- Home
- Ed Exec Secondary
- Ed Exec Primary
- About Us
- Editors' Blog
- Events
- For Advertisers
- News
- Product News
- Resources
- Useful Links
- Subscribe For Free
Visiting rights, and wrongs
Released 30/03/2010
Suzannah Wright ponders DCSF plans to help schools share best practice
It's hard to know exactly how to feel about the latest DCSF announcement about "organised" school visits to share best practice.
On the one hand, I'm a big believer that co-operation, collaboration and sharing knowledge will be increasingly important for schools in the coming years. Equally, it's good to see a concrete programme which supports the government's earlier pledge to encourage better partnerships, federations and schools linking to drive up standards (from their white paper Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21st century schools system).
On the other, do schools really need a "professionally managed" visit to help them share with other organisations? Last week, I attended a meeting of the Worcester Association of School Business Managers where 25 able professionals shared best practice, information and discussion with not a hint of DCSF support.
Surely the introduction of a pilot, management support, stakeholder consultation and a new website add costs which the DCSF can little afford? Why not just give more money to schools so they can afford to employ a few more staff and free leaders to undertake this kind of visit with the time freed up?
I simplify, of course. It's good to see resources invested in something which is vital for schools, but I can't help but feel there is something slightly patronising about it all. Let's hope that this sense of paternalism and centralised management doesn't deter schools from taking part in a scheme which could just open up new avenues for collaboration as well as planting new ideas.
And one last thing - I do hope school business managers will be included in these managed visits, especially for the schools highlighted as delivering best value. I suspect they will be thanks to the government's recent focus on SBMs, but I just thought it worth mentioning in case any of the powers that be at the DCSF are reading....