Improving a good school : multi-stakeholder perspectives - England and Hungary

This research asks the stakeholders of two case study schools to give personal perspectives on whether their school is good and how it can be improved. One case study school is an international middle school in Hungary and the other is a middle school in the south of England. Both schools follow the National Curriculum in England and Wales. The stakeholders studied in each school are the governors (directors in the case of the international school), the senior management team, teachers, students and parents. The SMT were interviewed, surveys were adopted for the other stakeholders.;The literature review finds that stakeholder views are not a focus of many school effectiveness and improvement studies. Governors and senior management team (SMT) views on school improvement are seldom investigated. Studies that involve the full range of stakeholders are rarely seen.;The results of the stakeholder surveys at the two schools revealed common experiences and contrasts between schools and between stakeholders. At both schools, governors are noted as being followers and do not make the school accountable, the SMTs revealed lack of cohesion and the head and principal did not appear to be aware of the problems. Problems between the senior management and staff are also clearly portrayed by both teachers and senior staff.;Whereas similarities in school improvement issues between the stakeholders of a school were common, the priorities for improvement were different. What parents and students perceived as priority areas did not agree with other stakeholder priorities. This pattern was replicated in both schools.;The research finds that some problems appear to be hidden from inspections. The accuracy of Ofsted inspection report statements that declare the two schools as good is, therefore, questioned. The study concludes by proposing a new definition for a good school. It responds to the findings in the literature review by adding a stakeholder school. It responds to the findings in the literature review by adding a stakeholder specific school effectiveness list to contrast existing ones (for example, Sammons et al 1995) and provides a process model for school improvement with stakeholders at its centre.