. (2009) School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why. Best Evidence Syntheses Iteration (BES). Ministry of Education: New Zealand. Stoll, S. & Myers, K. (Eds)(1999) No Quick Fixes: Perspectives in Schools in Difficultly. Brighton: Falmer Press.
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