SWOT analysis - a different approach to school improvement planning?

In his book, 'Wake Up and Change your Life', Duncan Bannatyne talks about SWOT analysis as being an approach to improving a business and for regularly reviewing the situation. Could this be an approach schools could adopt?



SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Each part of this analysis process could easily be transferred to schools.


Strengths: What are we getting right? What do we do better than anyone else? It's easy to overlook successes, but they should always be valued and be made even stronger. After each analysis new strengths may be discovered.

Weaknesses: What's not performing well enough? This is about Identifying your vulnerabilities. Data (qualitative, as well as statistical) will be crucial for this. What part of the school is under-performing? What do your parents think we could do better? Which lessons have pupils said they aren't enjoying as much as others?

Opportunities: What is your best chance of developing further based on your current situation? What has been overlooked? Was there a part of your school's plan that has been brushed aside for a while? Could now be the right time to bring it back? What have we learned that could help the school improve? Is there a new initiative that offers an exciting opportunity for the school to try something new? 

Threats: Threats, is possibly the one business term that doesn't transfer to schools as easily. But this is mostly because we don't really use the word 'threat' in a school environment. Threats, in a school sense, might mean the effects of physical damage to the building; a member of staff about to leave; or a different issue. Basically it means what could affect your school's situation adversely?


These questions will form the basis for the school improvement planning process when I'm a headteacher.