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inFORM

Leadership for Learning: The Cambridge Network publishes occasional papers under the title 'inFORM'. This series of publications is designed to provide brief introductions to emerging issues relevant to leadership for learning.

Members of Leadership for Learning: the Cambridge Network receive a copy of each edition of inFORM as part of their membership entitlements. Additional copies may be purchased by both members and non-members from lfl@educ.cam.ac.uk

2008

  • InFORM 8 (February 2008)

The Legacy of the Carpe Vitam Leadership for Learning project

David Frost, John MacBeath, Sue Swaffield and Joanne Waterhouse

The Carpe Vitam Leadership for Learning (LfL) project was a three year international research project involving researchers and practitioners in eight different cities - Brisbane, Australia; Innsbruck, Austria; Copenhagen, Denmark; Oslo, Norway; Athens, Greece; London, England; Trenton (New Jersey) and Seattle (Washington) in the United States. It was a collaborative venture between academic institutions and schools within each of those sites, and among those colleagues internationally. The project was planned in parallel with the foundation of the LfL network as a means of exploring ways in which our values could be realised in practice in a range of different cultural and political contexts. The LfL values enabled potential participants to make the choice to opt into the Carpe Vitam project.

2007

  • InFORM 7 (March 2007)
    School Facing Exceptionally Challenging Circumstances: A summary of the project evaluation
    John MacBeath and Sue Swaffield
    This edition of inFORM draws on the evaluation of a DfES project designed to raise achievement in eight secondary schools 'facing exceptionally challenging circumstances'. A fuller account and more details can be found in the DfES research report RW90. and the book 'Schools on the Edge' by John MacBeath, John Gray, Jane Cullen, David Frost, Susan Steward and Sue Swaffield published in 2007 by Paul Chapman.

2006

  • InFORM 6 (Sept 2006)
    Teachers Behaving Badly? Dilemmas for School Leaders
    Kate Myers
    Teachers Behaving Badly? Dilemmas for School Leaders was published in October 2004. This InForm discusses some of the issues addressed in more depth in the book. In this paper, which concentrates on relations between adults in schools, some of the issues that leaders may have to address with regard to how sexuality may be manifested in schools are discussed.

2005

  • InFORM 5 (Sept 2005)
    A New Relationship with Schools: Inspection and Evaluation
    John MacBeath
    This edition of InFORM draws on two recent studies of the relatiosnship between inspection and self-evaluation - for the National College of School Leadership (Self-evaluation: background principles and key learning, and Self-evaluation: models, tools and examples of practice), and Inspection and Self-evaluation: a new relationship? for the National Union of Teachers (MacBeath and Oduro, 2005). Return to top

2004

  • InFORM 4 (August 2004)
    What Can Headteachers Do to Support Teachers' Leadership?
    David Frost
    We have always known that, whatever schemes and strategies are hatched in the centres of power and in headteachers' offices, it is what teachers do that ultimately makes a difference. Successful headteachers therefore are those who cultivate the capacity of teachers to contribute to the development of the effectiveness of their school. This commitment to the sharing of leadership is one of the cornerstones of the Leadership for Learning network. Return to top

2003

  • inFORM Number 3 (October 2003)
    Critical Friendship
    Sue Swaffield with a contribution by John Jones
    Critical friends act as professional sounding boards, ask questions that help you see things in a new light, stimulate your thinking, provide a slightly detached viewpoint, have the best interests of you and your work at heart yet can be very challenging. inFORM Number 3 explores the potentially transforming relationship of critical friendship. It compares critical friends with others in similar roles; considers the characteristics and development of critical friends; suggests ways in which the subject of the critical friendship can and should contribute to the success of the relationship; gives examples of critical friendship from a range of Leadership for Learning activities, and provides suggestions for further reading.

2003

  • inFORM Number 2 (January 2003)
    The Alphabet Soup of Leadership
    John MacBeath
    'Leadership' is a term full of ambiguity and a range of interpretations. inFORM Number 2 is a concise guide to a least 20 'types' of leadership or 'ingredients'in the current 'alphabet soup of leadership'. It explains and explores terms and concepts such as 'moral leadership', 'distributed leadership', 'transactional leadership', 'transformational leadership', and 'instructional leadership'. As well as clarifying many leadership related terms in common usage, this edition of inFORM can be used to support self reflection and development. Return to top

2002

  • InFORM Number 1 (June 2002)
    PISA 2000
    Raphael Wilkins and John MacBeath
    The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a research project run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is an ongoing project, and the first results, 'PISA 2000', were published in autumn 2001. PISA is often quoted and used by policy makers and others to make particular points about how well or badly school students in the UK are doing in relation to other countries. Soundbites need to be understood in the context of how the study was undertaken, the detail of the results obtained, and informed interpretation of those results. InFORM Number 1 provides an accessible synopsis and commentary for PISA 2000. Return to top