Building the Curriculum 3 highlights partnership working as an important element in curriculum planning, with the framework for the curriculum emphasising the need for each young person to experience a coherent curriculum, enabling them to develop their skills and attributes and reach the highest levels of achievement.
This implies the need for partners to plan learning activities that will help young people meet the challenges they may encounter.
The national development work looked closely at partnership working between schools, youth work and other partners.
Case studies have demonstrated the critical importance of leadership at both strategic and operational level in developing and sustaining partnerships.
The Journey to Excellence‘An excellent school actively seeks out partnerships with external agencies with the potential to be most productive in helping to provide imaginative contexts, learning experiences and opportunities for personal development which meet the needs of individual pupils and groups in all areas of the curriculum.’
In developing partnerships, partners have found that the following elements contribute to success:
- strong and effective leadership at both strategic and operational level
- clear understanding of roles, responsibilities and contribution, through partnership or service level agreements
- shared aspirations for young people
- the ability to fulfil commitments and achieve agreed targets
- effective systems for communication and sharing and recording information
- mutual respect and trust
- joint planning, regular reviews of progress and effective systems for self-evaluation
- responsiveness to changing circumstances
- flexibility in ways of working
- engagement with all stakeholders, including young people and parents
- opportunities for joint training and development secure and reliable funding streams that result in sustainable programmes.
Find us on