Research School Network: Why leading continuity in teaching is more important than leading change How to enable effective improvements

The starting pistol of the new academic year brings great intent and energy. Passionate school leaders and teachers have had space over the summer to read, reflect and plan, or simply refresh. However, this arguably outdated annual cycle of change encourages us to focus on short-term projects, one-year initiatives and the new, rather than refining and sustaining.

There is great value in training leaders in the toolkits of leading change, such as implementation cycles and change models. However, we should also proclaim the importance of leading continuity and celebrate that over the seductive but potentially limited and distracting leadership of change.

For some time now, at Dixons Academies, we have taken an approach to strategy and improvement that is more fluid, agile, implementation-friendly, and realistic. Still making time for selective innovation, a focus on continuity and business as usual for our leaders elevates the everyday.

I’d like to share three reflections about leading continuity that help to focus on sustaining the conditions and processes for effective implementation.

1. Leading continuity means maintaining and nurturing the daily effort.

Business as usual is an active process. In new roles we can put aside ego and be proud of inheriting the baton of an approach designed and developed by others. We can resist temptation to start with our own plans for change. Leading continuity means constant communication about the basic aims and expectations in weekly briefings or bulletins, on agendas, and in coaching and corridor conversations. It means regular monitoring, resets, top-ups, reviews, and slow adaptation.

A Professional Development (PD) lead, for example, will use all these strategies to embed great teaching in school culture. Whether the blend of PD activities includes coaching, group practice, collaborative learning or a different combination, each of these are protected and given space in the daily and weekly routine. Leading continuity requires utilising these approaches strategically, enacting leadership behaviours: engaging, uniting, and reflecting with the right people at the right time. This way teachers are active participants in growing and sustaining great teaching and appreciate the value of the daily and weekly efforts.

2. Leading continuity in teaching and learning should empower teachers and protect the joy in teaching and learning.

Prioritising continuity through blunt quality assurance, compliance, and universal training in teaching techniques runs the risk of neglecting nuance and threatening teacher autonomy. Leaders lead continuity in teaching and learning, for example, by providing regular reminders of the rationale behind techniques, their key components and by embedding opportunities to reflect and practice both common routines and bespoke approaches. Within the protective boundaries of consistent expectations and a strong grasp of the purpose of classroom routines for our students, teachers are motivated by developing their unique classroom persona and culture. Coaching conversations about individual practice are powerful in this space. Constant leadership attention on communicating rationale, providing models and closing gaps sows the seeds for sustainability at teacher and whole school level.

3. We can re-frame our indicators of successful performance as leaders: away from projects and towards the provision of a great daily experience of students.

Regular conversations, deep thought around implementation planning, and iterative feedback nurture continuity more than periodic appraisal reviews or rigid checklists. Surveying practice and formal and informal conversations about what we expect, its value, and what we see (avoiding the word ​‘observation’ here) allow us to celebrate and nurture teachers’ daily efforts. The impact of a leader who leads continuity more than change is arguably far greater.

None of these reflections propose that we don’t ever need to improve or change. But when we see success and positive impact on our students, we should hold on to this, own the less glamorous business of leading continuity, and improve the sustainability of school systems as we do so.

Further reading

EEF (2021) Effective Professional Development. Available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/effective-professional-development

EEF (2024) A School’s Guide to Implementation. Available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/implementation