: Collective problems demand collective action: Developing a borough-wide approach to implementation The North London Alliance team explore how collective problems demand collective action

‘Think, Test and Learn’ is a framework, central to the Camden Education Strategy 2030. It encourages schools to develop ideas and new ways of working, with a focus on better use of evidence.

Camden Learning school-led initiatives fit within this framework by encouraging schools to lead on scalable and transferable programmes that respond to identified local needs. The end goal is to trial evidence-informed and innovative approaches that lead to sustained practice change in the borough. From EYFS to KS4, current approaches cover a range of priorities, from communication and language, to inclusive practice and curriculum leadership development, amongst others.

Host schools are engaging with a wide range of schools, to trial and develop their initiatives. Effective implementation alone is not straightforward. Never mind working within and across settings – different contexts, different school priorities, different teams with varied expertise and experience makes for a complex landscape to navigate. A route to alignment happens when collective aims are identified and baked into an implementation plan.

Within implementation, monitoring and evaluation are key to measuring whether the programme is fit for purpose. Will the initiative last once the stabilisers are off?

We are excited to apply the learnings from the new EEF School’s Guide to Implementation, to facilitate a practical workshop where school-led initiative leaders come together to share expertise, develop collective thinking and context specific approaches. Broadly, this work encompasses unifying the group in:

The EEF School’s Guide to Implementation highlights the importance of leadership behaviours that can actively promote change. The first of these behaviours is the need to engage. This matters as it maximises colleagues’ abilities to implement change. People are the social glue of an organisation, only made stronger when there is a collective understanding of the intended aims of what they are trying to achieve. We designed ​‘warm up’ activities to support the group in critically reflecting on the sustainability and feasibility of their initiative at this early stage. This guiding talk tool can be used at different points in the implementation process to keep the teams on track, in tune with the big picture and equipped to make intelligent adaptations along the way.

Sitting leaders around a table, giving them opportunities to share perspectives and troubleshoot solutions to stubborn challenges, unites people around the programme. This people-centred approach ensures that the strategies are not just adopted, but more likely to be embedded in school culture. Structured social support provided initiative leaders with a model of the conditions they could emulate in their implementation teams.

Engaging people in collaborative processes is crucial to effective implementation.

Now, on to the next aim of the workshop. We wanted the group to have a:

Understanding what is being implemented (EEF, 2024) and the principles of effective implementation certainly help, but is this enough? The difficulty is that knowing doesn’t always lead to doing. Inevitably, the ​‘knowing doing gap’ always manages to trickle into discourse around the translation of theory into practice. In the workshop, the attempt to surmount this gap rested on sharing worked examples of implementation models, discussing indicators for success and then, finally, thinking about how these could be applied to their own plans. Let’s unpack the steps that led to this application.

Understanding local educational aims (Camden Educational Strategy 2030) and the place of the initiative in it. We motivated the participants by bringing it back to the drivers underpinning Camden Learning’s ​‘Think, Test and Learn’ approach.

Following the workshop, we created a padlet where the group can share resources and reading recommendations. This will keep the group plugged in with most relevant and up-to-date research evidence. In the coming terms, we will convene again so the group can return to the bigger picture and work together to problem solve, particularly with the monitoring and evaluation of the process.

Participants learnt that, to do implementation well, the following needs to be considered:

1. The behaviours that drive effective implementation
2. The contextual factors that facilitate implementation.


Finally, we discussed how to set outcomes for implementation plans, against the backdrop of it being a ​“flexible, yet structured process” (EEF, 2024). A key finding the report highlights, reminding us that, ultimately, implementation is a supportive process, reliant on context and the people who make up an organisation. We had a very useful discussion around common risks: cross phase projects; logistics in coordinating communications; matching the right role to the right person ​‘to make things happen’ and inescapably, staff turnover. The group brought to the table ​‘tried and tested’ mitigations such as an SLT one pager to facilitate communication and buy-in, having shadow leads, and well developed and responsive communication strategies.

We came to the understanding that implementation is rarely linear. Schools need to remain adaptable, revisiting and refining strategies as they progress. This blend of structure and flexibility ensures that schools can handle unexpected challenges while staying focused on long-term goals.

To consolidate understanding, we provided two ​‘live’ implementation worked examples of the oracy initiatives in this cycle. One in the Early Years and the other in KS3. Having the authors in the room, to narrate the process and subsequent adaptations, was invaluable. To ground the theory into practice, we tasked the group to highlight the contextual factors and behaviours illustrated in the live examples. This ​‘authentic engagement’ both helped the authors to sense-check their plans, whilst also deepening collective learning.

At this point in the workshop, having gained a better understanding of the components of effective implementation, the participants were able to refine existing plans and weave ideas they had generated on behaviours and contextual factors during our session.

References:

Camden Learning. (2022). Building Back Stronger: Camden’s Education Strategy to 2030. (Online)

Sharples, J., Eaton, J. and Boughelaf, J., 2024. A School’s Guide to Implementation. Guidance Report. Education Endowment Foundation.