Just a little thought... About collective capacity, harmony and the College of Teaching.

I have spent the last four days at two very different educational events. The first was the Inspiring Leadership Conference in Birmingham, the second Northern Rocks in Leeds. The two events were entirely different but completely brilliant and all credit needs to go to the organisers. I will blog in more detail about what I took from the events but the combined impact of them was a nagging thought.
On Thursday, I heard Steve Munby speak on the subject of invitational leadership and it was nothing short of inspiring. He talked about inviting and embracing challenge, accepting robust and transparent reporting on schools and their performance (among many other brilliant things). I also heard Brian Lightman speak and he presented us with a list on Conservative manifesto pledges which we have been told will happen. Like it or don't like it, he said, but be glad for the certainty because when you have certainty you have action. Schools and school leaders know the challenges facing them and need to embrace them and work together. There was no whining or complaining, just a desire to do the best by the children in our schools. And it was refreshing. On Wednesday I heard Pak Tee Ng talk about the system in Singapore being one of decentralised centralisation. There is a shared agreement between schools and policy makers as to what the priorities are but that schools use their autonomy to act on those shared priorities.
On Saturday I heard from a number of educational thinkers and leaders and Union Reps who were driven and passionate about teaching. They had superb ideas that spoke to my heart about what best practice for children might look like.  But there was a sense that they felt they were having to do this despite the government. And although Sean Harford was there representing Ofsted, there was a slight sense of them and us, where them is ofsted and the government and us is probably classroom teachers (I am not sure where people would place school leaders in this debate).
As a result of both days, it struck me that there is a real gap between government policy and people at the chalk face and people seem to have just accepted that, that these two groups of people will fight in opposition. But it isn't healthy, it is divisive and not in the best interests of education.  Politicians are not educationalists but if we want them to be more relevant we have to open the dialogue and the discussion and be willing to show the best of ourselves and our thoughts. I wonder if the proposed College of Teaching might be exactly what is needed here. To unite the profession and connect wide ranging best practice regardless of your access to social media. To provide a positive voice for teachers and engage in positive discussion with the government.  To have a role in ensuring Ofsted is the robust and transparent monitoring body that actually we probably do need. To ensure that all teachers and leaders have access to high quality CPD, from their first day as a teacher to their last. I feel as though the College of Teaching might be the most exciting and game changing 'thing' to have come about in a long time.  I worry though that we will miss this chance, that our cynicism would fail to unite us as profession and we will miss this opportunity.  At Northern Rocks, there was a sense of enthusiasm and hope, of shared goals and professional respect. It was informative and it was enjoyable. You felt as though being a teacher was enough to mean that you belonged to something pretty special. That's how every teacher should feel. And that's what, if done right, I think the College of Teaching could do.