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Creating a self-improving school system

Author: Hargreaves, David H
Subject: School improvement
Audience: Headteachers, Middle leaders and aspiring headteachers, Assistant director of children's services, Stakeholders and partners
Date of publication: September 2010   |   File format and size: PDF, 166 Kb

What will the future school system look like? David H Hargreaves explores the conditions necessary to achieve a sustainable, self-improving school system.

There are four building blocks of a self-improving system:

  • capitalising on the benefits of clusters of schools
  • adopting a local solutions approach
  • stimulating co-construction between schools
  • expanding the concept of system leadership

This report looks in detail at these building blocks and although they may already be partially in place they need to be strengthened so that schools collaborate in more effective forms of professional development and school improvement.

This think piece explores the conditions necessary to achieve a sustainable, self-improving school system, with a particular focus on the development of school clusters and the associated provision of cluster leaders. A sketch of how such a system might evolve over the next five years is discussed.