Session Information
26 SES 04 A, International Perspectives on the Improvement of Schools Facing Challenging Circumstances
Symposium
Contribution
This paper focuses on a systematic attempt to rethink roles and responsibilities across an urban education district within a relatively small and hierarchical education system (Chapman, 2019). In doing so, it draws out the lessons and learning from the Every Dundee Learner Matters (EDLM) strategy, focusing on how all educational establishments have adopted an inquiry-based stance to move knowledge, expertise around the system to support more equitable approaches to education. The challenging context in which this strategy was initiated involved working with educators during lockdown at a time when much of the developmental work was initiated virtually due to school lockdown and then subsequently with establishments facing challenges of staffing pressures and student attendance due to the pandemic. This paper explores the extent to which an inquiry driven university-district RPP can promote the conditions to support equitable improvement across a local education system. The strategy is centred on the principle of equity, defined as ‘A process of improving the presence, participation and progress of all children and young people in nurseries and schools by identifying and addressing contextual barriers.’ The theoretical framework draws on an ecology of equity that explores issues from within- between- and beyond schools in terms of building an inquiring stance and leadership capacity by fostering authentic collaboration and a Networked Learning System (Hadfield and Chapman, 2010; Ainscow, Chapman and Hadfield, 2021; Chapman and Ainscow, 2022; Madrid Miranda and Chapman, 2021). Design based implementation research (DBIR) has been used to identify a series of design principles that underpin the approach. The evidence-base for this paper is largely drawn from in-depth interviews and focus groups with a range of school leaders and teachers within the system which have been triangulated with meeting notes and documentary evidence and other stakeholder perspectives combined with artefacts generated from collaborative action research which are important in terms of identifying progress, facilitators and barriers in creating the conditions for developing more equitable approaches to progress. Emerging findings suggest that even within the unprecedented times during the global pandemic, educators have been resourceful and resilient in terms of engaging in professional learning and developing an inquiring approach. Findings highlight institutional, local system and national facilitators and barriers to progress. These include social, political and cultural factors that can accelerate and/or dampen progress. Furthermore, there are a number of structural and procedural dimensions that operate at both the institutional and local level.
References
References Ainscow, M., Chapman, C. and Hadfield, M. (2020) Changing education systems: a research-based approach.Routledge Chapman, C and Ainscow, M (2022) (eds) Educational Equity: Pathways to success, Abingdon/New York: Routledge Chapman, C. (2019) From hierarchies to networks: possibilities and pitfalls for educational reform of the middle tier. Journal of Educational Administration, 57(5), pp. 554-570. (doi: 10.1108/JEA-12-2018-0222) Chapman, C. and Hadfield, M. (2010) Supporting the middle tier to engage with school-based networks: change strategies for influencing and cohering. Journal of Educational Change, 11(3), pp. 221-240. (doi: 10.1007/s10833-009-9125-y)
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