ABSTRACT
The key features of an effective school are to raise standards and encourage learning throughout life. This will mean that everyone needs to develop their learning and thinking skills if they are to be effective learners in the future. It is important that children experience success in learning as well as being able to recognise the relevance of learning. In an improving school there will be an ethos where staff are valued and where the development and training needs are met. This has nothing to do with headteachers being altruistic but all to do with the need to recruit and retain the best staff possible. In Chapter 1 it was suggested that the most valuable resources in any school are the adults who work there, and it is important to make sure that their skills are developed. All staff should be entitled to training, not only to do their present job but also as preparation for their future development. If this is the case, then it also follows that the ethos of the school must suggest that there is a belief in people and in their ability to learn, develop and grow.
