Achieving excellence and equity: reflections on the development of practices in one local district over 10 years

Abstract

As education systems in many countries respond to demands for higher standards, they face the challenge of how to achieve equity. Put simply, how can systems continue to raise overall levels of achievement whilst reducing the gap between higher and lower performing groups of learners? This paper reflects on evidence collected as a result of a series of studies, all carried out in 1 English local education authority, to address this agenda. This programme of research was unusual in that it tracked developments over 10 years. The findings point to the potential of processes of networking between schools as a possible way forward. At the same time, they also reveal how the implementation of such collaborative approaches presents difficulties, particularly within a policy context that emphasises competition between schools as the main driver for reform.

Keywords:

• equity
• networking
• communities of practice

Acknowledgements

I must also acknowledge the contributions of local authority partners in “Tramton” and my colleagues Tony Booth, Chris Chapman, Alan Dyson, Anne Francis, Jo Frankham, Sue Goldrick, Andy Howes, Kirstin Kerr, Daniel Muijs, Dave Tweddle, and Mel West, all of whom contributed to the ideas presented in this paper.

Notes

1. I monitored the first phase of development with my colleague Andy Howes as an evaluation commissioned by the local authority. It involved the shadowing of staff, observations of meetings, and a programme of individual interviews with stakeholders (see Ainscow & Howes, 2001).

2. Phase 2 was carried out in partnership with my colleagues Peter Farrell, Andy Howes, and Jo Frankham as part of a larger study funded by the Teaching and Learning Research Programme of the Economic and Social Research Council (Award L139 25 1001).

3. The third phase was an authority commissioned evaluation I carried out with Anne Francis.