Common features of effective federation

Federated Schools: Common features of effective federation, published by Estyn, notes these points

The most most successful federations have:

  • Senior leaders and local authorities with a clear vision of what they want to get out of federation process.
  • Outcomes for pupils as the clear focus.
  • Communication systems that inform staff, parents and pupils.
  • Leaders that improve provision and outcomes for pupils by sharing resources, systems and good practice across schools.
  • Good governors and an effective executive headteacher in place, which has a positive impact on leadership capacity at all levels.
  • Budget efficiencies where capacity allows. This might see an increase in the role of administrative staff and the employment of a business manager to oversee budgets across the federation often results in further savings and efficiencies.

Some warnings/ shortcomings:

  • Federations of smaller schools can be a challenge.
  • Surprisingly, in most cases, federated schools do not use information and communication technology (ICT) effectively to support collaboration, and in particular pupil collaboration, across member schools.
  • “… there are too few opportunities for headteachers to engage in professional learning that will prepare them to lead a federation or for senior leaders and staff of federated schools to network and share practice”. (p6)

A selection of ‘Estyn recommends’:

“R2 Develop leadership structures for the federation, including some non-teaching time for a senior leader on each site, to support effective day-to-day operation and good communication within and between schools.”

“R4 Develop the use of ICT to support collaboration by staff and pupils”.

“R7 Identify and evaluate the potential impact of any barriers to effective federation, such as geographical remoteness”.

“R8 Provide relevant professional learning opportunities for senior leaders of federated schools”.

The Welsh Government should:

“R12 Explore arrangements to help federated schools pool their resources”.

 

This is a useful document for anyone considering federation of any type.