Les Bell

Strategic Planning in Primary Schools: A Tale of No Significance?.

Introduction: strategy and strategic planning Strategic planning in school management now encapsulates a range of activities that are now required of staff in schools and, through school improvement planning, has come to be the only legitimate approach for schools in preparing for their future. Head teachers are central to this process. Consequently, they are now responsible for leading and managing their school’s improvement by using pupil data to set targets for even better performance while being subject to inspection and the publication of inspection reports. This improvement in performance is concentrated on literacy and numeracy, expressed in terms of national targets.The work of head teachers is now firmly focused on the search for enhanced school success through strategic planning to improve both institutional and individual test and examination scores, coupled with the management of teacher performance. Success or failure will be determined by the extent to which schools meet these predetermined performance targets. Strategic planning for improvement in schools, therefore, is now perceived as both central to the implementation of the Government’s educational policy and to the success of its wider economic and social agendas by providing a workforce with appropriate skills and producing good citizens (Bell 1999 and 2004a). But is this confidence in the efficacy of this form of strategic planning justified or it is simply a name without a deed? The key issue, therefore, is how far does it enable schools to be well-managed, or is strategic planning simply:

Teacher education in further education 2000–2010: Subversion, avoidance and compliance

This article explores the impact of key teacher education policies created between 2000 and 2010 on further education teacher educators. Data was collected from a group of experienced teacher educators in the Midlands through a series of semi-structured interviews. This article argues that the reforms were driven by too great a concern for political ideology and established overly restrictive control mechanisms to ensure compliance. Although the need for standardisation was acknowledged, the use of competency-based standards was seen as detrimental to meaningful teacher education pedagogy. It was perceived that the policies were being implemented in a managerial manner that strove for compliance. However, where compliance was at odds with their own personal and democratic professional stance, the teacher educators used a range of strategies to subvert or avoid implementing policy in order to try to stay true to their philosophical values. Nevertheless, positive aspects did emanate from the teacher education reforms, which included a drive for professional status and a recognised level 5 qualification. These positive features now appear to have been abandoned following the Lingfield Report and a different ideological thrust to deregulate the sector.

Towards an analysis of the policies that shape public education Setting the context for school leadership

The environment in which school leaders and teachers work is shaped by educational policy. Policy is, in turn, derived from the dominant political ideologies at any particular time. The interrelationship between ideology and policy shapes both the overall organization of education and the operational practices and procedures of staff in schools and colleges. An understanding of the nature of policy, how it is derived from political ideology and how policy helps to determine both the organization of education at national, local and school and college level can help school leaders to develop effective responses to policy and policy shifts. This article offers a model for conducting such an analysis.

Creatures That by a Rule in Nature Teach the Act of Order (Henry V Act 1 Scene 2): A Case Study of Sustainable Transformational Leadership in a Challenging School

This chapter follows the transformation of a failing school in central England, which had a long history of underachievement. The case study analyses the strategies that were developed to establish successful school leadership in a school in challenging circumstances, and examines the likelihood that these changes will be sustainable in the future. A brief outline of the principles of transformational leadership is followed by the strategies for change in respect of the pupils, parents, teaching and leadership. The degree to which transformational leadership informed these changes is analysed and the close parallels between transformational leadership and leadership which is sustainable are outlined; both are essential since it has been acknowledged that most school leadership practices create temporary, localized flurries of change but little lasting or widespread improvement (Hargreaves & Fink, Educ Leadersh 611:8–13, 2004). In this case study existing definitions of transformational leadership have been used to provide an analytical framework for the leadership actions of the headteacher.