School improvement

I was really privileged to travel to Sweden to present for researchED Scandinavia on the topic of school improvement in early March. I shared research on school improvement and on implementing effective change through tangible strategies within a school. As a teacher and school leader, I strongly believe that school improvement is rooted in research, but with the knowledge of how best to implement it in school.

Too often, school improvement is framed around new initiatives or new policies. Rather than an overall strategy in place, leaders want rapid change and therefore implement it with intensity (usually in September), often with the best of intentions, for outcomes, better behaviour, or improved Teaching and Learning. This can either go really well or move no further from the September Inset.

A strong starting point for school improvement comes from the Education Endowment Foundation and their work on implementation. The research is clear: successful school improvement depends not just on choosing the right strategies, but on how those strategies are implemented within a specific context. Schools must carefully consider contextual factors, adopt behaviours that drive effective implementation, and take a structured but flexible approach to change.

This is important because schools are complex environments. What works in one setting may not work in another without careful adaptation. It's so important that leaders respond to challenges and refine approaches over time. The Education Endowment Foundation emphasises that effective implementation requires careful planning, strong leadership behaviours, and ongoing evaluation. In other words, school improvement is not a one-off decision; it is a continuous and deliberate process. I cannot tell you how many times, as a teacher, I experienced poor implementation due to impulsive or ill-considered decision-making. Processes need to be thought through before they are delivered.

One of the most important drivers of this work is professional development. If we want teaching to improve, then professional development must be structured and aligned with school priorities. CPD cannot be random or disconnected; it must be part of a clear and coherent approach.

A strong CPD approach should include establishing a clear model or framework (this can be bespoke to a school), sometimes instructional in nature (particularly in schools with a high level of challenge). Teachers need clarity on what great teaching looks like and how to implement it in the classroom. This can include modelling lesson planning aligned to key strands, showing how modelling, questioning, review, and practice can be sequenced coherently across units and lessons. Responsive questioning and routines must be embedded so that teachers develop the habits that support effective instruction. Feedback cycles and observations should be developmental and supportive, offering precise and actionable guidance. Most importantly, improvement should be scaled through small and supported steps, allowing staff to build confidence and mastery over time. Obviously, you would not implement everything at once, but it is critical to think about which strategies to prioritise first. You may have the following thoughts: what strategy to implement first? How will the team or I know it’s been cemented? What happens when the strategy is cemented? What does this look like for staff? This approach ensures that professional development is not overwhelming but instead manageable and purposeful. It also aligns with the Education Endowment Foundation’s emphasis on structured and flexible implementation, where leaders provide clarity while remaining responsive to context.

In my presentation, I used multiple scenarios to illustrate common pitfalls associated with school improvement. This is a scenario involving a senior leader implementing a questioning strategy to check for understanding.

‘In a training session on Check for Understanding, a senior leader introduces the use of mini whiteboards. Teachers are asked to begin using mini whiteboards with their groups.

One group of teachers asks students to write extended sentences on their boards, encouraging them to explain their thinking in detail. This takes time, and students are still writing while others are already finished.

Another group of teachers decide to focus on simple true-or-false responses. Students quickly hold up their boards with “T” or “F” written across them.

Across the room, students are showing boards at different times. Some are still writing, others are waiting, and the teacher finds it difficult to scan the responses and gauge understanding in the moment.

In another lesson, some students have written out complete sentences, while others have only a single letter, and the room feels inconsistent in pace and approach.’

Something that was discussed in my presentation was how easy it is to idealise school improvement and talk through strategies, but the reality for many schools is that a strategy may be implemented, yet still require feedback, support, and further training sessions to ensure consistency. In the above example, it would be best for the Senior Leader to address the variance and provide clarity to staff on what’s expected, rather than to assume that the strategy is being implemented well.

Without a clear framework and shared understanding of effective teaching, leaders and teachers can struggle to identify what strong practice actually looks like. This is where strong implementation and leadership become essential. Senior leaders must be able to adapt and amend processes based on what they see in practice. School improvement is not about rigidly following a plan; it is about responding intelligently to what is happening in classrooms and in what is being taught. Leaders must support staff in understanding what effective practice looks like, provide clear guidance on how to improve, and create systems that support improvement, and in some cases, it will be marginal gains. Credibility plays a significant role in this process. Staff need to trust that leaders understand the realities of the classroom and are working alongside them to improve Teaching and Learning. When leaders provide clear frameworks, structured CPD, and supportive feedback, they build confidence and trust within the school community. It always helps to have a shared definition of these key terms. When this work is done well, the result is not just improvement on paper, but real and lasting change in classrooms, in staff confidence, and in student outcomes.

References and further reading

A School’s Guide to Implementation | EEF

Building Culture by Lekha Sharma

The Next Big Thing in School Improvement by Rebecca Allen, Matthew Evans and Ben White