January 21, 2018

Why I’m a Chartered College mentor.

I thought I would write this post whilst the launch day of the Chartered Teacher scheme was still fresh on my mind.

For those who don’t know, the Chartered College of Teaching was launched last year – with  the aim of giving teachers support, development and a voice. This has,obviously, not been without controversy -isn’t everything controversial these days? Regardless they have started down the path to that aim. Local hubs, conferences and of course their journal ‘Impact‘ – all of which create a space for teachers to read, share and then critique for themselves peer reviewed reports and other, hopefully evidence based, practice. Of course it is early days, and one thing we can agree on is that we are still all learning about what we want from our College.

Becoming a Chartered Teacher

The Chartered Teacher qualification then is about expert teachers in the classroom. It’s about recognising continuing professional development and giving teachers the chance to take ownership of their own expertise. On their site it says that they want to raise the profile of teachers and to support them to acquire the expertise necessary to maintain excellence in teaching.

This appeals to me. Fact is we don’t, as a profession, reward those who stay in the classroom. Continuing professional development is too often about leadership. Looking for excellence in classroom practice; exploring the impact and why it works is vital work. It is already done by those schools who know, but schools are not always the best at supporting teachers. And schools, especially in rural areas, become isolated. Workload is an issue; retention is an issue; we are still being kicked around the political landscape whilst government never really address our position. It makes sense then for us to do something ourselves. Something that supports classroom teachers – gives us pride and professionalism – and supports the development of excellent practice in the classroom.

But…

Of course there will be issues. It is a pilot. At the training day in London on Saturday, 20th Jan, this was discussed. We don’t want the first cohort to feel like guinea pigs, or to feel like their year ‘doesn’t really count’ – hence the amount of work that has gone in to the preparation for what the course contains. They talk about an element of subject, or stage, specialism and assessed pieces of work; the need for training for mentors. And the training indeed, part of being a mentor has meant that we have taken part in a series of four webinars and online discussion connected to these. Webinars with excellent speakers and vital discussion around such subjects as what we can bring to already experienced colleagues, how we as mentors can continue our professional developement and how (or if?) challenge can improve teacher practice. We also had sessions at the launch discussing expectations and aims. It has all felt very rigorous, thoroughly planned and exciting.

So, why am I mentor?

I firmly believe that we have to be the change we want to see.

I’ve spent many years bemoaning the lack of professionalism afforded to us by government, despairing when senior leaders demanded seemingly repetitive and beaurocratic tasks because it was demanded of them. As a class teacher I constantly looked for ways to improve my practice; disappointed by the disjointed training or the constantly political messages from union training. As a head teacher I despair at the messages w dare given from numerous sources and the way this adds to workload – how our teachers are not trusted and how a government change-of-mind can ruin my holiday and destroy my workload.

I’ve learnt that teachers need support, that we as a profession need to provide that support and that nothing improves your own practice than working with and mentoring colleagues!

We know this might not be perfect, but then it is never perfect and if we don’t just get started with it then it will be the next generation of school teachers (and our pupils) who suffer.

Find out more. 

Posted by on January 21, 2018 in Blog and tagged , .

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January 13, 2018

Why we ALL need to improve recruitment and retention.

A new education secretary era begins – and the advent of a new education secretary alllows us to take stock of where we are and, more importantly, where we want to be.

Recruitment and retention is a huge issue right now.

One that impacts on education at all levels, and crucially, one that threatens to get worse as we won’t feel the full lack of trainees for a couple of years. Many open letters have been written, conversations had and suggestions put forward – pay raises, less holiday, workload ‘promises’.

We now need to take some of the responsibility for this crisis –  Local Authorities and MATs and the culture that we have all created – whilst the argument that it is (or was) OFSTED driven still hangs around there is much that schools can do now to help turn the tide. We need to act braver, take responsibility for our own work choices and trust each other. As professionals.

Perpetuating Our Own Myths

Ofsted released their own ‘myths‘ documents and subsequent updates a couple of years ago now. They are attempting to ensure that they are not unduly adding to workload, or to the stress on teachers. This has seen some effectiveness – leadership teams in schools seem to be taking this on – rumbles throughout the system suggest that marking expectations, for example, are being reduced. ‘Wellbeing’ – possibly a fair bit of hype with this, but at least a conversation is taking place.

Trust is the key concept here.

For schools to effectively tackle workload leaders of all types need to stop double and triple checking everything done and intervene only when there is need. Schools where planning is handed in before teaching and in some places after once it is evaluated. Schools where marking is checked weekly, where book scrutiny demand a minimum amount of writing each week, where assessment data is decimalised and expected every half term.

Don’t get me wrong – we need standards and we need to strive for our pupils but we also need realism. We need to encourage open conversation so that teachers feel they can query school systems, can make suggestions and, most importantly, ask for help. This kind of culture comes from the top. Cutting staff meetings, reducing marking expectations, demanding data less frequently are all side effects of this culture, but they don’t necessarily create it. To create this culture you need to announce it – you need to actually tell teachers they are trusted. Book scrutiny, lesson observations, pupil interviews – whatever forms part of your strategic calendar all need to take place in an open manner – with teaching staff involved, not just closed door senior teams. Teachers need to be part of the system, not just be recipients of judgments.

What can change tomorrow:

– your next ‘judgement forming’ action needs to be open and shared with staff. Why are you doing it? What do you want to see? What are the criteria.. etc. Etc.

– senior staff: try just taking the class for a lesson or series of lessons, best way to learn about standards, expectations, behaviour routines etc.

– if there is an issue, and you are looking to rapidly improve standards give staff mentors that they can talk to. Don’t just give a list of things to improve and then a ‘we’ll be back in two weeks’. Give the reasons why changes will impact standards.

– regularly review policies such as your marking and teaching and learning with teaching staff. Try to get honest impact assessments – what does it mean for pupils? What does it mean for staff time? Etc. Etc. Does consistency mean consistency or does it  mean a couple of staff members working all hours and some staf members only  doing what they know will be looked at? Be honest!

– not use performance management to set data targets for class teachers. Data is, after all, a school wide product.

– don’t demand assessment data half termly. No need at all.

Again, all of these things rely on trust – and until we as a profession can honestly, and openly, talk about colleagues with a sense of professional trust rather than bickering and distrust.

Posted by on January 13, 2018 in Blog, Curriculum, Digital Library, Teaching and Learning and tagged .

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January 1, 2018

Have you tried a MOOC?

When studying Education Technology a few years back MOOCS were just becoming commonplace – and like everything in the edu-tech space was being hailed by some as the technology that would transform education. (See various articles here).

If you haven’t heard MOOCS are Massive Online Open Courses – courses led by Universities (or similar), open to all for no cost and wholly online. There were notable courses that got the ball rolling – Medical courses from Harvard and a large scale artificial intelligence course at Stanford that attracted over 150,000 students back in 2009. Nowadays you can look at MOOCS in almost all areas of study – and for teachers it is rich pickings for CPD and subject specific courses.

The discussion rumbles on of course – we cannnot say that MOOCS have had the impact on education that we thought they might do – and there is no doubt big differences in the courses with quality, dropout rate and student satisfaction. The judgement of MOOCS also remains somewhat controversial. A course that attracts over 100,000 people from across the world will mean different things to different people and we cannot judge their success on drop out rates alone.

However there is something to be said for trying some of these courses for yourself. Take part in a short MOOC and you will be expected to take part in weekly activities (watching and commenting on a video say) – quizzes – peer feedback on comments and ‘essays’. You may be expected to watch interviews via video and then answer questions, or complete tasks using apps and upload results.

In the last few years I have taken part in three MOOCS – I studied coding for a school specific thing, a course with Newcastle Uni about Hadrian’s Wall (when I moved to it!) and more recently a brilliant one at Stansted about the Threat of Nuclear Terrorism. I heartily recommend trying them. The best MOOCS have some things in common of course –  and a good MOOC will have:

  • Weekly targets – expect some kind of interaction each week. Most MOOCS won’t be very long, and will expect a few hours of your time at least.
  • Interaction amongst those taking part and wih some of the course tutors (or facilitators) via a forum.
  • A mixture of media – interviews as well as video clips, graphics and text. Taking full advantage of the technology available.
  • Finishing certificate. I am a sucker for a ‘finish’ – and whether it is via percentage attendance, judging your writing via peer feedback or completion of quizzes the best MOOCS have worked out how to give you data driven feedback for your work.
  • They are ‘live’ – that is to say that they are not ‘at your own place’ but ongoing with deadlines.

If you’re looking for something a bit different for the new year – give one a go – I’ve already signed up for an astronomy course about habitable moons…

And, if you have tried one, let me know in the comments!

Further Reading:

What is a successful MOOC? -The Atlantic

List of MOOCS for teachers at Future Learn.

Moocs will Transform Higher Education – But Not How We Think – TImes Higher Ed

Posted by on January 1, 2018 in Blog, Digital Library, MAEducationTechnology, Teaching and Learning.

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December 18, 2017

#NorthernEd

As many of you know, I have had the pleasure of working across the country – and currently in Cumbria. Given the chance to bring together more colleagues from the North of England I jumped at it. Please take a look at the group blog below – and sign up if you are interested!

Exciting things come from colleagues supporting one another!

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Northern education is talked about frequently. Northern educators, on the other hand, are talked to rather less frequently. We are regularly told about the deficiencies of the education we offer; we are less regularly listened to about the challenges that shape the education we offer.
This is unjust.
We do not deny there are improvements to be made. We do not deny that change needs to happen. But we reasonably expect to have a voice of our own when discussing how these things might be achieved.
We are as skilled, as passionate, as well-informed as our colleagues in other areas of the country – we deserve to have our voice heard. And too often it feels as if it is not, with discussion and access always based far away from the villages, town and cities that we teach in.
This needs to change.
And so, we propose the creation of a Northern Education Forum. We’ve put together a Google Form for those who may wish to register their initial interest in being involved. The details of its remit, its membership, and its role will be fleshed out over the coming weeks.
But in the meantime, we have one simple question:
You in?

Sarah Ledger
Amy Forrester
Rebecca Stacey
Lisa Pettifer
Michael Merrick

Posted by on December 18, 2017 in Blog and tagged .

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August 22, 2017

New Teacher Advice

A few tweets doing the round for this – and a few responses (some more tongue in cheek that others…. )




Here’s mine – and forgive me, but it is Primary Teacher aimed!

  • Best way to get to know your children is by teaching them – get straight into your routines and straight into all those great lessons you are raring to try!
  • Don’t waste time with a ‘what did you do over the holidays piece’ – see ideas for writing here.
  • Get straight into routines for presentation and your classroom. If you are not sure what they should be right now ask a colleague – but introduce something. I went massively overboard on ‘rotas’ in my first year teaching – child monitors for everything!!
  • Explicitly model presentation requirements – with older children get them to model them to you.
  • Children love helping! They do! Use this by all means but don’t let it eat into learning time.
  • Make sure when you are talking, they are listening. You are the expert remember, be proud of this. No fiddling!!
  • Get a good class book on the go – it calms tempers and can bring the class back to focus.
  • Listen to them read – no matter how old they are – even in Y6 I had a class list up and aimed to listen to all the children at least twice a week… it forms relationships and really helps with vocab.

Getting to know your school:

  • Have a chat with your head of year or deputy about what is expected in lessons and ask to see some of their sessions.
  • Use your PPA and NQT time wisely – think about what you are not so confident about teaching and brush up on that. Whether it is observing others or reading.
  • Sit in some of the sessions you are allowed to leave – I mean music classes, PE PPA cover, assemblies whatever – watching other adults with your class is a valuable lesson.
  • The SENCO is another good person to spend some time with. Look at how t paperwork is filled in and get to know any targets for your children.
  • Talk to staff! I mean all the staff. Not only about your children (some will behave very differently during lunchtime!) – but also the office staff (do you know what to do if you run out of something?), the cleaner (do they want you to put chairs on table at the end of the day?).  Take a bit of time to find out!

Above all try and enjoy yourself – every school is different but there will always be someone who can help, and if not join in on twitter. No problem is too small. Promise.

 

Posted by on August 22, 2017 in Blog, Teaching and Learning and tagged .

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August 22, 2017

Digital 5 a Day!

This is a response to a post by Cliff Manning (@cliffmanning) regarding the Children’s Commissioner’s recent Digital 5 A Day campaign.

This campaign, in their own words aims to:

The Digital 5 A Day provides a simple framework that reflects the concerns of parents/ carers as well as children’s behaviours and needs. It can also act as a base for family agreements about internet and digital device use throughout both the holidays and term time.

Based on the NHS’s evidence-based ‘Five steps to better mental wellbeing’, the 5 A Day campaign gives children and parents easy to follow, practical steps to achieve a healthy and balanced digital diet.

And it makes complete sense – there is a need to give parents, and children, a different dialogue about being online that is not all about esafety and ‘nots’. There are lots of great resources out there for Parents who are worried (I wrote about them here) – but my experience, as a teacher, is that this focus can make pupils fearful about speaking out and, at the same time, Parents don’t ask for help if they need it as they feel they will be labelled. To have a campaign which focuses on the good technology can bring – and then uses that to bring families together can only be a good thing. Articles like this represent how it has been received. However, as is pointed out by by @cliffmanning:

The press headlines inevitably focused on ‘regulating screen time’ and rules — however the intention was to help young people develop a balanced, creative, empowered relationship with digital and devices.

What then, would support the young people develop this relationship?

I’m torn between the #digital5aday being too prescriptive and then not prescriptive enough.  The five elements are useful to guide thinking and will, with some, promote conversation amongst families. Themes that many schools will recognise and in fact teacher’s will talk about technology in such ways.  However, as I outline at the end of this piece, I do think that there other problems with a campaign like this.

Connect

Here parents are prompted to see the value in connecting with people. Parents are reminded to ‘keep a dialogue open’ (nothing new there then!).

With the support of parents children could be prompted to check in with a family member they don’t see very often? To message a friend and make them smile? For older children – can they support an older family member online? Can they look up their favourite author? Or TV personality – write them a short note? Author’s website can be a great source of activities such as writing competitions, or book-linked ideas.

Be Active

This prompt feels like it has been included just to make sure ‘screen time’ isn’t the only focus. But, let’s face it, using the internet as directory enquiries really isn’t that inspiring – these days it is the default. Asking them to research a place or local activity without using the internet would be a bigger challenge!

But – older children can challenge themselves to do something new – and then share it. Join a local group for their chosen activity? Find  a video of an inspirational achievement in their chosen sport? Can they learn something to help them improve their favourite acitivity?

Get Creative

This one is easy – and where children excel online. The danger is in mentioning specific games (which dates your publication immediately) – and you tube tutorials which parents of younger children may not let them access. Writing fan fiction is a great idea – especially as that can link to film and TV – not just games. But also signposting some game creation tools they can use something like Scratch -which would be a great joint venture with parents. Trying the Hour of Code – or asking children to contribute to a  blog post or to a writing competition. Sharing any creations would be ideal – designs using something like TinkerCad for example.

Give to Others

This is a really lovely inclusion which again many schools will recognise. Researching and linking to chosen charities would be nice here -and in the link to activity why not challenge yourself to do something to raise money for charity and set up (with parental help) – your fundraising page complete with charting your success via a blog?

Be Mindful

Another inclusion that feels little connection to the Digital 5 a Day. Good advice, of course, to switch off. Being mindful however is also about taking your time to really ‘be somewhere’ – and to give yourself completely to the activity you are doing. Whatever that may be.

The right campaign? 

I think one of the issues with a campaign like this is that it tries to be too many things at once. I know what they are trying to achieve – but I think we need to pick our audience more carefully. Children / teenagers may find this advice patronising, and many will just be unaware of it completely. It is important to note that children and teenagers who are tech savvy enough to be aware and involved with these activites don’t need ‘digital’ 5 a day – the digital is superfluous and unnecessary. It would be better to just appeal to the ‘5 holiday habits’ or some such. Parents may welcome these kind of prompts – but I suspect that the parents who are aware of this, and reading it, will already be aware of the many uses of the digital world. The digital divide is very real for families and if you want to get to those children who are just left unsupervised with a tablet and TV for hours on end I don’t think this will do it.

A Platform

Finally with a campaign like this why not go the whole hog and develop a kind of ‘challenge’ – digital badges such as the like seen at Makewav.es. Being totally serious about it, they could develop a sharing platform? Using existing social media to put everything in once place for parents to see. Using existing networks already like faceboook for local sports groups would also help young people see what is out there.

Posted by on August 22, 2017 in Blog, social media, Supporting Parents and tagged , .

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