Successive governments in England in the last thirty years have favoured two main and overlapping strategies for school improvement. The first is structural change, most notably through the establishment of academies and school trusts. The second, sometimes termed school-led system leadership, involves ‘strong’ schools and ‘system leaders’, incentivised by increased prestige and resources, taking responsibility for ‘failing’ schools and groups of schools (Greany & Higham, 2018). While such macro- and meso-level interventions may lead to short-term gains in outcomes, those improvements are not always sustained. At the same time such policy reforms are fragmenting the education system, further disadvantaging young people by exacerbating social segregation (Hutchins & Francis, 2018). The Pathways to Success project, instigated in 2020, is part of a region-wide educational recovery strategy within Greater Manchester to support schools in addressing the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 epidemic (Armstrong & Rayner, 2021). The aim is to ensure support for all children and young people, paying particular attention to those who are vulnerable to underachievement, marginalisation and exclusion. The strategy is distinctive in that it is led by educational professionals and is underpinned involves cross-border cooperation between schools from different communities. University researchers have facilitated this process by providing a space for practitioners to reflect on their professional experiences, at the same time gathering data on the practicalities of supporting vulnerable learners during global pandemic. In this paper, we draw on data generated via a series of online focus groups with teachers and leaders who worked collaboratively to share ideas and experiences of the past two years. Our findings show how, faced with unprecedented challenges brought about by Covid-19, schools in Greater Manchester have demonstrated resilience, resourcefulness, adaptability and ingenuity to maintain an appropriate climate for teaching and learning for the young people they serve. This serves to remind us of the vast pools of (often untapped) expertise and knowledge that exist within schools (Ainscow et al, 2012) and the strong appetite within the system for inter-school collaborative activity (Armstrong & Ainscow, 2018). The participating school leaders repeatedly highlighted how engaging in collaborative dialogue with their peers in a neutral space has been a significant source of support and reassurance, both professionally and personally, during the pandemic. We conclude by advocating that collaboration between schools potentially offers a more positive and sustainable means of promoting equity within education (Teemant et al, 2021) than a model based on competition and separation.

Ainscow, M., Dyson, A., Goldrick, S. and West, M. (2012a) Developing equitable education systems. London: Routledge Armstrong, P. & Rayner, S. (2021) Pathways to Success: Phase 2 Report. University of Manchester/Greater Manchester Education and Employability Board. Available at https://gmlp.org.uk/The-Greater-Manchester-educational-recovery-strate/ Armstrong, P. W. and Ainscow, M. (2018) School-to-school support within a competitive education system: views from the inside. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 29(4), pp. 614-633 Teemant, A., Borgioli Yoder, G., Sherman, B.J. and Santamaría Graff, C., 2021. An equity framework for family, community, and school partnerships. Theory Into Practice, 60(1), pp.28-38.