Barbara Dale-Jones of knowledge management agency Bridge
There are four key pillars in improving maths education, says Barbara Dale-Jones, chief executive of knowledge management agency Bridge.
Speaking at the maths performance debate, Dale-Jones said planning around key factors, being deliberate about scale and systems impact, committing to knowledge management and ensuring proper evaluation are crucial.
“You have to design interventions to suit the stage,” she noted. “Choose the intervention carefully and capacitate the staff and school principal. You also need to ensure teacher buy-in to the intervention.”
Moving on to what she described as the “micro-macro paradox”, Dale-Jones said it was important to understand the systemic context when designing an intervention. “You need to understand who will be working with it. Scale is best approached in a staged way, with a pilot project first, and supported by effective change management planning and effort.”
On managing knowledge, Dale-Jones said it was vital for the education sector to share best practices and resources such as a map of funders and service providers, project registers and tools.
Evaluation is crucial: “You have to define the impact of the intervention — not just on pupil outcomes. The sector needs evidence-based long term impact evaluation data, and post-project evaluations to track sustainability.
“We have to end the culture of secrecy when it comes to evaluations,” she said, urging stakeholders to share data about what works and what does not.