leading educational partnerships what’s new? what’s difficult? what’s the reward? professor...
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Leading educational partnerships Leading educational partnerships
What’s new? What’s difficult? What’s new? What’s difficult? What’s the reward?What’s the reward?
Professor Ann BriggsProfessor Ann BriggsNewcastle UniversityNewcastle University
What’s new?
Partnership working is currently an anchor-point for Government policy in many public-sector areas, including education
‘The term covers a range of working arrangements, which involve multiple organisations, agencies, groups and individuals working collaboratively of co—operatively to achieve common goals or purposes’ Audit Commission, 1998
Educational partnerships have been seen as ‘the indefinable in pursuit of the unachievable’ Powell and Dowling, 2006
Educational partnerships
Extended schools Children’s Centres Federations School improvement partnerships Knowledge transfer partnerships Multi-agency working Networked learning communities 14-19 partnerships
Nature of leadership
Single-organisation leadership: the organisation is at the heart of a cluster of providers, working for the benefit of learners in a single institution
Collaboration between single organisations: may be of mutual benefit, but each institution is led separately
Collaborative leadership: leaders have joint responsibility and accountability for a range of learner outcomes
Collaborative leadership is not simply a ‘bigger model’ of single-organisation leadership
The nature of collaborationDegree of strategic vision
Degree of group identity / area identity
Enduring organisational structure of collaboration
Significant professional collaborative activity
Penetration below senior leader level
Strategic innovation
Normalisation of collaboration as part of the cultureAdapted from Woods et al (2006)
Research base for this paper
The baseline study for 14-19 education in England, funded by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in 2007-8
‘Leading partnerships for 14-19 education:’ research funded by the Centre for Excellence in Leadership in 2006-7
Interim and final evaluations of the Flexible Curriculum Programme in Tyne and Wear, funded through Gateshead Borough Council in 2007 and 2008
What’s difficult?
Government policy encourages single-organisation accountability and competition between providers
Leaders who have largely developed their professional experience in single-institution models of leadership may find it hard to adapt to strongly collaborative ways of working
Leaders at all levels of the organisation have to understand and adapt to collaboration, not just senior leaders
The effect of difference between the cultures of collaborating organisations should not be underestimated
English 14-19
Educational Partnerships
Learning and Skills
Councils
Training agencies
Employers
Local Authorities
Universities
Schools Colleges
Connexions Service
Charities
Tensions barriers
ambiguities
Ambivalence and fear of risk
Resource issues
Level of workforce development
Time to build partnership activity
Power issues
Contradictory Government
policies
Level of trust between partners
Multiple agendas
Differing cultures
Logistical issues
Communication issues
Single-institution models of strategy and
operation
What’s the reward?
No one organisation can provide for all the complex needs of learners
Collaborative working brings benefits to the partner organisations and their communities, to staff and – most importantly – to learners
Collaborating under conditions of mutual and joint accountability opens up new ways of conceptualising and enacting leadership
Benefits to organisations and staff
Partners learn from one another and share best practice
Opportunity for collective planning, increasing the strengths of each partner
Cost-effective and coherent curriculum and systems of underpinning support
Wider staff development opportunities and career structures
Improved senior and middle leadership
Adapted from Arnold, 2006
Potential benefits for
learners
Variety of types of provision
Specialist facilities
Mix with other learners
Individualised provision
Difference of learning culture
Increased autonomy
Increased curriculum range
Focus on the learner not the organisation
Potential benefits for learnersMix with other
learners
Individualised provision
Increased learner
autonomy
Improved self-image
Increased independence
Social benefits of learning
Improved teacher / learner
relationship
Increased stimulation
Increased aspiration
Variety of specialist facilities and
learning locations
Range of learning cultures
Increased curriculum
range
Increased chance of relevance
Better match of learner to provision
Improved engagement
Improved achievement
Collaborative leadership
Mutual trust
Understandingpartner
organisations
Common purpose
Accepting others’
leadership
Governmentpolicy & resource
Compatible cultures
Flexible systems
Shared expertise
Partnership energy
Collective responsibility
Individual partner benefit
Collaborative leadership
Mutual trust Mutual understanding of
partner organisations
Focus on common purpose
Accepting others’ leadership
Government policy and resource
Compatible cultures
Flexible systems
Shared expertise
Partnership energy
Collective responsibility
Benefit to individual partners
Collective responsiveness
Org
anis
atio
ns
Lead
ers and
staff
Aligned organisational goals
Inclusive, collective decision-making
New models of leadership
Multi-faceted, not generic Based on mutual trust and
experience of partnership working at all levels of leadership
Democratic and facilitative, not competitive and hierarchical
Focus on equity, mutuality and shared purpose