Towards an Integrated System and Why the Work Now is Relational

So what is this image all about? I referenced it at the start of a presentation at the Systems Thinking, Systems Practice conference in Hull University last week and it simply illustrates (with my limited Canva skills), a shift in how we understand the education system itself.

For a long time, most schools have operated, whether willingly or not, as delivery units, overly focused on Ofsted results and narrow attainment outcome. A flow of direction, accountability and improvement primarily moving from the top down. Where Trusts operate these have often been strategic centres.

And now for the shift. There is this line in the Schools White Paper:

“We will support schools to be anchors in their communities, collaborating with each other and across public services.”

This is a shift that acknowledges what many have been saying, and what Jonny Uttley recently highlight as the gold dust in the School White Paper. I couldn’t agree with him more. And what this sentence acknowledges is that the old ways of working are not fit for purpose.

So as someone who benefitted from being educated in a large multi-cultural primary school, embedded in the local community I am cautiously celebrating that a different way is emerging. Not a two-layer system but one that acknowledges the multiple interconnected layers, from the individual, to the team, to the organisation and across wider partnerships. And this shift feels like something with such incredible potential, something more integrated and grounded in the lived reality of children and families.

A More Complex, More Honest View

In many ways, this is simply a more honest reflection of the complex reality. Anyone working in education knows that the sector is messy, with a variety of state school types, over 50% now sitting within trusts, and MATs that often operate across regions. Local authorities retain many responsibilities but face significant challenges and other public services intersect in different ways depending on place. And we can't under estimate the challenge associated with the push for mainstream inclusion with limited funding.

Moving Beyond the Old Model

Increasingly we are realising that linear thinking (and doing) is limiting and the real work relies on us to be more agile, adaptable and have the confidence to navigate uncertainty, together. It relies on the ebb and flow of communication, learning and decision-making. It requires information, insight and responsibility to move not just downwards, but upwards, across and back again. It requires agency at every level.

Because This Is Not Just Structural Change

We can design new structures such as partnership boards, shared frameworks and joint priority documents and this is of course important if we want to rise to the challenge. However, this on its own, doesn’t enable the work to get done. Structures in education are held together by relationships. And this is where the work becomes both more human and more demanding.

The Work of Connecting

Across the individuals, the teams, the organisation and the wider system, the question becomes the same: How well do we connect with each other?

Not just in formal meetings or planned partnerships, but in the small, everyday moments where trust is built over time. I now have the immense privilege of working with schools, with trust leaders, local authority colleagues and partners in health and community organisations and I see both the potential and the challenge of the work.

Firstly, it is important to acknowledge that there is extraordinary work already happening at every layer of the system. Deeply committed people working together, finding ways to support children and families in complex circumstances. This is not theoretical. It is real, and it is happening now. But it is often fragile, dependent on individuals, stretched by pressure and difficult to sustain without the right conditions.

So if we are serious about enabling this shift, we have to pay much closer attention to the relational capacity of the system.

Three Ways of Working That Matter

When we look across all layers, the same patterns emerge again and again. The leaders and systems that are able to work effectively across boundaries are not necessarily those with the clearest plans or the most detailed strategies.

They are those who are able to listen, collaborate and navigate the way forward together, even when things are uncertain.

Listening sounds simple, but it is often the first thing to go under pressure. Listening to ourselves, to notice how we are reacting. Listening to others, especially when their perspective challenges our own. Listening to the system, to understand patterns rather than jumping to solutions. This requires time, attention and a willingness to be changed by what we hear.

Collaboration, in this context, is not about agreement. It is about staying in the conversation when it would be easier to retreat. It is about working across difference, holding multiple perspectives and finding enough alignment to move forward. This can feel uncomfortable, even risky. It often asks us to give up a degree of control and certainty.

And then there is the question of how we move. In complex systems, we rarely have the luxury of a clear, linear plan. The work is iterative. We sense, we try, we learn, we adjust. We take a step, and then another. This requires trust, not just in others, but in the process itself.

None of this is easy. In fact, much of it can feel counter-intuitive. It can feel slower. Less certain. More exposed. But this is the work.

The Risk

But intention is only valuable if we know how to implement it. The risk is that we try to implement this shift using the same habits, the same assumptions, the same ways of working that were designed for a different model (and a different world). If we do that, we will create more meetings, more structures, more complexity, but not necessarily more impact. The risk is also that we create more frustration and more burnout for those doing the work at the sharp edge, who are often working with our most vulnerable young people.

What This Now Requires of Us

So the opportunity is clear but so is the challenge.

We need to recognise and build on the strong practice that already exists across the system and there is so much already there.

We need to invest, seriously, in the relational capacity of leaders at all levels, not as an side thought, but as a core capability backed with both time and financial investment.

And we need to create systems that allow learning, insight and responsibility to flow. Not just top-down, but across and back again. Systems where communication loops are real, where feedback is heard and responded to, where agency is not held by a few but developed across the whole.

A Different Kind of Leadership

Years ago, in my first Executive Headship, I found myself in governing body meetings that were, at times, deeply uncomfortable. Different perspectives, competing priorities, strong emotions. At the time, it felt like something to manage, to resolve. Looking back, I can now see it differently. That was the work.

Perhaps that is what this moment is asking of us now.

To move beyond seeing systems leadership as something abstract or strategic, and instead recognise it in the everyday interactions between people at every layer of the system. Because place- based systems leadership only becomes meaningful and impactful when we listen deeply, collaborate across difference, and move forward through uncertainty together.

And if we can get that right across individuals, teams, organisations and the wider system then this shift will not just remain a vision in a policy document. It will become something lived, and felt, in the communities we serve.