In case you missed it… recent highlights from NCSL in Dialogue, talk2learn’s online community for national education debate:
Download a pdf version of talk2learn highlights: issue 11a (156kb, 1 page)
Download a pdf version of talk2learn highlights: issue 11b (212kb, 1 page)
Download an audio version of issue 11a (1.5Mb, 3:50 mins) and issue 11b (1.4Mb, 3:25 mins)
Subscribe to the podcast to receive future updates automatically
If you are not yet a member of talk2learn, find out more about how to join
What are trust schools and what advantage is there for a school in opting for trust status?
The government has set out a distinct environmental agenda for education but how easy is it for schools in practice to manage their green commitments?
What are trust schools and what advantage is there for a school in opting for trust status?
Schools Commissioner, Sir Bruce Liddington, took to the talk2learn hotseat to answer questions on the latest addition to the range of school models aimed at increasing parental choice and raising standards. The debate was co-hosted by Ray Tarleton, headteacher of South Dartmoor Community College, and Paul Edwards, headteacher of Garforth Community College in Leeds – both trust school pathfinders.
Leonora Hanmer, chair of governors at an 11–16 high school in a London borough, wanted to know what material advantages becoming a trust could offer her school:
"We are a specialist technology college with strong local community links and work closely within a cluster of local partner institutions. I’m finding it quite difficult to assess what substantive advantages we might gain by becoming a trust school – it almost looks as if it would simply formalise what we already do."
Ray Tarleton agreed that putting current partnerships on a formal footing was one result but it was not merely an administrative move:
"[For us] the formalisation was itself a useful means of establishing some control and focus over what had developed in effective but piecemeal ways. We are delighted by the new energy and sense of purpose the trust partnerships are bringing." The trust approach can also support the ECM agenda by allowing schools to formalise work with external organisations, such as social services or charity groups, he added.
How would trust status affect BSF plans, asked a school business manager in Salford? It is an issue many school leaders raise, said Bruce Liddington:
"If a school transfers to trust status it will have no impact on BSF plans for any school and must be fully included in an authority’s BSF educational vision and investment project," he said. "It is the school that is considered in the BSF plan, its status is of no consequence."
An assistant vice-principal in Plymouth, Julian Hemsi, wondered how trusts differed from federations, given that both were concerned with cementing existing collaborations.
Bruce Liddington said that while federations, hard or soft, do enable schools to collaborate to raise standards and to deliver various functions or services through shared governance arrangements, they are not a mechanism for formalising partnerships with external bodies. "Acquiring a trust is another way to formalise collaboration between groups of schools while also drawing on the expertise and energy of external partners to strengthen their governance," he explained.
Another contributor was keen to know what impact trust status might have on a school’s ability to tap into new funds.
There are no guarantees that trust status would give smoother access to funds, said Bruce Liddington: "But something current schools with trusts have found is that with the additional support of being a partcharitable trust, the bids submitted are generally stronger."
IThe government has set out a distinct environmental agenda for education but how easy is it for schools in practice to manage their green commitments?
In a talk2learn debate, part of the interactive forum for NCSL’s Ldr magazine, Jonathan Porritt, chairman of the UK Sustainable DevelopmentCommission, said education for sustainable development was not something that can simply be delegated down to hard-pressed staff.
"It has to be a shared, embedded set of commitments," he insisted. "Indeed, it needs to be mainstreamed not just across the curriculum, but across the totality of what is going on in every school and its surrounding community."
Echoing the point, Stan Terry, a consultant with a special interest in environmental sustainability, said it was important not to see the green agenda as just ‘yet another initiative’:
"Sustainability shouldn’t be a bolt-on process. Start from a serious piece of thinking and then restructure the school with sustainability as a focus. It makes sense on so many fronts. Sustainable approaches to procurement can assist the creation of a market for such goods and schools can contribute to increasing the market for such goods."
Developing an environmental management system should save the school money, he added. "Best of all, by exemplifying sustainability, the message gets delivered into the community."
Sustainability shouldn’t be a bolt-on process. Start from a serious piece of thinking and then restructure the school with sustainability as a focus.
Margaret Richards, a school business manager in a small rural primary in Essex, agreed but said that, in reality, with staff and time in short supply, yet more culture change was difficult to contemplate:
"Although Jonathan Porritt quite rightly says the responsibility shouldn’t be ‘dumped’ on one member of staff, it has to start somewhere with someone and when you are already working to capacity it can be difficult to add another stress, no matter how worthwhile."
Contributors also had plenty of practical suggestions to offer. Zoe Mitchell, a year 5/6 leader from Manchester, said: "We asked the site manager to only put lights on in the corridors in the morning (every other one) and to leave classroom lights for teachers. When teachers arrive, they open blinds in the first instance, only turning on lights when really necessary. The school bursar is really on board as less electricity means saving some money."
Stephen Keeble, assistant headteacher at Stradbroke Business and Enterprise College in Suffolk, argued that student voice could be used more to lead on initiatives: "Most young people are very aware of the issues so rather than getting them to monitor energy use, have a clear agenda at school council and empower students to make an impact and be involved, let them design and lead the initiative. This gives students ownership of any project or cross-curricular focus and has an impact on their learning and teaching and ultimately their views on citizenship and their role within a sustainable community."