The Continuum of School Improvement is the response of the Catholic Diocese of Maitland Newcastle to addressing the dual purposes of effectively satisfying the expectations of the NSW Education Standards Authority ( NESA ), government and sector authorities, as well as providing a model by which schools may be actively driving school improvement in order to optimise high quality student learning. The model rigorously responds to measures of accountability while simultaneously providing a process by which schools will be leading focused school development.

COSI is improvement focused. COSI promotes a process of continuous development that identifies, celebrates and builds on strengths and also promotes a culture of review and reflection that provides a relentless pursuit of growth in a strategic manner.

The National School Improvement Tool synthesises international research into highly effective schools and school leaders and provides a means that “assists schools to review and reflect on their efforts to improve the quality of classroom teaching and learning. It supports school-wide conversations – including with parents and families, school governing bodies, local communities and students themselves – about aspects of current practice, areas for improvement and evidence that progress is being made” [1].

Through the processes associated with COSI, there is the commitment to see all schools characterised by an explicit improvement agenda in which school communities aspire to be outstanding as described in the Tool:

The school leadership group, has developed and is driving an explicit and detailed local school improvement agenda. This agenda is expressed in terms of specific improvements sought in student performances, is aligned with national and/or system-wide improvement priorities and includes clear targets with accompanying timelines which are rigorously actioned.

The school improvement agenda has been effective in focusing, and to some extent narrowing and sharpening, the whole school’s attention on core learning priorities.

There is a strong and optimistic commitment by all staff to the school improvement strategy and a clear belief that further improvement is possible. Teachers take responsibility for changes in practice required to achieve school targets and are using data on a regular basis to monitor the effectiveness of their own efforts to meet those targets” [2].

[1] National School Improvement Tool, p.1.

[2] National School Improvement Tool, p.3.

In the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle the model for the implementation of a continuum of school improvement will be clearly characterised by being:

School based

The most powerful driver of learning improvement is the local school community. Each school is unique and those within it are in the best position to understand their environment and, being well informed by research, relevant literature about quality practice and student data, can develop a learning culture and strategies that best suit the needs of their community. With a well-informed awareness of the local context, each school is charged with the responsibility of having in place a high quality environment that is focused on student learning, wellbeing and formation.

Research is revealing the powerful impact that school leadership teams can have in improving the quality of teaching and learning. Effective leaders create cultures of high expectations, provide clarity about what teachers are to teach and students are to learn, establish strong professional learning communities and lead ongoing efforts to improve teaching practices. There are many complex factors that combine in producing a high quality Catholic school. These factors are best examined and strengthened by engaging all community members at the local level [1].

System Supported

The Catholic Schools Office exists to lead, guide and support school leadership and planning to provide a focused and challenging learning environment in providing families with a high quality Catholic education. Grounded in service to schools, the Catholic Schools Office, through the processes associated with COSI and our Leading Leading Learning Collaborative, will affirm and acknowledge the achievements of schools and staff, ensure all areas of compliance and quality assurance are fully met, identify gaps and needs in school communities, and provide support and direction to partner schools on their journey towards excellence.

Learning centred

The purpose of COSI is to ensure a focus on student learning by having schools engage in the most appropriate strategies to enhance effective learning. Schools need to be constantly reflecting on what is proving effective, what is needed to improve and what strategies are required to create this. School leaders will drive processes that constantly seek improvement in learning, ensure the primacy of learning in the school day, and, subsequently, develop refined practice that meets the learning needs of all.

Schools must seek to provide learning opportunities that are challenging, engaging and that extend students so that they develop competency and capability as self-directed and even self-determined learners [2].

The ultimate goal of school improvement is to improve outcomes for students, including levels of achievement and well- being [3].

The school is driven by a deep belief that every student is capable of successful learning. A high priority is given to building and maintaining positive and caring relationships between staff, students and parents. There is a strong collegial culture of mutual trust and support among teachers and school leaders and parents are treated as partners in the promotion of student learning and well-being. The school works to maintain a learning environment that is safe, respectful, tolerant, inclusive and that promotes intellectual rigor [4].

Innovation requires creativity, imagination, autonomy and risk-taking. To respond to these needs, an education system must possess the same characteristics. We argue, therefore, that the agenda for reform must be redirected towards essential purpose of education: learning-learning to create, solve problems, think critically, unlearn and relearn, and to care about others and the environment [5].

Continuously prioritised

School improvement is a continuum. Highly effective school culture will focus on school-wide, self-reflective culture that ensures schools will constantly seek avenues of improvement in all dimensions of school life and that this will be articulated through improvement planning. Improvement will be that theme that purposefully focuses a school. COSI, therefore, seeks a focus on improvement in all aspects of a school’s life cycle.

A healthy school culture allows teams to thrive and students to excel as teachers work together in a concerted manner in an effort to ensure all students enjoy success and feel that they belong to a community. At its best, culture doesn’t give you a good teacher here and a weaker teacher there, but many strong and capable teachers working passionately together, under visionary leadership, so all of their students succeed [6].

Collaboratively developed

In developing an improvement culture, there is an associated understanding of the power of collaboration to support this. Collaboration draws on the expertise and gifts of members of the school, Diocesan and wider community that will more effectively contribute to well-rounded decisions to create a stronger sense of community ownership. Collaborative culture recognises the value of the combined wisdom that lies within a school community.

A collaborative culture is characterised by collective effort where all members of the school community work together interdependently to cater for and take responsibility for the learning of all. Collaboration implies team work, mutual support and reciprocity in learning. In this way, a school goes about beginning to form itself as a professional learning community [7].

It is difficult to overstate the importance of collaborative teams in the improvement process [8].

The school works to ensure the continuity of a culture of collaboration and teamwork over time across cohorts of teachers [9].

Future oriented

Continuous school improvement must take the long view with regard to the formation of students. It is the desire of Catholic schools that we develop well rounded young men and women capable of living hope-filled, faith-oriented lives, purposefully contributing to their family, Parish and wider community, equipped with the skills and qualities this century’s workforce requires.

Future focused schools know where they are going and can articulate why. Clarity of goals is essential in ensuring our schools remain relevant and that what takes place in them deftly prepares our students for a world characterised by ongoing, rapid and unprecedented change. If education hopes to meet the challenge or preparing the students of today for the world of tomorrow, it must break out of its current mindset and move rapidly to embrace the new paradigm of constant and accelerating change [10].

[1] National School Improvement Tool, p.1.

[2] Hase & Kenyon, 2001.

[3] National School Improvement Tool, p.1.

[4] National School Improvement Tool, p.6.

[5] Stoll, Fink & Earl, 2003, p.18

[6] Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012, p.21.

[7] Du Four & Fullan, 2013, p.15.

[8] Du Four, Du Four, Eaker & Many, 2010, p.11.

[9] National Improvement Tool, 2012, p.10.

[10] McCain, Jukes & Crockett, 2010, p.93.

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There are 9 components to the Continuum of School Improvement.

1. Six Year Cycle of School Improvement

The 6 year School Improvement cycle aligns all components of school improvement and legislative requirements.

2. Annual Compliance Report

Schools are required by various Government and local authorities to comply with differing sets of standards and criteria related to specific domains of school life and work. For our diocesan schools this is completed in mnResponse and further supported by in - school validation.

3. Annual School Report

The Annual School Report is a legislative requirement of all schools. It also provides an opportunity for schools to highlight and showcase their considerable achievements. The Annual School Report is completed through CART.

4. Curriculum Validation and Catholic Identity Validation

The Curriculum Focus Day (CFD) provides a vehicle for the systematic validation of curriculum inclusive of the RE Curriculum. This model is underpinned by the goal of having system and schools regularly engaged in a process of validation over a 6 year period in all KLA and stages.

Catholic Identity days will also complement The CFD cycle with the validation of the Catholic Identity dimension of school life. These days will occur once in the 6 year cycle for each school and will complement the validation of the RE curriculum.

5. Validation of Non Curriculum Areas

This incorporates Safe & Supportive Environment (inclusive of Child Protection), Premises, Buildings and Facilities, Finance, Staff ( inclusive of teacher accreditation ) Attendance, Discipline, Governance and Work Health and Safety.

6. Community Feedback

Schools need to collect feedback from key stakeholders in the community in order to inform and direct the strategic planning process of the school as well as assisting the school in its self-review process of examining to what degree the school is achieving its goals.

7. Strategic Improvement Plans

Schools are required to develop 3-year Strategic Improvement Plan at the conclusion of each review cycle fulfilling the requirements of the Australian Education Act (2013) and the Commonwealth Government agenda for school improvement.

8. Self-Review

Within the six year cycle of the Continuum of School Improvement (COSI), a school self-review occurs at the midpoint of the cycle, the third year. This aspect of the COSI framework addresses the components of validation and school improvement as ongoing features of school life, these components are integral to school purpose and function. There are two critical points of reflection: The Self-Review (Year 3) and External Validation (Year 6).

9. External Review 

The external review process is a summative point in a school’s developmental cycle. External review provides schools both with the opportunity to share their improvement journey, as well as being an accountability mechanism to ensure that responsibilities to the system and to statutory bodies are met. Essentially, external review serves three  fundamental purposes:

1. To ensure that schools meet compliance expectations regarding all aspects of their operation as outlined in the  NSW Education Standards Authority ( NESA ) Registration and Accreditation of Non-Government Schools manual, as well as complying with various state and federal legislative expectations as they apply to education.

2. To meet diocesan Catholic Schools Office system requirements

3. To support the purpose and intent of COSI in encouraging schools to engage in ongoing, regular reflection, planning and implementation of goals and strategies to promote continuous improvement .