ABSTRACT
The authors of the influential McKinsey report, having analysed ‘how world’s most improved school systems keep getting better’, express their surprise at the critical role that what they call the ‘mediating layer’ plays between school delivery and central government. Members of the research team undertook an external evaluation of these initiatives, which recognised attempts at some joint working in its relatively early stages but found little evidence to support the suggestion that this collaboration had impacted positively on schools or classrooms. The Scottish Government’s Governance Review: Next Steps outlined proposals for the next wave of reform in Scottish education. This included significant proposals for reforming the middle tier, including the establishment of six Regional Improvement Collaboratives. Each Regional Improvement Collaboratives is intended to be a conduit between different local authorities and their schools, with the capacity to respond to need through providing access to specialist advice, offering a resource that might not otherwise be available and cutting across traditional hierarchies.
