A Study of ‘Effective’ Departments in Secondary Schools

The findings are outlined from a pilot study which explored the key features of effective departments. The subject departments involved in the research were selected because they were shown to add significant value to pupils’ learning in a multi‐level school‐effectiveness analysis. The resulting qualitative study was an attempt to see if these effective departments had any common characteristics. These characteristics are outlined along with the central conclusion that the common characteristics appear to revolve around the effective organisation of teaching rather than around the teaching itself.