Regenerating Schools: Leading transformation of standards and services through community engagement(Future Schools)

Schools acting alone cannot achieve the greatest possible improvement and transformation under the conditions that currently prevail. There is a growing appetite among senior leaders in schools for fresh approaches and fresh thinking around the national schools agenda - linking standards, future visions, community engagement and the implications for leadership. This practical book aims to help senior leaders re-imagine and transform the partnership between their school and its community, and develop the capacity to lead that change. There is now the need for a step-change in emphasis from the school as an institution with sole focus on institutional improvement to the school as an agency able to lead community transformation. By focusing on and improving relationships, schools can begin making a significant contribution to developing the entire community's capacity to learn, including those for whom it has a statutory responsibility.The purpose of this book is to explore what this means in practice, how those benefits could be achieved without losing focus on the need to raise attainment for all and what the implications are for school leaders now and in the future. Central to this approach is a concept of schools as agents of regeneration for themselves and for their communities.

Table of Contents:
FOREWORD         Professor Brian J. Caldwell   ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS   INTRODUCTION   Section 1: IMAGINE 1         What to say about us? 2         Beyond the island 3         The success and stalling of school improvement 4         Shift happens 5         Digital world - analogue school 6         Learning for real 7         Three Rs in Regeneration   CHANGE STUDY 1: Kunskapsskolan. Sweden   Section 2: UNDERSTAND 8          A brief history of school in four parts 9          From Village College to Community College - The Sawtry Experience 10      A mirror image for specialist schools 11      Change in a world of change 12      Deschool, reschool or what? 13      Getting personal   CHANGE STUDY 2: Brook Learning Partnership, Bolton, England   Section 3: PLAN 14     Five threads of change 15     Understanding community engagement 16     A different approach 17     Finding a balance - the Shotton Hall experience 18     Working with networks 19     Searching for the future 20     Growing listening wrinkles   CHANGE STUDY 3: Caroline Springs Community College, Victoria, Australia   Section 4: BUILD 21     You can get it if you really want 22      The 3C challenge 23      The first C  - Campus  (The Ethos and Culture thread) 24      The second C - Community (The Building Social Capital thread) 25      The third C - Curriculum (The Promotion of Learning thread) 26      It's all about profound learning   CHANGE STUDY 4: The Voyager School, Peterborough, England   Section 5: LEAD 27     New world - new leadership 28     Dancing together - Connectivity in practice 29     Emotional power and leadership 30     Empowerment - Understanding and applying loose-tight 31     Students as leaders 32     Thinking afresh about governance 33     Re-thinking the workforce   CHANGE STUDY 5: Birchwood Community High School, Warrington, England   Section 6: TRANSFORM 34     Measuring Success 35     Seven Key Ingredients In A Regeneration Mix 36     Now What If......?    CHANGE STUDY 6: Banareng Primary School, Atteridgeville, South Africa  REFERENCES

About the Author :
Malcolm Groves has over 30 years experience working at the leading edge of school transformation and developing the interface between school and community. As Senior Adviser to the Specialist Schools Trust, he helped to refocus the nature of specialist schools after the 1997 election. He has been an OFSTED registered inspector and a local authority inspector for community education. His career also includes deputy headship in London and a period as deputy chief executive of a national youth organisation. He was the first youth community tutor in Kent, pioneering approaches to the community involvement of young people and their active participation in decision-making. He currently works nationally as an education consultant and has developed the well-regarded Community Leadership Programme for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.

Review :
Mention -Book News, February 2009 Reviewed in Education Today, 1 January 2009