Research School Network: ‘Switch’ your school improvement planning Jez Baker explains how Chip and Dan Heath’s ​‘Switch’ can transform the writing of school improvement plans.

Chip and Dan Heath’s ​‘Switch’ has the potential to be transformative in the writing of your school improvement plan. More than that, if used well, it can make your plans become reality because no longer will the plans:

Be driven by boxes,
Be short-term in their thinking,
Be overly rational and forget that at the heart of any change are people.

I have made all three mistakes regularly.

When combined with the EEF’s School’s Guide to Implementation and the excellent Professional Development guidance report you have an excellent blueprint for school improvement.

The Switch framework consists of three main components: Direct the Rider, Motivate the Elephant, and Shape the Path. Each of these elements plays a crucial role in driving change and creating a culture of effective and sustainable improvement in your school. Let’s briefly take each of the sections and analyse how they impact on school improvement.

Directing the Rider involves using evidence-based strategies to guide decision-making and planning. Your active ingredients, when written well, will become the driver behind your plan. This approach empowers staff to make informed choices and avoid feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available. Additionally, it helps to establish a clear vision of success, making it easier to align individual and collective efforts towards a common goal.

Motivating the Elephant is all about connecting with people and tapping into their emotions. Using the Professional Development mechanisms (numbers 3,5 and 7) will enable more effective work with staff that have the knowledge but lack the motivation to change. As leaders, we know change can be challenging, and without the proper motivation, it’s unlikely that your plans will gain traction. Remember, if there is a disagreement between the rider and elephant, the elephant will always win. By understanding the feelings and concerns of students, parents, teachers, and support staff, you can create buy-in and foster a sense of ownership around your improvement plan. Additionally, ongoing support is critical to sustaining momentum and ensuring that everyone has the resources and guidance they need to succeed.

As a geographer, thinking about how our environment affects our choices has always been of interest to me. Your implementation plan needs to build an environment that makes good behaviours easier to perform and bad behaviours harder. For example, make ​‘stop and jots’ (Reading Reconsidered) easy by pre-planning them in your booklets or on your PowerPoint presentations. A further example would be to position your desks in rows to make it easier for students to track the speaker.

If you can build automated responses into your changes then things will happen more easily. Cognitive load is freed up through the automation of start of lesson routines to enable teachers to begin their lessons efficiently. Planning these, people-led changes, into your improvement plan will certainly help your plan become reality.

Thinking about the changes you want to affect in your schools in these terms will result in greater clarity in your improvement plans. It will make you focus on people and avoid the overly rational and boxy improvement plans that Joe Kirby derided in his recent blog.

Ultimately, success requires a deep understanding of the motivations, behaviours, and challenges that impact your school community. By adopting a people-focused approach and using evidence-based strategies, you can overcome obstacles, build momentum, and create a culture of continuous improvement that benefits everyone.

Give Switch a read and reflect on your School Improvement Plan, then consider which way your elephant and rider are most likely to go next year. When the rider and elephant move forward without distraction, then you will find success.

Read the Professional Development guidance report here. 

Read the EEF’s School’s Guide to Implementation here.