Administrators ′ Corner
Moving your school from outstanding to exceptional
By Leisa Simapili better than other schools you are , but rather an opportunity to have a vested interest in the success of another school .
Focus on people
When a school is already outstanding , it normally does not have the same level of pressure to improve . This gives it a little bit more space to breathe . Use this space and freedom to focus on the people in your school . Offer training , incentives and opportunities to ALL members of staff . Allow them to explore other areas of learning and interest that is not typical . The results could be amazing in building morale and staff retention .
The past year has seen a record number of schools being rated outstanding by the inspection authorities . This is fantastic news for the hardworking school leaders , teachers , students and parents who have contributed to these results .
Perhaps your school was rated outstanding because your leadership is inspirational in providing clear vision and direction . Maybe there are high expectations of all the students . It could be that your curriculum engages and supports students and is personalised to accommodate individual aptitudes and needs . It is likely that all your teachers and school leaders insist on excellence in the quality of classroom teaching , and you have rigorous systems in place , which means that leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of all the members of staff . You set challenging targets and make good use of pupil tracking systems .
Your school has been awarded the coveted outstanding rating . Now what ? What can you do to become even better ?
Below are four suggestions for things that outstanding schools can do to move from outstanding to exceptional .
Offer genuine support to other schools
The KHDA Dubai has recognised the value in outstanding schools supporting other schools . They have developed a programme to help them do so . Outstanding schools may now be able to avoid external inspections by offering genuine help to other schools . Good practice is shared among schools and the entire city or country benefits . The value of offering help to other schools is not only of benefit to the recipient school , but also to your school . This is a good way to help develop the leadership , coaching and mentoring skills of your staff members . This is not an opportunity to show how much
Challenge the status quo
Having been rated outstanding means that you have been doing something right . Now is the time to do something different . Allow your members of staff to do things differently . Conduct more research into what works in teaching and learning . Be an example and challenge the status quo . You now have the space to not have ‘ school as usual ’. Try shorter hours , extended hours , no textbooks , or no technology in some classes . Do whatever it is that you believe will work for your students , then publish your results and make changes . Become a centre of research and excellence in education .
Identify your school ’ s unique strengths and share them
This is not the same as sharing good practice . This is superficial but still necessary . Many schools have very unique strengths but no one knows about them . Now that you have been rated outstanding start sharing your strengths with the world . Encourage your leaders and staff members to write articles for education magazines like Teach Middle East Magazine , participate in chats on Twitter and other social media channels . Write and publish press releases on your school ’ s strengths . Yes , exceptional schools make a deliberate effort in building their public profile . No , you do not need a public relations company to help you in this endeavour . Good publicity is good for your school .
8 | Sep - Oct 2016 | | Class Time