: Implementation in Small Schools Key considerations for small schools implementing educational strategies using EEF’s implementation guidance report.

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has released the new and updated Guidance Report on Implementation, A School’s Guide to Implementation. The guidance has three recommendations:

1. Adopt the behaviours that drive effective implementation.
2. Attend to the contextual factors that influence implementation.
3. Use a structured but flexible implementation process.

Here in Cornwall, there are well over one hundred small schools. In this blog I will explore how leaders and teachers in small schools can think about and apply these recommendations to implementation.

Small schools, with their unique characteristics and close-knit communities, offer a distinct educational experience. However, implementing new educational strategies in such settings can be challenging due to their size and resource constraints. Here are some key considerations for small schools when implementing new strategies based on the research evidence.

The evidence is clear; to do implementation well schools must enact the crosscutting behaviours that drive effective implementation. These behaviours are:

• Engage
• Unite
• Reflect

“The way in which people are involved in implementation and the quality of their interactions really matters.” Engaging people in collaborative processes, so they have the potential to influence change and by clearly communicating and actively guiding the process is essential. Opportunities must be meaningful rather than cursory and engage as many stakeholder groups as possible. Small schools often have a strong sense of community and close relationships between staff, pupils, and families. These strengths can be leveraged during implementation, particularly when enacting engagement.

Uniting people around what is being implemented, how it will be implemented and why it matters is essential. Actions that align and unite people are key to effective implementation. Incoherence and ambiguity can be avoided by activities that unite views and values, knowledge and understanding, skills and techniques and the implementation process. Professor Jonathan Sharples describes the unite behaviour as the beating heart of this guidance. ​“All the hazards occur at the interfaces” says a friend of Prof. Sharples, the points at which information gets passed from one agent or group of agents to another. With fewer staff, small schools can limit the dilution of information around implementation, ensuring that all stakeholders are clear on the core components of an intervention. They can unite in their understanding, beliefs, vision and values, potentially more easily than larger settings.

Reflection should underpin any school’s approach to improvement and evidence-informed decision making. By reflecting on pupil needs and current practices, schools can clearly define problems to be addressed. By reflecting on the fit and feasibility of an evidence-informed intervention, schools can select the best bet for their setting. By reflecting on implementation progress, alongside barriers and enablers, schools can monitor, adapt and improve implementation. Small schools should consider ways to do this carefully. With fewer staff, it may be possible to build a reflective culture that permeates the setting. Leaders should be deliberate about providing opportunities for targeted reflection on aspects of implementation, but also lead their staff in becoming more reflective practitioners. Many small school leaders with multiple roles including teaching, may be able to model this behaviour and lead by example.

The behaviours that drive effective implementation are influenced by contextual factors. These factors can either enable or constrain efforts to implement approaches. The guidance report suggests schools consider three areas of contextual factors:

• What is being implemented
• Systems and structures
• People who enable change

Features of an intervention impact on how it will be implemented. Well specified approaches may be easier to implement that those that are vaguely defined. Schools should consider these features of what is being implemented and ask whether the approach is:

• Evidence-informed
• Right for their setting
• Feasible to implement

The new explore tool in the guidance report can be used to take schools through this thinking. Small schools must reflect on how the nature of the potential intervention will influence their ability to enact the behaviours that drive effective implementation. Questions around feasibility and ​‘rightness’ of fit for their setting will often be a good starting point.

Schools should take care not to overlook the systems and structures that make implementation possible. ​“While implementation is a fundamentally social process, it relies on a range of systems and structures that create the conditions for those interactions to occur.” These systems and structures influence implementation partly by enabling or constraining the enacting of the behaviours. Therefore, schools should seek to develop an infrastructure that supports effective implementation.

Small schools face unique challenges, such as financial constraints, fluctuating pupil numbers, staffing issues and multi-role time pressures. These challenges need to be considered when planning for implementation. For example, leaders may need to adjust implementation of interventions based on varying pupil numbers. Small schools could potentially benefit from collaborating with other schools to share resources and expertise. This could help overcome resource limitations and enhance the implementation process.

Schools should also seek to ensure people who enable change can support, lead and positively influence implementation. The degree to which people:

• have the knowledge, skills and expertise to aid implementation
• feel empowered to act
• have agency
• will influence how well they can support effective implementation.

Small school leaders will know their staff well. They will understand the range of skills, knowledge and experience, and should seek to empower people to lead and support implementation efforts. People who enable change in small schools will likely make up a large proportion of the school staff, so effective professional development around implementation is likely to have a significant impact.

I will explore recommendation 3 in future blogs.

Small schools certainly have their challenges, but by leveraging their strengths and with careful consideration, small schools can follow the new guidance and ​‘do implementation well’.

A School’s Guide to Implementation | EEF – Education Endowment Foundation. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/implementation

Using research evidence | EEF – Education Endowment Foundation. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/support-for-schools/using-research-evidence

National Association of Small Schools https://smallschools.org.uk/

Implementation – an introduction to the new guidance for small schools
Implementation – an… | North Yorkshire Coast Research School

Making Research Real: Implementation Podcast Episode 1 https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/makingresearchreal/episodes/A‑Schools-Guide-to-Implementation-with-Professor-Jonathan-Sharples-and-Dr-Darren-Moore-e2khpma/a‑abb6ah5