David Hopkins

In 2008 we published an article in this journal entitled Seven Strong Claims about Successful School Leadership. The article was based on a major literature review that was summarised in a paper published by the National College for School Leadership in England. Both the National College paper and our subsequent article proved to be far more popular than we anticipated and both have been extensively cited over the past 10 years. This article revisits each of the seven claims, summarising what was said about each in the original publications

The article begins with a review of what is known internationally about system level reform. With these frameworks in mind, a critique is then made of recent educational change efforts in Wales. This is followed by a comprehensive description of a system reform strategy for Wales based around the four drivers of personalised learning, professionalised teaching, intelligent accountability and networks and collaboration, all of which are moulded to context by system leadership. It is this framework that holds promise for sustained progress in student achievement throughout the country.

There is no more important goal for educators than enabling their students to develop the habit of enquiry and to embed a spirit of curiosity. Accomplishing this, as well as achieving high academic standards, is a task that seems to be beyond most jurisdictions, however well intentioned. For we are at a time in our educational history where there is a dominant culture of top down reform and external accountability. Nevertheless, David Hopkins and Wayne Craig did just this through using the ‘powerful learning’ framework they developed in the Northern Metropolitan Region of Victoria, Australia. In this contribution to the Education Today themed issue on “Understanding Achievement”, David and Wayne tell the story of how they achieved Curiosity and Powerful Learning for their students by working from the ‘inside – out’ and by building a systemic work culture that facilitated teacher leadership.

Over the last 4 decades, the school effectiveness and school improvement research bases have gained prominence and recognition on the international stage. In both a theoretical and empirical sense, they have matured through a wide range of welldocumented projects, interventions, and innovations across a range of countries, describing how efforts to help schools become increasingly effective learning environments for the full range of their students have been more or less successful. This review presents evidence of the effects of reform efforts at the school and system levels, through articulating 5 phases:
● Phase 1 – understanding the organisational culture of the school; ● Phase 2 – action research and research initiatives at the school level; ● Phase 3 – managing change and comprehensive approaches to school reform; ● Phase 4 – building capacity for student learning at the local level and the continuing emphasis on leadership; ● Phase 5 – towards systemic improvement.
The review concludes by reflecting on how the phases evolve and overlap and offers 3 concluding thoughts about how to identify those levers that together provide more powerful ways to enhance the learning and achievement of our students within a systemic context.