Reading and
supporting sources.
Further reading, with a short description of each source, to accompany the vision paper. Sources quoted directly in the paper are listed in its numbered references.
Public source links are available below. Further working-group documents will be added as their files become available.
Books
Brown, G. (2026). The Future Starts With Us. London: Simon & Schuster UK.
Gordon Brown argues that the weakening of the international order and the decline of civic life are connected crises, not separate problems. Drawing on his years in government, new research and polling of nearly 100,000 people in 45 countries, he links rising loneliness and weaker community bonds to the turn towards populist politics. His central claim is that lasting change will come less from leaders and summits than from citizens taking an active part in their communities and deciding together what to do.
Leaning, S. and Lerner, E. (2026). Change Starts Here: What if Everything Your School Needed Was Right in Front of You? Abingdon: Routledge.
Shane Leaning and Efraim Lerner, co-founders of Work Collaborative, argue that most school change projects falter because they overlook the human element, and that schools often already hold the answers they look for elsewhere. At the heart of the book is the double diamond model, which helps school leaders understand what the problem really is before jumping to a solution. Its 40 guiding questions and case studies from schools around the world focus on gathering stakeholder views and co-creating solutions with the school community, replacing top-down directives with change that is shaped and owned locally.
Gill, N. and Darley, H. (2018) Creating Change in Urban Settings. Norwich: Singular Publishing
Narinder Gill and Hannah Darley chart the journey of curriculum and leadership development in an urban school through challenging times. The book draws on their experience as school leaders of creating change in a complex urban context. It offers a practitioner's account of how leaders can build lasting change in schools and the communities they serve.
Harris, S. and Morley, K. (2025). Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools: Understand More Deeply and Better Address Inequalities in Your School. London: Bloomsbury Education.
Co-authored by Sean Harris and Katrina Morley OBE of Tees Valley Education, with contributions from leaders across the sector, this is a practical, evidence-informed guide written by educators for educators. It covers poverty-proofing classrooms and curriculum, reshaping whole-school culture and breaking cycles of disadvantage, set against learning loss, the cost-of-living crisis and rising family need. It argues that poverty must be understood as it is lived in each community, and that schools connected with community, research and compassion can be powerful agents of justice.
McKnight, J. and Russell, C. (2022). The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler.
John McKnight and Cormac Russell argue that the health, wealth and power of neighbourhoods lie in their own residents, associations and local assets, not in the services delivered to them. Drawing on asset-based community development, they describe how connected communities can take on functions such as health, safety, raising children and caring for the local environment. The book offers practical guidance on discovering and connecting community assets, and underpins the paper's emphasis on schools as connectors rather than providers.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Putnam's landmark study draws on large-scale data to chart the decline in civic participation, membership of associations and informal social ties in the United States since the 1960s. He develops the idea of social capital, distinguishing bonding ties within groups from bridging ties across them, and shows how both affect health, education, safety and democracy. The book, which expands his 1995 article of the same name, closes with an agenda for rebuilding community connection.
Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. New York: Free Press.
Martin Seligman, a founder of positive psychology, moves beyond happiness to set out a broader theory of wellbeing. He introduces the PERMA model: positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment. The book includes his work on positive education in schools and is a key source for the idea of education for human flourishing.
Policy and research
Department for Education (2026). Every Child Achieving and Thriving (Schools White Paper). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/every-child-achieving-and-thriving
The 2026 Schools White Paper sets out the government's vision for schools in England, framed around every child being able to achieve and thrive. It treats high standards and inclusion as two sides of the same coin, positions schools as a universal public service that can reach every child and family, and continues the move towards all schools belonging to a strong trust. It also describes children's futures as a shared responsibility of schools, families, local authorities, health, business and communities, while acknowledging that duties are currently dispersed between services.
Greany, T., Thomson, P., Collins, M. and Perry, T. (2026). Sustainable School Leadership: Final Report. University of Nottingham. https://sustainableschoolleadership.uk/all-publications/#FinalReport
This final report from a three-year, ESRC-funded study examines how England, Northern Ireland and Scotland recruit, train and retain school leaders, particularly headteachers. It finds that leaders are increasingly working beyond their education remit within an 'ethic of education and care', and describes a sustainability crisis rather than a pipeline crisis. It argues that one-size policy does not fit all, and that place, identity and a local solutions mindset are central to making school leadership sustainable.
IPPR (2026). The Loneliest Generation. London: Institute for Public Policy Research, 1 September 2026. https://www.ippr.org/articles/the-loneliest-generation
This IPPR report looks at what it is like to grow up in England today, drawing on conversations with more than 150 young people and new data on how they are faring. Its central finding is that growing up is now defined by disconnection, and that young people lack the support they need to thrive into adulthood. It argues that the response must cut across education, work, housing and health rather than sit within youth policy alone.
Kania, J., Kramer, M. and Senge, P. (2018). The Water of Systems Change. Boston: FSG. Available at: https://www.fsg.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-Water-of-Systems-Change_rc.pdf
Kania, Kramer and Senge define systems change as shifting the conditions that hold a problem in place. They identify six conditions at three levels: structural (policies, practices, resource flows), relational (relationships, power dynamics) and transformative (mental models). They argue that structural change rarely lasts unless relationships, power and deeply held assumptions shift too.
OECD (2025). Education for Human Flourishing: A Conceptual Framework. Paris: OECD Publishing. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/2025/11/education-for-human-flourishing_cb043494.html
This OECD framework sets out a broad vision of the purpose of education, with human flourishing as its overarching aim. It brings together wellbeing, meaning, relationships and contribution to others alongside academic achievement, and considers what this asks of curriculum, teaching and school systems. It underpins the paper's 'and' mindset, in which strong academic outcomes and wider flourishing are pursued together.
Ponsford, N. (2025). Intentional Inclusion: Investigating Equitable Education and Intersectional EdTech. Doctoral thesis, Bournemouth University.
Nicole Ponsford's doctoral thesis investigates how schools can become more inclusive through participatory action research with school leaders, supported by educational technology. Drawing on intersectionality, lived experience and social capital theory, and on research involving around 26,000 leaders, educators and students, it critiques data practices that measure inclusion without fostering it. It introduces 'Kaleidoscopic Data', a framework that combines quantitative and qualitative insight to surface hidden voices, build bonding, bridging and linking social capital, and embed inclusion across a whole system.
Uttley, J. (2026). A New Settlement for Education: Why We Need a New Theory of Place-Based Improvement. SHINE and the Centre for Young Lives. https://shinetrust.org.uk/2026/07/10/new-report-urges-next-pm-to-put-communities-at-the-heart-of-education-reform/
Jonny Uttley argues that the market model of education created by the 1988 Education Reform Act has reached its limit, because problems such as persistent absence, SEND, youth mental health and child poverty are place-based and cannot be solved by any single school. He proposes a new settlement that keeps trusts as engines of school improvement while giving places civic leadership, democratic accountability and shared responsibility for outcomes. The report, and its accompanying one-page briefing paper, also call for broader, more intelligent accountability and more flexible, locally connected curriculum pathways from age 14.
Confederation of School Trusts publications
Confederation of School Trusts (2021). School Trusts as New Civic Structures: A Framework Document. London: CST.
Produced with Public First, this framework document argues that school trusts can act as civic structures in the places they serve, drawing on the model of the civic university. It suggests that trusts, especially larger ones that are significant local employers, have the capability and responsibility to work with other civic partners on local problems. It sets out how trusts can advance education as a public good alongside local authorities and other anchor institutions.
Cruddas, L. (2026). The Civic Trust: Place, Devolution and the Next Chapter for Education. London: Confederation of School Trusts.
Leora Cruddas sets out principles, rather than recommendations, for the next phase of education and public sector reform, organised around devolution and place. She argues that reform should be built around places at neighbourhood, local and regional level, rather than around separate institutions and government departments. The paper positions school trusts as civic institutions whose resilience is bound up with the resilience of the places they serve.
Townsend, J. and Cruddas, L. (2026). The Partnership Dividend: Civic Leadership in Place. London: Confederation of School Trusts, with the Reach Foundation.
This CST and Reach Foundation paper builds on their 2022 think piece on school trusts as anchor institutions. It sets out an 'anchor' mindset for trusts: building strategic partnerships across sectors, using their position to improve local systems, deliberately empowering others to lead and investing in the local workforce. It argues that this kind of civic leadership in place produces a 'partnership dividend' for children, families and communities.
Dixons Academies Trust (2026). Civic Impact Report 2026. Bradford: Dixons Academies Trust, with the Confederation of School Trusts.
This report sets out the civic work of Dixons' 21 schools and colleges across Leeds, Bradford, Greater Manchester and Liverpool. It describes a civic responsibility strategy that invests in communities, supports them to have voice and power, meets families' basic needs and works for local systems change. It is offered as an example of what school trusts can achieve as civic anchor institutions working through partnership.
Other reports: place-based leadership in education and beyond
Chapleau, S. (ed.) (2022). Education – Power – Change. London: Citizens UK.
This Citizens UK publication explores how schools can use community organising to build relationships and shared power with parents, students and their wider communities. It brings together stories and reflections from schools that have acted together with their communities on local issues. It offers a model for schools to move from doing things for their communities to acting with them.
Collaborate CIC (Care, E., Cline, G., Plimmer, D. and Thomas, S.). Neighbourhood Governance in Practice: Lessons from Test Valley for Democratic Renewal. Created for Test Valley Borough Council.
This report, produced with Test Valley Borough Council, draws lessons for neighbourhood governance in the light of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. It finds that structural reform alone will not deliver meaningful neighbourhood governance, which works instead as an ecosystem of relationships, partnerships, community assets and democratic forums. It sets out ten enabling conditions, from a shared story of place to trusted relationships, and a short summary version is also available.
Dent, A., Plunkett, J. and Thomas, E. (2026). Civic Rewilding: Applying the Lessons from Big Local. Kinship Works.
This practical guide reviews Big Local, a programme that gave just over £1m each to 150 disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England to spend, over 10 to 15 years, in the ways residents felt best. It asks whether this major experiment in restoring social capital worked, and sets out what Big Local did and how it did it. It draws out lessons for reviving civic life through more human, relational alternatives to bureaucratic approaches.
Edurio (2025). Civic Leadership: Ideas from 400 Trusts.
This report analyses 464 responses from CST's National School Trust Survey (2023 and 2024) to a question about trusts' most successful civic partnerships. It identifies ten common themes, led by community services and local regeneration, strategic leadership and governance, and pupil voice and civic participation. It includes many short examples of trusts acting as anchor institutions in their communities.
Forum Strategy (2025). Reflections on System Leadership in 2025: The Power of Place. Forum Education Ltd.
The fourth paper in Forum Strategy's series on system leadership, this report focuses on locality leadership and draws on its 2025 CEO System Leadership Programme. It defines locality leadership as purposeful, place-based leadership rooted in shared moral purpose, with trust CEOs convening local stakeholders around shared goals. It covers the skills and behaviours involved, enablers and barriers, and recommendations, with six case studies ranging from community hubs to tackling youth violence.
Greany, T. and Cousin, S. (2025). Forging Local Coherence: LocalEd Project Evaluation Report. University of Nottingham, for the Association of Education Committees Trust.
This evaluation examines the LocalEd project (2022 to 2024), in which nine localities tested new locality models led by local authorities, a combined authority and school-led partnerships. The pilots focused on improving outcomes for vulnerable children, working as a combined authority and strengthening professional accountability. Its central finding is that there is no single best way to lead a locality, and that local leaders work to forge coherence in the face of fragmentation and complexity.
Hitchin, J., Little, M. and Waldie, A. (2025). Place and Evidence in the UK. Stories of Change and Ratio.
Commissioned through Place Matters, this report responds to the lack of agreement about what counts as good evidence for place-based change. It sets out five categories of place-based change, from self-organising communities to large partnerships across civil society, the state and the market, and examines the evidence each tends to use. It proposes a new definition of place-based change and argues for evaluation practices that better reflect what communities value.
Ison, R. and Logan, T. (2026). Understanding and Achieving Systemic Governance: Lessons from Finland. SCiO (Systems and Complexity in Organisation). https://www.systemspractice.org/resources/understanding-and-achieving-systemic-governance-lessons-finland
This article reports on a systemic co-inquiry in Finland, run between December 2024 and May 2025, into what 'systemic' or 'humble' governance means in practice. It explores how such governance works, the conditions that help it thrive and what puts it at risk, with particular reference to Finland's approach to education. It argues that hierarchical, control-based structures are poorly suited to complex challenges, and offers both encouraging examples and cautionary lessons for those trying to change how public institutions work.
Kaye, S. and Woodward, I. (2025). Local, Actually: Establishing Hyperlocal Governance in England. London: Reform.
Part of Reform's Reimagining the Local State programme, this paper sets out how to establish hyperlocal governance across England alongside local government reorganisation and devolution. It recommends that Neighbourhood Councils form in every part of England, with legal powers, the ability to raise a precept and a default role in receiving community-targeted funding. It also calls on local authorities to map and mobilise community activity in places without a parish council, as a foundation for new neighbourhood structures.
Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital. Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 65–78.
In this influential article, which preceded the book, Putnam presents evidence that civic engagement in the United States had declined sharply over the previous decades. Using examples such as falling membership of associations and more people bowling alone rather than in leagues, he argues that this erosion of social capital weakens democracy and public life. He considers possible causes and sets out the research agenda he later developed in Bowling Alone (2000).
Richardson, W. Confronting education in a time of complexity, chaos, and collapse. Future Serious. https://futureserious.school/manifestoedu/
Will Richardson's manifesto argues that education must confront the 'metacrisis', the interconnected challenges of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss and growing human disconnection. Drawing on more than 40 years in education, he asks educators to question the purposes of schooling and to reconnect learning with each other and with the natural world. It is offered as a provocation about the deeper purpose of education in a time of complexity and uncertainty.
Teach For All (2025). The Missing Piece: Developing Collective Leadership to Transform Education. Updated July 2025.
Drawing on five years of case studies, roundtables and communities of practice involving more than 600 system leaders, policymakers, educators, students and parents, this brief identifies collective leadership as the missing piece in efforts to transform education. It argues that education systems are human systems, so lasting change needs investment in leadership across individuals, groups, organisations and networks, not only in technical solutions. It sets out why collective leadership matters, what it is and how it can be developed, including by changing the wider ecosystem around children.
Zwitter, A. et al. (2025). Human Flourishing: An Integrated Systems Approach to Development Post 2030. Earth System Governance, 23, 100236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2025.100236
This perspective article considers what principles and goals should shape the renegotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals after 2030. Based on multi-stakeholder consultation and focus groups, it argues for integrating non-material aspects of human flourishing, such as cultural, psycho-social and community aspects, alongside material conditions. It proposes multi-level governance that combines global principles with locally developed goals and indicators, drawing on local and indigenous knowledge.
Case-study supporting sources
Public sources below are external links. A related public page is distinguished from an exact supporting file that has not yet been supplied.
Maritime Academy Trust: Equity Case Studies, Bligh Primary School: Home Visits.
The supplied supporting archive is not accessible yet. Related public context is linked.
Odyssey Collaborative Trust: Our Annual Community Report.
Public source linked; no local hosted copy in this release.
Plumb, T. PolyMAT: The Civic Dividend. Presentation slides.
The supplied supporting archive is not accessible yet. A download will be added when the actual file is received.
Strothoff International School: CARE: Nurturing Responsible, Compassionate and Confident Learners.
The supplied supporting archive is not accessible yet. A download will be added when the actual file is received.
Tees Valley Education (2026). PLACE: Our Journey So Far. Impact Report 2026.
The supplied supporting archive is not accessible yet. Related public context is linked.
Tees Valley Education, The Sleep Charity and Zarach (2026). A Good Night's Sleep: A Partnership Approach to Tackling Sleep Inequalities in the Tees Valley 2025–2026.
The supplied supporting archive is not accessible yet. Related public context is linked.
Windsor Academy Trust: Co-creating Healthy Futures: Schools and Health, A Framework.
Public source linked; no local hosted copy in this release.
Work with, not do to
Measure what matters
Choose collaboration over competition