Leading Edge DevelopmentsMary Rose
Assuring quality in the teaching and learning process is most effective when the teachers themselves are engaged fully in the review, critical analysis, reshaping and improving of this process. Increasingly, institutions are seeking ways to build capacity to enable this to happen. There is now a strong movement in the United Kingdom to explore and promote initiatives which develop teacher-learners who are confident and competent in these processes. This work is rooted in evidence - informed practice, school-based enquiry, research and development. The importance of a research informed profession is recognised and education leaders are keen to develop strategies for collaboration between schools and for the dissemination of best practice to effect knowledge transformation. The following initiatives provide examples of recent developments: School Based Consortia The Leeds Consortium The Manchester and Salford Consortium Norwich Area Schools Consortium North East School Based Research Consortia At the end of the three years the Consortium reports and evaluations highlighted the following outcomes (School Based Research Consortium Initiative P Cordingley and M Bell)
These outcomes indicate the tremendous gains to be made when teachers are able to work in this way. The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) has been at the forefront of developments to support the transformation of practice through building capacity for the development of enabling leadership in individual schools. The launch of the first national cohort of thirty nine Networked Learning Communities (NLC) from September 2002 offers a powerful tool for transforming practice. A Network Learning Community is a group of schools working with other partners to:
Further information about this work may be found on the website www.ncsl.org.uk/nlc. The International Learning and Research Centre, the first of its kind in the country, an independent Centre, established in May 2001 and funded through grants and sponsorship, is co-ordinating a cross phase NLC across 2 LEAs in the South West in the first national cohort of networked learning communities. This NLC, the EXCEL network (Excellence through Collaboration and Enabling Leadership), consists of 4 primary schools, 2 secondary schools, a University and the International Learning and Research Centre. Features of this network:
The purpose of the International Learning and Research Centre is to support schools, within its locality and beyond, in improving the quality of teaching and learning through school-based research and enquiry promoted throughout innovative national and international projects. Its core work is in leadership, languages and literacy. Identifying and multiplying best practice and enabling staff to work reflectively and creatively are key functions of the research strategy. The Centre, led and managed by the Senior Adviser for Research and Development who has a full time secondment from South Gloucestershire LEA, has a research team of Headteachers, Senior Teachers and Teacher Researchers. These personnel have release time or part-time secondments to work on research and development projects locally, nationally and internationally. These include a twenty eight school transnational project in France, Italy and the United Kingdom funded by the European Commission, a modern foreign languages (MFL) curriculum research project for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), a research and development project to investigate common approaches to the teaching of English and MFL in primary and secondary schools and promoting pupil participation by consulting pupils about their learning experiences. Further information about the work of the Centre may be found on the website www.ellnet.org. The Department for Education and Skills has, from September 2002, established an Innovation Unit within the Standards and Effectiveness Unit. This unit will support innovative and diverse practice. For further information visit www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/innovation-unit. |
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