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GoddardPayne has worked with The Innovation Unit on a range of projects during the last 5 years. Having previously been part of DfES, The Innovation Unit is now a not-for-profit innovation agency and is currently undertaking work in the field of Applied Next Practice (Download file).

This involves developing partnership projects with the most progressive local authorities and groups of schools to tackle the most complex local challenges through disciplined approaches to radical innovation. Caireen and Gene are both heavily involved in the central coordination, design and delivery of this developing work strand. This is a progression of the work we have previously undertaken with The Unit in the field of Next Practice in System Leadership.

The Next Practice in System Leadership programme is supported by DCSF and was started 2 years ago by The Innovation Unit in partnership with NCSL. It aimed to develop practice which would provide radical new approaches within the emerging trend of System Leadership. The programme followed the Next Practice innovation model - a new approach to stimulating, incubating and accelerating innovation that is strongly driven by users' needs.

GoddardPayne was involved in the very early development of the programme, working on the design and delivery of creative events and the assessment process for potential Next Practice field-trial sites. For the past 2 years, Gene has been the Next Practice Consultant supporting field-trials in Knowsley MBC, Barnsley MBC and the Harris Federation of schools. This has involved being a critical-friend and coach to project leaders, facilitating key events to engage stakeholders and designing processes and tools to support the development of new models of governance.