ABSTRACT
The quality of teaching and learning is at the heart of school improvement and real, lasting change can only come from what teachers and learning assistants do consistently in classrooms and other learning areas in the school. Curiously, although schools have policies for almost everything, partly with an eye on the OFSTED inspection process, many schools still do not have policies on teaching and learning and it is sometimes difficult to ascertain from their practices whether these are based on an individual or a collective approach. In successful schools the staff have thought through together what constitutes effective teaching and learning in their particular context, based on a set of core values and beliefs, and they continue to speculate how they might improve their practice, involving pupils, parents and governors in the debate. They are aware that their central purpose and the focus of all their endeavours is raising the achievement of pupils and they engage in collaborative activity to ensure this. Principles are turned into processes and practices and once agreed strategies have been implemented they are constantly monitored, reviewed and adjusted again in the light of the evidence. Through this process there is an internal dynamic to teaching and learning and the school is geared to continuous improvement. There are high expectations for everybody, as both learners and teachers, and the headteacher in particular is a leader of learning. There is in fact an apparent teaching and learning culture in the school which is constantly being nourished and developed, with staff taking individual and collective responsibility to improve on their previous best, with reference to the best knowledge and practice available, and committing themselves to regular self-evaluation.
