International research shows the best education systems enable teachers to learn from each other about how to enhance student learning and lift achievement. No School is an Island is the story of a New Zealand model of this kind called Learning and Change Networks (LCN), where schools have banded together as networks to collaborate with each other.

In the meantime, in 2014 the government announced the system-wide $359 million Investing in Educational Success (IES) policy, where schools will voluntarily band together into ‘Communities of Schools’ with a career path for teacher and leaders under each Community. There are clear lessons from LCN for the development of the IES.

The New Zealand Initiative recommends that:

• An evaluation framework is built into the roll out of the IES policy to ensure that the investment is paying off in student outcomes. After a set time period, a decision on whether to continue the IES should be made based on this evaluation.
• Communities need to establish strong relationships, trust, and a common purpose, and this should happen before filling the career roles. We would encourage Communities to use the additional operational funding provided for IES to contract facilitation support to help build the Community.
• We would encourage Communities to learn from the LCN methods of working with students and families/whānau from the outset to uncover what needs to change to lift learning and achievement.

The history and structure of LCN

LCN started as a strategy in 2010 to support primary and intermediate schools with National Standards. The Ministry of Education set aside $7 million and contracted the University of Auckland’s Uniservices to provide facilitation services to voluntary networks of schools (LCNs) around the country. There are now 53 LCNs ranging in size from 3 to 27 schools. Around 10% of schools are involved, and each LCN receives around 24 days of facilitation services over a two year period.

LCNs work with priority students and their families/whānau to identify a shared achievement challenge across the LCN, using tools to uncover what needs to change to improve learning. The most common changes identified are: improving family/community connection, enabling students to take ownership of their learning, and improving instruction.

Effectiveness of LCNs on achievement

In a sample of 53 LCN schools (out of 389) that provided National Standards data in 2012 and 2013, the Ministry found a 17.2 percentage point increase in the proportion of students achieving ‘at’ or ‘above’ the expected standard between 2012 and 2013. This compared to a 9.4 percentage point increase for a matched control sample.

While this is a positive indicator, self-selection bias cannot be ruled out. The Initiative undertook a more conservative analysis, comparing National Standards results for all schools that joined LCN in 2012, with all schools not involved, within each decile (to control for socio-economic effects). Although there was a statistically significant improvement for one of the deciles, the number of schools per decile was small, and it is may be too early in the programme to see change. In the meantime, LCNs that have managed to collaborate with each other have some common features, as below, which should be incorporated into the IES policy design.

Key features of LCN

The student’s network of learning: LCN is about networking schools together, but also considers each student as being in the centre of their learning experiences. Children learn in different places, times and from many different people in their lives. The philosophy is to bring these people together to enhance learning opportunities.

The structure-freedom continuum: LCN is driven by demand from interested networks of schools rather than top-down. Facilitators adjust the amount of structure and freedom for each LCN, reducing support as internal capacity increases. There is a strong philosophy of adapting to local context, and letting go of what doesn’t work. As such, LCN has become a self-learning, nimble, adaptable strategy.

Cross-pollination of knowledge: As well as sharing knowledge about what works for learning and achievement within each LCN, facilitators are cross-pollinating that knowledge across the LCNs they work with.

Trust, relationships, and the common purpose: Successful LCNs are built on a foundation of trust and a history of working together. Identifying the shared achievement challenge is critical to bring schools together for a collective purpose, and from that emerges a strong sense of peer accountability.

Collaboration and competition: In New Zealand’s system, many schools compete for students. Thus some parents can choose to bypass schools that do not meet standard. This provides the sharp edge of accountability. Combined with the high level of autonomy that schools have, this has enabled many schools and students to flourish. The flipside of competition, however, is the disincentive to share good practice with other schools. However, if there is common purpose and trust in LCN, competition and collaboration can be mutually enhancing.