The following article comes from, Amanda Blackburn, Executive Headteacher in SDBE MAT.
I count myself fortunate to work for a forward-thinking Trust that values and encourages collaboration. Research [i] has shown that there are multiple benefits to collaboration including staff retention, higher pupil achievement and greater teacher efficacy. I recently had an opportunity to join a Leadership Delegation with Global School Alliance to Mexico and my experience gave me an authentic example of collaboration at its best.
I travelled with a diverse group of colleagues: both in regards to school contexts (a mix of primary, secondary and all-through schools from a range of geographical areas including London, South-East England, Manchester and Morocco) and personal backgrounds (within the group, colleagues originated from England, Peru, South Africa, France, Kenya, Australia and Morocco).
We spent time visiting schools in Merida and Mexico City and had opportunities to meet with and talk to children and staff, whilst planning the focus for upcoming pupil trips to partner schools in Mexico. The experience was invaluable – not only the opportunity to initiate meaningful partnerships with our schools but also to share experiences and thinking with a group of leaders who themselves shared stories of their schools, their approaches and their ambitions for their students.
I have come away from the delegation to Mexico full of plans for our children’s visit and also full of ideas to share with my leadership team and implement in my Trust. One specific example was the ways that different schools promote oracy and pupils’ confidence in public speaking – this is one of our key current school improvement priorities and the delegation had opportunities to reflect on the strategies that schools used to encourage effective oracy. This collaborative experience has certainly been appreciated and will have a positive impact on our school community as we strive to prepare children to be global citizens of the future.
[1] Kraft MA and Papay JP (2014) Can professional environments in schools promote teacher development? Explaining heterogeneity in returns to teaching experience. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 36(4): 476–500.
