The Education Continuum

Schools for the Future Europe: Values and Change beyond Lisbon - Guest Post by John Sayer

Two lively meetings in Oxford and London marked the launch of this timely and challenging book, with panels of chapter writers joined by a hundred colleagues to share proposals and initiatives for the European dimension in schools, across a spectrum of cultural heritage, knowledge, school curriculum and language learning. The book is particularly critical of English habits of narrowing learning and throwing away the right to a general education throughout school, and commends broader European alternatives.
 
Speakers were united in condemning the current drift in English schools towards fearful competition for survival, mechanistic box-ticking for the measurable, and confining education to the dictates of successive governments which have seized control of every aspect of schooling without knowing what to do with it. They insisted on the common underlying values which have brought together the 47 countries of the Council of Europe, to co-operate on democratic citizenship, human rights and responsibilities, on reducing xenophobia, on the rôle of language learning and exchange opportunities, the tracing of a multicultural heritage, and above all on initiatives starting from home and school and not waiting for national government requirements.
 
On both occasions, speakers then fielded a lively wide-ranging debate which continued informally and was seen as a prelude to concerted efforts to ensure that young people have access to the common heritage on which to build their future together. 
 
‘Many thanks’ writes one of many, ‘for such a stimulating and useful discussion about our shared commitment to ensuring schools across the country are taking advantage of the enriching and creative international dimensions of language’.
 
The book, introduced with the purpose of being sound, informative, readable and challenging, is perhaps the first to start from and focus on the European dimension of school education, with recommendations for an achievable programme of good practice. It features in the current magazine of the European School Heads Association, and the panel discussions will be taken to forthcoming conferences.
 
Schools for the Future Europe is edited by John Sayer and Lynn Erler and was published on 8th March. 

Anna Fleming, Publisher

Leading the Sustainable School

Since the powers that be have announced yet another delay to the new Curriculum, we are faced with another wait, and the frustration is palpable. But it is at times such as this that we are reminded of the importance of strong leadership and shared vision in our schools, to keep things afloat when the seas are rough and the skies are looking foggy. I for one hope that our Education Secretary will be reading Debra Massey’s book Leading the Sustainable School over his morning coffee in Whitehall. The story of Howe Dell’s journey from failing to fantastic does make you wonder how it could ever be in any doubt that real change comes from those working in the schools themselves. Howe Dell’s relevance comes not only from its Education for Sustainable Development curriculum as the government pledges to make this the ‘greenest government ever’, but also because it serves as an example of a flourishing modern school whose success has grown from a shared vision and belief in multi-agency working, where Heads facilitate the skills and talents of their staff, and leaders can be found at every level.

Complete with companion website, Leading the Sustainable School is both a source of inspiration and practical guidance for sowing the seeds of change and growing leadership from within, and its lessons will be enduring whatever the future might bring…

Rosie Pattinson
Editorial Assistant

Guest Post by Paul K. Ainsworth - The new appraisal regulations: A job hunter’s perspective

Last Friday, the Department for Education (DfE) published the new arrangements for the performance management of teachers. If you are currently applying for jobs you may wonder how this will affect you and what you need to know for any future interviews, particularly if you are applying for a middle leadership or senior leadership post.

If you are applying for a leadership post it is likely that you will have responsibility for setting targets and then reviewing them for a group of staff. At interview you could be asked specifically about your views on the new regulations. You may also wish to draw on your knowledge of the new regulations when discussing how you would raise standards in your area or how you would deal with underperforming staff.

The most obvious change is one of language. The press releases on the government website talk about 'teacher appraisal' rather than using the term 'performance management' which for teachers who are longer in tooth may remind them of the system before performance management was in vogue. If you are looking at senior leadership posts you may wish to read the model policy on DfE website which includes the section on capability which is consistent with the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance procedures.

If you are asked about underperforming staff, you may wish to comment that the new appraisal structure has a much clearer link to capability procedures than before but it is important to remember that if a colleague begins capability procedures the appraisal process is suspended. The DfE suggest that the new appraisal process will allow poorly performing teachers to be removed in about a term. However this would require all the paperwork to be perfectly collated and time scales to be rigorously kept to. We also tend to know that in practice this can become much longer when colleagues are sick during the process.

For reviewers the new appraisal process states that teachers will have to be assessed every year against the new teacher standards. These are claimed to be simpler and sharper than before. You may wish to look at these standards which become live in September 2012.

It will be interesting to see if schools begin to develop their own tick lists of these teacher standards, perhaps even grading teachers on them against the OFSTED grades. As a reviewer you will have to ensure that objectives are set for each teacher which clearly show how they contribute to improving the education of the pupils. The best appraisers have always done this and some schools provide good training for their staff on how objectives should be best written. In the review you will have to give an assessment of the teacher’s performance and assess their current training development needs. There is an expectation that progression up the teacher pay spine will be subject to a satisfactory appraisal. This means that you may be responsible for making a recommendation on pay progression to your head teacher.

There is a greater flexibility in terms of the quantity of lesson observation that can be conducted. In recent years there has been confusion over the so-called three hour observation rule which suggested that teachers could only be observed for three hours for performance management reasons but for other reasons at a school’s discretion. The new appraisal arrangements will mean that schools have a greater flexibility on deciding what is appropriate.

It is worth noting that the government is still consulting as to whether performance management review documents can be requested by a future employer as part of the reference process. If this turns out to be the case, if you are looking for promotion you may be more interested in ensuring your review does happen and that it is completed in a clear and positive manner.

Paul K. Ainsworth is the Acting Principal of a Leicestershire secondary school. He has advised many teachers on how they can develop their job search skills. His new book, 'Get that Teaching job' is out at the end of January.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

The Sunday Times Festival of Education

Both Ally Baker and I will be at the Festival of Education at Wellington College this weekend. The festival promises to be a smorgasboard of educational treats, and I am in no way sore that the weather forecasters predict a heatwave this weekend as there are enough controversial figures in this year's line-up to ensure the event sizzles with passion and ire.

On Saturday we'll be going to see the head of Jamie's dream school, John D'Abbro or 'Dabbs' as he's more generally known getting to the bottom of the question 'who is failing our kids?' alongside our own 'Behaviour Guru', Tom Bennett. I wonder if there will be any fisticuffs with his 'ex-employee' David Starkey who'll be waiting in the wings?

Shadow Secretary, Andy Burnham will be making a keynote address, as will Michael Gove (if he turns up this time). Author of 'The If Machine', Peter Worley is teaming up with A C Grayling (yikes), Julian Baggini, Angie Hobbs and Emma Williams to talk philosophy in schools (let's hope the rest of the panel bring a change of clothes in case the crowd get rowdy). Other Continuum authors speaking their minds include Guy Claxton, John Abbott, Phil Beadle, John Murphy, Francis Beckett and Frank Furedi.

Other big names in the education world making an appearance over the weekend include Gove's biggest fan and author of 'To Miss with Love', Katherine Birbalsingh (you know, the one who got fired for saying that the British school system was 'fundamentally broken' at the Tory conference), Editor of the TES, Gerard Kelly, and err, former Welsh Rugby player, Scott Quinnell. Oh, I almost forgot, all round philanthropist Sir Bob Geldof will be making an appearance too.

I can feel my temperature rising in anticipation already.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

Born to Learn

A source of constant frustration for many teachers, are the reams of guidelines, inspection criteria and advice which lapse into lengthy, indecipherable discourse. Information is more available now than in has ever been – the latest research is disseminated within minutes via online newspapers and comment is free. How are we to devise and implement an effective model for education amidst so many conflicting findings and views?

This was the question on John Abbott’s mind when looking back over 20 years worth of research from the 21st Century Learning Initiative into the relationship between format schooling and informal learning outside of the school gates. The answer has come in the form of a series of short, thought-provoking animations, narrated by British actor Damian Lewis and aimed, quite simply, at getting straight to the point on educational issues.

For John Abbott, the “crisis” of education has not arisen simply from bad teaching, but from the failure of the wider community to engage and nurture the imaginations of young people. It is rather more a crisis of society’s committment to young people and their individual idiosyncracies and spiritual needs. The result is an education system in desperate need of finding ways to ensure creative energy is nurtured, and young people come out with confidence, a forward-thinking attitude and the ability to think outside the box and adapt to an ever-changing world in which following in the footsteps of your parents and teachers might just leave you floundering.

But John Abbott needs little help in stating his claim. Born to Learn - http://www.born-to-learn.org/ - takes the theories behind Abbott’s best-selling book Overschooled but Undereducated: How the crisis in education is jeopardizing our adolescents, and turns them into short and accessible nuggets of thought. No legislative provision, he argues, which is not fully understood by the people, will ever effectively reform an outdated system. The animations are aimed at summing up years of research and turning them into a Call to Action – a creative solution for unlocking the creative potential of future generations.

Rosie Pattinson

Editorial Assistant

Guest blog: What happens after the SEF?

One question that many senior leaders have been asking lately is what happens to the Self Evaluation Form (SEF) in the next academic year? Earlier this year the government announced that English schools would no longer have to complete the SEF from September 2011 but did not suggest what would need to be done instead.

The SEF has been one of those dreaded tasks; a bit like tidying some part of your house. You know it needs doing and at some point it would be obvious that you’ve not done it! There are many urban myths of Head’s getting the OFSTED call and the Inspector then suggesting the SEF does not look as though it has been updated for a while, queue a senior leadership lock-down day as they spend from 9am–3pm desperately trying to write a SEF.

One of the frustrations has been that you may have been busily evaluating the quality of your school. Observations, work scrutiny and pupil focus groups could be included within your calendared department review scheme. Annual parent and staff questionnaires may have been part of your Investors in People monitoring. An exhaustive data analysis could have been a key section of induction days for all staff. In some schools pupils have been trained to conduct lesson observations through student voice with the aim of developing the quality of teaching and learning. And yet the huge breadth of the SEF document has not given school’s the credit they should have received for the evaluation of – to use an industry phrase – the core business of teaching and learning.

This week the government has published its proposals for the future of OFSTED and way down in Paragraph 38 is mention of the SEF. Schools are expected to self-evaluate including an assessment of performance against the key inspection judgement, but no common form will be provided. Instead, the lead inspectors will spend more time prior to the inspection discussing the school.

The SEF may be gone but self-evaluation certainly hasn’t and still needs to be an item on your next school improvement plan.

 

Paul K. Ainsworth is the author of Developing a Self-Evaluating School: A Practical Guide.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

Why might a serious education academic begin meddling in animated documentary graphics?

The difficulty for an author is that there is never enough opportunity to talk to everyone who might like to hear the story and open up a dialogue. However successful my book Overschooled but Undereducated might be, it inevitably focuses on a linear approach to setting out a case. A book is essentially didactic – a one way stream of consciousness from author to reader.

Some months ago I read a book by an environmental anthropologist called ‘The Story of Stuff’, about the problems being created by the ever-increasing quantities of rubbish thrown away by the consumers of New York City. It is a compelling read, but with some 300 pages it requires several hours of careful reading. Recently it has been turned into a 22-minute animated graphic documentary and placed on the internet – at the latest count it had been watched 14 million times! As an author I pine for an audience of just 1% of numbers like that!

The 21st Century Learning Initiative has now started to do the same with our book. We have looked at the techniques used in a number of other animated documentaries. We have looked at how well these have targeted clearly defined audiences, and the steps needed to help people get a deeper understanding of the different issues. We were particularly interested in how such videos drew people together, and how they then started to deepen their interest, and in a sense create a campaign. We have thought about the way parents might uses such documentaries, then we thought about teachers, and leaders in the community, and politicians.

The first video will be available in early March at www.born-to-learn.org, with the actor Damian Lewis providing the narration. Watch it, think about it, share it with your friends, and then realise why it is so important to read the whole book.

Over the course of the next year we intend to produce 8 or 10 more videos each one of which will be designed to deepen people’s understanding of the whole of this intricate issue of our society becoming ‘overschooled but undereducated’, and what now has to be done to rectify this.

Guest post by John Abbott, President of the 21st Century Learning Initiative, a transnational association of educational researchers and practitioners based in the UK.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

Is youth leadership not a facet of the 'Big Society' movement?

Students want to be trusted and challenged, even when it looks like they don’t! Leadership gives them a sense that they have something to offer, and that their experiences can be useful and helpful to others. Even the most disruptive, difficult student is showing leadership qualities – it’s just not in the right direction, yet.

A few months ago, the DfE cut funding to the school strand of The Youth of Today programme which was being led by the Citizenship Foundation. The Youth of Today began last year to improve the quality and quantity of youth leadership opportunities for teenagers aged 13-19. The resources produced for the scheme are no longer available and the Foundation are no longer able to offer specific support to schools on the topic of school leadership.

Learning to Lead – Using Leadership Skills to Motivate Students, published in March, demonstrates that students have positive leadership abilities, and they can be taught how to use these abilities and then to teach others. Just as important, if not more so, these students make a difference in the classroom, in their school and in their local community. When students see themselves as potential leaders they rethink the concept of involvement in their community. They move from a sense that leadership is for other people to a feeling that schools are places of opportunity.

Incorporating leadership learning into the curriculum in both primary and secondary schools challenges students to take responsibility for themselves and others, build their self-esteem and improve the lives of others in the school and local community. Isn’t this what the Government’s ‘Big Society’ is supposed to be all about?

 

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

Guest post by Richard Gerver, author of Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today

 It's Time to Take Control by Richard Gerver, author of Creating Tomorrow’s Schools Today

So we are now three months into David and Nick's new bluey orange dawn and Michael has caused havoc at the DfE; BSF has been scrapped as has the Rose review and it appears that little Michael wants everyone to live the Academy dream...unless you want to set up a free school of course! Fascinating that he hasn't talked about children once...or teaching and learning. Truth is I'm not sure that Michael has a plan...although he is rather wedded to the ideology of Ed Hirsch... Knowledge is power!

It appears to me that Michael has left us with a Dyson-sized vacuum which allows us as educators to create our own policies around children and teaching and learning. It appears that we have two years to prove that Dave's Big Society should include educational freedom from central political control...maybe amidst the crumbling buildings and daft back to basics rhetoric there really is a brave new dawn. I am wholly optimistic that the future now belongs to teachers and students and it is our time to prove that we know and do what is best for our schools, our pupils and most importantly, their futures.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)

Richard will be speaking at the Technology and Learning Conference for the School Board's Association of America on Oct 21 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona and at Institucion Educativa SEK in Madrid on Oct 16 2010.

The Sunday Times Festival of Education 2010

Anyone else going to The Festival of Education at Wellington College this weekend? It promises to be the event of the year so far in the Education calendar, with the likes of the new(ish) Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, and Continuum authors Sue Palmer, Peter Worley, Ian Morris and Professor A C Grayling among the speakers.

At a time of immense change and uncertainty, this conference will, I hope, be full of debate and hope for a positive future for education in the UK and internationally.

I'll be wandering around (possibly with a name badge) on both days of the festival, so do come and introduce yourself if you see me looking a bit lonely.

Melanie Wilson
Commissioning Editor (Professional Education)