nikki able

2015 was a year – not a good year, not a bad year just a year.  Lots of change, lots of life stuff that probably doesn’t need to be shared in a blog and a general feeling that I won’t be sad to see the end of this particular year.  Before pondering the year to come, it is worth reflecting on the goals I set for myself for the year just gone.  The first task I set for myself was to remember the importance of the act of teaching and the impact it can have, to remain committed to the provision of an education that meets the need of every child.  In some ways I have struggled with this one as I didn’t start properly teaching until September.  I don’t think I have forgotten what is important to me but I do think I have had fewer opportunities to put it into practice.  I wanted to say yes to new experiences and this one I really didn’t.  I retreated back into my shell a bit and whilst I think I have learned a lot in my new job, other than that, this one...

I read an excellent and insightful blogpost from Chris Chivers (@chrischivers2) today. In this post, he posed and answered four questions: • What got you into teaching? • If you are/have been a headteacher; what was your motivation? • What would you do to improve the current system?
 • What keeps you in teaching? I enjoyed his post so much, I thought I would try to answer the questions myself because this time of year seems right for reflection. What got me into teaching? My answer to this question is awful but a lack of something else to do. I was on the verge on finishing university, couldn't afford to stay on for further study and didn’t have any burning career ambitions. I had spent a lot of my uni days working on play schemes and enjoyed it so thought I would try teaching. I had flirted with the idea of primary school teaching whilst doing my A levels but a degree in Psychology and Philosophy seemed better suited to secondary. So I applied to do my PGCE, was prett...

When I tell people that I will be spending my Saturday at ‘yet another education conference’, I tend to get one of two responses.  Either people tell me they are jealous and would love to hear about it on my return or I get mocked.  So every now and then I wonder why I do it.  Why give up precious time, my time, to go and think about school?  And then I go to #rED15 and I feel inspired by the speakers.  And my brain starts imagining all of the great things we can do.  And I meet people who think the things that I think.  And I learn so much, and meet so many incredible educators that it is all worth it.  And then I start looking for the next one. But before I start looking for the next one, a moment please just to reflect on this one.  Because #rED15 might be the best Research Ed event I have attended yet.  I do not know how Helene and Tom do it but every time they exceed my expectations.  As always, the worst thing about the c...

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 eit...

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 a...

I have spent the last term working on a CPD structure that aims to deliver 3 things to the staff in my school. I want it to enable staff to continuously develop and improve their own practice. I want it to enable staff to be developed so that they are ready to take on leadership opportunities. Finally I want it to allow staff with an interest in academic study and research based practice to have the opportunity to explore this. More than this though I want staff to feel like they own the structure and within in, find ways in which they can be invested in, feel developed and feel valued. The first part of the creation of this system was interviewing all the teachers in my school about their thoughts on professional development. It was an interesting and, in some cases, an enlightening opportunity. One of things that is found most disappointing was the number of teachers who are full time teachers in the classroom but felt like they should apologise for this, that their desire to teach...

For the last 5 years or so the main focus of my work has been the professional development of teachers.  Until 5 months ago, I was living the in the West Midlands and I was overwhelmed by the numbers of quality CPD available within a short drive.  TLT (Southampton is closer than you might think), NRocks, a variety of ResearchEd events, TeachMeets, etc.   A number of the staff at my school began enaging in these events and most would argue that this style of CPD by teachers for teachers is the best type they had. But I don't live in the West Midlands anymore, I live in Devon.  And despite the clear evidence of excellent practice that goes on I can't find a forum that gives teachers the chance to showcase their practice and network and connect in the way that the events named above do.  I want there to be high quality CPD events with access to inspirational thinkers, teachers and leaders available to my staff and the staff of every school in the South West and a...