The interim report was published of a study which focused on the critical relationship between school leadership, in particular headteacher leadership, and improved pupil learning outcomes.
Source: Christopher Day et al., The Impact of School Leadership on Pupil Outcomes: Interim Report, Research Report RR018, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Dec
An article identified a number of reasons why parents' views on curriculum, pedagogy, and the purpose of schooling were commonly seen as of less relevance or legitimacy than those of teachers.
Source: Jacky Lumby, 'Parent voice: knowledge, values and viewpoint', Improving Schools, Volume 10 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Nov
The adjudicator for schools admissions said that sought-after schools were 'creaming off' children from neighbouring areas, leaving other schools with too high a proportion of children from deprived homes. He said that local authorities should use methods such as admissions lotteries to counter the problem.
Source: Annual Report: September 2006 to August 2007, Office of the Schools Adjudicator (0870 001 2468)
Links: Report | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Nov
Researchers found that nearly all (up to 95 per cent) of schools in England and Wales had a school council, and most teachers and pupils were generally positive about them. A majority of teachers (62 per cent) felt school councils should be made compulsory in England.
Source: Geoff Whitty and Emma Wisby, Real Decision Making? School Councils in Action, Research Report RR001, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | Speech | IOE press release | Citizenship Foundation press release | Young People Now report
Date: 2007-Sep
A report examined how school leaders 'contextualized' the principles of Every Child Matters and the leadership of extended schools for their local area. Every interviewee in the study felt that ECM, extended schools, and standards agendas overlapped; very few tensions between the agendas were reported.
Source: Sally Kendall, Emily Lamont, Anne Wilkin and Kay Kinder, Every Child Matters: How School Leaders in Extended Schools Respond to Local Needs, National College for School Leadership (0845 609 0009)
Date: 2007-Aug
A report said that governors were critical to the successful shaping and direction of a school, and performed a role similar to that of a non-executive board.
Source: Anne Punter, John Adams and Leah Kraithman, Adding Value to Governance, School Governors One-Stop Shop (0870 241 3883)
Links: SGOSS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report examined effective practice in democratic school governance in four European countries, including England.
Source: Ted Huddleston, From Student Voice to Shared Responsibility, Citizenship Foundation (020 7566 4130)
Links: Report | Citizenship Foundation press release
Date: 2007-Jul
A think-tank report said that every school should be part of a local system of admissions, in order to give parents a fairer choice of school places and to help tackle educational segregation. Faith schools and academies should lose the power to select their own pupils. Schools could develop a strong individual ethos without needing to control their own admissions processes.
Source: Sarah Tough and Richard Brooks, School Admissions: Fair choice for parents and pupils, Institute for Public Policy Research (020 7470 6100)
Links: Report | IPPR press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that schools in poorer parts of England were struggling to find enough governors to cope with what was an increasingly complex role. One way forward could be to have experienced, committed, and perhaps paid governors covering groups of schools.
Source: Charlotte Dean, Alan Dyson, Frances Gallannaugh, Andy Howes and Carlo Raffo, Schools, Governors and Disadvantage, York Publishing Services for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from York Publishing Services Ltd (01904 430033)
Links: Report | JRF Findings | JRF press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jun
An article examined whether predictions about greater centralization and control in educational policy-making, made after New Labour's election to power in 1997, had been realized - particularly with respect to educational leadership. Although the architecture of central steerage and control was still very much in evidence, there were strands of greater policy flexibility: but these might be as much about empowering external sponsors as anything to do with greater professional discretion.
Source: Michael Bottery, 'New Labour policy and school leadership in England: room for manoeuvre?', Cambridge Journal of Education, Volume 37 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jun
The education inspectorate in Scotland said that up to a fifth of Scotland's schools and colleges were poorly led.
Source: Leadership for Learning: The challenges of leading in a time of change, HM Inspectorate of Education in Scotland (01506 600200)
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jun
There was an increase in the number of families appealing against their allotted primary school place in England for 2005-06, according to provisional figures: 14,930 appeals were heard by an independent panel, up 9.8 per cent compared to the previous year. Of those heard, 36.1 per cent succeeded. But secondary school appeals fell by 9 per cent, to 41,650: parents won 36.4 per cent of them.
Source: Admission Appeals for Maintained Primary and Secondary Schools in England 2005/06 (Provisional), Statistical First Release 18/2007, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: SFR | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-May
A report said that schools were generally making a success of talent management and development, but warned that teachers were taking too long to reach senior roles.
Source: Room at the Top, Hay Group (020 7856 7000)
Links: Hay press release
Date: 2007-May
A report examined the nature and likely future of school headship, based on interviews with headteachers of maintained primary and secondary schools, and also independent schools, in England and Wales. Both primary and secondary headteachers regretted the extent and pace of the changes that had been imposed on them. Secondary heads were dismissive of the notion that the job had became potentially too big for one person. There was near unanimity that headteachers should be drawn from among those with classroom experience.
Source: Alan Smithers and Pamela Robinson, School Headship: Present and future, Centre for Education and Employment Research/University of Buckingham (01280 820338)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Apr
A think-tank report said that changing the head teacher in a struggling school was not likely to lead to major improvements.
Source: James O?Shaughnessy (ed.), The Leadership Effect: Can headteachers make a difference?, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650)
Links: Report | ASCL press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Apr
A report examined a programme (developed in Manchester) for training and supporting primary school staff in working with parents to build strong relationships and involvement in their children's education. The project encouraged schools to systematize and extend their parental involvement activities; and acted as a catalyst for the development of staff skills and confidence.
Source: Alan Dyson with Emma Beresford and Erica Splawnyk, The Manchester Transition Project: Implications for the Development of Parental Involvement in Primary Schools, Research Report RW95, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Feb
The government published new rules on school admissions in England, designed to ensure that all children had an equal chance of getting into their preferred school. It sought to block covert selection in schools, by outlawing a range of unfair admission practices (from February 2007 for admissions for the 2008 school year).
Source: School Admissions Code, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Code | DfES press release | NASUWT press release | ASCL press release | BBC report | Guardian report | FT report
Date: 2007-Jan
A report recommended the use of school leadership teams with wider skills, which might include non-teachers in roles up to and including taking lead responsibility for the school. But a survey of existing headteachers found that an overwhelming majority believed that a headteacher needed classroom experience in order to be a credible leader of a school.
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Independent Study into School Leadership, Research Report 818A, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260) | Alan Smithers and Pamela Robinson, School Headship: Present and Future, Centre for Education and Employment Research/University of Buckingham (01280 820338)
Links: PWC report | Technical paper | Summary | DfES press release | ASCL press release | NASUWT press release | NUT press release | CEER report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan
