Making sure that every school matters: some

lessons from the Greater Manchester Challenge

Mel Ainscow

The Centre for Equity in EducationThe Centre for Equity in Education

Our children and young people:

• Bottom of well-being ‘league’

• High numbers of exclusions

• Poor levels of school attendance

• Early drop out from education

And home background still the best predictor of school performance

Intended outcomes

• Staying safe

• Being healthy

• Enjoying and achieving

• Making a positive contribution

• Economic well-being

Responding to ‘the challenge’• The system has untapped capacity to improve

itself• National strategies have focused minds but

blocked innovation• There is a need to strengthen collaboration

within and between institutions• Evidence can be used to bring a critical edge to

such arrangements• Improvement efforts have to be linked to

community development• This requires new forms of leadership based

on the principle of shared responsibility

Rethinking and strengthening the roles

of local authorities

Workstrands

Keys to Success Schools

Families of Schools

Leadership Strategy

Key ideas

• Education systems have further untapped potential to improve themselves but new working relationships are needed to mobilise this potential

• A sharp analysis of evidence is needed to identify areas of concern and the human resources that can be used to support improvement efforts in relation to these issues but this needs to be responsive to changing circumstances

• School-to-school collaboration is the most powerful means of fostering improvements, particularly in challenging circumstances, but this has to be coordinated

• Many successful head teachers are motivated by the idea of taking on system leadership roles but their involvement has to be supported

• Local authority staff have a crucial role in monitoring developments, identifying priorities for action and brokering collaboration but this requires new thinking and practices

And don’t forget…..

‘What Manchester does today the world

does tomorrow’

Disraeli