Research School Network: Effective Implementation – The West Yorkshire System Leaders Symposium

Jo Ashcroft, Director of Education for the Aspire Educational Trust, shares her thoughts on all things implementation.

In June 2018, I was fortunate enough to present at the West Yorkshire System Leaders Symposium, which focused upon putting evidence into practice and successful implementation. There was a fantastic ​‘buzz’ throughout the whole day, with system leaders from a variety of contexts (Research Schools, Teaching Schools, MATs, Federations, SSIF projects) coming together to unpick why evidence really matters in education and to share practice of how they currently use evidence and implement interventions in their own settings. There was also an opportunity to explore the EEF’s Guide to Effective Implementation guidance report (with a presentation from Jonathon Sharples – the author). It was really interesting to see the staged execution approach exemplified through case studies within a series of workshops, as well as an opportunity for the system leaders to spend time exploring the implications of using the guidance report for multi-school implementation. The take away reflection from the day for me was around the challenge of ensuring solid foundations for effective implementation when you are not implementing the intervention within your ​‘home’ school.