Between
October 2010 and February 2011, inspectors visited 61 schools in 29 federations
that shared leadership. During the visits, they
scrutinised school assessment information and pupils’ work, observed lessons
and met with pupils and staff. In
addition, they examined questionnaire returns from the leaders of 111
federations and analysed inspection judgements from 102
of the schools within these federations that had been inspected by Ofsted three
years after federation.
At the
time of the survey, there were around 600 known schools where leadership
arrangements were shared through federation arrangements. In the large majority
of cases, these were characterised by the establishment of one senior leader across
more than one school. Incomplete data prior to 2009 makes it difficult to judge
whether the rate of schools entering into federation arrangements is
accelerating.
However, evidence gathered during the survey showed that governing bodies and
local authorities were likely to consider federation routinely, particularly
when there was a change in school leadership.
The
schools taking part in the survey had federated for one of three main reasons.
n
In 10 of
the federations visited, high performing schools had been approached, often by
the local authority, to federate with a school causing concern.
n
Thirteen
federations consisted of a number of small schools that had been in danger of
closure or were unable to recruit high-quality staff. The aim of federation in
these cases was to increase capacity and protect the quality of education
available across the schools.
n A further six federations combined schools
across different phases in an attempt to strengthen the overall education of
pupils in the community.
Governing
bodies were also instrumental in the successful establishment of a federation,
although their impact once the federation was established was more variable. In
the best federations visited, governing bodies were very effective at holding headteacher s to account for the strategic
development of the federation. In other federations the strong record of school
leadership meant that governing bodies did not challenge headteachers and
senior leaders with sufficient rigour.
The school
leaders and governors spoken to were generally very positive about the benefits
of leading more than one school in a federated arrangement. They saw
professional development, staff retention, greater availability of resources
and the ability to attract high-quality leaders as the key reasons behind
improvements to provision.
Key findings
n Teaching and learning, achievement and
behaviour had improved in all 10 of the federations visited where schools
previously judged by inspection to be weak had been federated with a more
successful school. The quality of provision and outcomes had been maintained in
all 10 of the successful schools.
n In all cases, a single system of assessing
and tracking pupil progress was used in these federations. This was always an
extension of the existing procedures in the stronger school and was one of the
first steps taken by leaders who needed accurate information to identify
weaknesses in learning.
n One major advantage of federation
governance was the improvement in the governance of weaker schools as a result
of having shared arrangements.
n In 11 of the 13 federations where schools
had federated to protect the quality of education, pupils were now enjoying an enriched
curriculum and a greater range of opportunities and extra-curricular
activities. In the two federations of this type where leadership was judged to
be only satisfactory, insufficient attention had been paid in the early stages
to the strategic purpose of the federation beyond protecting schools from
closure. In these circumstances, leaders lacked sufficient vision and had not
changed or adapted well enough from a single school model; the federated
schools had been slow at making the best of new opportunities, such as the
flexible use of resources or the sharing of good practice.
n In eight of the 13 federations where
schools had federated to protect the quality of education, there was greater
capacity to meet pupils’ needs flexibly and swiftly. This was particularly the
case for pupils whose circumstances made them vulnerable, such as those with
special educational needs and/or disabilities. This was because of the
effective pooling of resources and expertise and central coordination by a single
special educational needs coordinator.
n In all six federations where the federated
arrangements enabled pupils to transfer from one phase to another, academic
transition was greatly enhanced by a common approach to teaching, learning and assessment
between schools. As a consequence, when pupils started their new school,
provision was better tailored to meet their needs.
n In all the federations visited, effective
leadership was critical to their success in building good capacity for
sustained improvement. There was no evidence to suggest that any particular
leadership structure across the federated schools was more effective than any
other. More important was how well the structure was tailored to meet the
individual circumstances of the school in each federation.
n The 27 federations where the leadership was
judged by inspectors to be good or outstanding exhibited some common features: a
clear vision and good communication of the benefits that federation brought to
pupils, driven by the headteacher, but shared by others; well-developed
strategic plans with success criteria shared with all staff; rigorous
procedures for monitoring and evaluating the federation and holding staff to
account; well-established procedures for, and a belief in the importance of,
developing and coaching leaders at all levels; and continued professional
development of staff.
n The impact of governance was varied. In 17
federations visited, good or outstanding governance was instrumental in holding
leaders to account for the strategic ambition for the federation. In the
others, governing bodies were less effective at challenging leaders to be
accountable for strategic development.
n The biggest potential barrier to federation
resulted from concerns from parents, pupils and staff about what the changes
would mean to them. Nearly all the federations visited had avoided or overcome
this difficulty by effective communication and consultation in the early stages
of federation.
n In 17 of the federations, the local
authority facilitated the process of federation effectively, particularly
during the early stages where it provided valuable expertise and guidance. In
six more federations the local authority had been the driving force behind
persuading governing bodies and headteachers to embark on federation.
Recommendations
Schools
embarking on federation should:
n ensure that the strategic purpose of federation
and the subsequent planning to achieve it are sharply focused on the benefits
to pupils’ education
n make sure that governing bodies establish
rigorous procedures to hold leaders to account for their work that go beyond
the initial steps taken to establish the federation
n consult and communicate effectively with
parents, staff, pupils and the community at the earliest stage when considering
federation so that barriers that may arise as a result of concern about change
are avoided.
The Department
for Education should:
n provide details of a range of established federations
to local authorities and governing bodies to enable them to learn from good
practice and to avoid the pitfalls others had experienced on the road to
federation.
More information from Ofsted at
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