Appointing an external adviser - what to look for?

See also the C2G post on Appointing an External Adviser, which outlines the statutory requirement for someone to advise the GB on their Headteacher Performance Management.

Governors need to carefully consider what they do for the services they previously received from their School Improvement Partners, both for the statutory requirement for an external adviser, and for the benefits to the school of outside support.

When considering who to appoint as an exernal adviser, it is worth looking at the original job spec for SIPs, which listed these duties:

• act as a critical professional friend to the schools, helping their leadership to evaluate their schools’ performance, identify priorities for improvement and plan effective change
• help build the schools’ capacity to improve pupils’ achievement and to realise other key outcomes for pupils that bear on achievement
• contribute to whole-school improvement in the schools, including effective contribution to the Every Child Matters outcomes
• provide challenge and support for the senior leadership team in the schools
• provide information to governing bodies on their schools’ performance and development.  (Norfolk Governors’ Network)

Who is qualified to be an external adviser? Guidance from the DfE (in relation to schools with no SIP) suggested that possible sources of external advice included education consultants, link advisers or people previously employed as external advisers (e.g. through the Cambridge Education contract) – but said this list was by no means exhaustive and it was up to Governing Bodies to use their judgement as to who might be most appropriate. “There is no longer a time limit on how long an individual could act as an external adviser. Where schools need to appoint an external adviser, the governing body should adopt a process of selection that is open, transparent, relevant and appropriate. Persons appointed as external advisers should not have any personal or pecuniary interest.”

Here is a sample person specification for a school improvement partner / external adviser (from Norfolk County Council) 

School improvement partners will have a range of essential skills, knowledge, experience and expertise and personal qualities. Some skills and knowledge may have been acquired through training and development rather than as a consequence of experience at work. Some gaps in knowledge are likely to be readily filled by training, but a person should demonstrate the underlying and essential knowledge for the role before working as a school improvement partner.

Skills

Analytical ability
School improvement partners need to:

• understand the construction and use of leading indicators of performance;
• interpret complex and detailed quantitative and qualitative data accurately and quickly;
• pursue challenging and rigorous questions, probe explanations of root causes and apparent inconsistencies;
• identify key issues accurately; and
• give accurate feedback, both oral and written.

Judgement
School improvement partners should be able to:

• develop arguments and consistently make sound judgements on the basis of evidence, qualitative and quantitative information and rigorous analysis about performance and potential;
• adapt judgements to circumstances and be able to make accurate, consistent and proportional judgements of performance in different instances (i.e. treat schools in similar circumstances similarly and make proportionate allowances for differences in different circumstances);
• be consistent in the assessment of a school leadership’s record in evaluating its own improvement actions; its capability to deliver improvement and evaluate the impact of actions; and its record in delivering improvement;
• make judgements against a background of high expectations for all pupils and an awareness of the complex issues which surround the achievement of different groups of pupils, for example looked after children, boys, girls, those of different ethnic or socio-economic groups and those with a disability or special educational need
• acknowledge a full range of options and their pros and cons and demonstrate aspirational, yet realistic expectations, providing challenge that stretches professional practice; and
• explain how judgements are made and be able to justify them in the face of opposition or challenge.

ICT skills
School improvement partners should:

• use information and communications technology, including maintaining up-to-date records and making use of materials held on databases.

Knowledge
School improvement partners should have knowledge of:

• the range of approaches to leadership and management in schools in the phase in which the school improvement partner is to work, and understand how to tackle underperformance in different contexts and at all levels:
• funding for schools in the phase in which the school improvement partner is to work;
• school improvement strategies for schools in the phase in which the school improvement partner is to work – national, regional and local dimensions;
• the application of ICT in schools;
• national and local authority education policies and strategies and their implementation, including children’s trust arrangements, the rights of  the child and extended schools;
• the types and sources of services available to help schools, including the capabilities of providers;
• collaborative approaches between schools;
• principles and practice of quality assurance systems, including school self-evaluation and performance management; and
• equal opportunities legislation and the issues surrounding the achievement of different groups of pupils, for example looked after children, boy, girls, those of different ethnic or socio-economic groups and those with a disability or special educational need.

Experience and expertise
 Improvement Partners should be able to demonstrate the following:

• membership of school leadership team or experience of senior local authority advisory work and/or related areas of work relevant to the phase of the school improvement partner’s work;
• recent first-hand experience of successful performance improvement in practice;
• evidence of sustained performance improvement as a result of own actions;
• experience of a range of performance improvement approaches and their application in different circumstances;
• significant senior experience in complex organisations undergoing change;
• a record of successful organisational and people management and financial planning and control; and
• experience of school improvement techniques and approaches and of using self-evaluation to identify priorities for action

Personal qualities
School improvement partners should:

• be highly motivated, enthusiastic, strategic leaders;
• be credible, commanding respect in a wide range of circumstances;
• be committed to lifelong learning and up-to-date with the educational agenda;
• be able to collaborate with colleagues and work within the National Strategies and local authority structures;
• be committed to valuing diversity and demonstrate sensitivity to the needs and rights of different ethnic and religious groups, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people and those with disabilities;
• be open-minded, active listeners;
• initiate and deal with challenge and manage conflict;
• be creative in problem solving;
• communicate persuasively, articulate in speech and in writing and adapt appropriately to different audiences, use influencing skills effectively;
• receive and act on feedback about own performance;
• promote and manage change; and
• interpret complex and detailed quantitative and qualitative data accurately and quickly

Integrity and behaviour
School improvement partners should:

• ensure that  private, personal, political and financial interests do not conflict with work as a school improvement partner;
• disclose to the maintaining authority of any school for which s/he is the school improvement partner, and to the school’s governing body, any direct or indirect interest which might affect or appear to affect decisions made by any of them. In such cases the school improvement partner must not influence or appear to influence such decisions;
• not allow judgement or conduct as a school improvement partner to be influenced or compromised by commercial considerations;
• not accept any hospitality or inducements that could influence judgement;
• not directly or indirectly exert influence or pressure on any person for the purpose of securing work or contracts;
• report financial or other irregularities to the local authority; and
• (for serving heads) ensure that their own school will be able to be well managed and led while giving up the time necessary for school improvement partner work.

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