Rooty Hill High School Professional Practice

Strategic Partnering

What was the significance of our project for RHHS?

Why our project?

From 2013-2018, the school was a Social Ventures Australia Powerhouse School1 and during that time, the school worked with other Powerhouse Schools to explore the value of networking and partnerships. At the end of the previous School Plan (2015-2017), the school was ‘lead school’ for a major partnership about Entrepreneurial Learning with 10 NSW and 11 Victorian Secondary schools facilitated by Professor Yong Zhao.2 This was one of a number of opportunities to partner with universities, academics along with business and not-for-profit organisations, This resulted in the school having 27 strategic partners at the end of 20173. Thus, when the school completed the NSW Department of Education ‘external validation’ the value of the strategic partners to school, student and teacher innovation and improvement was seen.
At the start of the new School Plan (2018-2020), reviews of each partnership suggested that an overwhelming majority of partnerships were purely transactional4. The purpose of the strategic partnering project was to move from a focus on finding and working with as many partners as possible (the general pressure on government schools in average and poorer communities) to a focus on the ongoing partnering relationships with organisations that have the capacity to add value to the lives and learning of students and their families.
As the final project poster outlines (see below) the purpose of this project was to embed partnering in the school’s culture and operations while seeking opportunities to work towards innovative partnering relationships. Our plan was to actively engage students and staff with strategic partners in ways that enable students to respond to challenge and change; to work in expansive, creative, and adaptive ways; and to use partnering to add value to student learning, learning transfer and expansive education in the capabilities.

References:

1. https://www.socialventures.com.au/education/the-sva-bright-spots-schools-connection/
2. https://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/paradigm-shifters-entrepreneurial-learning-in-schools-mitchell-institute.pdf
3. It is important to differentiate between strategic partners and transactional partners. Transactional partners for government schools include accrediting, curriculum and assessment authorities; organisations that offer student programs such as sports organisations; and organisations promoting their products include vocational and tertiary providers. Strategic partners leverage change, promote opportunity and ensure student progress and achievement as a result of the partnership.
4. Ibid.

What was our “theory of practice”?

We know that partnering is not a new practice but how do we shift the focus from a transactional relationship to a mutually beneficial one?

“Partnering” with schools is not a new practice. The academic study of the impact of partnering on student engagement and learning is also not new. What is new is seeking to redefine “partnering” with an “equity lens”, where the school and its staff are recognised as the experts in teaching and practice, while the partners are recognised as experts in providing opportunities, networks and content.

To better understand the current “partnering” research in Australia, the school worked with academic partner, Dr Michelle Anderson who had included the work the school had done in the early 2000s with the Asia Education Foundation and our partner primary schools to introduce Mandarin and Chinese cultural programs from Year 5 in a major report for ACER (Australian Council of Education research) and who had also worked with the schools involved in the “Paradigm Shifters” program. As an expert in school-philanthropy partnering theory and practice she worked with staff to identify the 5 key elements of successful school-philanthropy partnering that are now included in the school’s Strategic Partnering Policy.
Purposeful partnering relationships that make a measurable impact on the learning and related outcomes for students, the partners and strategies chosen should:
Align the principles, values and priorities of the school and partners
Address a challenge or need
Develop new ways of learner knowing, doing or being
Enable adaptative and responsive behaviour in times of challenge and change
Focus on growth pathways

Previous research and analysis suggested that school partnerships have two essential dimensions

Maturity and
A partnering approach.

Both of these are important to consider in working with partners and our experience over many partners suggests that in relation to maturity it is important for the school (and the partners) to carefully nurture partnering if the relationship is to be matured and sustained. It is also important to commit resources to a longer term relationship and/or “set an end date” and/or be prepared to decide when the partnering is no longing adding value and stop. Some organisations (and some schools) are better at this than others.