By mattwo Comment Closed

In a world that often celebrates giant leaps and massive achievements, “The 1% principle” brings a refreshing and empowering perspective to education. This concept challenges everyone to rethink their approach to growth and success – focussing instead on the small gains that make up our everyday life in a school.

At its core, it is about the cumulative effect of incremental improvements – a journey of a thousand miles, but by one step at a time.

Used to great success by Sir Dave Brailsford and others, it takes the idea that lots of small improvements collectively make a huge difference as this quote from Shirley Mansfield – founder of CoachSME – explains..

“From cycling to education; car making to holidays, people are finding that 1% certainly makes a big difference. But why? It simply means focusing on small changes to everything in the business; 1% at a time.

Concentrate on making many 1% improvements and you’ll find the compound effect is huge.”

Susan Mansfield – Ultimate Guide to Marginal Gains and the 1 principle

Just imagine what this approach could do in your school?

The 1% principle gives a clear and guided way for you to change your curriculum, focus in on all cohort groups and ultimately improve your outcomes over time. Remember, this does not have to be done in one go.

The whole principle is based around lots of small changes that make a larger difference over a period of time. The key is integrating these insights into school improvement plans to ensure that the benefits are felt not just in individual classrooms but across the entire school.

But where do you start?

Let us remember that every monumental achievement begins with a single step, a single decision to improve. It does not have to be a big one. You cannot eat an elephant in one go!

Just as a river carves its way through rock not by force but by persistence, you can achieve remarkable outcomes by making small steps that focus on certain areas – minor enhancements such as..

  • adding a 10 minutes reading session to every school day,
  • focusing more attention on certain cohorts,
  • Improving teaching strategies on one particular topic,
  • Investing in CPD for staff to look at supporting boys..

The most important decision right now is not a large one but a small one – what is your first step?

Start by looking back…

By analysing your assessment data in detail, you can identify small, incremental improvements that collectively lead to significant progress. This detailed examination helps in pinpointing specific areas where students need support, enabling targeted interventions to address learning gaps.

The KS2 SATs give a validated indication of each of your students strengths and weaknesses and the results are made available every year by the DfE – broken down to performance in each individual question via analyse school performance. These are standardised assessments – marked independently – and so give a great overview of your school curriculum and how successfully it guided your Year 6 to achieve their potential.

But more importantly, this assessment data can provide the keys for you to unlock your those marginal gains across every year of your school.

Our Results are average in all subjects across the board. How do we search for something specific?

We gain the 1% by deep diving into the results to determine which topics students excel in and where they struggle. For example, if many students perform well in calculations but poorly in measurement, you can focus on improving this particular topic area. It might be students understand the concepts but struggle with applying them. This could then lead to targeted teaching on problem-solving skills rather than basic math.

We are well below the national on making and explaining inferences – should we look at this?

We gain the 1% here by making informed decisions about our future curriculum. By looking at the analysis of each question type, it might be that students can understand the vocabulary but have difficulty making inferences about the text. Consistent gaps across a cohort may indicate areas where teaching strategies need adjustment. This shifts the focus to teaching inference skills and critical thinking.

We struggle with the reading paper above all the others especially with boys.

We gain the 1% by implementing 15mins reading for every pupil every day. We can take this further by developing targeted interventions for the boys across the school – maybe looking at different teaching strategies. Further analysis could suggest the issue is with comparisons or inferences and this could become a focus for staff training or further development lower down the school.

We have a large cohort of EAL students – how can we improve this?

We gain the 1% by creating a new approach for teaching students with EAL – focussing in how they performed as a cohort. Are there certain topics that you could focus on for that smaller group. Could you introduce more focused teaching for that cohort? Small changes to specific cohorts can significantly improve school results overall.

Question Level Analysis enables you do this

Described by some as the magic bullet, Question Level Analysis breaks assessment data down into groups – looking instead at topics and cohorts rather than the individual answers themselves. This aggregation allows you to identify patterns and trends that might otherwise go unnoticed – highlighting specific areas where students are struggling or excelling and allowing educators to make targeted interventions.

However, the real strength of QLA lies in its ability to guide evidence-based decision-making. By identifying small, marginal gains, schools can implement focused strategies that lead to significant improvements over time. When these insights are integrated into school improvement plans, they can enhance teaching effectiveness and student outcomes across the entire school.

click here

QLA Results from DAISI Education

Our Question Level Analysis of KS2 SATs Results takes this raw data from the DfE – sent in to us by schools across the country – and aggregates it for you in a easy-to-read PDF report sent directly back to your inbox.

Headteachers, Governors and School Improvement Advisors have all praised our reports as being “Accessible to all”, “Time saving” and “Outstanding Best Value!” and it is proven to help.. 80% of schools who used our analysis consistently over three years saw an increase in their attainment.

Click here to find out more

Implementing the 1% Principle in your School

Implementing the 1% principle in your school is all about making small, consistent changes that add up to big results. As mentioned before, the key is integrating these insights into school improvement plans to ensure that the benefits are felt not just in individual classrooms but across the entire school.

Once you have chosen your area to focus on, here’s how you can get started:

Set Clear, Measurable Goals:

  • Figure out what success looks like for the chosen development
  • Set specific, achievable targets for improvement – dates for CPD, identify pupils etc.

Build a pathway to achieve this:

  • Break down your big goal into smaller, manageable steps.
  • Look at what is required – more teaching time, more use of technology – new software?
  • Make this happen as a priority so you can see the benefits later. By being seen to do something, others will grow into the process too.

Regular Monitoring and Feedback:

  • Continuously track progress towards your goals – making it a clear focus for meetings.
  • Ask teachers, students, and parents for feedback to see how changes are working and if they need to be adjusted.

Adjust and Refine:

  • Use the feedback to make necessary adjustments.
  • Remember to stay flexible and open to new ideas and approaches.
  • Stay focused on the end game – you cannot eat an elephant in one go!!

Celebrate Successes:

  • Recognize any small wins to keep everyone on board with the project
  • Highlight positive outcomes and experiences to encourage continued effort.

By embracing the 1% Principle, schools can create a culture of continuous improvement, where every small step contributes to significant, long-term success. These small changes can help create a more dynamic, supportive, and efficient school environment.

Conclusion

The 1% Principle is a powerful reminder that the smallest changes can lead to the most significant rewards in the quest for excellence and competitive advantage.

But remember, this does not have to be done in one go. Every monumental achievement begins with a single step, a single decision to improve.

The key is identifying where you need to start and then encouraging a culture that can work to achieve great things together.

It’s a journey of a thousand miles – by one step at a time – but the results will be worth it!

DAISI Education

Thank you for reading this article.

Find out  how we can help your school:  Primary  |  Secondary

Find other Blog articles by clicking below…