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Appendix 4: Interview topic guide for the leadership group
Interview topics for member of the leadership group with overall responsibility for project management in each School of Ambition
Views on the main programme goals
- The transformational plan provides details of the aims of your initiative but could you please summarise what you think the initiative is trying to achieve.
Probe: Have there been any changes to the original aims?
- What were the main reasons for implementing the initiative in your school?
Implementing the initiative
- Were there any challenges involved during the planning and implementation of the initiative?
- What organisational support has there been for the initiative in your school?
Probe: Who is seen as providing organizational support?
Progress and outcomes to date
- What criteria and indicators were seen as appropriate to monitoring progress and 'distance travelled' on the individual transformation targets?
- Was there consensus about these criteria at school level and more widely?
- How effective has 'performance management' been in furthering the transformation process?
Probe: Any use of benchmarking to monitor progress and how useful was this?
- To date what evidence is there that the initiative has had an impact concerning the intended aims?
Probe: Evidence from various stakeholder groups e.g. pupils, teachers, parents, others. Also nature of evidence (qualitative etc)
- Have there been any unexpected outcomes, either positive or negative?
- To date, do you think stakeholders adopted a more proactive approach in addressing change in the context of your transformational plan?
Probe: examples for pupils, teachers/school staff, parents, local authority staff and others
Factors that enable or inhibit transformation
- What factors do you think have facilitated progress towards your transformation goals?
- What factors do you think have inhibited progress towards your transformation goals?
Probe: What has or can be done to address these inhibiting factors?
Partnership working
- Have business and other community partners been involved in supporting the initiative?
Probe: If Yes; What partners involved? What role have they played in supporting the school's transformation?
Sustainability of the initiative
- How sustainable do you think the initiative is for your school?
Probe: What conditions would affect the sustainability?
- Do you think other schools could pursue a similar initiative, given similar circumstances and resources?
Probe: What particular elements more or less transferable?
What elements are seen as context specific/dependant?
- Has participation in the SoA initiative promoted the school's ability to self-evaluate?
Disseminating good practice
- How can schools be supported to disseminate the lessons learned/good practice concerning the process and impact of school transformation emerging from the Schools of Ambition initiative?
- Has your school been involved in disseminating and sharing ideas concerning the Schools of Ambition initiative
Probe: What was this?
Who was involved (eg other schools, wider education community, policy makers and other stakeholders)?
How useful was this?
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