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Forward by Sir Michael Barber
The challenge of education reform has two aspects to it – getting the policy right; and securing successful implementation. The first is difficult and the subject of a stream of publications; variable in quality but endless in quantity. The second is even more difficult but oddly barely touched on the academic literature. Maybe this is because those who have not been at the sharp end of delivering reform find it hard to understand the challenge of delivery, never mind write about it. Or maybe its simply that “what?” is an easier question than “how?”
In this outstanding account Pat Collarbone brings her deep understanding of the sharp end of delivery to a fascinating account of how to implement reform. Between the Scylla of command-and-control and the Charybdis of laissez-faire, Pat and her colleagues created the National Remodelling Team to implement the workforce agreement which government and the unions had signed. They developed an active, collaborative style which engaged both national leaders and those at the frontline. They refused to take “no” for an answer but reached “yes” through a combination of demonstration, argument and persistence.
I enjoyed my interactions with them as they pursued their approach; I enjoyed seeing their evident success; and now I’ve enjoyed reading this excellent account of what they did.
Education reformers will need a variety of different approaches to implementation if the promise of reform is to be realised. We desperately need to build the evidence base to answer the question “how?” Pat Collarbone’s book is a significant contribution to this emerging literature. Puzzled reformers the world over – there are many of them – will find it full of insight. Sometimes they will rightly choose command-and-control; other times they will devolve and seek to unleash success. Other times again, if they find people of the calibre of Pat Collarbone, they will choose her middle way. All of them will enjoy her book.
Sir Michael Barber was the founding head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit in the UK and is the author of “Instruction to Deliver: Fighting to Reform Britain’s Public Services” (Methuen 2008).
Click here to read the latest review by Aspect The Association of Professionals in Education and Children's Trusts.
Click here to read Ofsted's report 'Workforce reform in schools: has it made a difference? An evaluation of changes made to the school workforce 2003 ̶ 2009'
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