We often talk about securing a robust evidence base – and rightly so. We need robustness in order to be confident when building our school improvement work. Why is it that sometimes our evidence is rather flimsy?
Perhaps it is because leaders often want to get stuck into their monitoring. This means that they may not think carefully about selecting the activities they will be undertaking and with whom. Here at Schoolweave, we encourage leaders to do precisely this – so not doing anything until they are clear about what they are going to do and why.
Linked to this will be clarity about what leaders want to see when they monitor. This is about clarifying ambition. If they see what they want to see, then great! If they do not, then they can consider what they need to do next to either explore further or action specific improvement work.
If leaders plan their monitoring carefully, they might also ‘do less and do it well’. This will enable them to focus in greater detail on specific aspects. For example, leaders can select a few pupils (whose characteristics are of most interest to the leader) and talk to them with their books to hand. This can often generate more helpful evidence than trying to talk to a larger group and then looking at their books on a separate occasion.
As senior leaders gain a good understanding of the effectiveness of their school’s provision, they can ask subject and other leaders to hone their work accordingly. This might involve a closer look at the extent to which different groups access the curriculum.
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