Ever since the ‘get rid of lesson grades’ band wagon began to gather momentum, there have been certain awkward lingering questions. These questions are usually to do with accountability, quality assurance, appraisal or performance related pay. It’s easy to take the purist’s view that school improvement should be focussed entirely on improving pupils’ outcomes and that anything that doesn’t support this grand plan can go whistle, but that leaves many school leaders feeling nervous and exposed.
It should go without question that a great school needs great systems. If you doubt this, read Tessa Matthew’s post on why every school needs a behaviour system. And read Harry Fletcher-Wood’s oncreating a system for great CPD.
But in the end, the accountability question boils down, I think, to this: What do we do about teachers who cannot or will not improve? As always, Dylan Wiliam is good for a quote: Ask teachers if they can improve. If they say yes, work with them. If they say no, fire them.
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The Echo Chamber 