Learning about Learning

I have finally reached the end of the SQH course, all being well after moderation.  It has been a long ‘journey’  and an incredible learning experience that has furthered my knowledge, understanding and ability to do my job and grapple with the complex workings of teaching and learning in school.  I am looking forward to the challenges that will lie ahead in the future, but I’m not sure I’ll be rushing to do another course like this for some years!

The loss of the Community Liaison Team Active Steps outdoor education provision from our ALPs programme due to funding not being renewed will be a major blow.  Sally Harris and her team have done a fantastic job working with our youngsters in the past year and it will mean a re-think of our programme at the school.  I know that the team have done similar, excellent work throughout East Lothian in the past few years with many different groups of young people and their provision will be sorely missed.  A great shame.

As we are on the home stretch of SQH I am now focussing upon meeting all the elements of the standard for headship.  It has thrown up an interesting challenge for me and no doubt for other participants.  As a principal teacher of pupil support I have responsibility for managing projects but not for managing people directly, i.e. it is not part of my immediate remit and I do not conduct EDR or have any responsibility for the appointment of staff.   Obviously on a day-to-day basis, deploying excellent people management skills are essential, but this is not quite the same as having direct responsibility for staff. 

Therefore, I have been presented with a challenge is in evidencing a knowledge and understanding of the recruitment and selection process.  Yes, I have had my training and understand the theoretical aspects and possible pitfalls involved, but without actually taking part in a ‘live’ recruitment and selection process my skills remain purely theoretical.  It has become necessary to seek an opportunity through my headteacher to be involved in the appointments procedure.

There are others taking part in SQH who are in a similar position to myself, primary teachers and other PT Guidance/Pupil Support.  I have found myself asking the question, is it the right time for me to be undertaking SQH if I will have difficulty evidencing one of the fundamental aspects of the course?  I understand that the participants are selected based on both their experience and potential and perhaps part of the challenge is to ensure that you can be resourceful enough to engineer opportunities to fulfil all of the criteria.  Or maybe the course itself does not fully reflect the experience of participants from a pupil support background, where the ‘flatter’ structure can mean no direct responsibilty for managing staff until reaching the position of SMT.  The diversity of the structure of pupil support teams throughout the country means that people have a very different experience of pupil support from authority to authority.

This may feed the criticism I have heard levelled by some that the course is too heavily based in theory, too academic, and doesn’t fully prepare applicants for the reality of the job.  I have thought about this a great deal since starting the course in April ‘05 and my conculsion is that the academic rigour is fundamental to the qualification.  Headteachers are now expected to have a ‘vision’ for their school which is based on sound judgement.  I would argue that such judgement be based upon evidence from current research and academic thinking as well as the context in which he or she works.  

An unfortunate consequence of this  is the incredible expectations we have of the knowledge and abilities of the headteacher.  I say unfortunate because it can drive headteachers to work increasingly long hours to ’stay on top’ of things.  It is not possible for any person to ‘know all’ and ‘be all’ but we seem to expect this from from those charged with running schools. 

When I discuss working hours with colleagues who are on SQH, very long hours can be seen as a ‘badge of honour’ by some and this seems, in some instances, to be coming ‘from the top’.  A culture of working incredibly long hours exists in some schools and there may be a perception that progression is predicated upon fitting into this mode of working.  I do not believe this is healthy and I am glad I do not experience it in my own school.  It is one thing to have a calling and be committed to the work you do,  entirely another to be consumed by it.

However I digress from my initial point, the challenge of being fully conversant and experienced in the recruitment and selection process.  I am concerned that in becoming invoved in and R&S process it may be seen as tokenistic and may feel that way too.  But in order to fulfil the criteria for attaining the Standard for Headship it is a neccessity.  So I will seek opportunities to increase my working knowledge in this area, while having one eye on what is acceptable and reasonable in terms of my time commitment.

I also think my time of life has a significant bearing on my view.  At the moment I am in a very ‘busy’ time in terms of my home life and perhaps in a few years I’ll see things differently and want and need to commit more time to the job.

I found out at the weekend I have passed Unit 4 of SQH, this is a tremendous relief as I was slightly concerned about whether my submission had covered all the bases.  It was a pleasant surprise to receive my tutor’s comments and I can now look forward (maybe!) to the next 7 months and completing the Scottish Qualification for Headship. 

We are very much now on the home straight and I almost can’t believe how quickly the time has passed. I’m really beginning to focus upon where I can develop myself further in terms of my career.  I’ve had some encouraging experiences as well as some doors closing, which is a part of the process, but my confidence is really growing with each passing unit and the feedback I get from ‘the day job’.

Unit 4 of the Scottish Qualification for Headship challenges us to compare our skills and competencies to the Standard for Headship in the context of our progress to date and identify areas of strength and areas for development backed up by appropriate evidence.  As a precursor to my unit 4 submission I’m going to use my blog to help that process along.  The reasoning is twofold, it allows further reflection on my part in relation to my progress towards meeting the Standard for Headship and it affords anyone who wishes, or who has perhaps worked with me, the opportunity to provide feedback on my claims.

The Standard for Headship is comprised of Professional Actions and 3 essential elements of practice:

1.  Strategic Vision, values and aims

2.  Knowledge and Understanding                    

3.  Personal qualities and interpersonal skills

In this post I will begin to deal with the Essential Elements. 

I have explored and discussed my educational values through my blog.  I believe this has helped shape my moral and ethical perspective in relation to education. Reading educational literature as documented on this site has also challenged my thinking, as has engaging with the views of staff members in school, students and ‘bloggers’.

Completing a critical self-evaluation as part of SQH unit 1 allowed me to communicate my vision for an effective school.  Undertaking the 360 degree review as part of SQH unit 1 provided further insight to my current practice, including my ability to articulate and embody my moral and ethical standpoint in relation to education.

My blog provides evidence of professional reflection and review of my own practice.  I have taken part in professional coaching sessions, covering personal development target-setting and values.

The ALPs programme has given me the opportunity to provide a rationale for practice and to be accountable for it, in relation to the way the programme operates and it goals.  On a daily basis I am accountable for the actions I take in relation to my dealings with young people and professionals.  The ALPs programme has also provided the opportunity to encourage critical reflection in others, including young people, as has my blog through comments and interactions with others.

Comlpeting Unit 2 of the SQH, including a school self-evaluation allowed me to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of school improvement.  Developing the S5 Social Education programme and monitoring and evaluating the ALPs programme and Pre-vocational educational programme allows me to employ strategies for improvement. (taking account of pupil voice, using attendance and behaviour statistics, taking account of stakeholder perceptions, recognising achievement)

To be continued at a later date.

I’ve tried to take my notes for Michael Fullan’s Leading in a Culture of Change and summarise them.  It’s still pretty rough and I’ll be trying to tidy it up in the next few days. The essential concepts have been put in bold. 

It has been very humbling to read a book like this and measure my own skills and qualities against it.  However, it is a fantastic aspirational tool and like many of the other books I have read so far as part of my SQH reading, one that I will regularly revisit.

Leading in a culture of change  

Moral purpose :

Authentic leaders display character

We have both egoistic and altruistic desires

Culture and core values central to an organisation

Understanding change

Successful leadership styles:

Authoritative - “come with me” enthusiastic, self-confident,optimistic 

Affiliative - “people come first”Democratic - “what do you think?”

Coaching - “try this”

Unsuccessful leadership styles with a negative impact on climate

Coercive - “do what I tell you” -resentment & resistance

Pacesetting “do as I do, now” - burnout & overwhelmed staff (I was particularly interested by this section) 

The goal is not to innovate the most

Appreciate the implementation dip

Listen to, and work with resisters

Reculturing - changing the way we do things around here

Leadership is by its nature complex  

Relationships

Seven essentials to developing relationships :

Setting clear standards

Expecting the best

Paying attention

Personalising recognition

Telling the story

Celebrating together

Setting the example 

Good leaders inspire by;

Selectively showing their weaknesses

Relying on intuition

Managing with tough empathy

Showing what is unique about themselves   

School capacity is the key to success:

Teachers knowledge, skills and dispositions

Professional community

Programme(curriculum) coherence

Appropriate technical resources

Headteacher leadership   

Every school needs a strong professional learning community

Emotional quotient/Emotional intelligence is vital.

Intrapersonal - self awareness

Interpersonal - empathy, social responsbility

Adaptability

Stress management

Mood - happiness, optimistic  

Build knowledge and capacity

Information is only valuable in a social context

Explicit knowledge - words and numbers that can be communicated in the fom of data and information

Tacit knowledge - skills, beliefs and understandings below the level of awareness.  It is highly personal

Coherence from complexity

It never ceases to amaze me how ‘full on’ this time of year is.  So far this week we’ve had the change of timetable with all that entails for Pupil Support staff, pre-vocational college induction, S6 induction(where I gave a talk on leadership to our new S6), Thursday and Friday bring our S5 induction, we have a Rhythm of Life drumming performance on Wednesday night and I had an SQH tutorial on Monday after school after having completed our Unit 4 oral presentations at the end of last week(I passed thank goodness!). 

I’m out of breath just writing it!!

The space and time to think are at a premium just now, I have a summary of Michael Fullan’s Leading in a Culture of Change that I’d like to publish but it’ll have to wait. 

The title is a reference to how my brain is feeling, the roundabout is getting faster as the end of term approaches!  Then I’ll be able to concentrate properly on my Unit 4 submission.

While reading Michael Fullan’s excellent book Leading in a culture of change I have come across some very sound, practical advice and information, as well as some great quotations.

Here are two of my favourites:

Attributed to a superintendent from a 1996 study of Leadership, 

“Ten years ago if I had a vision they’d have locked me up, now I can’t get a job without one.”

And from Pascale et al 2000, an insight into how we might think about, organisations, leadership and social change (Fullan’s words)

“Living systems cannot be directed along a linear path. Unforseen consequences are inevitable.  The challenge is to disturb them in a manner that approximates the desired outcomes.”

The second quote in particular struck a chord.  The idea of control in leadership (and living for that matter) is in many ways an illusion because we are at the mercy of so many variables in our ”living system”.  Therefore what matters, according to this train of thought, it seems to me, is the values that are driving the “desired outcomes”.  If the values are sound then any “disturbing” of the system towards those outcomes should beneficial in the long run,even if not immediately so because of fluctuations in the system.

So if we are driven by a core set of values, the chances of us approximating our “desired outcomes” are increased.  This may not be true for all systems, but I’m thinking in relation to my own circumstances as a school teacher and my life as a whole.

I’m doing a lot of reading at the moment about leadership. Both from the point of view of trying to understand myself better but also to understand the preferred styles of those around me and the effect they have on the community they inhabit.  It has given rise to some enlightening conversations with colleagues around the subject.  It seems to be one thing everyone has an opinion on.   I’d recommend Micheal Fullan’s Leading in a culture of change if you are interested in a discussion of the issues.

The interesting thing for me is that both our own preferred style of leadership and the style that we perceive from those around us in daily interactions can(if we allow it) heavily influence our job (and life) satisfaction.  (Think of your parents’ style of ‘leadership’ with you if you don’t believe me!)  One style may work briliantly in a particular context but fall flat in another or we may inspire some people and at the same time ‘turn off’ others.  Is there a perfect leadership style that works in all situations or is the perfect leader someone who can adapt their style intuitively to suit the context? 

What does distributed leadership actually mean in the school context and can we really dismantle the hierarchical model.  I think we are engaged in interesting times in East Lothian at present on that front. I am keen to see how this ‘virtual’ hierarchy-free model could translate to a physical entity like a school.  People take initiative in this environment and to a great degree do so unsupervised or directed.  If this happened in school would we have anarchy or unbridled creativity?  A Curriculum for Excellence may begin to ask, and answer, that question.

I’ve been neglecting the blog a bit recently, a number of factors have combined to cause this, not least the excellent weather!  I’m also doing a great deal of drumming now that we move into the summer so something has to give somewhere. 

Now it is SQH unit 4 time in earnest I think my brain has returned to something like being able to function in relation to educational thinking.  I am currently considering the implementation of change in the school context.  Specifically in relation to the ALPs programme. 

I made a short presentation to staff on our progress so far at the in-service day yesterday.  As with every new venture there have been ups and downs and there are many issues that have arisen, both with the provision and the organisation of the programme.  I am happy to say however that at this stage, 12 weeks into the programme, that there has been a significant impact on the number of incidents some of the students have been involved in.  

Three of the participants have reduced the number of incidents (detentions and exclusions) by half as compared with the preceeding 12 week period.  It is still very early days but I am encouraged greatly by this.  These are youngsters who have significant difficulty in accessing much of the mainstream curriculum so any progress in terms of changing patterns of behaviour is a real success.

I am going to be meeting with parents over the next fortnight to discuss progress, careers input and targets for the coming year.  It is very pleasing I will have some excellent news to report. I think once again it shows the commitment of all concerned beginning to pay off.  Watch this space for news of the interim report in June.