Festival of Education - Day 1
This year’s festival felt a little different to previous years. My initial thought was that it may be due to the timetabling confusion or the absence of the education secretary but in reality I think it was more to do with the Noah-esque flood weather that ensured that wherever you went, you were soaked to the skin (even with the extremely helpful ponchos). Despite the bad weather and the absence of Nicky Morgan, the festival continued to do what it does best – providing educators with the time, space and inspiration to reflect on their current practice.
The first session I attended was delivered by Shaun Allison and Andy Tharby and it was a safe bet as it was based on their book ‘Making Every Lesson Count’ which is marvellous. I have heard both of them speak a number of times and never fail to be impressed with the way they cut through the nonsense to get to the heart of great pedagogy. Their book is one of a few that I have selected to be part of our CPD book club reading list and I was absolutely convinced that this was a great choice, I was also pleased to hear some of my other choices – Ethic of Excellence, Hidden Lives of Learners and Teach Like a Champion – get a mention.
Shaun started by reminding us that the core principle of great teaching are not new - high expectations, perfect practice, focus on presentation, response to feedback, corrections – were all used to great effect by Mr Clarke in 1985 – none of this is new. In Shaun and Andy’s school they have taken a ‘tight but loose’ approach to teaching and learning which identifies 6 key principles that form the basis of their teaching and learning policy and their CPD Programme: challenge, expectations, modelling, deliberate practice, questioning and feedback. They idea is that teachers take these ideas and do them well. What it has created is a common language for teaching and learning, a policy that works irrespective of subject specialism, an approach of ‘less is more’ and ultimately improved outcomes for students.
Andy then went on to explain the principles in greater depth and started us thinking with a quote from Muijs and Reynolds “The effect of achievement on self concept is stronger than the impact of self concept on achievement.” The idea behind this is that building self esteem does not lead to greater achievement. Greater achievement leads to improved self esteem therefore working on the core business of teaching and learning has to be the most important thing. He then went on to explain each of the areas in greater depth raising excellent points about each one. I would tell you what he said… But then you wouldn’t need to read the book. My advice? Get the book, read the book but keep your own context in mind when applying the ideas. This was a great session that really got me thinking. Next steps – get myself a ticket to their conference on 7th July!
The next session that really had an impact on me was led by Steve Munby. I think Steve is one of the best speakers around in leadership in education, he has an optimism founded on reality that is really refreshing and makes you feel like the job is doable. He spoke about leadership in a high accountability system and identified three A’s that are particularly relevant to school leaders at present – accountability, autonomy and austerity.
He talked us through five issues that occur when high accountability is mixed with autonomy (and exaggerated through periods of autonomy) and these really resonated with me.
It was refreshing to hear him say that Ofsted is a good thing – it is. Accountability is necessary but the current accountability framework has gone too far. HTs worry about how one cohort of children can make or break a career with one set of results and even good schools ask themselves what would Ofsted say? Steve reminded us that Ofsted are a regulator not a source of inspiration, their job is to comment on whether money is being spent well not to drive change. Even beyond Ofsted though, schools are surrounded by accountability measures and as Fullan points out “Extreme pressure without capacity, results in dysfunctional behaviour”. Munby talked about the importance of striking a balance between accountability and capacity building – we need accountability but we also need to build capacity if it will work. He argued that there is a real need to work on leadership development, getting great leaders into the schools that need it - collaboration must be seen as voluntary but inevitable.
He then outlined some of the headlines from the research report ‘Lessons Learned from 5 Interesting Cities in which they identified seven themes of successful schools – Effective leadership at all levels, data-driven reform, making teaching a career of choice, accountability and support, new forms of school provision, collaboration between schools and building coalitions for change. He outlined some of the key features of each if these before comparing the system leadership we have to the system leadership we need:
The conclusion of this was that neither top down approaches nor bottom up change works... Therefore we need collective autonomy - a compelling narrative rather than an instruction. He then looked at the role of peer review and the role this can have in building trust. Peer review is something that I am very keen to look at and looking forward to reading about this in greater depth.
This was a superb session and I encourage you to read/hear his ideas as he never fails to inspire.
At this point, the heavens opened and I sought refuge from the rain in the marquee where the rather outrageous yet wonderful Germaine Greer took to the stage to share her thoughts on gender equality. There were some really powerful ideas shared about the role of women and their relationships with one another – once again reminding me of how unhelpful we can be to both ourselves and each other. Next Piers Morgan and Clive Woodward took to the stage in a brilliant interview that reminded us that talent matters but only with hard work and the right attitude does a talented individual become a champion. Clive’s ideas were superb and easily applicable to both teaching and leadership. From a teaching perspective, I loved the idea of T-CUP, from a leadership perspective he reminded us to be a little more kind when we fail - we over react to failure and under react to success. When we fail, we need to chill out (I believe he mentioned the pub), as we have done our learning. The time to get the team in to pick apart our performance is when we succeed - analyse the successes. I enjoyed this a lot and bought yet another book which I am really looking forward to.
My final session of the day was with Jill Berry. Jill is an exceptional person who takes the time to read blogs and encourage many of us on twitter and I personally have really benefitted from her support. At a time when I am having a bit of a leadership wobble, her session was exactly what I needed and provided me with some much needed personal inspiration whilst also helping me to see what I need to do in my role to support others.
The session was focused on transitioning into leadership and she started as she often does reminding us that ‘we have to build the bridge as we walk on it - you learn the role as you do it, be prepared to learn from the process.’
We spent time reflecting in a series of questions:
• Who do you influence?
• Are you making the most of the role you have to build the skills you need for the next role?
• Are you satisfied? Are you making the most?
• What are the demands/challenges?
• Are you building capacity to cope? Or wanting to escape?
• Is the move a negative or positive? Are there specific opportunities/satisfactions/ rewards in the role to motivate you?
• What will you bring? To the role because if you are doing is running, this will get picked up on.
She then encouraged us to think about leadership and our own vision and values as a leader. She reminded us of the value of both positive and negative role models. It can be frustrating but also extremely powerful. This then led us to a discussion around leadership transition challenges and we generated an impressive list – some of which hit home with me:
Challenges of promotion - things that make transitions into leadership difficult
• Perception
• Relationships
• Accountability
• Support
• Trust
• Assumptions/context
• Actions/reactions/change
• Dealing with someone who got the job over you/you beat
• Expectations
I then should have moved into a group to discuss some scenarios but had to retrieve my students and take them home. I am grateful to Jill to providing such a thought provoking session which personally gave me a bit of a kickstart to address some of the niggles I am experiencing.
Then I found the students who had spent the day listening to talks by Terry Waite (who had moved them to tears), Will Young and Germain Greer, debated, climbed, scuba dived and acquired more swag than the staff. So a pretty good day all round.
Thank you Wellington for day 1, I am really looking forward to day 2!
The first session I attended was delivered by Shaun Allison and Andy Tharby and it was a safe bet as it was based on their book ‘Making Every Lesson Count’ which is marvellous. I have heard both of them speak a number of times and never fail to be impressed with the way they cut through the nonsense to get to the heart of great pedagogy. Their book is one of a few that I have selected to be part of our CPD book club reading list and I was absolutely convinced that this was a great choice, I was also pleased to hear some of my other choices – Ethic of Excellence, Hidden Lives of Learners and Teach Like a Champion – get a mention.
Shaun started by reminding us that the core principle of great teaching are not new - high expectations, perfect practice, focus on presentation, response to feedback, corrections – were all used to great effect by Mr Clarke in 1985 – none of this is new. In Shaun and Andy’s school they have taken a ‘tight but loose’ approach to teaching and learning which identifies 6 key principles that form the basis of their teaching and learning policy and their CPD Programme: challenge, expectations, modelling, deliberate practice, questioning and feedback. They idea is that teachers take these ideas and do them well. What it has created is a common language for teaching and learning, a policy that works irrespective of subject specialism, an approach of ‘less is more’ and ultimately improved outcomes for students.
Andy then went on to explain the principles in greater depth and started us thinking with a quote from Muijs and Reynolds “The effect of achievement on self concept is stronger than the impact of self concept on achievement.” The idea behind this is that building self esteem does not lead to greater achievement. Greater achievement leads to improved self esteem therefore working on the core business of teaching and learning has to be the most important thing. He then went on to explain each of the areas in greater depth raising excellent points about each one. I would tell you what he said… But then you wouldn’t need to read the book. My advice? Get the book, read the book but keep your own context in mind when applying the ideas. This was a great session that really got me thinking. Next steps – get myself a ticket to their conference on 7th July!
The next session that really had an impact on me was led by Steve Munby. I think Steve is one of the best speakers around in leadership in education, he has an optimism founded on reality that is really refreshing and makes you feel like the job is doable. He spoke about leadership in a high accountability system and identified three A’s that are particularly relevant to school leaders at present – accountability, autonomy and austerity.
He talked us through five issues that occur when high accountability is mixed with autonomy (and exaggerated through periods of autonomy) and these really resonated with me.
It was refreshing to hear him say that Ofsted is a good thing – it is. Accountability is necessary but the current accountability framework has gone too far. HTs worry about how one cohort of children can make or break a career with one set of results and even good schools ask themselves what would Ofsted say? Steve reminded us that Ofsted are a regulator not a source of inspiration, their job is to comment on whether money is being spent well not to drive change. Even beyond Ofsted though, schools are surrounded by accountability measures and as Fullan points out “Extreme pressure without capacity, results in dysfunctional behaviour”. Munby talked about the importance of striking a balance between accountability and capacity building – we need accountability but we also need to build capacity if it will work. He argued that there is a real need to work on leadership development, getting great leaders into the schools that need it - collaboration must be seen as voluntary but inevitable.
He then outlined some of the headlines from the research report ‘Lessons Learned from 5 Interesting Cities in which they identified seven themes of successful schools – Effective leadership at all levels, data-driven reform, making teaching a career of choice, accountability and support, new forms of school provision, collaboration between schools and building coalitions for change. He outlined some of the key features of each if these before comparing the system leadership we have to the system leadership we need:
The conclusion of this was that neither top down approaches nor bottom up change works... Therefore we need collective autonomy - a compelling narrative rather than an instruction. He then looked at the role of peer review and the role this can have in building trust. Peer review is something that I am very keen to look at and looking forward to reading about this in greater depth.
This was a superb session and I encourage you to read/hear his ideas as he never fails to inspire.
At this point, the heavens opened and I sought refuge from the rain in the marquee where the rather outrageous yet wonderful Germaine Greer took to the stage to share her thoughts on gender equality. There were some really powerful ideas shared about the role of women and their relationships with one another – once again reminding me of how unhelpful we can be to both ourselves and each other. Next Piers Morgan and Clive Woodward took to the stage in a brilliant interview that reminded us that talent matters but only with hard work and the right attitude does a talented individual become a champion. Clive’s ideas were superb and easily applicable to both teaching and leadership. From a teaching perspective, I loved the idea of T-CUP, from a leadership perspective he reminded us to be a little more kind when we fail - we over react to failure and under react to success. When we fail, we need to chill out (I believe he mentioned the pub), as we have done our learning. The time to get the team in to pick apart our performance is when we succeed - analyse the successes. I enjoyed this a lot and bought yet another book which I am really looking forward to.
My final session of the day was with Jill Berry. Jill is an exceptional person who takes the time to read blogs and encourage many of us on twitter and I personally have really benefitted from her support. At a time when I am having a bit of a leadership wobble, her session was exactly what I needed and provided me with some much needed personal inspiration whilst also helping me to see what I need to do in my role to support others.
The session was focused on transitioning into leadership and she started as she often does reminding us that ‘we have to build the bridge as we walk on it - you learn the role as you do it, be prepared to learn from the process.’
We spent time reflecting in a series of questions:
• Who do you influence?
• Are you making the most of the role you have to build the skills you need for the next role?
• Are you satisfied? Are you making the most?
• What are the demands/challenges?
• Are you building capacity to cope? Or wanting to escape?
• Is the move a negative or positive? Are there specific opportunities/satisfactions/ rewards in the role to motivate you?
• What will you bring? To the role because if you are doing is running, this will get picked up on.
She then encouraged us to think about leadership and our own vision and values as a leader. She reminded us of the value of both positive and negative role models. It can be frustrating but also extremely powerful. This then led us to a discussion around leadership transition challenges and we generated an impressive list – some of which hit home with me:
Challenges of promotion - things that make transitions into leadership difficult
• Perception
• Relationships
• Accountability
• Support
• Trust
• Assumptions/context
• Actions/reactions/change
• Dealing with someone who got the job over you/you beat
• Expectations
I then should have moved into a group to discuss some scenarios but had to retrieve my students and take them home. I am grateful to Jill to providing such a thought provoking session which personally gave me a bit of a kickstart to address some of the niggles I am experiencing.
Then I found the students who had spent the day listening to talks by Terry Waite (who had moved them to tears), Will Young and Germain Greer, debated, climbed, scuba dived and acquired more swag than the staff. So a pretty good day all round.
Thank you Wellington for day 1, I am really looking forward to day 2!
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