Teachernet, School leaders' information

School leadership and management issues

Work on cohesion is already in place in many schools
Whilst the duty came into force in September 2007, good schools have been working to promote community cohesion for many years in someway. A look at the definition of community cohesion will confirm that it coincides with the aims, ethos and current practice of most schools. The implementation of Every Child Matters reforms, revisions to the National Curriculum, developing extended services and the embedding of personalised learning all provide opportunities for schools to bring coherence to the various elements of their work on community cohesion. The suggestions, case studies and audit pages included this resource pack aim to help schools to recognise the many aspects of their work which already contribute to cohesion and help them to review and monitor impact and effectiveness of it as they draw this work together.

Getting started with community cohesion
To get a clear picture of how the new duty should be implemented, school leaders may find it useful to use the definition of community cohesion and audit pages to initiate a dialogue with relevant colleagues and stakeholders to develop a shared understanding of the range of activities that can contribute to community cohesion. There is also a discussion activity that could be used with colleagues. The checklist is a good starting point to help senior leaders and governors decide how to move towards a detailed planning process. A much fuller document based on the Training and Development Agency (TDA) school improvement framework and linking it to planning for cohesion can be downloaded from the link below. The TDA Framework uses the following headings:

Prepare and engage
Identify objectives
Develop and prioritise solutions
Deliver
Personalisation
Demonstrate impact

Is the promotion of cohesion planned separately?
Some schools will wish to review and develop community cohesion work separately to clarify exactly which aspects of school life are currently contributing and which areas need specific development. In other cases the work on cohesion will be closely embedded in work under broader developments such as achieving the Every Child Matters outcomes, implementing National Curriculum changes or a revised teaching and learning policy. Whichever approach is used, schools will need to be able to identify their work to promote community cohesion in order to evaluate its effectiveness, as well as give it due recognition in their SEF.

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