Starting a new school in September is exciting, but it can be overwhelming – new policies, new colleagues, new context, new everything.
In this series of posts, we’re looking at how the implementation behaviours outlined in the EEF’s A School’s Guide to Implementation might help leaders to make this transition for new staff easier. Here we focus on UNITE.
Unite people around what is being implemented, how it will be implemented, and why it matters.
We tend to focus heavily on the ‘what’ for new staff – of course we should. But it’s also important to communicate the ‘why’. ‘What’ a school does comes from the values, beliefs and knowledge of the staff in that school so there is always a why. It’s important to articulate these to new colleagues.
Poor implementation can often be traced to differing values, understanding, and practices among staff. This incoherence creates ambiguity, meaning colleagues can appear as though they are on the same page when they are not.
If you were to join one of our Dixons Academies, you’d notice that there are many whole-school routines. When you may not have experience of whole school routines, it can certainly feel overwhelming. Partly because there are so many specific approaches to learn, and partly because you might be asking – why do we need these?
It doesn’t take much for leaders to share the rationale for these routines, how they were conceived, how they have evolved, why this not that. Not only does this help the implementation of this routine, it helps with an understanding of an overarching principal. (You can read more about routines in this excellent series from James Dyke: designing; establishing; sustaining.)
What are the principles and values that guide the practice in your school?
Clarifying jargon for new starters
When joining any organisation, you are faced with so much new jargon. Is it a SOL or a SOW? A TA, LSA, PSA or ETA? A correction, a consequence or a detention? I’m not saying that every new member of staff needs a phrasebook or an interpreter with them, but effectively implementation thrives on clarity.
Much of the time jargon refers to something familiar – it’s a local dialect. For example, someone may be flummoxed by a reference to the ‘Rouse the Dead’ strategy from Shaun Allison and Andy Tharby’s Making Every Lesson Count, a way of responding to pupils who say ‘I don’t know’. Call it ‘No Opt Out’ and it all makes sense.
Harder to spot are differences in understanding of the same term. Do new staff have the same understanding of retrieval practice as you do? Adaptive teaching?
We should communicate and overcommunicate what we mean, and be mindful that new members of staff may not have the same understanding that existing colleagues do.
Codifying core components
Schools don’t often let new members of staff flounder in the dark. There are policies, training sessions, mentoring, induction etc. But if we take policies for example, there can sometimes be a gap between the policy as written and the current practice, alongside the understanding and expectation of current practice. This exploration of tacit knowledge isn’t just for new members of staff, but it is them who may feel it the most.
Key is to codify the core components of an approach. These are the essential principles and practices that underpin the approach and are needed to make it work. If these are not delivered with fidelity, then it is harder for that new member of staff. This way, we can see where the difference between policy and practice is a lack of fidelity or intelligent adaptation.
