There is a paradox at the heart of contemporary school improvement and system change in education. Why is it that despite the phenomenal increase in our recent knowledge about what works in schooling, that standards still lag behind expectations and school level performance is far too variable? Unleashing Greatness addresses this paradox and concludes that unless we focus unrelentingly on the quality of teaching in both our small and large-scale reform efforts, then current practice will never meet society's expectations. The book begins by reviewing the global evidence on school and system reform and from this proposes an eight-step strategy for both sustained systemic educational change and school improvement. Although top-down policy may be necessary initially if the school or system is in a poor state, but as one progresses the move from good to great, cannot be mandated - one has to 'unleash greatness'. The eight-step strategy for unleashing greatness focuses on building capacity for pedagogic improvement that has the potential for generating an increasingly specific language for teaching and learning that significantly aids consistency and precision in the quest for both excellence and equity for all students. The book provides a guide to action for these eight steps that when followed authentically will unleash greatness. Unleashing Greatness is written for 'school improvement activists' particularly those who work in Laboratory Schools or who wish to emulate that ethos and way of working. The author himself has located his professional practice for over forty years as well as this book in the middle of that triangle bounded by the vertices of practice, research and policy.
Professor David Hopkins is Chair of Educational Leadership at the University of Bolton and Emeritus at UCL London and the University of Nottingham. He is passionately committed to improving the quality of education for all and has worked at the intersection of policy, research and practice for over forty years. David was Chief Adviser to three Secretary of States on School Standards in the UK, Dean of Education at the University of Nottingham, helped found the National College for School Leadership and consults internationally on school reform. This book builds on arguments and perspectives developed in his school improvement trilogy: School Improvement for Real (2001), Every School a Great School (2007) and Exploding the Myths of School Reform (2013). David was recently ranked as the 16th most influential educator in the world by the American based Global Gurus organization.
