The 9 Pillars and the London

Challenge
Policy Drivers for scaling up
school system improvement
Prue Barnes-Kemp

Nine Pillars of Greatness

The key ingredients for success are outlined
in the Nine Pillars based on learning from
the London Challenge.
Overriding all of this is the need for a strong
challenge to poor performance and a
willingness to take the hard decisions when
those charged with improvement fail to
deliver.

Nine Pillars of Greatness

A shared vision, values, culture & ethos, based on the highest
expectations of all members of the school community
Inspirational leadership at all levels throughout the school
Exceptional teaching, learning, assessment & feedback to support
the highest levels of attainment & achievement
A relentless focus on engaging and involving students
Personalised and highly effective continuous professional
development within a learning community
A stimulating and inclusive environment and climate for learning
A rich and creative curriculum, within and beyond the classroom,
fully meeting the needs of individuals & groups of students
High quality partnerships, with parents, the community, other
schools and networks, locally, nationally & internationally
Robust and rigorous self-evaluation, data analysis & collective
review

Defining a Pillar of Greatness

Definition
using the same words
and meaning the same
things

Principles
knowing our
collective nonnegotiables

Underpinning
pedagogy understanding the
context and relating this
to practice

Nine Pillars: Key Components

Support tailored
to a schools
specific needs
and modified as
these change &
reduce.

A collaborative process.

Raising the
quality of
school
leadership

Improving
the quality
of teaching
and learning

Detailed use of
internal and
external data

The language of
support must be
positive.

Nine Pillars - Key Components

Therefore:
How do you know that those you work with have
interpreted information or research as you have?
How often are your staff involved in professional
pedagogical discourse?
How much time is given to creating a collective
vocabulary and shared meaning of agreed
classroom practice?
How can you ensure consistency and equality of
experience for learners?

Opossum Improvement
Process
Pupil
Performance
Data

Staff
Performance
Data focus
on Teaching,
Learning &
Assessment

SDP

Professional
Development
priorities

School self
evaluation

Improvement methodology
Engaging with the
research

Reflecting and evaluating

the learning and its
impact; triangulating
evidence and outcomes

Partnership work;
coaching and mentoring

Sharing the learning and

influencing practice

Agreeing processes and

policy

Planning to Action
Action Research Group Established 5 Keys to Effective Teaching

Researched across the school though termly monitoring cycle. Videoing and peer observations used
for quality assurance

Co-construction of the Newport non-negotiables; planning, feedback & monitoring proformas

adapted

Professional Development programme established, video tutorials created, models of best practice
identified and induction materials created

3 terms

Pedagogical & theoretical research; observation, monitoring & gap analysis led to 5 common
elements

Embedment
CLARIFY AND
SHARE: Identify
and model the how

ADAPTABILITY:
Know when to
change direction or
to continue on the
agreed path

RESILIENCE:
Demonstrate
tenacity,
persevering
through significant
challenges to reach
goals. Support
perseverance in
others

TARGET
SETTING:
Transparent coconstructed targets
for all

CONSISTENCY:
Follow through on
commitments with
an appropriate
sense of urgency.
Live your word

Creating the right culture

Leadership practices that help schools succeed often
include:

Creating and sustaining a competitive school

Empowering others to make significant decisions
Providing instructional guidance
Strategic planning

What must be present in a setting to promote

these practices?

Cultural Web - Context

Stories

Rituals &
Routines

Symbols

The
School
Power
Structures

Control
Systems

Organisational
Structures

Johnson, G and Scholes, K (2001)

Element

Indicators of a backward looking

culture

Indicators of a forward looking

culture

Stories

We have students whose parents are just not

engaged and therefore the students have little chance
of success.
We always do what the Principal tells us

We know where were going

We get listened to in this school

Symbols

The staff room is messy and worn

Staff consistently arrive late and its tolerated
Staff talk about student and/ or families in a critical
way

The staff room is clean, tidy and modern

Staff behave professionally in every respect
Staff are positive and professional and
consistently have high expectations of ALL
students

Power

Decisions are made by:

Senior management / leadership team
Principal
Some staff are much more influential than others

Responsibility is devolved
Empowerment to staff and students
Peer advisory team and significant student voice
Relies on incentives more than punishment

Organisational
Structure

Hierarchical
Team/Faculty silos
Patriarchal

Flat structure
Cross-team working
Responsive decision-making with students

Control Systems
(Accountability)

Ad hoc
Lacking clarity
Autocratic

School improvement plans are shared

Intelligent accountability (Fullan, M. (2010)
Staff accountability is collective and shared
Students are actively engaged

Rituals and
Routines

Staff meetings have no real agenda

Support staff not invited to meetings and feel
unwelcome
Sending everyone emails about social events or
management issues

Staff meetings co-chaired and agenda jointly

agreed
Support staff are a strategic part of the team
Feedback and recognition integral to all
leadership
Students lead across most areas of the school
Students are valued, respected and engaged and
have responsibility for leading (e.g. Assemblies,
activities, teacher feedback etc)

Challenge vs. Benefits

Challenges

Benefits

Individual meaning
Pressures on high
performing individuals
& organisation
Buy in
Agreeing the need for
change
Consistency
Strategic vision & intent

Shared vocabulary
Transparent professional
accountability
Financial sustainability;
allocation & use of
resources
Collaboration (impact on
teaching, learning &
assessment)
Distributed leadership

School Based Projects

Reflecting on Opossums experiences what
are the challenges you face with your
school based projects?
What changes in practice are you looking
for?
Which elements need to be monitored for
you to become a High Performing
Workforce?
How will you embed change?

Summary
The clear message of this work to date is that policy must
be outward facing, and focused on investment in
professionals.
Schools may choose to focus on a system leadership
model of improvement whilst investing in professional
development.
Reflecting on the principles outlined;
How can you develop a collaborative model within
your school setting?
What are the challenges and benefits for your
organisation?