BUSINESS CLASS: A case for investing in Australian Schools

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1 BUSINESS CLASS: A case for investing in Australian Schools

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3 The Challenge Education is not a level playing field. Schools in communities disadvantaged by economics and location need different types of support so that all children across Australia are able to access the educational opportunities and networks that will help them succeed. The alarming truth is: Dropout rates 1 in 5 (50,000 students each year) do not complete school in Australia.¹ Academic inequality The gap between students in the highest and lowest socio-economic quartiles equates to around 2.5 years of schooling.² Uncertain futures After leaving school, 41.7% of young people from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds were not fully engaged in work or study.³ Improved education outcomes in Australian schools are vital for the economic and social wellbeing of our country. Better educational outcomes for young Australians are really important for our society on an economic level and for reasons of social cohesion. Business often has good intentions to do the right thing but it s often very difficult for us to find practical means to engage with schools. Business Class is a very practical way to engage and make a difference. Peter Nash, Chairman, KPMG Australia 1

4 Schools Connect Australia We believe empowering schools is everyone s business! Schools Connect Australia (SCA) is an ambitious, innovative and independent not-for-profit organisation that works to enhance student outcomes by improving school capability. We connect schools in disadvantaged communities with businesses and facilitate high functioning partnerships between them. Through these partnerships schools and businesses collaborate to address the core challenges faced by the school community. Businesses have the diverse range of skills, expertise and experience that can bring new solutions to old challenges. 2

5 What is Business Class? Business Class is a proven framework for school-business partnerships and social change. A strategic, collaborative partnership between a school and a business is established with a minimum 3 year commitment. This partnership is driven by the needs of the school, based on a detailed needs assessment and an agenda prepared by the school s principal and their leadership team. Priorities are established against the four education pillars: Leadership and governance The curriculum Enterprise and employability Wider issues The first step in the partnership is for the business and school to come together to discuss the outcomes of the school needs assessment, identify priorities and work toward an agreed action plan for the partnership. The thing that is going to have the biggest impact for our students is our ability to re-culture the school. That is why our investment with KPMG is in this area. For us, I don t think anything is more important. Rob Juratowitch, Principal, Warragul Regional College The unique cluster mechanism of Business Class is core to its proven success. Each partnership is part of a geographic cluster of 4 8 partnerships, involving a diverse range of businesses from different sectors. The cluster meets each school term to share best practice, identify common challenges and undertake joint activity where there are common needs. This local learning is shared with clusters further afield through an annual symposium. In this way, additional impact through the connectivity of multiple businesses with multiple schools is enabled. The result is a growing community of capable, collaborative partners working towards broad reaching social change through improved education outcomes for students with the greatest need. 3

6 BUSINESS CLASS MODEL STRUCTURE SCA works with government education departments and other partners to identify 5 8 schools in a particular locality SCA matches business to each of the schools identified: the cluster is established School A School B School C School D School E Business A Business B Business C Business D Business E SCA helps each school and its business partner to build an action plan to focus support on: Leadership and Governance: e.g. School principal mentoring, participating as a school councillor The Curriculum: e.g. Running industry workshops, after school science club Enterprise and Employability: e.g. Building CV and interview skills, work experience Wider Issues: e.g. Improving attendance across the school, students with special needs SCA convenes cluster meetings each school term giving partners and local intermediaries the opportunity to share best practice, update on progress and agree any combined actions SCA will organise and facilitate a yearly feedback event for all regional clusters, providing opportunities for businesses to celebrate achievements SCA review and improve the Business Class model, through continuous monitoring and evaluation 4

7 Sample Action Plan This sample action plan is the actual plan of a current Business Class partnership. OBJECTIVE PARTNERSHIP ACTIVITIES RESOURCES DATE COMMENCED BUSINESS CLASS PRIORITY LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE To develop the leadership capacities of senior school leaders Senior leadership development project Ongoing professional mentoring relationship, addressing a range of HR issues as they arise Three professional development workshops for school staff covering: role of leadership; the school s vision and values; and managing difficult conversations. Representation on the school strategy review panel to provide a cross sector perspective A professional shadowing day between school principal and national Managing Director HR Director and school principal Three x ½ day workshops delivered by HR Director for school principal team and leading teachers One day One day Project start March 2014 Ongoing August and October 2014 September 2014 January 2015 To improve the school s marketing strategy in order to attract new students College marketing project Review and analysis of school data to develop a profile of the school s current internal and external reputation Environmental analysis and market segmentation report and recommendations Consultation and recommendations on latest communication techniques to engage with parents and the community Specific skill required of business and data analytics team Two staff members from the marketing department One staff member from marketing department Project start May 2014 May 2014 November 2014 November 2014 BUSINESS CLASS PRIORITY ENTERPRISE AND EMPLOYABILITY To extend the aspirations of a cohort of high potential students Student aspirations project Business staff from a variety of departments, including marketing, HR and IT running mock interviews for all Year 10 students Three Year 10 students nominated to undertake a one week work placement in a variety of departments based on their interests, including legal, IT and marketing Staff coaching and innovation 'challenges' for a group of high achieving students One day for six Business staff Three students Eight staff including the national Managing Director Project start May 2014 May 2014 June 2014 December 2014 March 2015 BUSINESS CLASS PRIORITY CURRICULUM To implement real world curriculum connections in mathematics Curriculum connections project Consultation on how to create curriculum units that use the specific expertise of the business, its site and the needs of the school Mathematics teaching and learning - Plans are developing for a cohort of students to undertake a hands-on mathematics learning program at the site Plant Director, School Principal, Assistant Principal and 13 leading teachers Plant Director plus two engineers, and two IT professionals with school curriculum leaders Project start March 2015 March 2015 Term These projects are based on the needs of the school as identified by the needs analysis completed at the beginning of the partnership. Projects undertaken also reflect the capacity of the business to support addressing these needs. Please visit our website to see a range of case studies that reflect action plan projects. 5

8 Why the need for Business Class? Australian businesses have worked for many years with schools on a range of levels and through individual initiatives and programs, but there are significant weaknesses in the way many partnerships operate. Surveys of school and business participants have highlighted these weaknesses. Recent studies by Australian governments, business, and other organisations all produced findings that revealed key, structural weaknesses in the current partnership landscape for businesses and schools. The weaknesses of the current partnership landscape are: Business engagement with schools is often ad hoc and short-term The level of partnership engagement is not systematic across the school One-off discussions, mentoring sessions or short training programs are often branded as partnerships but do not generate the intensity, frequency and longevity of collaboration that schools want and need Partnerships are often dependent on short term funding grants, making meaningful, sustained improvement in schools hard to achieve The neediest schools often miss out on partnership initiatives because they are ill-equipped to find partnership opportunities or take advantage of them Unlike other corporate social responsibility programs, Business Class: Has systematic reach across a school, instead of being confined to one area such as work readiness. Its structure gives flexibility to work on leadership and governance, the curriculum, enterprise and employability and wider issues Recognises that sustainable results don t happen quickly 3-year minimum commitment to a partnership Does not rely on one passionate individual in a school or business. Its structure ensures top-level buy in, with staff support and engagement across the organisation, and crucially, administrative backup from Schools Connect for the partnership to thrive Recognises that school principals want volunteers to use their professional skills to help students and teachers Meets high and unmet need expressed by school principals for partners to offer training and mentoring for teachers and the school s leadership team Overcomes top-down program fatigue from principals revealed in SCA s survey of secondary school principals. Too many CSR programs are not genuine partnerships. Too often they are feel-good, pre-packaged initiatives, applied to a school. Business parters work with the schools to develop initiatives driven by the needs of the school Overcomes a key obstacle faced by business and schools who want to pursue community partnerships but lack time and expertise to find a suitable partner and coordinate the partnerships 6

9 There is a growing body of evidence that school leadership has an impact on student outcomes second only to the influence of teachers in the classroom. Hattie, 2003; Leithwood et al, 2006; Tooley, 2009; Day et al, 2009; New Leaders for New Schools, 2009; Day et al, 2010; Barber et al,

10 School Benefits Business Class seeks to assist students in disadvantaged communities by supporting the schools they attend. Through building the capacity of the school, including the leaders, teachers, students and families, Business Class provides sustainable support to young people. The partnerships usually involve some direct support from the business partner for students and the students also directly benefit from improvements in the school s leadership, curriculum and teaching. Business Class delivers schools: Partnerships with businesses they would not otherwise access Improved leadership and management Tailored partnership activities that meet local needs and address local challenges Student access to opportunities, networks and role models beyond their immediate communities In practice, these benefits might look like: Professional relationships and support for principals and key staff such as business managers Leadership development programs for school leadership teams and middle level leaders Practical advice on areas such as IT, finance, marketing, communications, change management Student projects, competitions, events and mentoring Support with student, parent and family engagement Student work experience and vocational learning opportunities Business expertise and help for school councils, governance and other issues Curriculum enrichment opportunities that bring learning to life through realworld projects A cluster model that allows sharing and collaboration across the local community The fact that so much has been achieved in such a short space of time highlights the positive and transformational impact the relationship with Experian is having on our college. Kathryn Henderson, Assistant Principal, McClelland College 8

11 Business Benefits Business Class offers businesses a range of benefits that go well beyond the positive impact they are having on students and schools: Develop the talent of your emerging leaders Social investment beyond giving and skilled volunteering Staff development and engagement skilled volunteering across the organisation breaking down structural barriers Graduate staff attraction and retention opportunity to build Business Class into an innovative graduate program providing graduates with opportunities to contribute to the community as part of their key competency development Community reputation working in a local school community builds awareness and positive image in the community Sustainable community engagement - enables your organisation to form a consortia of partnerships with your clients in a specific region High impact CSR Business Class ensures a businesses volunteering contribution has the greatest possible impact. The long term, strategic and proven design maximises benefits for all History and Growth Business Class was established in 2007 in the United Kingdom by Business in the Community (BITC) one of The Prince of Wales Charities in the UK. Since then it has flourished to become BITC s flagship education program. Business Class is the culmination of over 20 years of work, research and experience in the field. In the UK close to 500 schools have Business Class partnerships, involving well over 200 companies. They include some of the world s best known firms - KPMG, Google, BP, Goldman Sachs, TNT Express, Ford, Ernst & Young, McKinsey, Prudential. Australian Growth Business Class was launched in Australia in 2014 and Schools Connect Australia aims to build 120 Business Class partnerships in Australia by This equates to a student population of approximately At present, two clusters are active in regional and metropolitan Victoria. To date KPMG, Australia Post, Lend Lease, Watersure, Cambridge University Press and Experian are all pioneering partnerships in the Frankston and Gippsland regions and their work with local schools has already delivered significant results. We are currently developing further clusters in metropolitan Melbourne and other states. We are passionate about working within our communities It is a way for us to take skills we ve learned from a corporate environment and help develop and improve a completely different part of the community. Julie Kirk, HR Director, Australia Pacific Region, Experian 9

12 Why work with Schools Connect Australia We have been working with schools and businesses since 2010, enhancing student outcomes by improving school capability and performance. Since 2014 Business Class has been our flagship model for change and partnership but we also offer other opportunities for the broader community to support schools, such as supporting teacher scholarships. Our team consists of experienced professionals with a broad range of knowledge, skills and capabilities that is used to guide our schools and business to achieve the best results. Our education managers support the partnerships and facilitate all aspects of the collaboration between partners, from developing relationships right through to evaluation and feedback. Through comprehensive project support and cluster meetings our staff provide a range of professional learning opportunities designed to increase partners capacity and ensure all activities bring about the most effective educational change and impact. Business Class Impact to date Through an independent evaluation by London City University s Cass Business School in 2010, schools were shown to have benefited from Business Class and the study also validated the strength of the cluster model for fuelling ideas, sharing good practice and enabling collaborative work. SCA has developed a unique Australian evaluation framework for Business Class with the Centre for Program Evaluation (CPE) at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) led by Professor Janet Clinton. The evaluation measures project activity and its impact across the business and school communities and the quality of the partnership. Current Victorian Partnerships In the first 12 months, Business Class partnerships delivered the following outputs: 6 partnerships between businesses and schools representing a school population of project activities across the 6 partnerships Early indications of success The first evaluation report by MGSE will be completed in July 2016 when our inaugural partnerships have reached a maturity of 2.5 years. However there are early indications that the impact of Business Class on both schools and businesses is significant. These are best represented through our case studies regularly updated on our website at org.au 1 ABS How Australia Measures Up, OECD PISA scores for maths, science and literacy from ACER, PISA 'Education in Australia 2012: Five years of performance' Report to the Council of Australian Government 21 October

13 Empowering schools is everyone's business 11

14 Join us. Become a Business Class partner. To find out how, contact Penny Fairbank at Schools Connect Australia penny@schoolsconnect.org.au Direct Mobile Business Class is an initiative of Business in the Community, delivered under licence in Australia by Schools Connect. 12

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16 Schools Connect Australia Phone info@schoolsconnect.org.au Office Address Suite 402, 838 Collins Street Docklands VIC 3008 Postal Address PO Box 620 Collins Street West VIC