Agenda item

To consider a report by the Education Cabinet Member on the above.

(a)        The Cabinet Member for Education's report was presented outlining the project to improve the conditions for leadership in order to raise standards.

 

(b)        Reference was made to the project’s aim that would look at five specific fields, namely:

·         Commission a report on the leadership and management conditions within the County’s schools and implement the agreed recommendations

·         Monitor and challenge every school and use all the available powers at the authority’s disposal to improve leadership and management at underperforming schools.

·         Develop managers and prospective managers within services and identify future leaders

·         Develop a strong school to school system and ensure that arrangements are in place to share best practice and avoid duplication; and

·         Ensure that capital investment leads to improving leadership and management conditions.

 

(c)     The next steps were elaborated upon and the intention to conduct a further meeting with Independent Consultants with international experience in the field and they would welcome the opportunity to interview members of the Services Scrutiny Committee as part of their research.

 

(ch)      Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and the following observations were made:

 

(i)               Do the problems with recruitment only deal with a small section of the County and would joining with other Counties not be of benefit when sharing expertise? 

 

In response, it was explained that the County’s geographical nature was huge and challenging as the needs of different areas of the County were quite different. The intention of the Education Department was to re-establish Area Offices in order to conduct local discussions to satisfy the needs of the children. In terms of the development of individuals as leaders, especially in the smallest schools, they had to be given an opportunity to lead on strategic areas in order to show experience in different fields for the NPQH qualification.   

 

(ii)           Was there evidence that some schools compete against each other for pupils?

 

In response, it was noted that if there was joint-ownership of the project to improve leadership and management then an eye should be kept to ensure that every catchment-area was dealt with fairly.  

 

(iii)              In terms of agreeing on the attainment levels of pupils during the transition from primary to secondary it was noted that the current information on any child had to be correct from the initial step through the educational stage. It was noted further that assessment was a continuous discussion, however, for a successful transition between primary and secondary there had to be an understanding and the interpretation of the criteria had to be clear.   

 

(iv)              In response to concern regarding the findings by parents that some schools were more Anglicised and as a result numbers were reducing in some catchment-areas, it was noted that it was a challenge to reconcile the implementation of the language policy.    Again, in the same manner discussion could be conducted locally in order to ensure that children have the same type of experience and provision.   

 

(v)               In the context of the federalisation of primary and secondary schools in the future, it was noted that this would be part of the investigation into leadership and alternative models.  Although there were specific ideas within the Service it was accepted that the response of the community regarding arrangements and provision were important.  In terms of organisation, infrastructure would have to be ensured in order that children get the best results. In light of the current financial climate, if leadership and school middle management were to be improved, then other methods of working such as work sharing across the catchment-area had to be considered.                 

 

(vi)         In terms of the current level of the recruitment problem, it was noted that Gwynedd had a successful record last year as nine persons had managed to gain the NPQH qualification and this represented nearly half the north Wales quota.  However, a system had to be created that would be viable and would give an opportunity for prospective leaders to show the skills to be able to lead and manage.  It was further noted that some schools were too small to have a Management Team that was more than just the Head alone, and therefore made it difficult for individuals to gain experiences and a system had to be created to get individuals to be future leaders.  In the context of the lack of recruitment across the County, it was noted that it was getting more difficult and the culture had to change from being independent to that of collaboration.     

 

(viii)   In response to concern regarding funding the programme for schools in the twenty first century, it was trusted that the Council could invest as much as possible in order to ensure that the buildings would offer the best for teachers and young people.

 

(viii)        In the context of the Schools Organisation Team, it was noted that the Team had been established for specific work with the schools in the twenty first century programme and was dependent on the capital budget and the findings of the leadership investigation. Consideration would have to be given to re-structuring within the Department to address wider issues than organisation such as the role of supporting leadership in the local area.     

 

Resolved:       (a)        To accept and note the contents of the report.

 

                        (b)       To nominate the following members of this Scrutiny Committee to meet with the Independent Consultants dealing with the project to offer observations and recommendations on issues that require getting to grips with.

 

Councillor Beth Lawton – (Vice-chair of the Services Scrutiny Committee)

Councillor Selwyn Griffiths

Councillor Alwyn Gruffydd

Councillor Elin Walker Jones

Councillor Dewi Owen

Councillor Hefin Williams