What is ‘specialist’ about a specialist department in a Specialist School? A case study focusing on dilemmas and contradictions in the ‘partnership’ requirements®

Abstract

It is a condition of being a Specialist School that the named departmental specialist(s) develop(s) or extend(s) partnerships with other schools, within and outside the school’s age phase. This article describes and analyses the partnerships forged by the mathematics department of one of the first cohort of specialist mathematics and computing colleges over the first two years of its designation as a Specialist School. Benefits and constraints are highlighted and compared with existing findings from other research into Specialist Schools and with work which focuses on school improvement. Reflections upon this qualitative study of staff perspectives and experiences, which form the basis of a subsequent study exploring practice recommendations based on analysis of more cases, are offered which may help inform decision-making and policy implementation in other schools considering applying for specialist status.

Keywords

case study partnership secondary education Specialist Schools

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