Sir David Carter was the keynote speaker at a Schools North East virtual roundtable on 29 April.
Sir David Carter is the Director of System Leadership at Ambition Institute and former National Schools Commissioner.
Sir David focused on the challenges of leading schools out of the pandemic to help support Schools North East Partner Multi Academy Trust CEOs. He outlined his thoughts about ‘recovery’, the need for a new definition of school improvement, and that schools can no longer use the old statistical approach and treat ‘the return’ as an attempt to turn the clock back to January 2020. Instead Sir David outlined a systematic approach based on a McKinsey Consulting model that involved the 5 phases of: Resolve, Resilience, Return, Re-imagination, and Reform.
Sir David set out a clear framework for Trusts to use to help them recover from the impact of the pandemic. This included underlying principles to guide school leaders as well as the Department for Education. Sir David stressed the need to target recovery efforts at all students, but especially the most disadvantaged, and that the most effective means of doing this was through quality teaching, first and foremost.
However, Sir David also underlined the need to ‘manage fatigue’ within schools through much stronger ‘wellbeing and career development strategies in each trust’. This is also a message that needs to resonate with the government as well, as our schools emerge from the pandemic with staff exhausted and in need of a proper period of recuperation. This will bolster impact in the classroom and enable our schools to sustain their ‘recovery’ efforts over the medium and long terms as well.
Sir David’s key messages fitted exactly with the key messages of Sir Kevan Collins at the Schools North East Curriculum Conference 2021 earlier in the month. He also talked of the need to focus on the role of digital learning including the role of ‘parents as partners in learning’ and of the vital importance of an appropriate curriculum.
On a less positive note, however, was the recognition that although there is an obvious need that ‘recovery’ must be properly funded and involve a substantial amount of additional money. He conceded that significant additional sums, in the current economic climate, were unlikely to be forthcoming. He said that schools, therefore, needed to ensure that they did not fixate on cash as a problem solver and look to formal collaboration between schools as the way forward. Sir David very strongly echoed the comments of Sir Kevan Collins where he stressed the importance of a school-led recovery plan.
And finally, Sir David reiterated that if schools are to make a full and successful recovery, they will require time as much as anything else. Time to experiment, embed, and disseminate good practice throughout the system. Something, sadly, schools get only too rarely!
Schools North East see the Government’s “Recovery Plan”, due to be announced at the end of May, as the top educational priority moving forward and is in the process of designing a ‘roadmap’ to guide policymakers down a road which fully supports and empowers our schools. There is no time to waste in ensuring that all students who have suffered due to the pandemic are able to reintegrate and re-socialise into the school system as soon as possible and do much more than the bare minimum of ‘catching up’ lost learning. ‘Catch up’ is unambitious and will only put NE students, particularly the most disadvantaged, in the same position as pre-covid i.e. up to 18 months behind their more advantaged peers nationally. Schools North East will continue to lead the way and demand that as well as instilling a sense of urgency into a well-funded, school-led recovery, that the Government is as ambitious as possible for the children of our region and supports our schools to achieve the high ambitions they already have for their pupils.
If you have any thoughts on how Schools North East can guide Government thinking on “catch-up” and “recovery” please email info@schoolsnortheast.com
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