Foundations and Evidence

 

The Schools as Learning Organisations Framework (SALO-F™) is grounded in over 15 years of applied work in school improvement, leadership development, and professional learning.

 

It has been shaped through sustained engagement with more than 130 schools, alongside local authorities, multi-academy trusts, school clusters, and system leaders. The framework has been developed, tested, and refined in real school contexts — not as a theoretical model, but as a practical roadmap for improvement.

 

System and government work

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The framework has been informed by national and system-level work across multiple jurisdictions, including:
 

• Welsh Government — through leadership and professional learning initiatives aligned with the ambition for schools to operate as learning organisations

• Scottish Government — via national leadership and system improvement initiatives

• Irish Government — through a national programme supporting post-primary schools

• States of Jersey Government — through an island-wide education initiative

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This experience has ensured the framework works not only at individual school level, but across systems with different structures, policies, and inspection expectations.

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Academic foundations

 

The framework has been developed with academic scrutiny, challenge, and support throughout its evolution.

 

SALO-F draws on collaboration with senior academics, lecturers, and professors, including work connected to Bangor University, ensuring that the framework remains evidence-informed, conceptually robust, and professionally robust.

 

It is not an academic abstraction. Research informs the framework, but practice shapes it.

 

Relationship to OECD and international research

 

The framework has been developed alongside OECD thinking and research on schools as learning organisations, professional learning, and system improvement.

 

Rather than replicating policy documents or conceptual models, the framework translates international research into a clear, usable structure that school leaders can apply in everyday practice.

 

In this sense, the framework bridges the gap between research and professional practice

 

What makes SALO-F different

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Compared to policy documents:

SALO-F is pragmatic and evidence-based. It provides a clear implementation roadmap where policy often stops at principles.

 

Compared to generic school improvement programmes:

The framework takes a holistic approach, strengthening leadership, culture, professional practice, wellbeing, and standards together — rather than treating them as separate agendas.

 

Compared to one-off CPD or large-scale initiatives:

The framework sits between a single training event and an overwhelming whole-school programme. It is focused, balanced, and achievable, allowing schools to make progress without overload.

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Inspection and accountability alignment

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SALO-F supports schools to meet the demands of inspection frameworks by strengthening coherence across leadership, professional practice, and improvement.

 

The framework helps leaders to:

 

• demonstrate intent, implementation, and impact clearly

• evidence consistency and sustainability over time

• articulate improvement priorities with confidence

 

This supports inspection readiness across frameworks in Wales, England, and Scotland, without narrowing the framework to a single system.

 

Professional recognition

 

Schools that apply SALO-F over time and embed it into everyday leadership and professional practice may work towards professional recognition, acknowledging their successful implementation of a schools as learning organisations approach.

 

This recognition reflects sustained leadership practice and embedded ways of working — not compliance or surface-level adoption.