This document summarizes a presentation by Dr. Scott Eacott on what makes an effective school. Eacott claims that schools prioritize what they are good at, education is political, and effectiveness is contested. He advocates for a relational approach that questions common discourses and embraces organizing relationally to overcome tensions between individualism and collectivism. Eacott discusses different perspectives on school effectiveness, improvement, and teacher effectiveness. He argues that effectiveness begins with clarity of purpose, coherence with that purpose, and constructing your own narrative.

1. What makes an effective
school
Dr Scott Eacott
Office of Educational Leadership
School of Education
The University of New South Wales

2. Acknowledgments
New South Wales
Department of Education
The University of New
South Wales
The Office of Educational
Leadership
#EDST5608
Dr Scott Eacott

3. Presentation Overview
• Introduce my claims
• A relational approach
– What is meant by effective?
– The role of context
– Productive thinking
• Dialogue and debate
@ScottEacott

4. MY CLAIMS
Naming it upfront
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5. Claims
• Schools are good at what they prioritize
• Education is political
• Contested – but do we contest?
• Clarity | Coherence | Narrative
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6. A RELATIONAL APPROACH
Setting the scene
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7. A relational approach
Five relational extensions:
• The centrality of ‘organizing’ in the social world creates an
ontological complicity in researchers (and others) that makes it
difficult to epistemologically break from the spontaneous
understanding of the social world;
• Rigorous social scientific scholarship would therefore call into
question the very foundations on which the contemporarily
popular discourse are constructed;
• The contemporary social condition cannot be separated from
the ongoing and inexhaustible recasting of organizing;
• Studying relationally enables the overcoming of the
contemporary, and arguably enduring, tensions of
individualism and collectivism, and structure and agency; and
• In doing so, there is a productive – rather than merely critical –
space to theorize.
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8. EFFECTIVENESS
Asking questions of label
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9. We are a really good school. We are
effective. We say we will educate the kids
in a holistic manner, and that is what we
do. Although we are answerable to our
political masters, at the same time you have
to be true to yourself and enact what we see
as a good education (Eacott, 2013, p. 27).
Eacott, S. (2013). Asking questions of leadership: using social theory for
more than critique. Leading & Managing, 19(1), 18-31.
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10. Different foci
• School effectiveness
– Achievement | Successful
• School improvement
– Value added measures
• Teacher effectiveness
– Effect | Impact
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11. What do you see as the
purpose of schooling?
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12. Why is this important?
• Broad principle/s
– Challenges of ‘shared’ visions
– One size fits all
• Justification
– Embracing professionalism
• Critique
– Different form of supervision
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13. Some challenges
• In era of LSLD why do we look to others to
define whether we are effective?
• Turnaround literatures do not help. Who
decides and for what?
• Absence of context in ISSPP, AESOP
similar, but does context matter?
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14. Some thoughts
• Effectiveness begins with clarity
• Then, you are judged in relation to
coherence
• You construct the narrative of your school
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15. Dialogue and Debate
A presentation at:
Queanbeyan Secondary Executive Conference
Hotel Rydges – Capital Hill
Canberra ACT AUSTRALIA
28-29 October 2015
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16. Contact Details
Dr Scott Eacott
PhD MLMEd GradCertPTT BTeach/BSocSci FACEL
Director, Office of Educational Leadership
School of Education
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW AUSTRALIA 2052
P: +61 2 9385 0704 Academia.edu
T: @ScottEacott Researchgate
E: s.eacott@unsw.edu.au UNSW profile
W: http://scotteacott.com ORCID
@ScottEacott