New development: Turning around failing schools—lessons from Lahore

Abstract

This article reviews the operation of two improvement partnerships in Pakistan, where third sector organizations adopted selected state schools. The authors reflect on the lessons arising from both schemes in the light of the Institute of Educational Sciences’ (IES) guidance on turning around schools. Although the operation of both partnership schemes is context specific, the findings should nevertheless be of interest to policy-makers in other countries. They also show how some aspects of the IES’s guidance may need to be adapted and augmented, especially in the context of developing countries.

Keywords:

• Adopt-a-school
• education partnerships
• Pakistan
• school improvement
• school turnaround

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sidra Irfan

Sidra Irfan is Assistant Professor in the Institute of Administrative Sciences, University of the Punjab, Pakistan.

Sandra Nutley

Sandra Nutley is Professor of Public Policy and Management at the University of St Andrews, UK.