New Edition of Policy Series No. 38

Professor David Hopkins
photo credit: DEECD

We are pleased to share with you the most recent edition of PREAL’s Policy Series No. 38, “Large-Scale School Improvement. Challenges for schools and education systems.”

This issue discusses the approach of David Hopkins, professor emeritus at the University of London’s Education Institute, to large-scale school improvement.

After reviewing successful reforms of individual schools over the past 25 years, Hopkins identifies 5 different phases that most mature systems have gone through. Each phase builds on the previous one, and none are mutually exclusive. The phases involve first understanding the organizational culture of the school; then, developing action research and individual initiatives (including teacher and school review); managing change and emphasizing leadership; building capacity for learning at the local level; and finally, identifying the path towards systemic improvement.

Hopkins argues that in the fifth phase, which is currently underway, successful school reforms must be applied on a large scale to achieve systemic improvement. In the past, many systemic reforms efforts have failed because they have focused on the wrong variables--only on teaching and learning (rather than looking at the organizational conditions of a school), or did not take a systemic approach to reform. A key concept is maintaining a balance between the national agenda and school leaders. The adaptive, systemic changes that turn a school into a great school are driven by targeting personalized learning, professional teaching, developing networks and collaboration, and intelligent accountability. These ingredients require the ability to “segment” schools based on their developmental stage and a strong, systemic leader in order to maximize impact.

Hopkins argues that reforms should also anticipate a sixth phase and consider the challenges that will arise in the future.

The full text of the document can be found online here.