Local authority approaches to supporting school improvement: Supporting schools to improve the quality of education through professional learning

Professional learning strategy to drive school improvement

The majority of local authorities have in place established and effective professional learning strategies, with the remainder taking steps to strengthen their professional learning provision. In a few local authorities, this is at a very early stage of development. All local authorities believe that professional learning plays a critical part in improvement and embed the importance of this role within their quality improvement frameworks. Increasingly, professional learning strategies are tailored to align closely with the local authorities’ learning, teaching and assessment strategies. However, the rationale for the professional learning offer and the decision-making process that informs it are not yet fully understood by school leaders and staff in a few local authorities.

Most professional learning strategies are well-informed by national policy and the needs of service and school improvement priorities. This is most effective when central officers undertake regular, robust data analysis, using a wide range of local data and intelligence, including external inspection outcomes. They ensure that this supports career-long professional development, reflecting the needs of staff at all levels. A few local authorities could use their professional review and development process more effectively to inform their professional learning programme.

Most local authorities’ strategies are based on the national model of professional learning. This supports staff to identify, participate in and reflect on the impact of professional learning on themselves as learners, and importantly on the children, young people. They provide a balance of self-directed, online professional learning and opportunities for collaborative learning. The range of learning opportunities is generally comprehensive and wide ranging. Geographical and budgetary constraints make the provision of in-person professional learning opportunities much more challenging for some. Increasingly, creative approaches are employed to mitigate these barriers.

All local authorities provide professional learning that is available universally, in addition to more targeted approaches. Nationally, improving the quality of learning and teaching to raise attainment, data-literacy, inclusion, equality and building positive relationships are common priority areas for development. Bespoke training is delivered in individual schools, learning communities, localities or across sectors, as appropriate to local context.

In the few local authorities where professional learning is very well-embedded, their approach to targeted support is responsive, varied, and agile. This enables them to adapt the delivery of professional learning programmes to meet the specific needs of individual schools or staff groups. As a result, professional learning is highly effective in improving staff skills and knowledge and, crucially, improving outcomes for children and young people.

More rigorous, consistent evaluation of the impact of professional learning is required in almost a quarter of local authorities. Officers should use the increasing rigour of quality assurance activities to inform the design and delivery of their professional learning offer. These local authorities should give greater consideration to how they can meet the needs of both local and school improvement plans, and the professional development needs of staff identified through annual professional review and development meetings.

Collaborative practice

All local authorities support staff to work collaboratively in a range of ways, for a range of purposes. Often, this is informed by strategic priorities and data analysis. Increasingly, local authorities use collaboration to build capacity to support the development of a self-supporting school system. Most local authorities use a wide range of collaborative approaches. These include the creation of networks, working parties, think-tank groups and the development of online hubs.

A few local authorities have a highly developed culture of effective collaborative working. They view collaboration as the main universal support for improvement. In these authorities, the vision for and promotion of this collaborative culture is strongly led by directors and senior leaders. In these local authorities, collaboration is creating the conditions through which supportive and empowered approaches to system-wide professional learning is being delivered. The strong culture of collaboration between school leaders and central officers is based on mutual trust and respect.

In almost all local authorities, the effective use of dedicated networks to support professional learning is common practice. In only a very few local authorities, headteachers identified a need for more opportunities to work together. Formal networks provide forums for practitioners to discuss priorities, share practice and engage in collaborative improvement activity. They are designed to provide tailored support and development relevant to specific job roles, reflecting a commitment to career-long professional development.

Typical networks include provision for newly qualified teachers, newly appointed teachers and aspiring middle leaders through to school leaders. A few local authorities are expanding network provision further to meet the needs of support staff and newly appointed or acting headteachers.

In addition to role-specific networks, a range of more subject-specific and cross-sectoral approaches are also used, for example for staff working in Gàidhlig Medium Education or with a specific focus on additional support needs. Secondary subject networks involve curriculum leaders and teachers in development work centred on subject specific professional learning and moderation. These provide opportunities to share more specific approaches to school improvement and learn about effective practice from peers. Where well-established, this encourages effective cross-cluster collaboration and is making a positive difference to the practice of those who attend. A minority of authorities have identified the need to re-establish or strengthen further secondary subject specific networks.

Smaller local authorities find collaborative working with other local authorities particularly beneficial. It allows staff to work with a wider range of partners, to share expertise and practice and develop resources together. They cite Regional Improvement Collaborative partnerships as having been instrumental in facilitating connections and partnerships with other local authorities.

Actively involving school leaders in working beyond their own school contributes positively to their own learning and development. Most local authorities operate a well-established cluster, trio or quad approach, where school leaders work with cluster colleagues or are matched with schools with similar contexts and profiles. These groups have important roles in supporting accurate, rigorous and robust peer self-evaluation. School leaders consider participation in school reviews, such as validated self-evaluation, to be highly effective forms of professional learning. Headteachers grouped across learning communities gain a broader perspective of school standards and performance across the local authority.

The ability to recruit school leaders with the necessary skills and expertise is particularly challenging in some parts of the country. Increasingly, local authorities are strengthening their approaches to leadership development to enable them to recruit to promoted posts from within their existing workforce. Aspiring leadership programmes are successful in encouraging participants to apply for promoted posts and undertake accredited learning.

Local authorities value the contribution of staff participation in more formal national leadership development programmes, such as Into Headship and Excellence in Headship, working in partnership with Education Scotland and universities. Most local authorities provide opportunities for staff to develop leadership skills through specific roles, such as curriculum champion, data lead or quality assurance and support officer.

Teachers appreciate these opportunities to work collaboratively and share their expertise in their own schools, and more widely across the authority. A few local authorities recognise the need to monitor more closely the impact that participation in professional learning has on the quality of leadership in their schools.

The use of coaching and mentoring to support leadership development is common practice across all local authorities, particularly to support newly appointed or acting headteachers. Where practice is strongest, mentors feel well-equipped to carry out this responsibility due to the provision of training in advance of taking up the role. Those in receipt of mentoring speak highly of this approach and the high-quality coaching conversations on which the mentoring is based. Headteachers comment positively on its impact on their confidence and practice.

The ongoing need to ensure that all school leaders undertake robust quality assurance and accurate self-evaluation remains a priority across the country. Professional learning is increasing school leaders’ confidence in using qualitative and quantitative data, evaluative writing, and improvement planning. A few local authorities are seeing increasing alignment with school self-evaluation, local authority evaluation of schools and outcomes from school inspection as a result.

Impact of professional learning

High-quality professional learning builds the capacity and increases the confidence of staff, impacting positively on their practice. The number of staff participating in professional learning programmes impacts positively on staff expertise and pedagogical practice. A few local authorities are aware of the variability of uptake in professional learning across their schools and are taking steps to address this. Staff engagement is particularly challenging for island-based and predominantly rural authorities, where travel and budgets are significant barriers to participation. As a result, some teachers have not participated in subject-specific professional development for a considerable period.

Restricted access to central digital professional learning platforms, although intended for general use, can also make accessibility difficult. A lack of permanency of employment for newly qualified teachers is also a challenge. This is leading to some inconsistencies in the level of teacher skills.

There is a need to strengthen approaches to systematically evaluating the quality and impact of professional learning in a minority of local authorities. In a few authorities, this is particularly the case in relation to determining improvement in the quality of learning and teaching in secondary schools. Robust self-evaluation shows that high-quality professional learning is contributing positively to improving outcomes for children and young people in a minority of local authorities. In these authorities, officers gather data to monitor the impact of professional learning on staff’s ability to adapt to the changing needs of education. This in turn is improving outcomes for children and young people.

A few local authorities have successfully overcome barriers of limited contractual hours, to enable support for learning assistants to engage in dedicated professional learning programmes. The provision of additional paid hours enables support for learning assistants to work more collaboratively within and across schools. In some instances, this has led to them gaining advanced qualifications. As a result, children and young people benefit from an improved level of support.

Almost all local authorities have a range of effective induction programmes in place for new staff. In almost all cases, these are targeted to meet the specific needs of identified groups of staff, such as newly qualified teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders and headteachers. These induction programmes support staff to feel increasingly confident in their role.

Most local authorities are strengthening their focus on improving the quality of learning, teaching and raising attainment. Those local authorities that are in the process of introducing new learning and teaching frameworks are doing this effectively through a comprehensive programme of professional learning, guidance and support. This is having a positive impact on learning and teaching approaches, improving the curriculum and developing data literacy skills. A few local authorities are committed to ensuring that all teachers across a specific sector, or at specific stages, engage with high-quality professional learning over a sustained period. These authorities report this leading to consistently better learning and teaching, particularly in primary schools.

An increasing culture of professional enquiry is supporting staff to use quality improvement methodology to improve outcomes for children and young people. Most local authorities provide a universal offer with a clear focus on raising attainment in literacy and numeracy. Nationally, an increased focus on the teaching of writing in primary schools is increasing teacher confidence in teaching and assessing writing. This is having a positive impact on levels of attainment.

Partnership working

Across the country, local authority officers engage partners and national organisations who can contribute to the provision and quality of their professional learning programme. Frequent use is made of the professional learning offers from organisations such as Education Scotland and universities. Increased collaboration and looking outwards are creating a more consistent approach to developing highly effective practice in line with national standards.

The positive impact of the professional learning provided by educational psychological services is evident in a few local authorities. They offer bespoke professional learning inputs, for example, in relation to understanding anxiety and cognitive behavioural approaches. This supports improved wellbeing for children and young people and the development of more inclusive practices across schools.

All local authorities have senior leaders or central officers who work in partnership with HM Inspectors as Associate Assessors (AAs). Local authorities and AAs themselves value highly the quality of professional learning that inspection experience provides.

All local authorities use the skills and experience of AAs to enhance their understanding of national standards and expectations, but to varying degrees. AAs work in partnership with local authority officers and headteachers to build capacity and support improvement. This includes providing support for Gàidhlig. A few local authorities have sought to increase the number of AAs across their service to enable them to utilise their skills more strategically. In almost all local authorities, AAs are becoming integral to the improvement work of central teams, in evaluating and validating the quality of education provided in schools. They support the development of increased confidence in applying national standards to self-evaluative professional activity.