Manx Maxim

A few years ago I decided to reflect more seriously on the school improvement planning process. I decided to start with a simple question: how do we know what we want to improve? The answer, it seemed to me, was that a very small well of sources informed us: our continuous school self-review and evaluation model (SSRE); data pertaining to standards, attainment and achievement; and what we were told by our partners and stakeholders - teachers, pupils, parents, the community and/or the government.

Lesson observations can be one of the most powerful ways to raise standards of teaching and learning but only when teachers become empowered in the process. That’s why I’ve worked so hard to advocate developmental lesson observation at my schools and move us from a “done to” to a “done with” model.

So much of what I can see happening across my schools are "little improvements" that occur without needing to have been mapped out on a strategic plan. Although school improvement plans are still required to outline how the schools will tackle the key priorities for development or improvement, I don't want these to be the "be all and end all."