Stop Something First: The Nine-Word DfE Rule Plans Ignore

If you are listening to this right now, perhaps on your way to work, I want you to picture a very specific document. Oh, I think I know where this is going. You definitely do. There is a document I want to hold up to the light today. And, well, every single school has one. Right. It's the Standard School Improvement Plan. You know exactly what it looks like. Oh, absolutely. It always has a column called Actions. And if we're being honest, that column is typically very, very long.

Too long, usually. Yeah, exactly. And it has a column for who is going to do the action. It has a column for when it needs to be done. Yep. And usually it has a column filled with those red, amber, and green RAG ratings. So, you know, everyone can track the status. But if you really look at that document, there is one crucial column it completely lacks. It does not have a column called stopped. And? This is the education commute. this is our fifth cycle of reading the public evidence base for a national leadership qualification.

Right. Specifically, we're looking at the last cycle of the headship route. Exactly. And our core topic for today is implementation, which I'll be the first to admit is a word that sounds entirely like paperwork. It really does. It sounds like pure bureaucracy. It does. Yeah. But as we are going to see. It isn't. Exactly. And to get into this, I'll play the role of the person that this plan actually lands on in the building. Okay. I like that. You can stay in the chair of the person who, you know, sits down and writes the plan.

Perfect. Because I want to set the question for us today. There is a very real unspoken orthodoxy in schools. There is. And the orthodoxy is basically this. School improvement is fundamentally about starting things. Right. A good plan is an ambitious plan. And a leadership team. that isn't launching anything while they look like a leadership team that is simply coasting and september is the absolute default launch window because you know that is when everyone is rested and the new displays are up i completely agree that this is the orthodoxy you have stated the reality of it much more honestly than most official plans actually do well someone has to so let's test that orthodoxy against the evidence let's do it Because if I am speaking as the person receiving these plans, I have endured five September launches in five years, and I honestly could not tell you what happened to three of them.

That is, yeah, that's incredibly common. So let me start right where the guidance starts. We are looking directly at the Department for Education's framework for headship. Okay. What's fascinating here is that the framework prioritizes how over what. It makes a very distinct point. Which is? It says one of the characteristics of effective schools, in addition to what they implement, is how they put those approaches into practice. Just pause on that for a second. In addition to what? Yeah. So just having a good idea or, you know, picking the right initiative isn't the whole job.

The idea being good is maybe a third of the job. The rest is the reality of the implementation. Let me pull a direct quote from the guidance here. I will read Statement 8 .1 exactly as it is written in the framework. I want to read it slowly and clearly. Go for it. It states that implementation is an ongoing process that must adapt to context over time rather than a single event. Let's focus on that last phrase. rather than a single event. Yeah, it's crucial. If we connect this to the bigger picture, this speaks directly to the specific failure of treating a September launch as a single event.

It is just a launch. A launch is not implementation. Exactly. The framework's own list of activities applies over an extended period. It is not something you check off in week one of the autumn term and just walk away from. Fine, but that is the sort of thing every strategic plan claims to do. Every plan says it is an ongoing process. Fair point. If we are going to actually challenge the orthodoxy, I want the part of the framework that really has teeth. Right. You want teeth. Let's look at Statement 8 .

2. I'll read this exactly from the framework. Okay, let's hear it. Reviewing and stopping ineffective practices before implementing new ones. Before? Before. Not alongside. Not as capacity allows. Wow. This is incredibly validating. I remember asking you two episodes ago where the guidance actually tells leaders to stop doing things. Yes, you did. We talked so much about adding and I asked where the permission was to subtract. And I can confirm it is right here in the head teacher training guidance. It was the absolute answer to your question.

You have to stop things first. So if I am keeping score. My orthodoxy about always launching things is losing already. Oh, it is about to lose much harder. Oh, no. Yeah, if you are sitting there thinking about your own school's plan, listen to how the framework phrases this next part. Okay. Let me introduce Statement 8 .B, read exactly as written. Prioritize by making a limited number of meaningful strategic changes and pursuing these diligently. A limited number. Making a limited number. pursued diligently. Right. If we really unpack the logic behind that statement, it turns our normal assumptions completely upside down.

Well, I would argue that the typical ambitious plan, the one we all recognize with 14 separate actions in it. is actually the unambitious plan of a leader who hasn't made choices. Oh, wow. It is the plan of someone who couldn't bear to say no to anything, so they just put everything on the list. That is a very difficult truth for a lot of leadership teams to hear. It is. If 14 actions means you are avoiding the hard choices, then keep going. I want to know what a good process actually looks like according to this evidence base.

Okay, let's bring in statement 80. I'll read this exactly. Identify a specific area for improvement. using a robust diagnostic process, focusing on the problem that needs solving rather than starting with a solution. Rather than starting with a solution, which, if we're being perfectly cynical here, is how most plans actually start. Oh, totally. Someone on the team finds a solution at a conference or they see something online and then they bring it back and work backwards to justify it. I agree. They absolutely do. I mean, it is entirely human to get excited about a solution.

It is. But the framework explicitly counters that approach. Let me read statements 8 .4 and 8 .5 exactly to show you what they demand instead. Okay. Effective implementation, quote, begins by accurately diagnosing the problem and making evidence -informed decisions on what to implement by providing credible interpretations of reliable data, which focus on pupils' knowledge and understanding. Interesting. The focus is squarely on what pupils know. Not on whether an activity is simply being done by the staff. Now, here's where I need to push back. All right.

Go for it. Because if you tell me that we have to do robust diagnosing and credible interpretations of reliable data, that sounds like it requires a massive project team. I can see that. It sounds like it requires those giant gaunt shirts that map out every minute of the year. Schools simply don't have those. You don't need them. The guidance anticipates that exact worry. It does. Yeah. I will counter your pushback by reading Statement 8 .3 exactly. Implementation should involve repurposing existing processes and resources, for example, governance, data collection, rather than creating a separate set of procedures.

Oh, that is a relief. So, no gaunt charts. No gaunt charts. You don't build a new committee. You put the work directly into the meetings you already have, and you look at the data you already collect. Correct. The mechanism here is efficiency. If your new approach needs entirely separate machinery to function, you are building the wrong thing. Okay, but how does any of this survive contact with reality? What do you mean? Well, we can write a tight, limited plan, but once it hits the building, things change.

That brings us to Statement 8 .6, which is all about implementing an approach with fidelity. I will read it exactly. Okay. Implementing an approach with fidelity, i .e. as intended, increases the chance of it impacting positively. But crucially, it specifies where there is scope for adaptation. Okay, let's hear the second part. The text says, any approach should specify which features of the approach need to be adopted closely and where there is scope for adaptation. So you can't just hand over a document. Someone in leadership has to actually outline the non -negotiables in advance so people know what can and cannot be changed.

Yes. And the framework gives us a very specific term for those non -negotiables. Oh. That is Statement 8 Dole. Read exactly, specifying the elements of the approach that appear critical to its success. Wait, what's the phrase? The active ingredients. And let me finish the quote exactly. And communicating expectations around these with clarity. Active ingredients. I absolutely love that phrase. It's good. Great. If you think about the daily reality, teachers are usually just told to do the thing without ever knowing what the active ingredients actually are.

Yes, exactly. They're given the what? But not the crucial why or how that makes it function. Exactly. When you don't name the active ingredients, people adapt the parts that actually matter, and they keep the parts that don't. Wow. That is how implementation fails over time. But alongside these strict ingredients, we also have to look at the humane elements of the framework. The humane elements? Yeah, people are doing this work, and the framework acknowledges that. I will read Statement 8 .8 exactly. As a learning process, expect challenges, but aim for continuous improvement.

That's reassuring. And we pair that with Statement 8 .7 exactly, which is a combination of integrated activities, training, monitoring, feedback, noting that follow -on support, for example, through high -quality coaching, is key to embedding new skills and knowledge developed during initial training. So a single Twilight session in September isn't going to cut it. No. That goes right back to the beginning. It is an ongoing process. And for continuous support, I'll read Statement 8 .1 exactly. Okay. A school's capacity to implement is rarely static, and sustained implementation requires leaders to keep supporting the work.

That is a very comprehensive view from the Department for Education. It really is. But what else exists outside this specific framework? Where else do we look? Outside this framework, you have the Education Endowment Foundation. They publish a major document called A School's Guide to Implementation. Okay. If we look at the current third edition, which was published in April 2024, it outlines a four -phase process. And what are the phases? Those phases are explore, prepare, deliver, sustain. And importantly, This current third edition introduces new cross -cutting behaviors that have to be present throughout.

What kind of behavior? Those behaviors are engaged, united, reflect. Let me stop you there. Yeah. You cannot simply write united into a plan document and expect it to happen. That is a behavior, not an action step. No, you cannot. It requires a completely different kind of leadership effort. All right. Looking at all of this, both the headship framework and the foundations guide, I have to make a major concession here. Oh, really? Yeah. The first half of my original orthodoxy is dead. I was entirely wrong that a good plan is an ambitious, sprawling plan.

The evidence shows that an ambitious plan actually means a limited number of things pursued diligently. And stopping definitely absolutely comes first. However, I firmly defend the second half of that orthodoxy. Defend it how? Because in reality, a leadership team that is seen to be doing nothing loses their room. Telling a governing body in October we've decided to do less is incredibly hard. And well. I must plainly concede that you are right about the room. Yeah. I will admit that absolutely nothing in this section, not one single line of this guidance, tells a leader how to actually sell restraint upwards to a governing body.

Right. The guidance is completely right, but the incentives are wrong. The incentives push the other way entirely. They demand action and endless new initiatives. So what do you do? My only defense, the only thing you can really hold on to. is that bringing a strategic plan with a stopped column to those governors proves that a definitive choice was made. So let's talk about what stop something first actually looks like in practice. Because if you are listening to this, you need to know how to translate this into your context.

Let's do it. Let's look across three different rooms to see how this mandate to stop and adapt actually functions. Let's start in primary. In primary, it looks like standing up at the briefing and exp... Explicitly naming the two timetable items a new reading initiative replaces, rather than leaving people to figure it out for themselves. That makes sense. That covers Statement 8C about stopping ineffective practices, and it hits Statement 8K exactly, being explicit about what will be implemented. And in secondary? In secondary, it looks like telling a department what the two active ingredients are, and exactly what parts can be adapted for their specific subject.

which aligns perfectly with Statement 8 .6. Right. You are securing the fidelity of the active ingredients while giving them the scope for adaptation that they need. And in a specialist setting. In a specialist setting, it looks like asking the team what needs to be true for this to work in their room. That is based on Statement 8, Toche, exactly. based on the degree to which colleagues are ready to implement the approach, including their readiness, motivation, and expertise. Which brings us right back to where we started.

It does. It brings us back to that new stopped column in the improvement plan. Exactly. I call this the staff room seed. It is a very practical way to start diagnosing. What's the seed? Ask your colleagues at the kettle, what quietly stopped happening over the last two years? Did someone formally decide to stop it? Or did it just fade away because everyone ran out of capacity? That's brilliant. And then there is the walk -in scenario. If a governor walks in and asks you tomorrow what stop to make room for this year's priorities, the honest answer should be a one -line addition to the next plan.

It shouldn't be a massive project to figure it out. It should just be the reality of the choices you made. So to pull all of this together for you, there are four key things to take away from this cycle today. Number one, implementation is an ongoing process, not a September launch event. Number two, stop first. Pursue a limited number of changes diligently. Number three, start with the problem. and pucal knowledge data, not a predefined solution. The number four, name the active ingredients, adapt parts, repurpose existing meetings, and expect challenges.

Well, I think that covers it. So where can they find more? Everything is linked in the show notes, and you can find a printable one -pager available at the educationcommute .co .uk for parents or the staff room. We also have two free newsletters available there, one for staff, one for parents and carers. Safe trip in. See you at the gates.