#EducationFest @ Wellington - A wonderful mixture of inspiration and therapy!!
I have attended #EducationFest for the last four years now. Year 1 I went on my own. Year 2 I took a friend. Year 3 I gathered a few like-minded colleagues. This year I met up with 9 former colleagues who had been released for a day each and made contact with three people I love to follow on twitter.
Where am I going with this? Every year I attend this event, I reap incredible benefits from the experience (more on that in a moment) but every year the event also grows and exceeds my expectations and with every year that passes I see more and more brilliant colleagues attend and feel inspired by their attendance. If I had my way I would shut the school down for two days and just take everyone. It will be interesting to see what the impact of the Thursday/Friday as opposed to Friday/Saturday scheduling was. Honestly I think it is easier for teachers to go to events like these when they do not incur tremendous cover costs for schools but either way it was, once again, amazing.
So what did I learn and take away? So much. It is hard to know where to start. My biggest takeaway (as is often the case) came from David Weston (@informed_edu). I had read the 'Developing Great Teaching' report but he managed to bring the report alive and really unpick the significance of what this means for teacher CPD. If we are being really honest, based on the report, days like EducationFest maybe are not the best CPD as they meet very few of the recommendations, but the more of these events I go to, the more I begin to see events as having different purposes. I don't go to EducationFest because it will transform my teaching, I go because it gives me the opportunity to hear my heroes speak, to learn about what others are doing, to reflect on what I am doing and, at that point of the year when I am flagging, to reignite my creativity and focus. So in this case I make no apology for attending a one off CPD event and be reassured, it will affect what I am doing. From EducationFest, my big three takeaways centre around CPDL, developing grit and Growth Mindset and what it means to be a leader.
CPDL
David's talk confirmed that my CPD proposal for staff is along the right lines but made me think of some careful tweaks. I also think it demonstrated that to make CPD(L) purposeful we don't need to throw everything out, we just need to frame it well to ensure it has impact. And it was interesting that throughout the two days the message came from a range of educationalists, researchers, teachers and school leaders that if you want to survive the challenges facing education, cut what you have to cut BUT DON'T CUT CPD!! The thing that makes the most difference to students is great teaching. Great teaching comes from investing in staff development and learning. And the best development and learning? It comes from CPDL that is not just theoretical but applied to professional practice, where pedagogy is considered in relation to specific topics, it is constructively challenging, and it allows staff to design and measure their own impact, putting autonomy and trust at the heart of development. In terms of process, CPDL has be iteratively defined - there needs to be a rhythm to CPD, it has to be about deliberate practice involving structured collaboration with colleagues and it needs to be led in a culture of development and trust. These ideas were reflected in further talks I attended such as the panel discussion on professional development and the panel on 'what makes great teaching?' In my current role, I have responsibility for learning and teaching as well as CPDL and have been thinking about where I want to go with it. These sessions along with the 'failure talk' delivered by @Ewanmcintosh made me realise that I actually do not mind too much how teachers in my school teach but I want them to know why they do what they do, I want them to reflect on the success of what they do and I want them to feel that they can try something different if they want to, without fearing failure. I don't want teachers who do x because they like it or because they have always done that. I want teachers who have reasons and are consciously thinking about their practice. All of these sessions were informative and interesting and refocused me on what I want to be able to empower my staff to do.
Grit and Growth Mindset
I had the privilege of hearing Angela Duckworth speak on Thursday, firstly in her own presentation on grit and secondly in the 'what is intelligence?' panel debate. She is an excellent speaker and her work is compelling. She defines grit as the focused consistency of interest over time and hard work. She argued that it is not enough to be resilient, to be truly successful requires something even more than that and this is what she describes as grit - a sustained passion and perseverance for long term goals. She took us through some of her research and gave us examples of specific examples of 'gritty'people, using Will Smith as a particular example (clip an be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doqS35FfcUE). Grit is about doing something you love, being quite good at it and allowing your individuality to flourish whilst pursuing your passion to excellence. Duckworth studied a number of highly successful individuals in different contexts and found a number of factors that affect 'grit'. Gritty people focus on the present - there is nowhere they would rather be and nothing else they would rather do. They believe that the ability to learn is malleable (cheeky nod to growth mindset) and they engage with deliberate practice even though it is hard, even though they may fail, even though it frustrates them. They do not expect to enjoy the practice necessarily but know that it needs to be done. She also talked about the fact that there will times when even the grittiest person will experience weak will - at that time you need surrogate grit - a teacher, a coach or mentor who understands the situation but is psychologically distanced from it. If she hadn't already won me over, she had me with the following video coach from epic NFL coach Pete Carroll: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-am/0ap2000000323282/Carroll-We-re-looking-for-grit.
On Friday the day finished with Carol Dweck. I have heard Dweck speak before and I always enjoy reading and hearing about her work. I believe it is real and I believe it is valid and she gave us a good basic insight into the theory of mindset. What she also did however was issue a little bit of a warning against something she called 'false growth mindset'. I found this reassuring. Lots of people have either criticised GM as the latest fad or adopted it as some kind of magic bullet for all the world's problems. And they do this by telling people to praise effort and putting mindset posters up around the school. But they don't support their talk with their walk. They say talent is malleable, that with hard work and strategy students can achieve, then they issue them with target grades and put them in sets. These two actions entirely contradict one another. If you want to be a 'growth mindset school' (and I don't know what this is exactly but I know some schools are doing it and some are even doing it well). Do it right, do it properly. Put it at the heart of everything you do, don't confuse students with contradictions. Don't create a half hearted self esteem movement and miss the point, then complain that it didn't work. Prevent it from being a fad. And if you are not ready for that? Then think about how you can use this. I have no interest in turning my school into a growth mindset or grit school. What I do want to do is talk to students about these approaches and show them the research and let them engage with the ideas and accept them or reject them as they see fit because it is interesting, and it is research based. And actually I will probably discuss and show these ideas to colleagues because we all need a little bit of grit in our lives! And I feel very privileged to have heard both of these women speak - thank you @educationfest for that.
Leadership
So my final takeaway is the last thing I will write but is influenced by some of the first sessions I attended. Thursday started with Nicky Morgan and whilst I accept that people will hiss at me for saying this (haters gonna hate), I thought she gave a good speech that did not offend me. She name checked some people that if they are truly influencing her thinking can only be a good thing and although she maintained her keenness on testing, she did acknowledge the importance of developing the whole child. She also acknowledged that there has been a lot of change and that educators need time and space now to enforce those changes. So you know what? Not a lot to hate. Yet. And I was glad to have the opportunity to hear her speak.
I then attended the 'Lightbulbs' - Leadership session and as I sat in a very hot tent listening to some of the most inspirational leaders in education, I felt reassured. Because even if you hate everything about Ofsted and the government (you can if you like, I am not sure it is entirely helpful, but it is okay), they do not have to have the overwhelming impact on your school that some leaders seem to think. If your teachers are constantly scared of Oftsed, if your children know what Ofsted expect then shame on you as a school leader. The message from the panel was clear. Be brave. Do right by your children in your school. Oftsed will come and they will judge and they will leave and sometimes we won't like what they say. Do right by your teachers and your students irrespective of Ofsted. Call me an idealist if you wish, I don't care, because after three amazing days at the Inspiring Laedership conference and then Northern Rocks and then EducationFest, it just seems to me that if you do what is right for your students in your context, Ofsted will take care of itself. The panel reminded us of a number of key messages - as a leader, you are only as good as your staff and your staff can only be as good as they have the capacity to be. You have to let people focus on the main thing, the one thing that will truly make a difference. Reduce the white noise. And don't be afraid to be vulnerable. Even as a leader. You make it up as you go along, when you are right, you will be right and when you are wrong you can apologise. Be brave but be human and NEVER lose sight of the team working alongside you - create the conditions people need to be excellent, build relationships, communicate and know the conditions for growth. Believe in people, trust in people, support them and if you get it wrong say you are sorry. I left that session feeling inspired and reassured because the messages I heard in that tent are the behaviours and actions of the leadership team that surround me day-in, day-out and I realise how very lucky I am for that.
So that's EducationFest done for another year. I could have written about so much more. I could have written about sitting with colleagues discussing sessions whilst having an ice cream, I could have mentioned listening to Keith Ward talk about RE in the chapel (personal moment of indulgence). I could have talked about the exhibitions and the sponsors and the talks I wish I had seen and I certainly haven't mentioned everything I saw and heard. But there is only so much you can cram into one blogpost. I hope I can come back next year. I hope I can bring new colleagues and maybe even some students next time. And I hope the creators and organisers realise how much we appreciate the effort you put into my annual bout of therapy and inspiration - thank you @educationfest, thank you presenters and thank you to all at Wellington !!!!
Where am I going with this? Every year I attend this event, I reap incredible benefits from the experience (more on that in a moment) but every year the event also grows and exceeds my expectations and with every year that passes I see more and more brilliant colleagues attend and feel inspired by their attendance. If I had my way I would shut the school down for two days and just take everyone. It will be interesting to see what the impact of the Thursday/Friday as opposed to Friday/Saturday scheduling was. Honestly I think it is easier for teachers to go to events like these when they do not incur tremendous cover costs for schools but either way it was, once again, amazing.
So what did I learn and take away? So much. It is hard to know where to start. My biggest takeaway (as is often the case) came from David Weston (@informed_edu). I had read the 'Developing Great Teaching' report but he managed to bring the report alive and really unpick the significance of what this means for teacher CPD. If we are being really honest, based on the report, days like EducationFest maybe are not the best CPD as they meet very few of the recommendations, but the more of these events I go to, the more I begin to see events as having different purposes. I don't go to EducationFest because it will transform my teaching, I go because it gives me the opportunity to hear my heroes speak, to learn about what others are doing, to reflect on what I am doing and, at that point of the year when I am flagging, to reignite my creativity and focus. So in this case I make no apology for attending a one off CPD event and be reassured, it will affect what I am doing. From EducationFest, my big three takeaways centre around CPDL, developing grit and Growth Mindset and what it means to be a leader.
CPDL
David's talk confirmed that my CPD proposal for staff is along the right lines but made me think of some careful tweaks. I also think it demonstrated that to make CPD(L) purposeful we don't need to throw everything out, we just need to frame it well to ensure it has impact. And it was interesting that throughout the two days the message came from a range of educationalists, researchers, teachers and school leaders that if you want to survive the challenges facing education, cut what you have to cut BUT DON'T CUT CPD!! The thing that makes the most difference to students is great teaching. Great teaching comes from investing in staff development and learning. And the best development and learning? It comes from CPDL that is not just theoretical but applied to professional practice, where pedagogy is considered in relation to specific topics, it is constructively challenging, and it allows staff to design and measure their own impact, putting autonomy and trust at the heart of development. In terms of process, CPDL has be iteratively defined - there needs to be a rhythm to CPD, it has to be about deliberate practice involving structured collaboration with colleagues and it needs to be led in a culture of development and trust. These ideas were reflected in further talks I attended such as the panel discussion on professional development and the panel on 'what makes great teaching?' In my current role, I have responsibility for learning and teaching as well as CPDL and have been thinking about where I want to go with it. These sessions along with the 'failure talk' delivered by @Ewanmcintosh made me realise that I actually do not mind too much how teachers in my school teach but I want them to know why they do what they do, I want them to reflect on the success of what they do and I want them to feel that they can try something different if they want to, without fearing failure. I don't want teachers who do x because they like it or because they have always done that. I want teachers who have reasons and are consciously thinking about their practice. All of these sessions were informative and interesting and refocused me on what I want to be able to empower my staff to do.
Grit and Growth Mindset
I had the privilege of hearing Angela Duckworth speak on Thursday, firstly in her own presentation on grit and secondly in the 'what is intelligence?' panel debate. She is an excellent speaker and her work is compelling. She defines grit as the focused consistency of interest over time and hard work. She argued that it is not enough to be resilient, to be truly successful requires something even more than that and this is what she describes as grit - a sustained passion and perseverance for long term goals. She took us through some of her research and gave us examples of specific examples of 'gritty'people, using Will Smith as a particular example (clip an be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doqS35FfcUE). Grit is about doing something you love, being quite good at it and allowing your individuality to flourish whilst pursuing your passion to excellence. Duckworth studied a number of highly successful individuals in different contexts and found a number of factors that affect 'grit'. Gritty people focus on the present - there is nowhere they would rather be and nothing else they would rather do. They believe that the ability to learn is malleable (cheeky nod to growth mindset) and they engage with deliberate practice even though it is hard, even though they may fail, even though it frustrates them. They do not expect to enjoy the practice necessarily but know that it needs to be done. She also talked about the fact that there will times when even the grittiest person will experience weak will - at that time you need surrogate grit - a teacher, a coach or mentor who understands the situation but is psychologically distanced from it. If she hadn't already won me over, she had me with the following video coach from epic NFL coach Pete Carroll: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-am/0ap2000000323282/Carroll-We-re-looking-for-grit.
On Friday the day finished with Carol Dweck. I have heard Dweck speak before and I always enjoy reading and hearing about her work. I believe it is real and I believe it is valid and she gave us a good basic insight into the theory of mindset. What she also did however was issue a little bit of a warning against something she called 'false growth mindset'. I found this reassuring. Lots of people have either criticised GM as the latest fad or adopted it as some kind of magic bullet for all the world's problems. And they do this by telling people to praise effort and putting mindset posters up around the school. But they don't support their talk with their walk. They say talent is malleable, that with hard work and strategy students can achieve, then they issue them with target grades and put them in sets. These two actions entirely contradict one another. If you want to be a 'growth mindset school' (and I don't know what this is exactly but I know some schools are doing it and some are even doing it well). Do it right, do it properly. Put it at the heart of everything you do, don't confuse students with contradictions. Don't create a half hearted self esteem movement and miss the point, then complain that it didn't work. Prevent it from being a fad. And if you are not ready for that? Then think about how you can use this. I have no interest in turning my school into a growth mindset or grit school. What I do want to do is talk to students about these approaches and show them the research and let them engage with the ideas and accept them or reject them as they see fit because it is interesting, and it is research based. And actually I will probably discuss and show these ideas to colleagues because we all need a little bit of grit in our lives! And I feel very privileged to have heard both of these women speak - thank you @educationfest for that.
Leadership
So my final takeaway is the last thing I will write but is influenced by some of the first sessions I attended. Thursday started with Nicky Morgan and whilst I accept that people will hiss at me for saying this (haters gonna hate), I thought she gave a good speech that did not offend me. She name checked some people that if they are truly influencing her thinking can only be a good thing and although she maintained her keenness on testing, she did acknowledge the importance of developing the whole child. She also acknowledged that there has been a lot of change and that educators need time and space now to enforce those changes. So you know what? Not a lot to hate. Yet. And I was glad to have the opportunity to hear her speak.
I then attended the 'Lightbulbs' - Leadership session and as I sat in a very hot tent listening to some of the most inspirational leaders in education, I felt reassured. Because even if you hate everything about Ofsted and the government (you can if you like, I am not sure it is entirely helpful, but it is okay), they do not have to have the overwhelming impact on your school that some leaders seem to think. If your teachers are constantly scared of Oftsed, if your children know what Ofsted expect then shame on you as a school leader. The message from the panel was clear. Be brave. Do right by your children in your school. Oftsed will come and they will judge and they will leave and sometimes we won't like what they say. Do right by your teachers and your students irrespective of Ofsted. Call me an idealist if you wish, I don't care, because after three amazing days at the Inspiring Laedership conference and then Northern Rocks and then EducationFest, it just seems to me that if you do what is right for your students in your context, Ofsted will take care of itself. The panel reminded us of a number of key messages - as a leader, you are only as good as your staff and your staff can only be as good as they have the capacity to be. You have to let people focus on the main thing, the one thing that will truly make a difference. Reduce the white noise. And don't be afraid to be vulnerable. Even as a leader. You make it up as you go along, when you are right, you will be right and when you are wrong you can apologise. Be brave but be human and NEVER lose sight of the team working alongside you - create the conditions people need to be excellent, build relationships, communicate and know the conditions for growth. Believe in people, trust in people, support them and if you get it wrong say you are sorry. I left that session feeling inspired and reassured because the messages I heard in that tent are the behaviours and actions of the leadership team that surround me day-in, day-out and I realise how very lucky I am for that.
So that's EducationFest done for another year. I could have written about so much more. I could have written about sitting with colleagues discussing sessions whilst having an ice cream, I could have mentioned listening to Keith Ward talk about RE in the chapel (personal moment of indulgence). I could have talked about the exhibitions and the sponsors and the talks I wish I had seen and I certainly haven't mentioned everything I saw and heard. But there is only so much you can cram into one blogpost. I hope I can come back next year. I hope I can bring new colleagues and maybe even some students next time. And I hope the creators and organisers realise how much we appreciate the effort you put into my annual bout of therapy and inspiration - thank you @educationfest, thank you presenters and thank you to all at Wellington !!!!
I agree about the need for leadership in schools to do what is right to protect and foster good teacher, teaching and learning and let Ofsted take care of its self. The problem is one of compliance, something Sir Ken mentioned too. Compliant learners are successful in schools and many become teachers taking with them their compliant attitudes. Guess where leadership is recruited from for the most part! Want to see more of this and my "Responsibility Diagram" for leadership then visit: http://wp.me/p2LphS-kk
ReplyDeleteUntil leadership stops being so compliant and grows some backbone we will see many teachers put under irresponsible and undefendable pressures and we will not see the type of environment that supports CPDL the way we know it should be.
And so good to meet you there, Nikki!
ReplyDelete