Developing Teachers and School Leaders in England: How Teaching School Alliances Make a Difference

• In Event: 53.053 - Professional Development Across Borders: Alliances, Academic Interactions, and Teacher Self-Efficacy

Abstract

The concept of Teaching Schools has contributed to a much wider educational debate about the nature of collaboration between schools as a means of providing effective professional development to teachers and as a mechanism for improving schools. This paper reports on a major three-year study (2013-16) commissioned by the UK Department for Education on the effectiveness and impact of Teaching Schools in England. This mixed methods research, which employed 26 longitudinal case studies, a national survey of Teaching Schools, and secondary analysis of national performance and inspection results, provides compelling evidence that Teaching Schools and their Alliances have made a significant contribution to the development of effective practice within and across schools in an increasingly school-led self-improving system in England.

Authors

• Qing Gu, University of Nottingham

• Simon Rea

• Lindsey Smethem, University of Nottingham

• Matt Varley, Nottingham Trent University

• John Dunford