Barry Smith - Learning about Learning

After a fantastic Easter break it’s been back into the fray today.  It’s great to get back to school feeling totally refreshed.  My perception is that for most secondary teachers this is term in which things ‘ease off’ a little with exam leave.  That was certainly my experience as a Maths teacher. 

It’s not quite the same, again in my experience, for those involved in Guidance/Pupil Support.  Despite the reduced numbers there still seems to be as much going on, maybe it’s just that other things that may not have been as far up the agenda suddenly have the chance to come on to your radar.  There are also primary visits and transfer information to consider.  Anyway, not a bleat, I’m just glad I had a relaxing break to prepare me for the coming term. 

This term also takes care of SQH Unit 4.  We have an oral presentation to do as well as a written assignment.  I’m actually looking forward to this one because we are focusing on our school improvement project which has been really interesting for me so far. 

Pre-vocational education selection time is here too, so that will take up a large chunk of time with the organising, preparation, interviews and induction.

After all that it’ll be time to go to Chamonix in activities week, woohoo! How time flies!

I read two very interesting books over the holidays.  I recommend them both.  Hegemony or survival by Noam Chomsky and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. 

Having just returned from another excellent 3 taught days on the SQH I have, increasingly, been considering the apparent dichotomy between what schools and school leaders are being asked to deliver and the reality of the world in which we live. 

We are currently in the midst of very exciting times with A Curriculum for Excellence and the changes it will bring to Scottish Education.  The focus seems to be shifting, quite rightly in my opinion, away from an emphasis on summative outcomes and more towards a process, connectedness, deep, ‘rich’ and skills driven view of education and learning.

Furthermore, as professionals, teachers are being asked to embody the essence of lifelong learning, constantly improving and innovating with practice, engaging in debate and generating,  evaluating and reflecting upon data in relation to ’what works’ and why.

At the same time, the message to school leaders it seems to me is that any changes made have to be lasting, long term and embedded within the curriculum.  I am thinking that this creates a tension.  If we live in a world that is constantly changing, as it seems clear that we do, then how do we define long term and lasting change?  In fact, the very question of what constitues ‘long term’ and ‘lasting’ I believe is something which we need to explore.  Certainly in terms of the way now organise our working lives, long term is no longer thought of in decades.  People no longer expect to be in the same job for 10, 20 or 30 years. 

So how does this translate to education?  I believe that there is still a view in some quarters of education that, in fact, people ’should’ remain in the same place for 5, 10, 15 years or more to ensure that they can make ‘a real difference’, and somehow not to do so shows either a lack of commitment or flightiness in attitude.   However, if we are preparing our young people for a world in which change is taken as the norm, both in terms of the development of technology, the way in which we work and the way in which we live, how can the teaching profession regard itself as in any way separate or different?  It seems to me that we will have to come to terms with a higher turnover of staff in the future as people make choices about where they live and work and how they organise their time and make their path through life.

Therefore, there may be more instances of people taking a job on for 2, 3 or 4 years before taking the next step in their career path.  This then throws up the question of how effective teachers are with their time in each post.  I have no doubt that a motivated, talented and committed teacher can make a difference to a school in one year, never mind 5 years. The big question for schools is how, if that is the only time you get from a member of staff(we are already seeing this with probationers), can we ensure that the ‘good bits’ are left behind as a legacy and employed by the new staff member who comes in. This is the long term and lasting change part.

On of the possible solutions must surely be a much more open view of classrooms, in order to share good practice.  Peer observation needs to be the norm, not the exception for one day a year or some other tokenistic gesture by school leaders to tick the HGIOS/HMIe box.  For the new generation of teachers coming through peer observation should hopefully be second nature.  We must ensure that we keep observation, team teaching and sharing good practice with high quality ‘in-house’ CPD at the forefront of our priorities in developing staff. To return to the days of closing your door and ‘getting on with it’ would be a disaster at this crucial time.

We had an interesting session on Thursday afternoon from Margaret Alcorn, CPD co-ordinator for Scotland.  While I did not agree with all she espoused in relation to the future direction of school leadership and CPD, she did make an interesting point about Chartered teachers.  She talked about our expert Chartered teachers as being the drivers of school based CPD, sharing good practice and developing others in the school community.  I believe that this is a particularly important point.  The potential of those involved in the Chartered Teacher programme to develop others is tremendous.

A final note, I heard an interesting statistic this week.  Over the next ten years, the Scottish executive will have to employ on average one head teacher per working day to replace those who will reach retirement age during that time, some 2000 new headteachers.  They will be times of perpetual change indeed.  It remains to be seen if and how we define and deliver lasting change.

I’ve just had a weekend off, completely, for the first time in a while.  Not even a cursory glance at the computer on Saturday and Sunday.  It was definitely needed.

Tonight I’ve just finished three out of four pre-course tasks for my SQH Unit 4 taught days at Peebles Hydro this week, Wednesday to Friday.  All that remains is my final formal presentation, on my learning to date with my school improvement project,  and my preparation for the programme review group meeting on Wednesday evening that I’ve agreed to be a part of.

I must admit this term has been an absolute marathon with everything that the SQH brings on top of the normal ‘everyday’ workload.  The great thing is that I have come through intact, just about!

I also have my swimathon on Sunday night, swimming 2.5km for Marie Curie Cancer research.  My training has faltered badly recently under the pressure of everything else, so I  think I might need the maximum 2 hours allowed to finish it!

Sleep required.

I had my first telephone coaching session today.  It was made available to the wider teaching population after depute heads and heads had the opportunity to take part, as far as I understand it.  I think it is going to be some of the best money I’ve never spent!  Taking the time to really explore important issues in relation to effectiveness at work and future possibilities I’m sure will be an invaluable piece of personal development.  Reflecting with immediate feedback, great stuff! 

I have six sessions over the next few weeks and we’ve set out a few markers on what I’m hoping to gain from the session.  The first is a ‘nuts and bolts’, operational target, improving my efficiency in dealing with the large amounts of information you are faced (bombarded?) with as a Pupil Support teacher.  To that end I’m meeting with Rob Jones, an information officer at ELC, this week. I’ll no doubt be blogging more about the sessions as the weeks go by.

I also had a great lesson with my S4 PSE class today.  We were discussing what a Curriculum for Excellence is and what it may mean for future generations of school children.  I asked the question, “What would happen if we abolished exams?” and sought feedback from the class.  Exams are obviously close to their hearts at this time so we had an interesting discussion.  Here is a selection of their responses.

Plus Points of abolishing external exams

Less stress for students

More prepared for working life (comment based on a change in curriculum structure)

Less time spent revising and ‘regurgitating’

Your teacher could assess you (This was seen as both positive and negative!)

Minus points

No evidence of qualifications or skills

Harder for employers, colleges and universities to select the ‘right’ people

Students might not know what they are good at

There is no ‘proof’ of what you’re good at for others

We also tried to think of alternatives and I was surprised by how difficult the students found it to perceive of a different way of doing things.  I suppose in some respects it says a lot for how clearly they identify with the current system and how and where they fit in to it.

Suggestions were things like an online ‘evidence bank’ detailing work they had done and skills they had obtained with evidence.  This was seen as a multimedia ‘package’.  Similar to this was the idea of a skills ‘passport’ (rings a bell with something I heard at the PT Conference).  Finally, the idea of teacher assessment/endorsement was strong, but beyond that not much else.  It made me think what a lot we have to change even in relation to youngsters really understanding and engaging with things like peer and self assessment and how this embeds itself in the curriculum. 

It’s great fun having these sort of discussions with the youngsters and I was interested that many of the themes that emerged were along the lines of current educational debate.  Out of the mouths of babes and all that!

We have our next SQH residential next week.  It is going to probably be the most intensive yet, and certainly will be the most taxing in terms of preparation.  We have to prepare four different pieces of work , three informal, small group presentations and one formal presentation in front of the larger group. In addition to that I’m out of school for three days, so organising three days worth of classes does not fill me with unbridled joy!

The PTs conference in North Berwick was good fun.  The sessions on Appreciative Inquiry and the Dragon’s Den exercise were my favourites.  I read that some didn’t feel the atmosphere of the Dragon’s Den exercise was in keeping with the tone of the weekend.  I disagree with that because I think people took it in the fun spirit intended and the camaraderie that developed and learning that went on were borne out by the ideas conceived(and I’m not just saying that because we won…….I thought my competitive streak was gone, not so).

During the exercise our cluster group really went through all the stages of forming, storming, norming and performing.  It was a brilliant experience to be a part of a team that grappled with the task, struggled to come to consensus, finally managed to and then just ‘took off’ with the idea, rounded off by a brilliant presentation by our PT English and Literacy, Jan Ainslie.  It must have been a daunting prospect for the ‘chosen ones’ to present to the Dragons but I think most would agree it was great fun.

Afterwards I raced across to Lanark to my niece’s second birthday party arriving around 6pm.  My enthusiasm about the conference was curbed a little as I was made to stop and think by my brother(he’s good at that).  His question was, “how can an organisation which fundamentally values the family ask its employees to work on a Saturday, in a hotel or not?  Why not have it on an in-service day” he said.  I have to admit I didn’t have an answer to that one. As I think about it more, I suppose if I was being asked to justify the choice I’d say that teachers get 13 weeks or so holiday per year and not very often do they get the opportunity to come together in such a way, so one Saturday out of the year is not a ‘huge ask’.  However, in an ideal world, yes, I’d probably plump for organising it on an in-service day although I’m not sure what headteachers would say about that!

I think my brother is also aware that with SQH I’ve been working most weekends since about October and that it does have an impact upon family life.  My view is that it’s a short term situation and hopefully after this weekend and submitting my Unit 3 report things will calm down and my weekends will return to something like normality again.  But it is a big commitment to make, there is no getting away from that. 

I was fortunate enough to be able to share my experiences on SQH with a number of people at the conference, including someone taking the new flexible route and another colleague who is due to have an interview for the programme very soon.  So I did get a chance to explain how much of a commitment it actually is to some who are considering taking it on.  I think on balance the conference was a worthwhile experience and the principle of bringing colleagues together like this is an excellent one.

I’ve mentioned in previous blogs about reading Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline.  Over the last few nights I’ve been reading about the concept of mental models.  The idea is not new to me, nor I suspect to many others who have read the book.  The interesting thing about Senge’s description in my opinion is what we do with our mental models.  We are able to test them by speaking openly to other people rather than making assumptions about what they may or may not be thinking.  This gives us accurate ‘data’ to use in daily interactions and decision making.  

In removing assumptions and challenging our mental models which can be harmful and limiting, we are able to interact in a much more effective and efficient way.  By extrapolating what this means to the organisational scale, if people are open to testing the validity of their assumptions about others then the kind of communication which will take place between people will, I would think, inevitably be more honest, open and fruitful. 

If we could teach this in such a way that young people understood the ideas and ‘took control’ of their thinking and decision-making in this way it could be incredbly powerful in helping them develop relationships with others and resolve difficulties.  More thinking skills means more options. 

I suspect that effective communicators probably challenge their own mental models inherently to a great extent, but the powerful ‘bit’ for me is making this kind of thinking explicit in your every day dealings with people.  It must surely make you more aware of your own prejudices and promote a more open minded outlook and way of communicating.  I’ve been trying to be more aware over the last couple of days and I’ve been fascinated at having ‘caught’ myself a couple of times reverting to a stereotypical view or reaction very easily.  Powerul stuff.

It leads me on to an interesting experience I had at the end of the day today.  I’d asked staff to complete a very short questionairre about creativity to help me with my SQH comparative study.  Out of about 75 I gave out I had a return of about 20 which I suppose isn’t far from what I expected.  The interesting/strange thing was that two questionairres were returned to my pigeonhole crumpled up and not completed.  I thought maybe it was kids(doing them a disservice I know), but they didn’t know I was conducting the survey, my name wasn’t on it and I’d only announced it at the staff briefing.  So it got me thinking, what are the mental models at play that provoke this kind of reaction?  I’d really like to know because the people who did it could probably provide me with an interesting viewpoint on much of what I was investigating, but unfortunately I suspect I never will. 

Today I’ve been meeting with parents and potential ALPs students.  So far we have had agreement from 6 of the 8 we had selected.  The feedback we received about the content was very positive and both students and parents are looking forward to the programme starting.  We’ve invited parents along to the induction day to meet with the staff who are delivering each individual element.  We had only one parent who was unable to make it and that was through work commitments.

As we were talking with the first parents, we were chatting about the blogging and self awareness aspects of the programme.  One of the parents commented on how he was a bit wary of using the computer and thought that he might not access the ALPs site as a result. That reminded me of the discussion we had had one Friday morning about involving parents more with the programme.  The upshot is that we now have 4 parents who would like to come and take part in a session to help them navigate the ALPs site and to learn about blogging.  While I accept that we are not adult education providers I do think that this can only be a positive thing in bringing these parents closer to the ALPs programme and their child’s educational experience.  We also asked for feedback from parents about the layout of the site, we’re looking for some parental representation on our ALPs development group once the programme has begun.

I’m both excited and nervous now as we move towards the induction date and start of the programme.  Have we covered everything we need to?  Is the system robust enough to deal with unexpected events?  Have we missed anything glaringly obvious?!  Will all of the youngsters ’keep it together’ in school until then?  I really hope so.

I also have my Unit 3 SQH submission next Friday.  It’s going to be squeeze to get it in! I’m finishing all my data gathering tomorrow and should have the write up done over the weekend all being well…..

Final note, if you fancy a bit of world music this Saturday,  there is a one world peace concert at the Queen’s Hall at which we(Waa Sylla) are performing some African drum and dance.  By Monday I think I’ll be ready for a sleep.

I’ve spent another fruitful and hectic day working towards the SQH comparative study today.  Firstly I interviewed a number of staff at John Muir House about their impressions of the ‘climate for creativity’ within their working environment.  I was delighted that as we chatted a number of themes appeared to be emerging, in relation to the perceived culture of the working environment.  People were using similar language to describe processes and feelings about their working environment. I won’t pre-empt the report by going into any detail here, but I’ll be interested to back through the interviews and pull out these themes. 

I then went up to Moray House for a SQH Unit 3 seminar.  Our tutors were checking that things were going OK and no-one was falling to pieces under the strain!  I thought I’d had a fairly hard time managing to secure a suitable host organisation after being turned down by a couple of companies, but by all accounts I got off lightly.  There were a couple of horror stories of people being let down by businesses at the 11th hour after all the preparation work had been done.  They have had to go back to the drawing board, so I’m now counting my blessings about how relatively smoothly things have gone for me. 

It’s back to school tomorrow to catch up as best as is possible after being out two days in the last three, that’s the pay back for having access to such great experiences elsewhere I suppose.

I’ve a busy week of planning for our ALPs meeting on Friday.  I’d like to present everyone with a finalised programme and selected students as well as having an idea of what we’d like to achieve at our induction day on 16th February.  Having started to read ‘The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook’ by Peter Senge, it has further developed my thinking already in relation to why, what and how we are going to achieve our goals for ALPs. I think I’ll be blogging much more about this book in the future. 

Today I spent the day at John Muir House shadowing Don Ledingham as part of my SQH comparative study.  I’m comparing the climate for innovation and creativity between ELC Education Department and Preston Lodge HS.  It was fascinating to see at first hand how the different/competing interests and demands of so many stakeholders are balanced and how they connect with one another.  Getting such a strategic view of things really helped me gain a much clearer appreciation of the nature and notion of Integrated Children’s Services.   

Not having had the opportunity to take time out from the daily business in school to experience the work that goes on within the Education Department previously, I think I had a less than complete picture of what goes on day-to-day.  From that point of view I regard myself extremely lucky to have had such open access.  I can see how the barriers are being broken down through the blogging phenomenon and by the way innovative practice is becoming policy, helping things develop at the classroom level and at a more strategic level. 

Not only did I achieve my goal as regards my study, but I also had a fantastic CPD session.  Without going into detail that may not make the most stimulating post, I was able to sit in on and contribute (a very small amount) to several meetings ranging from a regular LNCT meeting to one involving a discussion with the Scottish Executive regarding P.E. provision in East Lothian schools.  I’m going to look into the ‘Getting Things Done‘ approach to managing workload after having spoken to Rob Lewis, an information officer at John Muir House.

I finished off with a real boost, meeting with David Gilmour late in the day to discuss the ALPs site. He has put together a fantastic model for us to start and tinker with before the start of the programme in mid February.

All that and we managed to discuss the meaning of life over lunch.  I didn’t pay but I’m told it might mean a pound of flesh in the future!

I have been working on my SQH unit 3 comparative study this weekend.  We have to compare an aspect of leadership and management in our school with that of another organisation.  I am fortunate to be visiting ELC Education department HQ, with the focus of my study being the climate for innovation and creativity within each organisation.  I think it will be interesting to compare the responses between the organisations, not least because Preston Lodge is technically a subset of John Muir house!

I have been reading about Goran Erkvall’s research  on the significant factors affecting the climate for innovation within an organisation.  This area of research is particularly relevant for Scottish schools at present in light of a Curriculum for Excellence and the changes we all face through the ongoing development and use of ICT in all aspects of education.  I am basing my comparative study questions on the ten Climatic factors said to be significant in establishing a climate of innovation. 

They are:

1. Challenge (How challenged, emotionally involved,and committed are employees to the work )
2. Freedom (How free is the staff to decide how to do their job?)
3. Idea time (Do employees have time to think things through before having to act?)
4. Dynamism (The eventfulness of life in the organisation)
5. Idea support (Are there resources to give new ideas a try?)
6. Trust and openness (Do people feel safe speaking their minds and offering different points of view?)
7. Playfulness and humour (How relaxed is the workplace-is it okay to have fun. )
8. Conflicts (To what degree do people engage in interpersonal conflict or ‘warfare?”)
9. Debates (To what degree do people engage in lively debates about the issues’)
10. Risk-taking (Is it okay to fail?)

Individual perceptions of the above come together to create the overall organisational climate, positive or negative, in relation to innovative practice, therefore creating at either extreme a totally dynamic or stagnant organisation. 

I’ve put a draft copy of my survey questions on a wiki.  It would be great to get some feedback from people on their appropriateness, wording etc.

I’ve started the big push towards the 2.5km swimathon, I had forgotten just how unfit I am. First 20 length swim under my belt, 10x breast stroke, 10x front crawl.  Oof. Very sorry state of affairs.  On the teetotal front it’s all go, another weekend passes without any close shaves bar my wife brandishing a glass of white wine gleefully at me!