Less successful schools “nurture a more collegiate environment” while the best schools “reduce professional autonomy”. These are among the perplexing conclusions of an otherwise interesting Hay Group study of school effectiveness (page 2).
Will this condemnation of collegiality and professionalism lead to a cultural revolution in Britain’s schools? If so, the functionaries of the present education establishment had better beware. For a start, London’s schools commissioner Tim Brighouse would be banished to the gulags for encouraging the capital’s schools to join together in “collegiates”. Staff at the National College for School Leadership would be sent for re-education in the Nottinghamshire paddy fields for promoting the c-word.
If collegiality is a weakness, why does the same report identify teamwork and learning from colleagues as characteristics of success?
