WELCOME!

In March 2007 Oakwood Park Grammar School submitted a bid to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust to form a regional development and research hub to explore the idea of deep leadership and how it may help to improve the provision for personalised learning in schools. Over the next couple of years this website will become the focal point to exploring these ideas and document the work we are doing, as well as our hub partners.

I would encourage you to monitor this site closely if personalised learning and deep leadership are intriguing issues to you. I would also encourage you to explore the website and add your thoughts, views or experiences of personalised learning and deep leadership in the schools you may know and work in.

This website is intended to be the focal point for a collaborative research project. You may be asking yourself ... Deep leadership? Personalised learning? What on earth are you talking about? Here is a brief history of personalised learning and the deeps to bring you up to date on the direction this project is taking.

 

Understanding the Concept of ‘Deeps’ in Personalising Learning

Personalising Learning – Is commonly known as the challenge of meeting the needs of pupils and ensuring that more students are able to achieve their full potential in school as and develop as lifelong learners. Personalised learning is described as a unique professional journey for a school and all of its stakeholders. The nine gateways of personalised learning provide a roadmap to help schools implement systematic personalisation within their organisation.

Personalising Learning Gateways

• Assessment for learning

• Learning to learn

• Student voice

• Curriculum

• New technologies

• School design and organisation

• Advice and guidance

• Mentoring and coaching

• Workforce development

Over a two year period educational professionals were invited to attend national conferences which explored and defined the nine personalising learning gateways. At the end of these conferences four key concepts emerged (the ‘Deeps) which hinted that the gateways were clustered and that personalisation issues were interdependent.

The ‘Deeps’ include:

• Deep learning (Student voice, Assessment for learning, Learning to learn)

• Deep experience (Curriculum, new technologies, school design & organisation)

• Deep support (advice & guidance, mentoring & coaching)

• Deep leadership (workforce development)

Deep learning – The heart of personalisation is the commitment to deep learning by pupils. In addition to national tests, examinations and qualifications learning must involve wider educational purposes and the pupil outcomes related to these purposes.

Deep experience – Deep learning fails to occur with pupil because their life or experience in school fails to engage them in learning and education. To promote pupil engagement rethinking the curriculum, content and its structure is necessary. School design and organisation need to be questioned.

Deep support – Deep learning and deep experience within personalisation demand deep support for pupils. Rethinking advice, guidance, mentoring and coaching systems to promote and support deep learning and experience is essential. Deep Leadership Developing the three other deeps cannot be done without deep leadership.

Deep leadership is the capacity to achieve the transformation of full personalisation by:

• Exploiting each of the nine gateways in full

• Exploring the interactions between the nine gateways

• Going beyond the nine gateways to understandings of deep learning, deep engagement and deep support

Deep leadership is not a new theory of leadership or school management. It is more conceptual in nature requiring pioneering and transformational ideas to work through personalisation and the nine basic gateways.