The Good Practice, Support and Challenge Framework

Rationale

The ‘Good Practice, Support and Challenge Framework’ (GPSCF) was established in order to:

(a)   foster a culture of self evaluation within schools by establishing a quality assurance framework within a local context;

(b)  make more explicit the basis upon which support is provided, by the LEA, to schools.

The GPSCF is underpinned by the following principles:

• The LEA is committed to the identification and dissemination of the good practice that exists within schools;
• The LEA is committed to the early identification of difficulties in schools so as to intervene preventatively where possible;
• The criteria for establishing need are clear, are implemented fairly and ensure that schools will receive the level of support they need when they need it;
• The LEAs processes for identification of need will build upon and support schools’ own processes for self-evaluation, but will be supplemented by the LEAs analyses of data and the first hand observation by members of the school improvement service in classrooms;
• This partnership approach will further encourage schools’ capacity to be self-challenging and recognise that schools themselves are responsible for bringing about improvements.

The Process

The GPSCF forms the basis of annual professional discussions between schools and their link school improvement officers. It has been structured to reflect the criteria within Estyn’s Inspection Framework for Schools. Accordingly, the GPSCF has three main sections, namely:

Standards

The Quality of Education

Leadership & Management

Each of these sections is broken down into a series of five or six sub-sections, and each sub-section is further broken down into a series of descriptors. Each descriptor is cross-referenced with the Inspection Framework to allow schools to move easily from one framework to the other.

The GPSCF is used by the LEA and schools, in partnership, and is implemented in a sensitive and flexible manner to avoid a rigid and unnecessary bureaucracy. In practice, some schools wish to discuss the school’s status in relation to the framework in one extended meeting, whilst other schools prefer to approach the GPSCF gradually in a series of meetings over a longer period of time.

Additional Support for Schools in 2007-08 based on the GPSCF

As a result of discussions between schools and the LEA - using the GPSCF - four schools will receive intensive support in the academic year 2007-08. Fourteen schools will receive half-termly visits from their link school improvement officer, whilst a further four will receive additional support to raise standards in specific subjects or aspects such as literacy, numeracy and science.

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