School Values and Effective Pedagogy: Case Studies of Two Leading Edge Schools in England

Abstract

The chapter arises from a project examining the relationship between explicit values adopted by schools and the nature of the influence such values have on classroom practice. The project developed eight case studies of schools, through interviews with staff and students and through direct observation of classroom teaching. The schools were selected on the grounds that they had been judged outstandingly effective, under the English external inspection system, for the quality of both their management and their teaching and learning. The chapter argues that there is a circular relationship between making values explicit, school management and quality teaching. Values made explicit through the formation of school policy become reflected in teacher and student behaviour in classrooms, and then with student and teacher voice being represented in the schools’ policy-making groups, thereby completing the cycle. The chapter makes a case for the re-conceptualisation of pedagogy as being an issue of values, articulated at the whole-school level, rather than restricted to technical effectiveness by teachers in classrooms.