Implementing effective change in schools – what does the evidence say?

For the past year, some of the education team at SSAT have been working with school leaders from the network and colleagues from the EEF and the Research Schools Network, as part of EEF’s Working Through Others project. At our member conference on 1st December, we brought together much of the learning from this project, in a day looking at what the evidence tells us about what successful implementation looks like in practice.

Early in the new year, all member schools will receive a series of fully resourced workshops which will enable you to share the learning from this project with your teams. You will find full details of what these packs contain in this edition of Spotlight.

Perhaps the most prominent theme of the day was the need to see implementation as a social process. Most of you will be familiar with A School’s Guide to Implementation (2024), the guidance report produced by EEF. The first 18 pages of the report give careful consideration to the importance of people in any implementation process – stressing that “implementation is fundamentally a collaborative and social process driven by how people think, behave and interact.” The opening section of the guidance highlights the need for leaders to “engage, unite and reflect,” working collaboratively with all members of the school community.

However, there is a tendency for people to skip to the process element of the guidance – looking what it means to ‘explore, prepare, deliver and sustain’ a process of change. Given the innate complexity of leading change in schools, perhaps it is understandable that people are drawn to what appears to be a clear route map. People can be more difficult to move forwards than processes.
During the day, school leaders Jon Eaton (also co-author of the guidance report), Jane Elsworth and Sian Cumming drew out the practical implications of leading change in schools, stressing the need for meaningful collaboration and engagement. As Jane Elsworth said “people value what they feel part of.” There was discussion around the difference between “buying in” and “being in” – how you move people beyond compliance to being proactive change leaders.

In the spirit of this, the resources you will receive in the new year are designed to support meaningful discussions amongst your team about what it means to lead change effectively. We hope that these conversations will be beneficial for leaders at all levels.

Slides from the conference have been sent to all attendees. If you are a member school who was unable to attend but would like to see the presentations, please email us at membership@ssatuk.co.uk and we will send you the links.