Abstract
This chapter explores a case study in area-based reform, using the example of the remarkable transformation of educational outcomes in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets between 1998 and 2012. Drawing on interviews and official data along with school performance material, we argue that the transformation of schooling in Tower Hamlets depended on a number of linked factors: committed political leadership; challenging professional leadership; a robust approach to selecting from, and then rigorously managing, external policy imperatives; the engagement of schools; and the judicious spending of generous levels of resourcing. We cannot answer counterfactual questions with precision, but it is our belief that whilst different approaches would still have seen improvement in some schools, the coherent, area-wide improvement which we saw in Tower Hamlets would not have been possible without the strong political and professional leadership which the Authority, its leaders, and its officers were able to exert. We set the experience of Tower Hamlets in the context of literature on sustained education reform and draw lessons for other communities.
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Notes
- 1.
In the text which follows, Payne clearly means “learning climate” to “include[e]…the degree to which students perceive high expectations” (Payne, 2008, p. 46).
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Brown, C., Husbands, C., Woods, D. (2019). Transforming Education for All: Tower Hamlets and Urban District Education Improvement. In: Hung, D., Lee, SS., Toh, Y., Jamaludin, A., Wu, L. (eds) Innovations in Educational Change. Education Innovation Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6330-6_2
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