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Schools and teachers have a central role to play in developing and researching new educational practices. To support this innovation, iNet seeks to set up development and research (D&R) networks.
It has long been the case that the best innovations in education are those developed by practitioners in schools. The D&R networks framework seeks to harness the best innovative practices, support them with academic research and share them across the system.
These networks support teachers and schools to raise achievement, deepen learning and engage students at all levels in schools. D&R networks will develop more effective approaches to teaching and learning by disciplined innovation focusing on an agreed agenda.
For Professor David Hargreaves, the answer lies in the three Ds: decentralised, distributed and disciplined.
There is no tightly drawn, central plan with a detailed specification of aims, processes or outcomes. The aim is for individual and groups of schools to engage in the essential innovation that will create new and better practices.
This is true in several senses of the word. The process by which this broad aim will be achieved is through various forms of distributed innovation (see Personalising Learning: next steps in working laterally) in networks of schools and teachers who combine outstanding achievements with a commitment to developing this innovation through partnerships with other schools and teachers. The networks consist of volunteers who determine the scope of their activity, over what timescale, and by what means of working. The innovation activity is distributed across countries, regions and groups of schools.
Though decentralised and distributed, it is not yet another example of letting a thousand flowers bloom in the hope that something of major significance will somehow emerge. In England, there is a sharp focus on personalising learning and the nine gateways. In itself, however, this will not provide an adequate degree of self-discipline. Lead schools in each gateway will have to decide on a limited range of agreed priorities. This involves discussion and debate, and inevitably compromises. Many individual schools and teachers will have preferred topics that meet their immediate needs. There will need to be ‘give and take’ to ensure that these differences converge on an agenda of innovation that adds up to something much bigger and of greater significance than a plethora of individual local activities that never become more than the sum of the parts.
The agenda of the D&R networks in England is based around the tight focus of personalising learning (PL). This is a major strand of work in England and is an ongoing journey that can be defined in phases.
The first phase involved 250 headteachers meeting Professor David Hargreaves to define personalisation through a series of workshops. They concluded that personalising learning is realised through nine interconnected gateways: student voice, assessment for learning, learning to learn, new technologies, curriculum, workforce development, school organisation and design, advice and guidance, and mentoring. In addition, all gateways demand distributed leadership.
The second phase of the PL journey consisted of an exploration of the gateways through a series of conferences that provided the basis of the personalising learning pamphlets. These pamphlets have now been distributed to all members.
The third phase is the establishment of D&R networks. These networks will support teachers and schools to develop personalising learning to raise achievement, deepen learning and engage students at all levels. D&R networks will develop more effective approaches to teaching and learning by disciplined innovation focusing on an agreed agenda.
At present the D&R networks are led by 55 hub schools (five gateways in each of 11 regions). They will work actively to develop their chosen gateway with their local networks and at the same time disseminate information and innovation to other local schools.
The work of the D&R networks is due to be further extended. Our work so far has shown us that PL and gateways form a framework for D&R. Through working with our schools, however, we appreciate the need to adopt a flexible approach. Just as individual schools have adapted the nine gateways model to fit their needs, so we have had to be flexible in our thinking about the model so that we remain aligned to the work of schools. In the next phase, therefore, D&R networks will aim to co-construct both the meaning of, and next practice in, deep leadership and deep support.
Different countries throughout iNet will adapt the D&R model to meet their individual needs. They may decide to focus their innovation around the nine gateways; alternatively they may adapt or replace this model to meet the needs of their schools. We invite educators from across iNet to join the debate on both the most suitable topics for D&R, and indeed our principles for innovation (the three Ds). The vision has to be that schools around the world share their innovations and next practice so that we create an international pool of next practice that can be drawn on by all involved in education.
Realising this ambition will not be easy, but it is far more likely to succeed if all the hubs work within a framework to ensure that the innovation programme is decentralised, distributed and disciplined; that no irrevocable decisions are taken before the hubs are able to meet to make decisions; and that time will be given to reflect on how the necessary processes can be devised to ensure success for an exciting and ambitious approach to reshaping secondary education in England by a means that is itself deeply innovative.