Barry Smith - Learning about Learning

I’m putting a health warning at the top here, this is more of my thoughts as opposed to information about anything that’s going on.  It may or may not be of interest, but it is important for my learning.  With that in mind please feel free to bail out or battle on, the decision is yours! 

I’ve been thinking about the idea of vision in education and what it means to me on a personal level and to the various stakeholders within a school community.  We often hear and use phrases such as ’shared vision’ and collegiality within our working lives, but what do they actually mean?  Does shared vision leave room for individual personal development and ambition or are we all duty bound to ‘toe the party line’ in pursuit of the common good?  My answer would be that shared vision can and must encompass ‘core values’ that are shared and agreed by all, in a genuine way, not as a fait accomplis.  Within that vision, personal development and growth can only compliment the development of the organisation if espoused values match up to those acted out. 

Having recently been ‘glued’ to Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline I am really thinking about espoused values as opposed to those we act out daily.  We are all conversant with the Curriculum for Excellence mantra of creating successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors as well as the notion of unconditional positive regard. But how do we translate it in to action?

I find myself asking what do these things ‘look and feel like’ and this week have had great cause to question my own words and actions as it has been a particularly busy one in dealing with ‘troubled’ youngsters.  The pressure that volatile incidents put on the youngsters and on members of staff can be enormous.  I have found myself deliberately taking a step back, metaphorically, from the emotion to try deal with creating a solution or plan of action to support all concerned.  Trying to be reflective about a situation in ‘real time’.

As I’m sure many teachers, especially Pupil Support and Senior Managers must experience daily, there is a delicate balancing act between de-escalating an emotional situation and ensuring a clear investigation and understanding of the choices that were made in creating it in the first place.  I’m talking about both young people and adults here, a difficult statement to consider because we don’t always act like adults.  We are all fallible after all and making a mistake can be a difficult pill to swallow, but it is inevitable in a profession built upon human interaction. 

I was speaking to a colleague today who was physically exhausted as a result of the emotional input involved in recent interactions with staff and students.  I’m not sure that this is uncommon.  I wondered how much emotional ‘discomfort’ can be combatted by acting out espoused values on a daily basis?  If we are true to our values can we make decisions and judgements based on those values while keeping ’emotional interference’ to a minimum?  Sounds pretty mechanical when I put it like that, and I’m not suggesting that my colleague was not acting based on espoused values, just that the thought occurred to me on a personal level.

I think the key, for me, in working with others in volatile situations is acknowledging that there are emotions involved but attempting to get to the underlying truth about what is causing them to get out of control.  Personal reflection provides a way of doing so for me and blogging helps me enormously.  Not perhaps in the sense that I pour my heart out to the world, but the practice of looking back is one that has become a habit for me and definitely helps me do a better job. 

This brings me back to espoused values again.  The process of reflection helps re-inforce what the correct/best/most appropriate course of action to take is or was in relation to my own espoused values and I feel that I have genuinely changed as a person in the last year. An enormous amount of that change being due to making a habit of personal reflection and getting high quality feedback and learning from others. It’s a feedback loop.  It’s also a real challenge to act out your espoused values all the time.  I’m not there yet, but definitely trying!

This is a post that is very personal and I’m wasn’t too sure about actually posting it but I have found myself writing it tonight and not wanting to write anything else, so I suppose it has had to come out!  For me it’s been a difficult thing to do, but that’s probably why it’s a good thing to do it.