Making Best Use of the Latest Implementation Guidance Report
Making and acting on evidence informed decisions using research evidence

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by Gloucestershire Research School at the Gloucestershire Learning Alliance
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Claire is the CEO at The GLA Trust, a multi-academy Trust of 11 primary schools. Prior to this role she was the Director of Academies leading on School Improvement and new Free School Projects. Claire has been an Executive Head teacher across 3 primary schools and was the Head teacher at one the GLA’s founding schools. Under Claire’s leadership, the school achieved an ‘outstanding’ OFSTED judgement in 3 consecutive inspections. She has also been National Leader of Education for 12 years providing system leadership in failing schools.
‘Easy! Just have a great idea that will make a big difference for children (hopefully) and get all the staff to buy in to this because you are a credible school leader and people ultimately want to be led. Oh, and if they struggle to do this, it’s probably because the culture is wrong,’ said Claire Savory, the new-to-role, naïve, optimistic leader….
Change initiatives: here to stay?
Referenced by Forbes, 70% of change initiatives in business fail. I have often wondered whether this figure might be better or worse in schools. In doing so, I have reflected on initiatives that I have seen come and go: Accelerated Learning, VARK learning styles, Brain Gym, the literacy hour, Shanghai maths methodology, and even wearing slippers as an initiative to improve behaviour (disclaimer – I did not advocate this one!).
My journey through a changing landscape
My leadership journey began when the local authority deployed me, along with two other successful headteachers, to turn around an inadequate school. This innovative approach mirrored the principles of a strong MAT and was an early example of alternative leadership models for change. We encountered butterflies on walls, inspired by the London Challenge initiative, symbolising how small acts can catalyse large-scale change. While well-intentioned, these symbols felt disconnected from the practical realities of school improvement.
Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast
I learnt very quickly that whilst culture absolutely does eat strategy for breakfast, we also need a suite of clear policies, systems and practices to keep everyone safe and to enable effective accountability. Without doing so, implementing change and transformational school improvement can be a messy business!
More recently, I came across a book, ‘unleashed’ written by Frei and Morriss (2020) – not the memoirs of Boris Johnson! I enjoyed their take on ‘culture eating strategy for breakfast’. My reflection being that the debated competition of ‘culture vs. strategy’ is not a fair fight because in practice, strategy is rarely communicated well enough to influence employees.
Whether we like it or not, culture gets to flamboyantly declare its intentions with a constant flow of informal signals and behavioural cues, Meanwhile, strategy often gets stuck inside the minds of a few top lieutenants or buried inside a strategic plan that gets revisited once a year.
This extract prompting me recall the number of SDPs and action plans I have created in the last 30 years and how much impact these really had in terms of improving outcomes for children: a 30% success rate? 20%? A number difficult to provide when considering longevity as a determiner of success, but nevertheless an interesting reflection.
Cue to the EEF release: ‘A School’s Guide to Implementation’
The latest iteration is our very best bet as leaders to implement sustainable change. This new guidance report secures the important relational, cultural ‘stuff’, and is underpinned by a systematic approach to implementation.
The process is designed to support you to do implementation, while the behaviours and contextual factors help you to do it well
I once streamlined our school improvement plan to focus solely on writing, increasing opportunities and making it central to lessons, with extensive CPD. It was safe to say that I felt pretty chuffed that we had stripped back our many priorities. Despite our efforts, writing outcomes didn’t improve because we skipped the crucial ‘explore’ phase. Once we did that, we identified the real issue: teachers lacked confidence and clarity on effective strategies to teach spelling, which did not feature on the action plan! Lesson learned!
For me, adopting ‘explore’ as a critical phase in our school improvement processes has been a game-changer. It creates opportunities for engagement activities to unpick the problem; use research; trial proposed changes; and build capacity to support implementation. Most importantly, it builds trust. Trust in leaders that changes – and subsequent demands on time – have been well considered (unlike my improving writing action plan!)
Top tips
Finally, remember implementation is fundamentally a collaborative and social process driven by how people think, behave and interact.
References
Education Endowment Foundation (2024). A School’s Guide to Implementation. [online] EEF. Available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/implementation.
Frei, F. and Morriss, A. (2020). Unleashed: the unapologetic leader’s guide to empowering everyone around you. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press.
Sharples, J., Eaton, J., Boughelaf, J. (2024) A Schools Guide to Implementation. Education Endowment Foundation: London
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