Devon and Cornwall Pupil Premium Network
For Pupil Premium Leads and School Leaders

Share on:
by Devon Research School
on the
Kingsbridge Research School
Jon Eaton, Director of Kingsbridge Research School on viewing school leadership through the lens of complex adaptive systems.
As school leaders will know all too well, there are no end-points to complex problems, where we can confidently down tools and declare things solved. For instance, literacy improvement in schools isn’t something that can be declared “done.” Different needs emerge as cohorts change, staff turnover means practices need revisiting, and new research can challenge existing assumptions about what works. Sitting behind the EEF’s implementation guidance report is the idea that viewing schools as complex adaptive systems can help leaders navigate change in a dynamic environment.
Schools as Complex Adaptive Systems
Unlike a car engine, which is a complicated system, schools are complex adaptive systems. In a car engine, there may be many parts, but they work together in a predictable manner towards predictable ends. An engine, for instance, does not reorganise itself in response to a change in the environment so that it suddenly becomes a better engine, or a different type of engine altogether.
In contrast, a complex adaptive system, like a school, behaves in ways that are not always predictable by studying its individual parts. A school, with its students, teachers, parents, and community members, evolves based on feedback, context, and experiences. This means the whole system can adapt and change its behavior in response to external factors, sometimes in unpredictable ways.
This understanding helps us view change as an ongoing, cyclical process, rather than a linear procedure. The implementation of any new strategy — whether it’s a reading program or behaviour policy — requires flexibility, learning, and adaptation. We might think about this approach to leading change as heading towards the “next temporary better” rather than some distant and unchanging end-point.
Embracing flexibility
The implementation guidance captures this idea of fluidity and flexibility. The Explore-Prepare-Deliver-Sustain process is a useful scaffold for school leaders working with others to implement change, but as the guidance notes, “implementation doesn’t occur in a neat and linear fashion.”
This means that, while following a structured process is helpful, the real challenge for leaders is tailoring that process to the unique needs and context of their school. The guidance emphasises the social nature of change, the need to attend to contextual factors, and the importance of flexibility in the process. In other words, understanding how the system behaves as a whole is key to making any change stick.
Understand the system before intervening in the system: Before implementing any new approach, seek to understand the interconnectedness of the school’s components — staff, students, policies, community members. Use tools like the EEF’s “Explore” phase to gather insight into how the system operates.
Foster collaboration and engagement: School improvement is the result of collective efforts. School leaders should foster a culture where teachers, staff, and even parents actively participate in decision-making. By leveraging diverse perspectives, the system becomes more adaptable, and implementation better reflects the needs of the school community.
Build capacity and networks: Investing in professional development, building networks within the school, and building partnerships with other schools or organisations can enhance the system’s resilience. The more connected and informed the system’s participants are, the better equipped they will be to respond to challenges. In complexity science, this is referred to as building ‘robustness’ — a system’s ability to recover after a perturbation.
Robustness: an example from “what is a Complex System?” by James Ladyman and Karoline Wiesner
“For example, the order observed in a flock of birds, despite the individual and erratic motions of its members, is stable in the sense that the buffeting of the system by the wind or the random elimination of some of the members of the flock does not destroy it. A centrally controlled system, on the other hand, is vulnerable to the malfunction of key components.”
Promote adaptability and continuous learning: A culture of continuous improvement allows schools to respond to the ever-changing needs of students. Leaders should provide systems and structures that enable staff to reflect on information about what is and isn’t working, so that the system can adapt to new circumstances and improve.
Distribute leadership and develop People Who Enable Change: Empowering people through distributed leadership and shared decision-making can help teachers and other stakeholders unite around implementation and take ownership of their roles in the system. As well as contributing towards the robustness of the system as a whole, developing leadership capacity within the teaching staff enables the school to become more agile and responsive to new challenges.
Emphasise evidence-informed decision-making: Leaders should foster a culture where evidence and research are central to decision-making. This means continuously reviewing the impact of interventions and being willing to adapt based on what the data reveals.
Leading change in a complex system means appreciating that it is fundamentally a social and collaborative process that interacts with a range of contextual factors. Even a small change to one aspect of the system can have large, perhaps unintended, effects on another. Viewing leadership through the lens of complex adaptive systems shows that the three behaviours that sit at the core of the framework are potent. Engage builds collaboration and helps ensure the system represents the needs of the community it serves; unite brings coherence and unity of purpose to the system; and reflect enables the system to learn, adapt and improve.
Fidan, T. (2017) ‘Managing schools as complex adaptive systems: A strategic perspective’, lnternational Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 10(1), pp. 11 – 26. doi:10.26822/iejee.2017131883.
Koh, G.A. and Askell‐Williams, H. (2020) ‘Sustainable school‐improvement in complex adaptive systems: A scoping review’, Review of Education, 9(1), pp. 281 – 314. doi:10.1002/rev3.3246.
Ladyman, J. and Wiesner, K. (2021) ‘What is a complex system?’ New Haven: Yale University Press.
Moore, D. et al. (2024) ‘Review of Evidence on Implementation in Education’, London: Education Endowment Foundation.
Sharples, J., Eaton, J., Boughelaf, J. (2024) ‘A School’s Guide to Implementation’, Education Endowment Foundation: London
Blog -
How exam wrappers can be a valuable source of student feedback and reflection
Blog -
Sandra Westlake explains how she’s using mock papers to unpack metacognitive thinking in maths
Blog -
Kingsbridge Research School is rebranding to become Devon Research School
This website collects a number of cookies from its users for improving your overall experience of the site.Read more