Home > Helping people learn

Focusing individual and organisational learning at West Lothian

Succeeding together


'Succeeding Together' is a major strategic initiative, which was launched in September 2003 by West Lothian Council Education and Cultural Services. The aim is to raise attainment and achievement of all pupils and students in all the Council's schools. A major component of the initiative will be a radical shift in both learning and development for teachers and enhanced collaborative learning through knowledge sharing.

Some 3,500 people are employed in education in West Lothian of whom approximately 2,000 are teachers. It is intended that all 3,500 employees will be involved in the initiative in some way. Initially when 'Succeeding Together' becomes operational in autumn 2004, the main focus will be the schoolteacher population based in 100 schools.

A combination of factors has led to the development and implementation of 'Succeeding Together'. A new Director of Education, Kate Reid, was appointed to her post at a time of pressure to improve pupil attainment. Researchers from Stirling University approached the Council and offered a new perspective on schoolteacher development. In addition, the McCrone report 'A Teaching Profession for the 21 Century' was published in May 2000. This report ranged widely over pay and conditions for school teachers, but contained important recommendations on teacher CPD (Continual Professional Development). The principle of 35 hours contractual CPD per year for teachers was established and the need for improved quality of provision was recognised. Historically, much CPD was delivered on a top-down directive model with insufficient onus on the recipient to take personal responsibility for implementation.

Clarifying priorities


One response in West Lothian Education was a new development planning processes for schools designed to focus on a few priorities and avoid initiative overload. An improvement plan process introduced in 2004 seeks to distinguish between improvement objectives and maintenance activities. The former are designed to advance the school's capability, are simply expressed, and are few in numbers (for example, to work with parents to develop strategies to enable families to play an active role in children's learning). The latter, maintenance activities, are less strategic and it is intended that they will be seen as part of the day-to-day roles and responsibilities of the management team at the school.

'Succeeding Together' is designed to create a link between the achievement of the improvement objectives and individual teacher development through the CPD process. Working with support from the University of Stirling's Institute of Education, the Council has established a framework in which this can take place. It is intended to move the focus towards organisational learning. The school will be seen as a learning community or learning organisation; more autonomy will be given to the school to identify and implement improvements and this will be the basis for individual and group learning. To quote from the Council's implementation guide:

'Instead of schools being told what priorities and activities they should be pursuing each will, working with its own school community, identify a focus for improvement in the quality of its student learning. The focus will be based on an enquiry into under achievement and where and how barriers to learning are being experienced by students. Focusing on this area, staff will then carry out collaborative action enquiries in the form of projects to develop creative and reliable ways of improving students' performance. There should be no more than three projects per school.'

This is an ambitious approach. One requirement for success, again to quote from the Council's implementation guidance is that 'we will all need to learn new ways of working collaboratively to increase individual staff and school capacity'.

Learning process


'Action enquiry' is one of the principles and designed to facilitate this new form of collaborative working and learning. The underlying processes have been developed jointly by staff from the University of Stirling and the Council. Action enquiry involves an exploration of where, why and how students are experiencing barriers to learning. This is followed by the development and implementation of strategies to remove these barriers. Subsequently there are phases of monitoring and evaluation, and review and refinement. Once action enquiry has been understood and embedded the individual schoolteachers' CPD should reflect this different approach. It should move away from a request for course-based training and be based in self and collaborative learning through research and enquiry.

The role of the Education Service's centrally located support staff will be changed considerably as a result - particularly those responsible for supporting CPD. Sheila Smith, Education Services' CPD Officer who has been involved in the new approach since its inception, has set up the programme of workshops and courses designed to gain understanding and acceptance of action enquiry. Another important role for the centre is to provide the time and space for the sharing of knowledge and experience. This will take the form of face-to-face meetings and these must be accommodated within the annual educational calendar and timetabled meetings. Such meetings will need to take a different focus, with an emphasis on exchange rather instruction.

Knowledge sharing through electronic means is under consideration as an option of the future. Ultimately, however 'Succeeding Together' will depend on the willingness of the management, teachers and other staff in schools to embrace the new approach. Teachers must take ownership of their CPD and ensure that it is linked directly to organisational improvement as well as personal development.

 
 
 
 
Bookmark and share
What are these?