Our 112th interview is with, Toby Greany, Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham, a seasoned researcher in school improvement.

In this podcast, listen to Toby and Teacher Toolkit founder, Ross McGill discuss:

Why and how Toby got into school improvement

Talking about teaching English in Brazil and China for over 4 years

How Toby ran a large-scale action research program on learning to learn in schools

The study Toby is most proud of called Hierarchy, Markets and Networks with Rob Higham

Studies that tackle academisation

Successes and pitfalls of academisation

Links between vision, values, and school improvement

The challenge of school improvements in large Multi-Academy Trusts

The similarities between corporate mergers and new schools joining a trust

and the costs of the ‘middle tier and MATs providing a support structure doing the lockdown.

The impact of multi-academy trusts have no discernable difference on school standards; although small MATs do have a positive impact (2018).

Visit the website to find links to Toby's research papers on the ‘self-improving system’ which best captures Toby's main interests in system governance and how leaders respond, plus an open-access article which builds on that to focus on the changing role of Local Authorities.