Phil Whitehead

Policy Leadership, School Improvement and Staff Development in England, Tanzania and South Africa: Schools Working Together

Research was carried out in three discrete regions in England and Africa into the benefits of school principals sharing issues with at least one other leader from another school. Different forms of this inter-school collaboration operated in Birmingham, England, Limpopo province of South Africa and Mtawra province of Tanzania. These ranged from a formally structured model to meeting an informal desire by leaders to gain from others’ expertise. Interviews were carried out with the leaders and with connected stakeholders, as well as relevant documents being analysed. In all cases, the data showed that school leaders were hugely in favour of collaborating with other leaders so that there could be mutual learning, regardless of the previous status of the schools. The key factors in the success of such collaborations were seen to be professional trust between the participants and the facilitation of the process by a third party.