Five approaches that will make our schools world class

As we moved into the new millennium, we saw an increasing use of international comparative data and, as a result, school improvement shifted from being as good as the best in your own country to being world class.

The system in England is described as good and improving. Yes we can, should and must improve further – but the important question is how can our system best move forward? In terms of what we can learn and do, the lessons are all already out there. The key to improvement now is in sharing these effectively and applying them in practice.

McKinsey and Company in their 2010 report identify a four-stage performance spectrum – from poor to fair, from fair to good, from good to great, and from great to excellent. For a good and improving system like our own, they recommend we should turn our attention to the professionalisation of our educators.