Leadership for Learning: Building Capacity for Effective Teaching and Learning in Schools Serving Disadvantaged Urban Communities

提高学校的教学水平，特别是那些服务于社会经济弱势群体的学校的教学水平，是世界各国政府关注的一个关键问题。最近的证据表明，尽管在过去的半个世纪里不断努力，不同社会经济背景的儿童之间的成就差距仍然存在（经合组织，2011）。近年来，英国政府进行了一系列激进的结构和课程改革，旨在改变学校的治理、结构和文化、课程和课堂上的学习和教学过程，并通过这些来建立改进教学和学习的能力，缩小成绩差距。与此同时，还有一系列相关的研究项目，有些是由政府直接委托的，有些是由政府资助的独立研究机构进行的。然而，研究结果并不总是对学校和教师产生影响。因此，本次知识交流项目的目的是促进将积累的有效领导和有效课堂实践方面的学术知识应用于某教学学校联盟中一所中学的班主任和高级领导团队以及七所小学的班主任的工作活动中。这些学校服务于社会经济条件较差的城市社区。将采用持续的参与式方法，以讲习班和学校领导主导的调查的形式，共同制作、记录和传播关于有效领导学校内部和学校之间学习实践的新知识。这项工作将以由PI和co - i领导的关于学校领导和教师与教学的六个国家和国际研究项目的主要发现为中心，包括成功和有效的学校领导（教育部（DfE））和国家学校领导学院（NCSL）)；在充满挑战的城市环境中成功领导欧洲学校（苏格拉底）；有效课堂实践（ESRC）；通过伦敦领导力战略（NCSL）扭转学校的颓势；网络学习社区（NCSL）；以及教师的工作、生活和效率（DfE）。学院和教学学校联盟对这一知识交流项目表示了浓厚的兴趣和承诺，该项目将侧重于五个关键领域：i)在贫困城市社区中表现不佳的学校的转型领导；Ii)持续成功的领导者；Iii)有效领导课堂教与学；（四）教师工作、生活和效能的变化；；5)校本协作探究。这五个领域的学术知识将应用于他们发展的优先事项，以便他们可以扩展他们的理解并改进他们在这些背景下学习的领导策略的实践。研究和开发活动的成果将在项目期间通过基于网络的交互式工作空间共享。在项目期间，将制定一项沟通策略，以最大限度地影响更广泛的学校社区的领导人。该战略侧重于通过以下方式传播学校主导的调查结果：1)一个面向公众的网站，该网站将使用大学的内容管理系统进行范围界定、设计和建设；2)一个区域会议，该会议将汇集来自参与学校及其他地区的主要利益相关者、地方当局、国家政策、校长组织和学者。这些战略的一个成果将是建立一个“学校-大学知识转移和交流网络”，使实践者之间以及实践者、学者和决策者之间能够持续对话。

Raising standards of teaching and learning in schools, especially those serving socio-economically disadvantaged communities, is a key issue of concern for governments worldwide. Recent evidence shows that despite persistent efforts over the past half century, the attainment gap between children with different socio-economic backgrounds still remains (OECD, 2011). In recent years, governments in the UK have engaged in a series of radical structural and curriculum reforms intended to transform the governance, structures and cultures of schools, the curriculum and processes of learning and teaching in classrooms and, through these, to build capacity for improvements in teaching and learning and close the achievement gap. Running parallel with these has been a range of related research projects, some commissioned directly by government, some through government funded, independent research organisations. However, research findings have not always impacted on schools and teachers. The aim of this knowledge exchange project, therefore, is to promote the application of the accumulated academic knowledge on effective leadership and effective classroom practice to the work activities of a head teacher and senior leadership team of one secondary academy and the head teachers of seven primary schools in a teaching school alliance. These schools serve socioeconomically disadvantaged urban communities. A sustained participatory approach, in the form of workshops and school leader led inquiries, will be used to co-produce, document and disseminate new knowledge about effective leadership for learning practices within and across the schools.The work will be centrally informed by the key findings of six national and international research projects on school leadership and teachers and teaching led by the PI and Co-Is, including successful and effective school leadership (Department for Education (DfE)) and the National College for School Leadership (NCSL)); successful leadership of European schools in challenging urban contexts (Socrates); effective classroom practice (ESRC); turnaround schools through the London Leadership Strategy (NCSL); networked learning communities (NCSL); and teachers' work, lives and effectiveness (DfE).The Academy and the Teaching School Alliance have expressed a deep interest and commitment to the knowledge exchange project which will focus upon five key areas: i) turnaround leadership of underachieving schools in disadvantaged urban communities; ii) leaders who sustain success; iii) effective leadership of classroom teaching and learning; iv)) variations in teachers' work, lives and effectiveness; and v) collaborative school-based inquiry. Academic knowledge of these five areas will be applied to their priorities for development so that they may extend their understanding and improve their practice of leadership strategies for learning in these contexts.The outcomes of the research and development activities will be shared during the project through an interactive web-based workspace. A communications strategy will be developed during the project to maximise its impact on leaders of the wider school community. This strategy focuses upon disseminating outcomes of the school-led inquiries through i) a public facing website which will be scoped, designed and built using the university's content management system and ii) a regional conference which will bring together key stakeholders from participating schools and beyond, local authorities, national policy and head teachers' organisations and academics. One outcome of these strategies will be the establishment of a 'School-University Knowledge Transfer and Exchange Network' to enable sustained dialogue amongst practitioners themselves and between practitioners, academics and policy makers.