Leading a whole education in multi-academy trusts 

This research explores how multi-academy trust (MAT) leaders work to develop their organisations in ways which enhance their ability to offer a ‘whole education’ for both staff and students. The research builds on development work with a network of 20 MATs – all of which are members of the charity Whole Education - over a two-year period. The development work identified four areas as particularly ‘knotty’ but important for organisational development in trusts:

• Structural integration
• Navigating autonomy, agency and prescription
• Knowledge mobilisation and boundary spanning
• Sensemaking and leadership 

This research involved case study visits to five trusts involved in the Whole Education network, to explore how they are working to address the four ‘knotty’ issues. A total of 40 senior leaders and staff from the five trusts were interviewed.  A cross-case analysis will draw out common themes for inclusion in the final report.  

Principal investigator: Professor Toby Greany
Co-investigator: Dr Eleanor Bernardes
Funder: University of Nottingham HEIF
Further information: Whole Education website 
Project report: A constant dance: a study of values-based leadership in Multi-Academy Trusts

Educating for the future: New locality partnership models to delivery high quality education for all

The LocalED project (2022 - 2024) was designed to test new locality models for the English school system led by local authorities, combined authorities and school led partnerships. Each of the nine localities involved focussed on one of three ‘pilot’ areas:

1. Improving outcomes for vulnerable children
2. Working as a combined authority
3. Strengthening professional accountability.

The overarching question for the evaluation was: What are we learning about leading successful locality working? 

Local leaders worked to forge coherence in terms of how different partners worked together to improve place-based outcomes. Coherence was never ‘done’, so required continuous attention and effort. It was not about tight standardisation or straightjackets. Rather, it was about developing collective moral purpose, a common cause, and integrated ways of working.

The overarching message from the evaluation is that local coherence is critical for successful and inclusive educational systems, and that that coherence can be strengthened through relatively low-cost forms of support and encouragement, as demonstrated by the LocalEd model.

More specific implications include:

• where local leaders take time to focus on granular ‘human stories’ of individual children, and to understand what these examples tell them about fault-lines in their wider systems and support structures for vulnerable children, this can support transformative change.
• where a combined authority works in collaboration with LAs, trusts, schools and wider partners to identify and address gaps in provision and to connect up professionals across boundaries, this can generate economies of scale and stimulate new ways of working.
• where local school partnerships take collective ownership of professional accountability this can help to overcome some of the perverse outcomes that arise from hierarchical accountability systems. 

Principal investigator: Professor Toby Greany
Co-investigator: Dr Eleanor Bernardes
Funder: The Assocation of Education Committees
Further information: report due 30 January 2025

European sectoral social partners in education promoting quality of academic teaching and management

This project is a collaborative endeavour between European level social partners, European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE) and European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), that seeks to understand how more effective social dialogue can contribute to enhanced teaching and management in the higher education sector.

The project is based on a survey of all EFEE and ETUCE members and the outcomes of two peer learning workshops held in Portugal and the Netherlands.

The final project will inform the action plan for the European Sectoral Social Dialogue in Education action plan for future work.

Principal investigator: Professor Howard Stevenson
Research team: Dr Sharon Clancy and Maria Antonieta Vega Castillo
Funder: The European Federation of Education Employers
Further information: Project kick-off conference. 
Further details will be available on the EFEE and ETUCE websites.

Strengthening the capacity of education employers within the European semester process

The European semester has become an increasingly significant element in the European Union’s governance arrangements, extending far beyond its role in monitoring economic performance, but also playing a key role in social policy co-ordination. Within this social policy co-ordination function education policy is particularly prominent.

As Europe emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, the role of the European semester in plans for recovery and resilience will be central. This projects identifies opportunities to enhance social dialogue in the European semester with a specific focus on supporting education employers’ organisations to make effective interventions into the process.

Principal investigator: Professor Howard Stevenson
Research assistant: Ms Vasiliki Selechopoulou 
Funder: The European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE)
Further information: The final report will be on the EFEE website.

Evaluation of the Western Excellence in Learning and Leadership (WELL) project

The WELL project is run by Cumbria County Council, in partnership with the Education Endowment Foundation. The three-year £5.6m project aims to achieve sustainable excellence in Allerdale and Copeland schools by introducing evidence informed practices and proven interventions through teacher and support staff development as well as wider local capacity building. 

The evaluation is adopting an ‘improvement science’ approach and operates in two strands: 

• Implementation and Process Evaluation (IPE): assessing the various programme strands. Data collection methods include: interviews, surveys, longitudinal case studies of participating schools, observational research, action research, workshops.
• Impact Evaluation: drawing on pupil assessment and demographic data to assess impact, including on disadvantaged students, using a regression discontinuity design.      

Evaluation reports and findings will be published annually and in a final report. The research team will draw on the data to inform wider outputs which focus on questions relating to the implementation of evidence-informed practices at scale and specifically in remote, rural communities and schools as well as methodological aspects of an ‘improvement science’ evaluation.    

Principal investigator: Professor Toby Greany
University of Nottingham: Co-investigator: Dr Mike Adkins and Dr Natallia Yakavets
Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (CUREE): Professor Philippa Cordingley and Bart Crisp
Funder: Cumbria County Council
Further information: Project website and annual evaluation reports

Sustainable school leadership: Comparing approaches to training, supply and retention of senior school leaders across the UK

Senior school leaders play an essential role in shaping educational experiences and outcomes for children, particularly in the most challenging communities. 

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were concerns that many existing leaders were leaving the profession early, while potential future leaders were often choosing not to apply for headship, due to the pressures and workloads involved. The pandemic has exacerbated these pressures, raising the risk of a headteacher succession crisis. Furthermore, there are challenges in terms of diversity, with certain groups of leaders facing additional barriers to promotion, while schools in the most challenging contexts often face increased recruitment challenges. 

Policy makers across the UK have prioritised actions to enhance the supply, quality and diversity of senior school leaders. These approaches reflect a wider global trend towards defining and promoting a singular interpretation of 'effective' leadership, for example through national headteacher standards and training programmes. But these national frameworks can be problematic, given that individual, school and local needs differ widely. 

This study will develop a deeper understanding of approaches to the training, supply and retention of senior school leaders - in particular headteachers - for primary and secondary schools and will offer a vision for where and how these approaches can be enhanced.

Principal investigators: Profesor Toby Greany and Professor Pat Thomson, University of Nottingham
Co-investigator: Dr Tom Perry, University of Warwick
Senior research fellow: Dr Mike Collins
Funder: ESRC
Further information: Project page

A UK-Ireland investigation into the statistical evidence-base underpinning adult learning and education policy-making

This project focuses on the use of data from the Learning & Work Institute’s annual Adult Participation in Learning Survey which provides invaluable insights into adult education and learning. The project investigates the data through analysing trends in relation to the relevant social, economic and political critical conjunctures of the past 25 years. Data from APiL is matched to wider social policy insights and to other leading data sources such as PIAAC, the Adult Education Survey and the Labour Force Survey, as well as to policy maker testimony, gathered through interviews.

Principal investigator: Dr Sharon Clancy
Senior Research Fellow: Dr Betul Babayigit
Funder: ESRC
Further information: Project page