Partnership agreements

Formalising a partnership agreement is a key ingredient of a successful global school partnership.

What is a partnership agreement?

A partnership agreement is a working document that helps you and your partner school:

• agree a shared vision for working together
• establish mutually agreed educational goals
• set out the basis on which you are going to work together
• ensure that both partners are clear about and in agreement about what is to be achieved
• identify areas of potential curricular collaboration
• evaluate the effectiveness of the partnership
• raise issues of accountability and responsibility
• ensure the participation of several staff in each school
• provide a firm foundation for your partnership that will survive changes in personnel and other circumstances.

Each school should do some initial work to identify their own expectations before a first draft is produced. Staff within the school may have different aims and visions for the partnership.

Partner schools might want to consider specific issues before putting them in writing. The process of negotiating and drafting the document is crucial.

Visits to your partner school can be excellent occasions to draft or review your partnership agreement. Funding may be available through a reciprocal visit grant. 

Our partnership agreement checklist (see 'related documents') will help you to:

• help school staff prepare in advance for negotiations with partners
• provide an agenda for a joint discussion between partners
• provide possible headings for a written partnership agreement.

It’s a good idea to discuss and agree:

• the sort of partnership you want – now you've openly discussed your visions and aims in broad terms with your partner school it's time to work them down to some smart objectives
• your educational goals and what areas of the curriculum you will focus on. Try to identify classroom activities that you could work on together
• who else – from the community, outside agencies etc - will be involved in your partnership how you will evaluate your partnership. 

How do we finalise our partnership agreement?

Before you finalise your agreement check that

• it reflects the views of all partner schools equally. It is important that the agreement is not a document written by just one school
• it includes reasonable, acceptable and achievable aims
• it is easy to read and remember
• it is going to be presented in (a) language(s) that all those involved will understand
• that the names of all partners schools feature prominently.

When all contributors are happy with the document,

• agree on a name for your partnership, if you wish
• have the heads and/or chairs of governors sign the agreement
• the document should be agreed formally by all partner schools, signed and dated.

Is our partnership agreement final?

Your partnership agreement is a working document. As your partnership develops it's important to revisit your partnership agreement to make sure that it is relevant and up-to-date.

Agree on how often you will review your partnership agreement, who will be involved and how this will be done.