A Principled view

http://goo.gl/ZCs3Aa for the picture edition

Preamble

Those that know me understand my mantra about being ruthlessly and relentlessly optimistic. In my opinion, there is no point being miserable, if for no other reason than starting the day with a smile makes the day seem brighter at the start. There are times when the Groundhog day of education does get to me; it seems daft to my mind that those who run education find it difficult to learn from the mistakes of the past. As this article today in the Scotsman shows, Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence seems to have provided for its learners at upper secondary level the same experience Controlled Assessments and modular A levels have in England – a never ending treadmill of examination upon examination.

Lessons from the past, or is that the future?

Reading came to me all of a rush, around the age of 11, when I discovered James Bigglesworth. Once I had managed the entire series of Biggles’ books, written by Captain W.E. Johns, bought whilst on a family holiday in Scotland, I branched out into more advanced fantasies, of other worlds and universes. Perhaps the single most influential author of my teenage years was Isaac Asimov, and the most influential of the many books of his I read was the Foundation trilogy, inspired in turn by Edward Gibbons ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’. Asimov’s work won the Hugo award for the ‘Best All time series’ – and if you don’t know his work do give him a chance.  Perhaps the short story book I, Robot is the starting point.

The 1964 World’s Fair was held in a park in Queens, New York, just a few minutes away from Manhattan

Anyway, the point about surfacing Isaac Asimov in April 2014 is that we have just celebrated the 50th anniversary of his predictions from the World Fair in 1964, and a right old mix his choices were. Some were pretty close for 2014, such as

1. “Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence.”

2.  “Kitchen units will be devised that will prepare ‘automeals’, heating water and converting it to coffee.”

3.  “Much effort will be put into the designing of vehicles with ‘robot-brains.’

You can read Asmiov’s article in the NY times of 1964 here – http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/23/lifetimes/asi-v-fair.html

and an excellent summary of his predictions in this BBC extract.

The BBC article finishes with this comment

But perhaps his most prescient observation, or warning, was that while technology, both then and now, has the power to transform lives, without efforts towards equal access, it can hurt, rather than help, the goal of “peace through understanding”.

How true is that!

10 images to inspire

Last week, I caught this nice post from Justin Tarte in which he celebrated 10 images, designed to inspire. My favourite is this one, but do go look at the other 9 he highlights!

By the way, he has a weekly post of these, so be careful, you’ll find yourself being sucked back in time to see the previous series of pictures he has posted!

By way of these images, there’s a clear series of social comments being made, largely focussed on being valid and real for the children we teach and hopefully reach in the classroom.

Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori

Last Friday I spent with our History department and our Y10 History Students, on the Ypres Salient. There is no doubt in my mind that such a trip provides for an outstanding experience for young and old alike. An experienced hand at visiting Ypres, I was nevertheless quite surprised to see just how many more visitors there are there now than there were last year. The 100 years anniversary has kicked off already, and the town, museums and places of interest to visit were all much busier than I expected. It was ANZAC day, 25 April, a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations” and “the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.”

Y10 Tyne Cot, 25 April 2014

As a result, when the Last Post was played at 8 pm, we were also entertained to a Military parade by ANZAC forces and their band and Maori choir. Alongside them, and English school choir and band also played – the whole performance still not lasting more than the planned 20 minutes, but of incredible quality and enhanced by the amazing acoustics of the Menin Gate, a monument to 54,896 who lost their lives on the Salient, but whose bodies were never found. After the somewhat arbitrary date of 15 August 1917, a further 34,984 UK missing are to be found on the Tyne Cot memorial instead.

It was Wilfred Owen who penned the title of this section “It is sweet and right to die for your country”, words that highlight the gulf between the reality of war and the public’s appreciation of it, far as they were from the trenches. 100 years on, the debate continues; is it right that we have forgotten the nature of ‘Britain’s triumph’ in the war as Michael Gove would have us believe? I’d rather follow the plans as laid out by the author of War Horse, Michael Morpurgo, as he plans his own play for performance later this year in Ypres, based on the 1914 Christmas Truce and football match.

Speaking recently, Morpurgo gives this as his role to play  “To tell the story of soldiers who died, of those who witnessed the war on both sides, who lost loved ones – fathers, brothers, sons – is the only way we have left to remember, and the only way to pass it on. And it is important to pass it on, important for the men who died on all sides, all now unknown soldiers, for those who suffered long afterwards and grieved all their lives. If they gave their todays for our tomorrows, then, I am sure, after all they went through, and died for, they would wish to see us doing all we can to create a world of peace and goodwill, a world that one day will turn its back on war for good.”

Given that all of Europe’s leaders are to be present in Ypres for their June summit and are going to commemorate the anniversary at a ceremony at the Menin Gate, I rather hope there will be no triumphalism from the UK government delegation, despite Mr Gove’s rather unpleasant personal views. The No Glory website covers the various events rather well, and carries their impassioned letter to the coalition government to promote peace and  international understanding.

21 Things That Will Be Obsolete by 2020 by Shelly Blake-Plock

Now Shelly first posted this list at the start of this decade and time moves on – I wonder how many you can already check off as having happened:

1. DESKS

The 21st century does not fit neatly into rows. Neither should your students. Allow the network-based concepts of flow, collaboration, and dynamism help you rearrange your room for authentic 21st century learning.

2. LANGUAGE LABS

Foreign language acquisition is only a smartphone away. Get rid of those clunky desktops and monitors and do something fun with that room.

3. COMPUTERS

Ok, so this is a trick answer. More precisely this one should read: ‘Our concept of what a computer is.’ Because computing is going mobile and over the next decade we’re going to see the full fury of individualized computing via handhelds come to the fore. Can’t wait.

4. HOMEWORK

The 21st century is a 24/7 environment. And the next decade is going to see the traditional temporal boundaries between home and school disappear. And despite whatever Secretary Duncan might say, we don’t need kids to ‘go to school’ more; we need them to ‘learn’ more. And this will be done 24/7 and on the move (see #3).

So you get the drift – you can read the other 17 here, but it’s quite possible for us all that we can guess what will be obsolete by the turn of the decade. Try emailing me with your suggestion and I’ll build a post around that!

Best wishes for what looks like a Rainy week!

James Wilding

jtw@clairescourt.net

jameswilding.wordpress.com

The Summer Term 2014 across the country is girding its loins. For those at primary school, a packed term of all-sorts lies ahead, though those at secondary level have the many faceted joys of public exams to assist in concentrating the mind. And they are starting so quickly after the May bank holiday, it’s no wonder some parents worry about having to pay tuition fees for a Summer term in which their child’s experience could be little more than 5 weeks in a hall. For those of us that work in the private sector, it behoves us to ensure that we do offer much more than a little bit of supervision and TLC for their phones.

As just over 24,000 schools return to work, those in Birmingham are subject to one of the closest 4 way scrutinies ever seen in the UK, in respect to the ‘Trojan Horse’ allegations to oust some Birmingham head teachers and make their schools adhere to more Islamic principles   Not only have 25 schools been subject to instant Ofsted inspections last month, but Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Police and the DfE have also conducted investigations.  It is no wonder that OfSted’s Sir  Michael Wilshaw is travelling up there this week to take over the latest Ofsted report writing, summarising their findings; he and his colleagues are pitted against the DfE whose boss, Michael Gove clearly doesn’t trust Wilshaw anyway, hence the appointment of the former national head of counter terrorism, Peter Clarke, an ex-deputy assistant commissioner of the Met, to lead an inquiry into 25 Birmingham schools over allegations of a hard-line Islamist takeover plot (the same one, how odd). It is no wonder that the appointment of Clarke was described as “desperately unfortunate” by the chief constable of West Midlands Police, Chris Sims, not just because of the public sensitivities attached to schools with significant majorities of muslim pupils, but also because Mr Sims had previously declared that, following his own force’s investigations, there was no police interest in the matter. He’ll look pretty silly if criminal activity is confirmed, won’t he?

Judging from the reaction by Birmingham MP Khalid Mahmood, who states that 20 headteachers in his Perry Barr constituency alone – “virtually all Muslim heads” – had raised concerns about potential plots, there is ‘fire’ to go with the ‘smoke’. And there appear to be links outside ‘Brum’, beyond the leakage of the Trojan Horse plot to a Yorkshire sympathiser back in March.  New allegations are surfacing involving schools outside Birmingham, including the Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College in Bradford. It emerged on Monday that Laisterdyke’s entire governing body has been sacked by Bradford council amid concerns over poor performance and a “dysfunctional” relationship between governors, including two city councillors, and management. Mrs Jen McIntosh, Laisterdyke’s female, white headteacher is thought to have complained of coming under pressure to quit by a few influential, hardline Muslim governors, who in return firmly deny trying to oust her.

Excerpts from Inspection reports have started to leak out, as reported very helpfully by Andrew Gilligan of the Daily Telegraph yesterday , and things really don’t look good.

Setting things to rights

So what’s James’ beef, I hear you say?  Throughout the accredited independent sector of ISC schools, we have put in place a remarkable breadth of provision to assist Governing bodies, their Headteachers and senior managers in their stewardship of schools. You’ll know it is not easy to meet regulatory standards in our sector, and you can search readily for performance information on our schools, their governing bodies and leadership teams using the Independent Schools Inspectorate’s website – http://www.isi.net/reports/.  New schools seeking to join our movement are required to jump through a serious number of hoops, including meetings with headteachers, inspections and so forth, visits by association heads tasked to check things on the ground match words written on paper. After all, reputational damage is not something any of us wish to suffer through poor oversight.

And therein lies the rub. Because a very good deal of the policies put in place by the current coalition government, during Michael Gove’s tenure as Secretary of State for Education, seems to have been established without appropriate scrutiny and independent oversight, and specifically that of Governance. The Birmingham investigations are highlighting inappropriate appointments, nepotism and cronyism, fraud and worse. These don’t on the face of it appear different to the reasons for closure of Al-Madinah Free school in Derby at the end of this term, where the Ofsted report in October found the Muslim faith school was chaotic, dysfunctional and inadequate and placed it in special measures.

Mr Gove bought his set of ‘Free school’ ideas from Sweden, and it is almost a year since one of the largest operators in Sweden, JB education, announced it was closing down its operations there, affecting some 10,000 students, citing financial losses as the reason for withdrawing from the market. Indeed a rival Swedish company, IES, run (£21 million pound contract over 10 years) a UK school, Breckland School, recently put into special measures by Ofsted, and the other Swedish group, Learning Schools Trust has been barred from running more schools by DfE. This Daily Telegraph article reminds us that LST and other of the large Academy chains are in trouble for poor academic standards as well as financial irregularities, with E-ACT forced to hand back to DfE 10 of its 34 schools. Again, nothing was initially put in place to check Governance. And actually, now that Wilshaw is keen to scrutinise chains etc., guess who’s really not keen – Gove! Read more on that in this Guardian article.  It seems that Gove-rnance is something that doesn’t agree with independent scrutiny.

It gets worse. As Academisation grips the country even more forcefully, there can be no doubt that further appalling tales of fraud and malfeasance will surface, such as these in Durham, Bradford and Crawley announced this April. Hardly a Fool’s day joke, but a growing litany of failure arising from a national strategy implemented by a government that failed to ensure appropriate project oversight. That’s not to say there are not plenty of DfE officials now looking after those schools DfE directly manages –  but it does look as though Mr Gove himself is having to intercede all too often to keep the ‘solids from hitting the fans’. Channel 4 Home affairs correspondent, Darshna Sony highlighted last weekend growing issues with the Madani schools in Leicester, where MG has asked Leicester City Council to pressurise the Boys’ school to withdraw an advert which stated that only male teachers could apply.  Let’s be clear about this – in my work I seek to support a society that treats everyone equally and that openly challenges those that would approve of mysogeny or gender-based discrimination. Please do read a little of the work being led by Muslim women, who ask our Society to ‘Honour my voice’ – http://www.wewillinspire.com/

I quote: “There is no honour in denying women their rights on the basis of gender and then also telling them to keep silent about it”

In summary, it is about time that those in charge at DfE and Ofsted talked openly and at some length with our sector and its Inspectorate about how we steward some 1,257 of the nation’s schools, at no cost to the exchequer, looking after 511,928 pupils in January 2014, and with an extraordinary, positive impact upon GDP – ISC research info. Genuinely, I feel as if our accredited sector could have handled most of the Free school initiatives at a fraction of the cost and extended our provision to give parents that greater freedom to choose a school fit for their child. As an Independent School Proprietor, I know what I value in my independence, and what I require of the society in which I work to ensure that we build a better future together. I am more than alarmed by the growing dismantlement of local education authorities without a parallel, accountable, transparent set of arrangements to ensure School leaders, Governors and Headteachers, could be held to account by their peers. That’s precisely what the ISC Associations do, and with considerable skill.

It is over a year ago (Jan 2013) since the Education Secretary announced his plans to reform A levels. Just because Michael Gove or his Schools minister Elizabeth Truss say stuff doesn’t mean they are right, accurate or even speaking sense. The evidence seems to indicate that much of the discourse comes from personal prejudice and that informed opinion provided by those that ought to know better is largely ignored. As I have previously written, I don’t think it is terribly helpful to compare our democratic post industrial child-centred educational outcomes with those of the tiger economies of South Korea and South East Asia, or specifically cherry-pick Shanghai’s elite educational institutions for comparison. Many commentators will remember how journalists used to compare our own failing athletic endeavours in the seventies against those of countries behind the Iron Curtain. Proper research has enabled us to collect the bits of the East German system that worked and embed them in our own training regimes. And since ‘perestroika’, it is clear now that the nature of the communist regimes were as toxic as we feared they were. Athletic performance has improved, because we have been able to focus money and research together.

By the way, I am not just having a pop at MG and ET,  but with other institutions as esteemed as the Royal Geographical Society who agree with the government (so the headlines show) that current A level is not rigorous enough.  Headlines are never quite what they seem, and actually in the RGS response to the Ofqual consultation on A level reform, they make it quite clear that it is very recent reform that has damaged A level. “Firstly, the Society, teachers and HE geographers strongly support the need to reintroduce course work into GCE geography. This move would promote extended writing, facilitate individual research, analysis and evaluation, and provide additional depth to a student’s geographical learning. The removal of course work has led to less effective assessment of students’ geographical skills and resulted in A2 geography being judged to be less demanding (Ofqual 2012)“. Quite. Reform is always a 2-edged sword, and the recent move with both A levels and GSCEs to remove coursework and other opportunities for sustained practical activity and hands-on learning have taken place to reduce the grade-inflation that such activities bring to the results outcomes. To my mind, the biggest evil that entered the system was the switch from coursework to controlled assessments since 2008, when the GCSE diet ceased to be 10 academic subjects but 110+ externally set and monitored assessments. That took the ‘weighing the pig’ metaphor to new heights of absurdity. As a physics teacher, I found myself with time only to run CAs in Y10 and little more by way of practical activity.

What the RGS make clear in their report is that there will remain equity issues in schools and FE institutions, because institutional  choices do not then guarantee that  “In addition to any fieldwork carried out for an independent study, structured field teaching and learning should be part of all GCE Geography courses given the nature of the subject and the requirements for fieldwork in HE”.

I have read quite a few (sad man that I am) reponses to Ofqual and there is very close agreement a. that there needs to be a strong balance between knowledge and subject skills, b. that both need to be subject based (it’s not just about giving presentations and speaking in public), and c. learners need to be able to handle and become confident with physical equipment and tools, be able to write at length using subject specific vocabulary and to be able to analyse and infer from data to support proposition or make new insights.

And honestly, that’s what in the main our subject delivery has been able guarantee our secondary students for the past 20 years or so. Children have not been cheated out of a better education. I admit that on occasion, the vanity of small differences has meant that a teacher or a child has felt their work not been given the credit deserved, but no wholescale miscarriage of justice has been evident at all.  Much to the contrary, I feel we have been able to support the learner, their community and UK PLC in equal measure. Now (and all data that follows has been generalised to protect the innocent) I move to present my findings from 10 years post A level and GCSE reform since 2000.

So here’s my anecdotal evidence for you to consider, from a broad ability non-selective independent school.  For the past 14 years since A levels were modernised (don’t!) 500 students from Claires Court have worked their academic (in a broad sense) fingers to the bone and 400 gone on to University. The majority of our Sixth Form exit have gained Firsts or Upper Seconds and most whatever their degree quickly entered gainful employment. Some have chosen to emigrate, take their ‘Lingua Franca’ and teach English in Japan, Vietnam, Turkey, Africa and the Americas. Others (perish the thought) have boomeranged back to teach at CC. Most have entered employment with UK PLC, and are progressing up the promotional spine. A few are even working close to 10 Downing Street, despite neither being Eton or Oxford. Perish the thought, despite a series of qualifications that didn’t test them as toughly as Singapore or Taiwan, when meeting with our former pupils, I do see quite clearly leaders and leaderenes of tomorrow’s big business or public service who seem (as they turn 30) very fit and full of purpose.

So where’s the gap? If what I see from the successful outcomes of my own institution bodes well for our future, why might it not bode just as well when the A levels and GCSE change to become more academic, tougher and rigorous?

As a very experienced graduate teacher whose career commenced teaching O Levels and A levels, all those reforms that brought to life the GCSE and A levels of the 2000s took place to ensure that children from whatever background could engage with the subject, to ensure that the process tested what they knew, understood and could do, against a finite and observable set of performance criteria. It was and even now still remains essential that children can talk about their work, present and share outcomes that might not be correct, be challenged for their views and enjoy that collaborative process that marks out the best of classroom practice. It is utter folly that English GCSE for the future is no longer to include speaking and listening. Before long, I can only presume we’ll see that disappear from the Modern Foreign Languages bundle too, returning the study of French at 16 to that of a classical language such as Latin. I jest. Probably. The point is that if the only way to assess a child’s academic performance is to be through a terminal written exam, then the explicit knowledge and skills that individually define the arts, humanities, languages, sciences and technologies will wither.

Now what the GCSEs gave pupils before coursework was struck off (because of its effect on grade inflation) were opportunities to show what they knew and could do at length. Actually as I write, my craft design technology students at school are just completing their coursework projects, each with a visible piece of furniture to take home and keep. I am lucky that our school employs teachers who keep the workshops open over the Easter break, not for the benefits of exam results but for the realisation of their coursework projects. Long after the grade for D&T is forgotten, the family home will have a major memento of a task well done.

My biggest fears are for the narrowing of the curriculum now between age 11 and 14, because of the decision this country has made to promote a more academic English, Maths, Science, Russell Group subject focussed GCSE programme at the expense of the practical and vocational. Over the past 4 years, we have all had to dedicate more time to Double English, Double Maths, Triple Science, an MFL, plus Geography or History. In the vast majority of the schools around my own, I see GCSE choices being made in Y8 for a Y9 start, which of course means a further reduction in the teaching of the creative and practical subjects as part of the curriculum and the inevitable sidelining of those specialist teachers in this area. There is some kind of vain hope that these skills are acquired at primary school and can resurface post A level once children have gained their academic rigour (whatever that is to be) at secondary school.

I am also very afraid that the narrowing effect of a 2 year A level programme, without the AS buffer half way through. The last thing one wants to find is that we return to the pre 1990s A level disaster of students trapped in a 2 year A level programme without  a chance to ship out and move sideways. The opportunity to  study 5 subjects for one year before moving to 2 or 3 as A2 for the second has been a major success throughout the country. In addition to permitting flexibility, it has also ensured a focus for examination at the end of Y12 (rather than see Y12 as a year ‘off’). I don’t think any of us liked the resit January of Y13 culture, except of course the students who were able to upgrade, but the current position of resitting at end of Y13 works well. The new arrangements, disconnecting AS from A level are regarded as unsatisfactory by University admissions tutors up and down the land, most notably  at Cambridge; Universities share with schools an understanding that the best predictor of A level success is AS, not the underlying GCSE results at age 16.

To conclude, from my own school’s evidence, not only have GCSEs and A levels served us well, but movement into employment or undergaduate studies has worked efficiently. The vast majority of our graduates have worked through their University years without taking an extra year of more, and have then moved on into effective employment afterwards. In short, the current pick and mix of subject, style, vocational and academic has not made square pegs for round holes, but generally shaped people for a future for which they have many skills and talents to bring to bear. Parents have had to take on debt to fund the children through my school, and students further debt for their graduate qualifications, Both seem to feel that the sacrifice has been worthwhile, given the very good fit they have for a hopeful and successful future. And therein lies the rub, because the new hair shirt on its way is beginning to hurt people quite badly, Strapped to the wheel of relentless target learn-and-achieve, children will not learn how to know themselves through their school years and become comfortable with those insights. Adolescent mental health problems are already growing apace, and the most conformist of children the most likely to suffer, self-harm and worse. Reports from 2011 onwards highlight this as a serious issue, not just for children but for those who teach.

I believe I run a great school, and I am certainly not prepared to let the baby go with the bathwater. But the relentless change in the country, the removal of core work I hold dear to the educational mission I serve from the nation’s curriculum is going to let us down very badly in the future. At least David Laws, Minister of State for Schools has it right when he calls now for a period of stability in education. I’ll watch closely, but fear that for many, the stability they will be offered does not include the hands-on education that makes the difference.

Our School Inspection (March 25-28, 2014) is over and our cup is indeed full. Confident that we are regarded highly by the independent inspection service that accredits our standing within the Independent Schools Association and Independent Schools Council, we await our written report.  There can of course be surprises, but I am as certain as any that we can now move forward into the future, secure in the knowledge that we have done our best.

I come to work each day, because I run a school that looks after children, and actually has a specific focus for that brief, to educate them, in the round, and in the detail, including as best we can every facet.  That’s my passion, for I have over the years recognised the very real difference we make to children’s lives, and I want to make that a repeatable experience for not just one but for cohorts, hundreds and thousands. And I believe we are doing just that, in remarkable and utterly different ways for individuals, groups, young and old alike.

Part of my work is to pick a time and place for things. Many years ago, I chose to develop for the Secondary and Sixth Form years an Easter Commemoration Service. The point of the event was to announce for one and all, that we would remember our best who had passed away the previous year or so. The purpose of our annual service is to bring to mind those with whom we have lived and worked and to reflect on a society based on the values we hold dear.

One of the items that has stayed a fixture is the Queen’s Message to the Commonwealth, because I feel there is a strong resonance between the aims and ambitions of our school and those of the Commonwealth of Nations. A total of sixteen core beliefs are drawn up in the charter, namely, democracy, human rights, international peace and security, tolerance, respect and understanding, freedom of expression, separation of powers, rule of law, good governance, sustainable development, protecting the environment, access to health, education, food and shelter, gender equality, importance of young people in the Commonwealth, recognition of the needs of the small states, recognition of the needs of the vulnerable states, and lastly, the role of civil society. (Thanks Wikipedia).

You can find a carousel show of this year’s presentation/service here – and some fabulous music from the Service by link below:

I’d like to think the singing of the anthems, Love is All around and Rule the World were as amazing, but I suggest they might be more robust and sheer enthusiastic in their performance than expert. And probably time we added a couple more such anthems to our repertoire.

Rebecca Fuller spoke of her time with and knowledge of Lucy Bywater, whose untimely death aged 29 occurred in the Autumn. ‘Becks’ leaves our school this Easter, to lead Girls PE at Holme Grange Prep School in Wokingham. Her presence at the close of our term, talking with passion and emotion about a wonderful fellow student and friend now passed, brought a lump to all of our throats, and cemented in my own mind the certainty that Schools should indeed commemorate their own.

I closed the Service with a quiet reflection on the wonders of the Irish, their joy and humanity, and made specific reference to an old Irish blessing* to conclude.

So we break for our Easter hols, in which 2 weeks of rest, recuperation, revision and reckoning, before we ratchet up for the Summer term – known as the 5Rs.

*May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

 http://goo.gl/A01Rad

Stuff happens

OK, in the kind of care free way, ‘what else can possibly happen after a week away from school’, I got the ISI call on Tuesday and Tuesday 25 March 2014, Claires Court gained its inspection for 2014. Looking back in the record, we were first planning for this inspection in 2011, and then 2012, and now, probably 6 weeks later than we might hope.  Make no bones about it, we’ve been ready since September, so all should have been well. Thanks for all of your best wishes, and I am delighted to say, all was indeed well, and much rather more than that, but we obviously have to await our report before we go ‘public’.  @Out of Time’ because this week sees our end of term, and I’ll rest the Newsletter ‘til after Easter.

The future – or is that the past?

Interesting side notes in the Archeology channel currently. It seems that Egyptian mummies of the 6th century AD, gender female, were pretty modern in their adornment. We are indeed talking ‘Old Testament’ here: ‘The tattoo represents the symbol of the Archangel Michael, who features in both the Old and New Testaments. The symbol has previously been found in ancient churches and on stone tablets, but never before in the form of a tattoo’.

Breaking news as the newsletter goes to press – it turns out our Black Death wasn’t transmitted by rats as a Bubonic plague after all, but as a pneumonic plague, where ‘Cough and Sneezes spread diseases’.

The future – as our pupils see it

The ‘Maker Movement’ is alive and kicking all over the world.  The next big thing apparently, as teachers and schools rediscover making things…More here: “To nudge girls toward making and tinkering, “include things that are attractive to girls. Robots are great, but think about other things — or let your robot be a helper bot,” says Laura Blankenship, co-founder of the#MakerEd chat on Twitter.”

Actually, I have a problem with this ‘Vanitising’ of ‘Making things’ and ‘Doing Stuff’ and celebrating to the public that this kind of working is ‘amazing’ and ‘innovative’.

It’s not. This is what we call ‘Teaching’ in which subject specialists from Art to Zoology prep their lessons, strut their stuff and, providing they leave the children some choices, the outcomes for all will be amazing. Successful children, rewarded parents and staff – in short, progress made. I am lucky enough to visit lots of ISA schools each term, and I see ‘making’ everywhere.  Perhaps after all, ISA schools are at the forefront of the 21st Century Creative Arts movement – there’s a thought.

In reading through some State-side writing on innovation and creativity, apparently writing lists is a highly creative act. Common sense more likely.

Penguins and mysterious garbage – Пингвины и неведомая фигня

Do watch this video of Penguins outdoors! A great introduction to all sorts of lessons; reminds us where the idea of ‘Bird brain’ came from!

The comment stream that runs below the video has some extra humour.

March of the Penguins somewhat delayed!

Sex Education on Schools

There is an awful lot going on in edu circles about the growing accessibility of Porn to young children, well below the age of maturity. It has been a long time since I gave this some attention, (by which I mean the education aspect, ahem). Here the 2013 magazine from the Sex Education Forum – a free download and a good read plus sage advice. http://www.flipsnack.com/flip-preview/fdtps1uz

This January they published a follow-up, entitled The Consent Issue.  Here’s the editor, Lucy Emmerson writing in the introduction:

I think the publication is worth a read, such is the importance of tackling this issue of Consent with a wide age range of pupils. You can buy the pdf from their website or read my edition here for a quick peek before purchase.

And finally

There are times of the year when I need a bit of a pep talk myself, and Angel Maiers is one of those writers who inspires me. Quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson “Passion is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without passion.” – Angela strikes all the right notes here.

James Wilding

jtw@clairescourt.net

jameswilding.wordpress.com

@james_wilding

There is no such thing as an excellent time for a School Inspection. Trust me; put the academic calendar out onto the map table and share the game with colleagues, namely “choose the best week for a school inspection” and 10 teachers will choose entirely different months for the challenge.

So when ISI, the Inspectorate charged by DfE with checking ISC accredited schools, ring me last week to tell me we are being inspected on Tuesday, I am sanguine about the call for our last week of term, and absolutely ‘up’ for the challenge.

After the week is now passed, the Inspectorate’s judgements are confidential until published. It’s easy to see why. I have been here already 4 times as a headteacher, from 1990 it must be said. Data shared during the visit might be inaccurate. Inspectors’ evidence might ‘trim the sails’ so to speak. 

But by way of this gentle statement of gratitude, I wish to commend our visitors for their work. For when a school welcomes 15 inspectors to trawl books, visit lessons, check recruitment, quiz children, 3rd degree teachers, check light fittings and elf/safety and above all live with us for 4 days uninvited, I feel we are entitled to express a view. Well done, ISI team, you have had an excellent visit.

Excellent. Is that a word you use every day? Outstanding, exceptional, mesmeric, fabulous – they are words (it seems to me) of the vanity laden, personality culture of the modern era. If we get education right, everyone will be excellent in terms of their work and outcomes, by their own needs. What we know is that 50% of the children in the country are above average for learning, and that (it’s the way averages work) 50% are below average. There is by the way nothing average about my school; we might not select by ability (we don’t) and we might accept that we select by income (only people that choose to afford us have children in the school), but the look and feel of what we do seems normal and better than that most weeks.

So we have had a visit, heard our outcomes and now are back to normal for the last 3 days. ‘Excellent’, I say, because once the week is done, 7 days of leave commence for me and those that teach within CCS. ‘Excellent, good and splendid’ I say, because our children get a break to enjoy over the 14 days+ of gentle, enforced idleness because schools ‘out’!  

Our inspectors as far as they could made themselves ‘invisible’. Actually they were challenging in every question they posed to staff, but left children asking for more after their interrogation. In truth, their task was to avoid controversy but enable veracity. I think they did it well. Inspection, that is. Not writing, of course, because that has to come. But I listened well to what they had to say, and in their diverse ways. My view is that our Inspectors did their job well, and I ‘heard’ my school in the words they spoke. And the words they chose to speak were good to hear. 

http://goo.gl/6HTwFM

In this newsletter

Limiting Judgements

The Web’s 25th birthday

5 innovations to change your life in the next 5 years

29 ways to stay creative

Books I am reading

And finally…

Introduction

The last seven days have been busy for any in education, including yours truly. I had 4 days out of school serving as a team Inspector on an ISI Inspection team. Those left back at home got seriously on with some teaching, learning and experiential education stuff, and (it must be said) things back at school have gone very well in my absence*.  For those not in the know, ISI Inspection teams visit the target school on Tuesday to Friday, with the core Regulatory inspection checks happening on Day 1. As I am just a Team Inspector for Curriculum Group 2, I get to arrive for Tuesday evening with the other team members, get briefed on day 1 outcomes, before getting stuck into seeing lessons and events for the next 3 days. ISI outcomes are Team judgements, corporately agreed, and provisional outcomes are shared with the headteacher over the days building up to day 4 (Friday) so that there are no big surprises on the final day to the Chair of Governors/Proprietor, the head, or the senior management. As with the school I have just visited, it’s great to be able to feedback so very many positives, and to feel that my independent verification of what the school does in its daily life had given the school valediction for its great work. ISI are recruiting for Senior inspectors and Reporting Inspectors just now, so unless you are already leading school inspections,  then currently no vacancies exist, However, if you are an Assistant head of above, do think about applying – Inspecting other schools is both a great privilege and the best CPD for teachers ever, so keep a monthly check on the ISI site for signs of the training door reopening. http://www.isi.net/home/ ISI seem to be recruiting boarding inspectors just now though, so do have a look at this if you qualify.

Limiting judgements

Now the thing about schools that some headteachers don’t get is that the DfE require schools to be compliant to the Regulatory standards – find the checklist here. If a school is not compliant to Regs, then whilst the head and chair of governors might feel they could still deserve to be excellent, actually they can’t be, because excellence is linked to meeting all standards. That’s actually the bare minimum. Despite the heads’ associations doing their best, heads don’t seem to understand this, seem unable to prioritise appropriate attention, and so our sector struggles to be compliant.  Currently something close to 30% of our schools don’t meet Regs.  And for failures on Regs relating to Welfare, Health and Safety, this reduces the Inspection’s teams ability to award excellent to Governance, to Leadership and Management and to Welfare, Health and Safety.  During an Inspection, the school may have time to put these failings right, so that they are compliant by the end of the 4 days inspection. But currently as things stand, even though matters may be corrected, the school will still be advised by major recommendation to put robust procedures in place. In short, getting the Regs right is essential, as without these, the school’s efforts to be regarded as sound, good or excellent are unlikely to be confirmed.

You can read a little more on this on a commercial website, specifically relating to OfSTED inspections, but as ISI inspects ISC schools as the OfSTED franchise, the advice holds true. Be careful  then of Limiting Judgements.

The Web’s 25 birthday – ‘Vague but interesting’

Most of us remain confused about precisely what the ‘Web’ is.

So in celebrating its birthday, actually who/what are we inviting to party?

⃠ Not the Internet, that thing made up of wires and switches that links continents and provides the backbone on which the Web can ride.

⃠ Neither are Skype, Filesharing, Streaming media etc. the web either. They are applications too that can be found on the Internet.  

✓ The Web are these pages, with hyperlinks joining pages together, in which can be embedded gadgets, video and the like. Web 2.0 takes static pages and makes them editable, such as blogs, eBay, webservices, YouTube and mash-ups. Web 3.0 is just arriving, the Semantic web that makes as much of the data available to you as possible. Think about the eerie way adverts can now pop up on your mobile and link you to something you were looking for? The way searches now seem to know you and your likes and dislikes and don’t bother pushing ideas that your data tells it you won’t like.

It was Tim Berners Lee’s boss at CERN who dismissed his ideas for the Web as ‘vague but  interesting’ – given that it has transformed the 21st century in a way that printing did the 15th century, and that it has become a major crucible for innovation and democratisation, his boss was not right! A nice Guardian article that gives you 25 birthday ideas here.

IBM’s 5 in 5, innovations that will change all of our lives for Xmas 2018

By way of highlighting what the Web will be able to do in 5 years time, here’s a nice advertorial from IBM – from classroom to city, the ‘intelligent’ technology will translate our data and ‘improve’ our life chances in the process. Perhaps they will, but don’t hold your breath.

29 ways to stay creative –  from the PBS people. As the poster makes clear, there are so many ways us boring people are actually being really creative – like making lists.

Books I am reading

Here is a new topic for the ISANet. Headteacher Sam Jaspal has suggested that we introduce 45 minute book readings at our various conferences. Now I really like this as an idea, but I can’t wait ‘til next conference to share books worth reading (let’s think mind improving stuff, not volume 10 of Top Gear). So here are three I am on at present:

The Blunders of our Governments by King and Crewe, covering the outrageous failures of the last 30 years in the UK.

Invent to Learn – Making, Tinkering and Engineering in the classroom – Martinez and Stager, which explores in considerable detail how to construct learning for the digital age (Kindle)

Independent Thinking – Ian Gilbert (Kindle), a wonderful celebration of how education should be about adding values not just value. “Do things no one does or do things everyone does in a way no one does” got me reading straight away!

And finally

Did you hear about the cross-eyed headmaster? He couldn’t control his pupils.

Have a great week

James Wilding

jtw@clairescourt.net

jameswilding.wordpress.com

@james_wilding

http://goo.gl/nCc7pC

Preamble

Do you recall having a ‘Michael Cain’ moment, when you realised that ‘Not a lot of people know that?’ Here’s Peter Sellers inaugurating that legend – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY85a15n5QY.

It turns out that the smell of the cut grass comes from the self-defence chemicals released by the damaged cells, known as green leaf volatiles (GLV), which carry out a whole host of functions, from repair, through antibiotic to repellents and attractants. My wondering commenced on this phenomenon on Saturday early evening, when the lure of a lovely afternoon called me out in Wilding pastures to effect the first mow of 2014. the actual process takes about 20 minutes with my 15 inch rotary, to which must be added the 10 minute ritual of coxing the aged technology into renewed action, the 15 minutes taken to refill the petrol can and the local filling station, and of course the 1 hour of recovery afterwards, lips wrapped around a celebratory ale. A magnificent job, well done, and probably unachievable by anyone else, such are the mysteries to the process (see above) beyond the wit of normal mortals. Ahem – Not a lot of people know that. :o).

In school life, this time of year is full of such pleasures, on the face of it looking forward to some better weather, sporting fixtures already enjoying the same, Easter hols now on the horizon, whilst setting about the planning for the Summer term and even the new academic year. One could be forgiven for thinking running a school is an easy thing, in paper at least. Our HR department is in full swing, seeking out some new staff to join the team, so adverts are in publication, job profiles and application packs created to stimulate interest and attract the right kind of applicants. Yet such activity is at best bitter sweet, for as with grass aromatics, timings and activities are signs of an organisation having to react to a whole host of threats and challenges. In short, Cut and Mow is what is needed, giving opportunities to re-shape and re-orientate, but the loss of existing teachers, support staff and pupils be that for retirement, graduation or to pastures new cause their own sorrow, to peers, colleagues and parents.

If GLVs did not exist, within days your newly mown lawn would be awash with fungal infections and bacterial decay, and recovery made less possible by the great stench emanating therein. What are the equivalentsof GLVs in schools? PR needs to quickly up its game, including Prize days, award ceremonies, commemorative newsletters and magazines in their remit. That personal touch from those in the know/at the top help set right impressions and give hope and certainty as needed. Footfall on the public street of school is needed to show love can care. So welcome the warming sunshine and the arrival of the light evenings and longer days – and ‘Be careful what you wish for!’

What kind of Education do we want for our country?

“For Britain to succeed in the 21st Century, we must earn our way in the world and win the race to the top, with a high skill, high wage economy. We can only build such an economy with all of Britain’s young people playing their part in making it happen.”  Introduction to the Education and Policy commission policy consultation to the Labour Party, published just now. You can access the whole paper here – http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/education-and-children-policy-consultation. I have taken to reading almost everything being published by the politicos currently, because ‘Be careful what you wish for!’ And there’s an awful lot in this short paper not to like, because it consists of a series of one liners and short paragraphs that had me spitting out my Muesli this morning. I am no apologist for the current disastrous coalition government, but I do remember that but for more than a recent decade or so, it was a Labour government in charge of education policy, which was no less Neoliberalist in approach than Messrs Gove et Al. Try the second para -Today, we have an education system that fails the ‘forgotten 50 per cent’ who do not go to university, and a politics that allows poor standards to continue in some schools. The Government has narrowly focused on what schools are called, rather than how they teach. Putting that right is the central task for the next Labour Government. That is why we will transform vocational routes for the 50 per cent who do not go to university, with gold standard qualifications, and a step change in the number and quality of apprenticeships. It is why we will prioritise what matters most in our schools; driving up standards with a relentless focus on the quality of teaching. It is only through achieving this vision that we will build on the success of the last Labour Government and allow all young people to play their part in a One Nation society and economy. A relentless focus on the quality of Teaching eh? This from the people that brought us National Strategies for Literacy and Numeracy, unencumbered by any evidence that they would work, coupled with a damning approach to classroom practice that didn’t follow the guidance. The ‘forgotten 50%’ – who they then? They’ll be the ones damned by League tables, the ones who ‘let the school down’ by not getting Level 4 at KS2, or 5 or more A* to C at GCSE and so forth. In an excellent article by Michael Barber 2 years ago, he highlighted that what the UK provides is not at all bad in terms of supporting creativity and innov

ation. That countries such as Singapore have done so much to improve inclusion of SEN over the past 10 years is a succ

ess story we could emulate. Whatever this country does for the future, it has to stop the arms race of ‘winner takes all’, for not every child ne

eds to get to a Russell group Uni and certainly the country at large simply cannot afford of the majority of its

 youth to become so indebted by age 21. Whatever the politics, we need our provision to shine for all of our children, and to include them all in our schools, because it is the whole school experience that makes such a difference for children, not just anyone part.

Grit and resilience – core to the curriculum or optional extras?

In another clash of political ideologies, our schools are to be either all about knowledges or all about experiences. In quite a nice balanced article entitled ‘Heavy Mettle’ by Richard Vaughan in the TES, he balances the arguments between the Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology center (Angela Duckworth, Martin Seligman) and the Core Knowledge Foundation (E.D. Hirsch, Civitas in the UK). Over Michael Gove’s tenure at DfE, he has acknowledged the power of both arguments, yet has focussed actions on changing the curriculum so that it is more knowledge based, commenting last February 2013 to rid the curriculum of “vapid happy talk” and ensure pupils had a structured “stock of knowledge”.  Almost a year to the day and MG was forced to reinforce the value of Extracurricular activities when the all party parliamentary committee went live on their recommendations that schools should build character and resilience, and for training for teachers to specifically cover this area. To my mind, and knowing much of the detail that underpins the building character agenda, I’d stay open minded and true to the core principles that ensure independent schools thrive, and to the core aims of your school; Have a great offer in the curriculum, support it well through the extra-curricular, work the offer through with the school councils and Parent committees and keep focussed on the individual such that it is they and their families that really benefit.

Learning first, Technology second – Learning with ‘e’s

Professor Steve Wheeler took me to the cloud in the first place, with his pioneering approach to the use of web 2.0 tools at Plymouth University.  His blog has almost an entry a day, and some of which is quite eye-opening, very much focussed on the Uni student and adult learning space. But his most recent blog, 9 March, reminds us that it’s all about the Learning. Those that follow Timbuckteeth (his twitter moniker) saw this entry retweeted time and again.  Technology is not offering any easy solutions, and if you don’t understand Learning, then it certainly won’t help at all. Is there an App for that – is not the way forwards.

Agility – The teaching toolkit

When I see something new and engaging, it makes me think.  How would I use that. Amjad Ali at Cheney School curates a whole bunch of tools and ideas on this teaching toolkit and there are some arresting ideas. This picture is the Philsoraptor – what’s that all about?

Battleships – that childhood game gone Google – Battlesheets

As above, loved playing Strategy and other battle games when I was young, and here is a free to use Google sheets game built around those ideas, but translated for those that work in the Cloud.

And finally – Kids on-line, Parents don’t panic.

Danah Boyd has written an in-depth article (Guardian 1 March) on the whole vexed issue of why teens spend hours on Snapchat and Instagram.  If nothing else, use it for a discussion point for your end of term Staff meeting.  OK, the article is a digest of her book, so something of an advertorial, but actually it’s long enough as a summary to bring thinking up to date.

I am away from my desk for the next few days, serving as an ISI team inspector. If you have anything interesting that you feel deserves airing in this on-line scrap-book, please let me know and I’ll add it to the clipboard!

I’ll close with another Michael Cain quote:

”I started with the firm conviction that when I came to the end, I wanted to be regretting the things that I had done, not the things I hadn’t”.

Have a great week.

James Wilding

jtw@clairescourt.net

jameswilding.wordpress.com