‘Leading Collaborative Learning’ (LCL) is a two-year development and research (D and R) project, funded by the Welsh Government. It involves a cross-section of schools in Wales that are currently working with Dr Lyn Sharratt in a developmental capacity. Dr. Sharratt is a widely published researcher and author. Her latest book “CLARITY: What Matters MOST in Learning, Teaching, and Leading” (Corwin, 2019) is the basis for the developmental work with the participating schools in Wales.
The LCL project aims to build pedagogical knowledge and instructional capacity within schools, and the education system in Wales more generally, through a process of dedicated training from Dr Sharratt followed by intensive periods of collaborative activity where schools engage deeply with enquiry and innovation guided by Dr Sharratts’s work.
The LCL programme also connects centrally to the idea of ‘Schools as Learning Organizations’ the new curriculum in Wales, the National Professional Standards and the “National Mission’. The LCL aims to build the professional capital, competence and capability required for school and system level improvement. The LCL involves schools and stakeholders at all levels in the Welsh system (i.e. Welsh Government, Consortia, Regional Leads, Local Authorities, Challenge Advisers, Headteachers and Teachers).
This is an ambitious D and R project involving a wide range of educators from a cross-section of Welsh schools. It is the first time that Dr Sharratt’s work has been introduced, at scale, in the UK, so it is a timely and important project.
Internationally recognised researchers from Swansea University School of Education (SUSE) were commissioned to undertake research to provide both formative and summative data on the intentions, processes and outcomes of the schools-focused collaborative work. The project has adopted a mixed methodological approach and is developing detailed case study accounts from a sample of schools. Initial findings from this D and R project were presented by the principal investigators and Dr Sharratt, at the 33rd ‘International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement’ in January 2020.