Research School Network: Voices from the Workshops – Implementation Planning Rachael Wilson, Year 6 teacher and Deputy Director, Norwich Research School

For almost two years now, a good 40% of our working week has been dedicated in one way or another to training, coaching, and supporting others with implementation. The schools we support as part of the Research Schools network have a wide range of contexts: large, tiny, somewhere-in-the-middle, urban, rural, primary, secondary, nursery and special schools. The granular detail of challenges, barriers and areas for focused school improvement work vary, but there are certainly some themes which emerge time after time. Likewise, there are misconceptions and errors around the construction of an implementation plan that are so common as to almost be a ubiquitous hurdle: certainly, they have tripped me up more than once. I share them here, in the hope that they will support others in their own endeavours.

#1: an implementation plan is not an ​“action plan”
This is a big one. Implementation, done effectively, requires a specific approach in which a problem or priority is investigated first, an outcome visualised, solutions systematically researched, and the steps towards this outcome crafted with a high and intentional level of detail. Action plans tend to start where an implementation plan is almost at an end – with the actions to be taken by the creator. Action plans can run the risk of not having been thought through in sufficient detail, particularly in the ​“what will this look like” and ​“how will this lead to an impact” stakes. Additionally, some action plans amount to a list of poorly connected steps to be taken, leaving much of the understanding and communication implicit.

Check:
- Make sure I’m not retrofitting my implementation plan to something I’m already doing.
- Did I start with investigating a priority or with a solution/​resource?
- Have I considered how to share responsibility for carrying out this plan?
- Have I systematically researched potential solutions before selecting this one?


#2: choosing a priority
The EEF Implementation Guidance Report describes using an ​“explore” phase to really get under the bonnet of how the engine of your school is working, and find a priority that is both a cause, rather than a headline symptom, of an issue in school and, crucially, one that is ​“amenable to change.” This really boils down to finding something to address which is within the school’s capacity already, or it is possible to create the capacity to deliver with fidelity. Implementation, done thoroughly, moves you to consider and mitigate against strategic failures from the very onset. This means that the priority or problem defined needs to be big enough to make an impact, but small enough to manage. Most people start with too big and nebulous a problem, or too many problems at once.

Check:
- Do we have capacity/​can we realistically create capacity for this?
- How do I know solving this will impact on my students?
- Am I doing too many things at once – is there one area I can start with and scale up?

#3: matching your final outcomes
It is important that there is a clear link between the priority you wish to address and the outcome you want. Consider the outcome and the problem as the two abutments at either end of a bridge: if one is weak, everything in the middle will crash down, wasting time, effort, trust, and money.

Check:
- Does my outcome link to my problem/​priority?
- Does my outcome define impact on teaching/​learning/​attainment?
- Do I need to define outcomes in the short/​medium and long term to help monitor and evaluate it at different points?


#4: having a clear Theory of Change
When asked about where implementation has failed in the past and why, most people report initiatives missing an element of staff buy-in or momentum. The ability to define and articulate why a particular strategy is being adopted, particularly where there are workload or cognitive load implications is crucial. Leaders need to be able to clearly and rationally explain how the chosen path will lead to the desired destination for staff to understand.

Check:
- Is there a clear, logical, and reasonable explanation for how the strategy chosen addresses the problem/​priority and leads to the final outcome if implemented well?
- Am I able to clearly articulate the priority, why it’s a priority, how it will be addressed, and how my strategy for addressing it will lead to desired outcomes to different stakeholders?


#5: Active Ingredients – knowing and sharing what it looks like
The English language is wonderful in its sheer richness of vocabulary, but this is fraught with potential difficulties when it comes to bringing about a change that requires lots of people to behave in a similar way. Likewise, education itself is full of terminology which is filtered through individual experience and prone to differing interpretations. Well defined, clearly modelled and shared active ingredients that detail the essential behaviours required by your plan will help to mitigate against misapplication.

Check:
- Do I have a succinct, clear list of behaviours which are observable in school and which I can monitor?
- Have I thought about how to communicate this to obtain a shared understanding among all staff?
- Does this need modelling/​exemplifying or communicating in more detail?


#6 Active Ingredients – too many
As with choosing a priority, we are often prone to putting too much in here. The essential ingredients of a particular approach, change or activity are just that- essential. The more we ask people to do, the greater the risk for things being dropped or changed beyond recognition.

Check:
- Are these the essential ingredients of my plan only?
- Are these behaviours acceptable and doable by those who need to do them?
- Do they accurately describe what it will look like?


This list could be longer, but these are the main ​“sticky” points that we find with supporting and reviewing implementation plans. I leave you with some further, hopefully helpful, advice:
- Where possible, write with someone else- this will really support the articulation of ideas and stress-test various areas of the plan.
- Again, where possible, have someone else read your finished plan and give feedback. This helps to check whether it is clear enough to others.
- Embrace the process! Know that by approaching school improvement in this way, you are doing much more to mitigate more obvious difficulties later.