As the academy trusts system enters its 25th year, it is timely to use Forum Strategy’s long-standing 7 Pillars of School Improvement at Scale (Pain, 2019) to capture how academy trusts are effectively delivering their core business – that of secure, sustained school improvement at scale. This model challenges trust leaders to think beyond the required accountability and regulatory measures – never ignoring them, but ensuring we go further than those often rather narrow, short-term metrics used when assessing our school improvement impact.
The 7 pillars of improvement at scale are:
- Vision for quality improvement
Capacity - Collective Commitment
- Robust and real-time data
- Robust processes and project management
- Disciplined innovation and cutting-edge practice
- Quality assurance
In this improvement at scale series, we are case studying three trusts using the pillars as a framework. In this second case study, we explore the model in use across Chiltern Learning Trust (CLT) which is a cross-phase, growing trust of 17 schools based in Luton, Bedford and Bedfordshire. Significantly, the trust also hosts two successful Teaching School Hubs (CTSH), operates as an appropriate body for all CLT ECTs, partners with the Bedfordshire SCITT, and has recently led two DfE behaviour hubs. CLT’s missions is very clear – a commitment to excellent standards of teaching and to work in partnership with a variety of local and national organisations to help raise the attainment of all learners while contributing towards system-wide improvement and the development of high-quality teachers entering the profession.
