Being Leader – my 2013/14 year reflection

“Do you know what leadership means Lord Snow? It means that the person in charge gets second guested by every clever little twat with a mouth. But if he starts second guessing himself that’s the end, for him, for the clever little twats, for everyone.” Allister Thorne (Game of Thrones)

Terms out. That mad head rush of inexplicable crazy is history. Do I remember it? A little… The special moments. The sad goodbyes and kind words. But the vast majority of year end is a waste of energy and space. It is created by us to sap and strain. It’s as though we feel so guilty because of the summer holiday that we have to cram a heart attack inducing final two weeks in to feel that we have earned the break. It is even worse when you are leaving your school. You throw strange emotions into the mix. This last week I have been in rehab (drink! swimming, reading… drink!). Tearing myself away so brutally was the hardest thing. Though I am convinced it was the best way to do it.

Now that I am going to a new school I have been thinking about all the things I have done that frustrate and annoy and wondering how I will do things differently in the future. So here are three reflections on my leadership style and what I feel about them now I am going into a new job.

Being TOO understanding.

I think it is called integrity. I really do try to do my best for everyone. This means that some people get an inordinate amount of my time, energy and goodwill. Is this fair? I keep thinking that in my new school I will be colder and harder. But will I? I am what I am. I can be as hard and ruthless as anyone, but I have always tried to find a way to meet everyone’s needs in a solution. Is this good headteacher practice? I read a guardian article today in which the Principle of a failing academy got rid of the councilor because the children needed A’s and A*s rather than a cuddle. On reflection being nice is tough. I am still principled and I still have to hold my ground and be strong – usually against those that do not understand what I am doing and why. Where this approach is weak is when certain people just milk your human kindness and never really pay it back by doing their job as well as they could. Though they will often be the first to say they are over worked and under paid. The issue is we work with lots of people and the efforts they put into the job (their motivators and drivers) are different and therefore we get such a range of outcomes from people we work with. I think I will continue to be understanding but I will be lowering my threshold tolerance for people who do not give back what they have received. 

Getting your priorities right

School leadership is never dull. Since the end of term I have had a break in and social services issue to deal with in the school I am leaving (even though the corridors and rooms are like a ghost town). Keeping focused on the main priorities is a tough task. Especially when so many factors distract and demand your time. New school – new Rules! I will be keeping some simple – very basic – priorities in check. They are:

Learning… I keep teaching out for a reason (I will have a team of skilled people who can go in and impact here based on the learning findings – though in truth learning is teaching). Learning is a data driven, scrutiny backed, process for me. I will be in and out of classes, talking, looking, discussing, arguing and searching for evidence that learning is fluid. I will then be doing it for each and every one of the children in the school. I will analysis that data to within an inch of it’s number life (I will look forward to the late nights). I will then be testing that my teachers and senior leaders know the who, what, why and when.

Behaviour… Making sure that expectations are clear and secure for everyone. Especially the adults. I find, more and more, that children’s behaviour is easy to deal with (Unless the system has broken down or there has been a long period of gradual breakdown and inattention – in which case it is still the adults fault that discipline is broken and quite often their behaviour is on par with the unruly children). It is adults that need reminders about their conduct and expectations. How clear is this in the school? It will be a focus for me. Even if all seems well and wonderful. We, the adults, model the behaviour we expect from every one. No compromise.

Systems... We have so many in schools. My focus will be working out which ones count and are they followed? Starting with the policies (summer reading) and then on to the day to day routines. There is nothing I hate more than doing things that have no real purpose or, even worse, no real impact.

Looking after me

I tried rewording this altruistic heading but felt that I should write it as I mean it. The longer I have been doing headship, the things I have seen, had said to me (done to me even) and the toll that this takes means that I need a certain selfishness about my approach to the role. I am not a sponge but nether am I a stone. I am flesh and blood and have to accept that each battle, each challenging moment, every tragedy or success shape and form me into what I have become or will become. This does not mean I will be leaving at 4 PM every Tuesday. I will work the hours needed. What it does mean is I will be finding time to swim. I will find a mentor – someone I can talk to who is ruthless in their appraisal (someone who will not pander to my insecurities).  I will also look for my new colleagues, new partnerships to build upon in Somerset (where I am going) but at the same time I will continue to build upon my existing ones.

Quite often when I have moved on I have seen it as an end to a chapter in the book of my life and the new start the beginning chapter (Corny I know). This is very true to how I feel as I write this. I have a new job (a big challenge), a new house (hopefully) and my family are all going through this BIG move as well. I loved my old school and my old life. I have deep fears for this new start… but I will not be second guessing what will be because I do not know. What is certain though is I have a feeling I’ll have some blogs to write about over the next 12 months… Let’s hope so.

Bad Teacher! My Gove Divorce.

I think I ate some bad cheese the other night. I had a nightmare. Dreaming about being married to Micheal Gove is not for the faint of heart. What made my twisted mind put me through this? I am stressed! So I thought I’d publicly divorce him, to help me recover from the ordeal, through writing my Dear John letter..

My Love,

I am a bad teacher Micheal. I want out of this marriage! That is why I am leaving you. Like the other 380,000 of us who you said were bad because we disagree with you and no longer support you.

Firstly, you repulsed me before we got physical (not the best starts to a relationship… But I have known worse!). I tried to love you but something about your smile just told me – we were not meant to be… I wanted to love you. Honestly. To hold your ideals close to mine and stare into your idealistic blue eyes and say, “Yes! Yes, we can make this work!” 

When you first appeared. I clapped you on to the stage, even when stared down by colleagues. Not because I was a Tory. I was never going down that shady alley with you. I willed you on because your success meant something. So much rested on you being the right voice. You impressed me with your political verve. I was a fool. A young inexperienced fool. You see… Our educational dream has turned to dirty brown muck. I blame you of course. My lawyers agree. My best friend called you the enemy (among many other things). Though I do not adhere to such bass language and I am not too sure what this really means. But I do not hate you Michael. I know you truly believe you are doing the right thing. I support this. But ask yourself, how do you improve something when it’s very soul (it utter core) despises you such? By continuing to dismiss and discount? As though you top trump because you are truly important. YOU are Secretary of State for education, god damn it! How often I have seen you try to win an argument that way.

I think our relationship broke down because you never quite managed to fulfill your promise. You flirted too much Michael… It was as though you wanted to be somewhere else? I had much riding on you making education fresh and relevant… But all you did was turn us into robots. Slaves, waiting to hear how good we might be. My skills are dead. Being good at what I do has been narrowed down to being good at what you want me, need me, to do. That’s not how a happy relationship flourishes? I am but a number… And that number fluctuates according to simple mathematics. Where’s the love? Where’s the pride in what I do for the greater good of our time spend together? I just need to accept I am a slave and play the numbers game. My years of work is now condensed down into simple formula. Did I make the thresholds? Am I good enough for your love? If I pass… I am relived. I feel on top of the world, for an hour or two, and then I think about next year. How can I secure this relationship by making sure that future expectations are met? I ignore our family to feed your needs. This is not love Micheal. This is primeval needs. The needs of the desperate. I have bought into your game. I am now a victim of oppression. Worse still I take my fears out on our family. I allow this dysfunctional relationship to exist. How many do I ignore to feed this obsession?

Maybe I should take your hand firmly in mine. Look into your eyes and say, “Trust me. This is wrong. I can make us all as loved as you so clearly want (deep down). Ok, the sex has gone but you are a good man. You want what I want. We just see this educational love thing differently. That’s ok? Isn’t it?”

As they say in the literary world… It’s a Migration of Meaning. That’s what it is!

I did not strike. In fact I did not support the strike. Apathy? No idea. But, I want nothing to do with the center of education any more. Probably made that clear in many a blog. I am going out and starting on my own. Minus any romantic notions of educational utopia. I don’t need you Michael! I don’t need to come home at night and have you make me feel like a lump of shit. I am a good man! I am a good head. I tried so hard for you when it was never you I needed to serve. But now I am on my own, making waves in my world. It will be tough. It will be lonely at times but it will be on my terms. I dream of a day where I look back and think about what I mean rather than how well I did meeting your ever more mysterious thresholds. I know you want the best. I just feel like you whore me out and I just play the game. Rather well I may add. But it is no longer enough. Goodbye Michael. I hope when we next meet you look across the room and feel the pangs of regret wash over you as the realization hits home. Moral purpose was never about numbers. It was about actions, compassion, hope and desire. Yours were too well formed before you started. You were never going to change. From where I come from nothing is as writ in stone as your political friends would lead you to believe. You live in a world of rotten lies and for that I grieve for you.  From where I come, your heart is a better policy than your politics. I hope your next love makes you happier than I could.

Bad Teacher.

 

Riding Trojan Horses

“Trojans, don’t trust this horse.” Aeneid, Book II

I fell out with @theprimaryhead recently. It was over partnerships… This blog is not about partnerships, though much of @theprimaryheads ire is reflected here. I have recently been appointed the head teacher of an academy… This blog is not about academies. This blog is about politics- the politics that are responsible for both of the above and right now a sense that education is a battleground in which the most brutal and bloody stratagems are being played out in the dazzling frenzy of the media.

Let me start with ‘Britain First’. You may have seen their deeply disagreeable photographs shared by a school friend you regrettably befriended on Facebook. ‘Britain First’, according to its site, is a patriotic political party and street defence organisation and they exist because UKIP have not only fuelled right wing hysteria – they have gentrified aspects of it. So, if you see a picture of a D-Day veteran on a beach with a flag in a moment of reflective emotion – you can like (even though two pictures down it says, ‘Share if you are a warrior of Christ’). I have an education point in all this. I feel some of this current mania within the media is starting to show in more mainstream politics. I feel the recent ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal is a classic example. Suddenly Mr Gove is talking about the systematic failure of the DFE, Ofsted and the LEA. I think this is the very LEA that his politics has stripped down to a mere powerless acronym.  It avoids the primary issue – LEA’s have no capacity to inspect what is going on in their schools. I can count the number of SIO’s in Bristol on one hand – and they don’t call me two fingered Joe because I am a cantankerous old man! Excuse culture at its very best. It is not just aspects of extremism that could (the evidence so far has been pretty flimsy) go unmonitored in schools, it is dodgy accountancy, bullying and narrow curriculums. They are happening and the evidence is almost overwhelming. Read the blogs, read the secret teachers, read the papers, look at the pay structure of head teachers and look at the weekly letters to Mr Gove from teachers and other influential people in education or arts.

Subterfuge is an art and in the current climate of mistrust of politics and politicians I see this as yet another example. UKIP are the flavour of the month. Give them what they want Mr Gove. Give them ‘British Values’, I am not looking forward to the ‘Britain First’ take on this. Thugs outside shopping centres under the flag of some cod political party spouting what it is to be ‘British’. Has it really come to this? I just wish Michael Gove could step back for a second and look over his Empire and have an epiphany (Not in the religious sense though!).

The fragmentations of Local Authorities have been badly executed.

Criticism of Ofsted has been bungled and in fighting has only caused further resentment.

Standards obsession on the new curriculum has effectively culled the eminence and impact of foundation subjects (It’s only a matter of time before some schools just do SPaG and Maths).

As much as the Trojan Horse scandal is a story – I don’t think it should be at the root of our fears (As certain parties and media moguls may want it to be). Is the evidence (when we see it) going to be any more worrying than other things that are happening in schools up and down the country since Mr Gove has taken office? I think the Trojan horse is chicanery which distracts us from the real deception here. Somehow we have allowed the piece by piece dismantlement of school accountability systems by a man who clearly seems to want his empire to account to him. We used to have to meet with our SIO three times a year. We had a relationship with them – even though we didn’t like them. That has gone. I could have an illegal gambling den set up in my office… If I’m careful I can keep it going until Ofsted arrives in about four years’ time.

The Trojan Horse is Mr Gove. He came bearing great gifts but they are turning out to be impossible to control. Truth is an interesting word. Who’s truth and what truth? The more I read about this story the more I feel that the truth is being buried beneath the wheels of a lumbering colossus.

‘Dead Pigs’ – Educating England

“You know nothing Jon Snow” Ygritte

SATs are a game. If you think any different you may be delusional (or a politician – don’t panic there are tablets!) and you may have bought in to the single greatest lie about a ‘good’ school out there.  Why is it we feel that the greatest way in which we can judge schools worth is through this testing system? Are we that lacking in knowledge and understanding of learning that the test is the only way we can investigate the effectiveness of our system? Ofsted do it, though I wish they were braver and had more time; Government’s do it! Even Finland does it. We compare the effectiveness of education globally on moments of knowledge transfer within a set time… that’s it? So, technically evolution will have perfected the human race when our minds become INTEL tm processors (cue the music). I am not saying this is all bad (Well the INTEL tm (*music*) bit is a bit creepy). I think it has a real place in education… but I also think it has made many people (mainly head teachers) very scared and conservative regarding our approaches to educating children. It has constrained us and instilled fear.

We are terrified of failure, wrapped up in our fragile paper armour desperately hoping all goes well (X turns up, Y doesn’t panic, Z remembers what they forgot last week, teacher A knows what they are doing etc). We are holding on for dear life as our finger tips bleed from holding ourselves above the threshold. Furtive eyes looking left and right as a bead of sweat trickles down our noses… OK, a little melodramatic. But I believe educational success in primary is weighted heavily upon SATs and getting children of this age through the test is something that a decent manager, with decent teachers can do time and time again… But it does come at a cost.

How does it go? “You spend so long weighing the pig, you forget to feed it.”

I sometimes ask myself, “What does it take to be brave in education?” To set your own path based on your knowledge and experience multiplied into your morals and belief? How many can do this today and trust themselves to see it through? Or, more likely, how many have tried this and fallen foul, impaled upon their own sword?

Is it a test or is it life we prepare children for?

I have always loved the Barometer tale (by Alexander Calandra – an article from Current Science, Teacher’s Edition, 1964), ever since I was told it in 1991 whilst training to be a teacher. It’s likely one of those Urban Myths but is about a student who failed a test and had to go to a hearing about it:

…the examination question, which was, “Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer.”

The student’s answer was, “Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower the barometer to the street, and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is the height of the building.”

Now, this is a very interesting answer, but should the student get credit for it? I pointed out that the student really had a strong case for full credit, since he had answered the question completely and correctly. On the other hand, if full credit were given, it could well contribute to a high grade for the student in his physics course. A high grade is supposed to certify that the student knows some physics, but the answer to the question did not confirm this. With this in mind, I suggested that the student have another try at answering the question. I was not surprised that my colleague agreed to this, but I was surprised that the student did

Acting in terms of the agreement, I gave the student six minutes to answer the question, with the warning that the answer should show some knowledge of physics. At the end of five minutes, he had not written anything. I asked if he wished to give up, since I had another class to take care of, but he said no, he was not giving up. He had many answers to this problem; he was just thinking of the best one. I excused myself for interrupting him, and asked him to please go on. In the next minute, he dashed off his answer, which was:

“Take the barometer to the top of the building and lean over the edge of the roof. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, using the formula S= 1/2 at^2, calculate the height of the building.”

At this point, I asked my colleague if he would give up. He conceded and I gave the student almost full credit. In leaving my colleague’s office, I recalled that the student had said he had other answers to the problem, so I asked him what they were.

“Oh, yes,” said the student. “There are many ways of getting the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer. For example, you could take the barometer out on a sunny day and measure the height of the barometer, the length of its shadow, and the length of the shadow of the building, and by the use of simple proportion, determine the height of the building.”

“Fine,” I said. “And the others?”

“Yes,” said the student. “There is a very basic measurement method that you will like. In this method, you take the barometer and begin to walk up the stairs. As you climb the stairs, you mark off the length of the barometer along the wall. You then count the number of marks, and this will give you the height of the building in barometer units. A very direct method.

“Of course, if you want a more sophisticated method, you can tie the barometer to the end of a string, swing it as a pendulum, and determine the value of ‘g’ at the street level and at the top of the building. From the difference between the two values of ‘g’, the height of the building can, in principle, be calculated.”

Finally, he concluded, “If you don’t limit me to physics solutions to this problem, there are many other answers, such as taking the barometer to the basement and knocking on the superintendent’s door. When the superintendent answers, you speak to him as follows: ‘Dear Mr. Superintendent, here I have a very fine barometer. If you will tell me the height of this building, I will give you this barometer.'”

At this point, I asked the student if he really didn’t know the answer to the problem. He admitted that he did, but that he was so fed up with college instructors trying to teach him how to think and to use critical thinking, instead of showing him the structure of the subject matter, that he decided to take off on what he regarded mostly as a sham.

Now, how do we manage to get pupils like this leaving our schools? Able to use their knowledge but not be restrained in their approaches to solving problems?

Pupils who could get creative on Q24 in this year’s SATs Reading test:

24. Where would you expect to find the text Weird but wonderful… The Octopus?

Tick one

On the front page of a newspaper

In an advertising leaflet for an aquarium

In a report on a scientific investigation

In a magazine about the natural world

At my most creative I could have given a reason for three of these. I worry that the way we test the knowledge in these tests is restrictive. I would rather have a spelling, grammar, written maths and mental maths tests with expectations for children leaving Primary… Test knowledge that is important and non-negotiable… But when it opens up a little I want a little danger and creativity – I want the see where the knowledge can take us… With an attitude like this I’d lose my job in 99% of England’s schools…

I have seen so many head’s roll over poor SATs results over the years. Men and women who seemed to fail to understand that they needed to ensure that children could navigate the tests. They stick to their guns, their principles – that education is more than a test – and they shoot themselves. Some of them probably have the answer to producing a school full of children who could approach the Barometer problem with knowledge and creativity that creates new ideas and knowledge. Whereas, us SATs-game-playing-robots? Well, we still have our jobs…

The Primary Bear’s Week: SATs

“I just want a quiet life.”

This life on the road is killing me. I am fed up with being dragged from one competitive family to the next. I have no friends and no life! This week I was stuck with the Boris family.

Mr Boris is the head of EPIC Primary Free School and they had SATs? Some sort of test thing… Mr Boris was not happy.

Monday:

Crawford vomited over Tabitha’s test paper.

There was not a bloody single question on creationism?

Tuesday:

The adjudicators arrived at EPIC.

It seems bribery is no longer an accepted form of ‘meeting the grade’

Mr Boris was incredulous about the ‘bag’ problem?

“You have these grey bags and you put the tests in them in order and seal them… but there are these other bags that you have to put the tests in before they go in the grey bag? Then there’s this code you have to get right for the register and then put the right register with the right bag and the right labels on the right bags and seal them, lock them away and hide the key and only tell your priest during confession where it is in case you die. You can’t put the grey bag tests in the green bag – that’s bad.  Then you have to put labels on this form for the post. Finally you are left with labels that seem to go nowhere…”

Mr Boris got confused and sealed the level 6 papers in the grey bag! He then had to contact some secret phone line and go onto a website where they checked his legitimacy for UK residence, any past affiliation with the Democratic Party and his IQ. He says he failed two but they refused to tell him which?

“When Lord Clegg gave me this job I had no idea I’d be expected to adhere to rules! I took a pay cut for this! 140K is hardly worth getting in at 9AM for!”

Wednesday:

Hugo’s parents took him to the Maldives’ unexpectedly.

Mr Boris just kept repeating, “5%” like some crazed monkey. His wife was very understanding telling him floor targets don’t apply to the ‘Old Etonian’ network.

Thursday:

It would seem the parents of EPIC had not been doing enough to prepare their children for the tests.

“They have let us all down! You’d think it was their school?” Said Boris, as he cried into his Sushi. “This running a school lark is no fun. I’m going back to investment banking.”

In all it was a good week for me. I just sat in the window, gathering dust, watching other peoples misery rather than dwelling on my own. Of course the diary entry that went back to Gilmore Academy on Friday was all ‘singing and dancing’ and about as legitimate as EPIC’s administration of the tests.

I wonder which little darling will be taking me home next? I do hope it’s that young Clegg child. I hear they have extravagant and interesting dinner time conversations.

Never Leave Home Without Your Dicta-phone…

I Am Number One – The Rise and Rise of Celebrity Culture in Education

The King is dead… Long live the King!

Understand this from the off.  I am only writing this blog because I am a deeply jealous and shallow human soul… So watch me contradict myself.

I am getting pretty sick and fed up with the rise and rise of the ‘celebrity’ teacher and head teacher. I have become pretty ‘Boys from the Blackstuff’ about it… I really do think, “I can do that”. But can I? What has suddenly happened in education and why is it a little bit ‘sexy’ all of a sudden to teach on TV or in the media? Leaving me badly dressed and in the corner whilst the younger, funkier and braver all do their stuff out on the floor.

I blame twitter. I would be a liar if I said I didn’t check my followers each day or how many blog hits my mum has added… How sad am I? On one level I am in direct competition with @theprimaryhead (I need followers and I will pay…). I can not live comfortably knowing he is looking down at me from lofty heights – this is born from educational debate though. It is practice competition and to a degree healthy. But is all of this linking, publicity and propaganda positive for education? Here are a few observations…

I was following the Mr Drew twitter feed the other night and after every other, “Those kids parents should be slapped/ imprisoned/ punched” tweet there was a “Mr Drew is amazing/ so patient/ super calm/ incredible” one. I have known quite a few Mr Drew’s in my time. Amazing people who have a certain way of making you happy you are part of their world. I see nothing different in terms of his ability to inspire/ teach than many colleagues I have worked alongside but there is a significant difference… He is one of a few pioneers. Dangerous because he is putting his values, beliefs and habits as an educationist into the very public eye (As did the Educating X series). I think about the times I have felt I wanted to do something like this but pulled back because I did not have the courage to follow it through… The difference is ‘he has’. He has gone beyond his authority as an educationist. He has also done this very publicly. By going beyond his authority I mean he has put his credibility and position on the line in order to tackle the problems at hand… how many others would? In fact look at Twitter and how many of us have pseudo names? Usually we do the opposite we hire people to provide protection or we create systems to ensure security and stability within our role… Solutions with a minimum of disruption.  When Mark Grist (@montygristo) tweeted his new poem ‘Why I Am Angry?’ on the back of his appearance on Mr Drews Boys  he was clearly saying something different. It was refreshing and having listened to it again I know why he has my attention (Not just his love of brilliant board games)… I feel bad that I use celebrity because it is suddenly crass… This is educations alternative scene bought to you by talented and skilled people who share something in common with many of us. They are passionate about young people getting the chances they deserve rather than making excuses for not doing it. They are suddenly representing my world via the media and people are talking.  They are celebrity because they are ‘doing’ it and showing it rather than just writing or talking about it from the shadows.

At this stage I could talk about my week and if I had a camera and editing team I am sure there’s a TV program in it. That shot of me inspiring minds in assembly (Oh those inspired Reception children!); defusing violence; sorting complex situations; watching another person being invited to have my job; calming senior leaders; getting angry about social care, talking to the local shopkeeper about Y6 shoplifters, being grilled for this or that etc etc etc… It’ll need Nick Bloomfield to direct and edit it to add some excitement but I know that I could look pretty good on TV just on one weeks material… But I am not Stephen Drew or any of these others who have made themselves niches recently because I still let the myth of fear drive my decisions around what I say and do… I am still guarded even though I say things that some would not.

I still have:

The fear of being left behind;

The fear of watching others win;

The fear of presiding over monumental failure;

Therefore, why put yourself out there? But this is where TV seems to make a difference… I think I can predict the rest of Mr Drews’ Boys because I know ‘documentary’ a little. Somehow, I feel that the script will show how the beautiful happens alongside the tragic. We will see blood, tears and sweat but ultimately we will grow to love the complexity of each character, willing them on and relishing the successes of those that were so scorned to begin with… Does this have anything to do with our daily jobs or is this TV and celebrity culture controlling education?

I don’t really know… It’s complex as I said. What I do know is I am happy it is happening and I like ALL the comments made about it – even the damn right offensive ones – because they allow education to be debated around the sofa in a slightly different way than in the pub or the coffee shop. It shows the challenges in all their raw and uncomfortable reality rather than in misty, “I can do that” fantasy…

So, I am looking forwards to this years Grazia of education and the Bafta’s for teaching. I like coming home at night and watching others prove to the world that it’s not a simple job, “Open your text books at page 134. You have one hour.” And for that I am grateful. But I know that their stories on screen are replicated up and down the country every day. I hope others see that as well? But in the meantime, follow me so I get MORE followers than @theprimaryhead.

 

Seek Truth – Honesty in Education

My current school’s badge says ‘Seek Truth’ underneath what looks like a cannabis leaf. It used to make me laugh thinking back to the 1970’s and the ‘Truth Police’ skulking the corridors in search for the ultimate holy grail of educational knowledge. Recently, as I have read blog after blog about the purpose of education, I have been thinking about the lies we tell children within the school system.  Not just the lies but the avoidance’s and taboo areas which are part of every day life which do not feature within primary education because they are seen as too controversial. Also, the fact that major parts of our education system are at odds with society and twenty first century living.

Within this blog I am NOT saying whether things are ‘right or wrong/ true or false’ but I am discussing the topic areas because I feel they are too important to continue to ignore. I say this because, rightly, there are more critical voices around individuals blogs (facts and evidence – where’s the research?) and at times it can feel like you are under a lie-detector as your thoughts and views are put to the test.

So here go’s:

1. When you die you go to heaven – religion in schools

Recently, for my headship interview, I was asked to deliver a ‘collective worship’ assembly. I am an atheist. I do not do GOD. I phoned the school up and told them this. Lucky for me they understood. We discussed it in interview and I was clear that I would allow the experts to do ‘religion’ within school and I was happy to work closely with churches and people of faith – in fact I would actively search this out from a community perspective which I feel is very important… (as I have done in all my previous schools both in Muslim and Christian communities) – but I am not going to lie and say I adhere to a religious point of view about life.

It amazes me how many teachers do lie though. I once had a conversation with the head of a diocese who said it would be fine for me to work for them… I find that strange. I come across many teachers and leaders working in faith schools who are not practicing the religion that are at the foundations of their school? They do this secretly, no questions asked and if pushed are happy to lie… Which I like to remind them is against pretty much most religious teaching. This asks the question – what is the point of religion in schools? From my perspective I really struggle with it:

“Christianity: The belief that some invisible cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.” – anon

I am very aware that far more worthy, intelligent and brilliant people do believe and therefore I am not preaching an anti-religious curriculum. But I am asking if schools are the best places and seeing as we are living in an increasingly secular society we should also accept an atheists point of view in primary schools.

If we teach religion for a moral code…  If a religion defines concepts of right (virtuous) and wrong (sinful) behavior. Again, I struggle. I think that Tupac or most RAP artists could give you a ‘love your mother, brother and enemy’ speech to live your life by.

It’s time for us as a people to start makin’ some changes.
Let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live
and let’s change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn’t working so it’s on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive. 

From my perspective… With the many religions there is one clear truth. Only one of them can be right.

If we allow faith schools then why is a Creationist school any different?

It’s not like we say that humans and dinosaurs co-existed… or evolution has been disproved…

 2. Adults know best

Half the time, we really don’t have a clue what we’re doing. And yet we preach this all the time in school. I am not saying anarchy rules but the number of times we have been hypocrites in the name of keeping to the rules… E.g:

If we don’t punish you, you won’t learn for next time

Eat up your five a day,  and you will live a long and healthy life

Rather than: “You could die tomorrow. In a godless universe.”

What goes around comes around

The just world theory. But we know that bad behaviour is often unpunished (And perpetrated by those we are meant to trust – politicians, the justice system and the banks) and good behaviour is not something that will get you that far on all too many occasions.

That good will over come bad in the end… Does it? Is that what history has taught us?

You should never tell lies

At least not until you’re proficient enough to get away with it. And also when it comes to running a country or something really important. – We lie all the time…

Money doesn’t matter

Only if you have all-powerful oligarchs giving you everything for free, reinforced by politicians and the media. These myths allow the poor to be blamed for their poverty, and the rest of society to avoid taking any of the responsibility… Don’t be poor – be rich … the poor are lazy, drink too much, are not really poor but just bad at organising their money, on the fiddle, having an easy life on benefits or the cause of the deficit this country has…

3.You are special and unique

It’s statistically unlikely. – you are unique and yet you need to conform. The likelihood for most children is they will have an ordinary life. That’s not to say it won’t be wonderful – but they will not all be world famous, great scientists or artists and writers of renown. They will be ordinary people living lives like many millions of others.

Also, it’s great to be special and unique but if you are a teacher and gay – working in a faith school?  How truthful can we be here? We all know the answer to that – and it is wrong.Why should this be hidden behind a wall of silence when it is a basic fact of life?

OK! I am ranting… I lied to you all at the start when I said that I was not saying if things are right or wrong/ true or false. On another day I am sure I can find twenty arguments against what I have said in this blog. I am sure I will upset as many who think this is worth saying.  But what is important is the saying. That’s the freedoms we have in a democracy. I don’t have to face a polygraph, move around looking skittish, have poor eye contact, use my short term memory as an excuse. We are lucky that we live in a society that does not endorse lies…  or do we?

War of the Roses

My Week by The Primary Bear:

I do not adhere to this miserable little bears point of view. I am just posting because I am really bored and have nothing of worth to say… again!

What a bloody week I have had. I hate term breaks with a passion. It’s bad enough being held captive over the weekends as I’m dragged along to mind numbing ballet recitals, vomit inducing parties and viewings of grannies new stair lift. I’m too old for this! I just want a quiet life. Rotting away in some moldy window gathering bacteria and watching the cactus dry out.

But no! Gilmore Academy has better ideas. Get the little minds inspired to write by sending them home with me to tell stories about how much their parents love them… I hate them all!

This week I am stuck with the Roses. And all is not well.

Mr Rose returned from the DFE full of beans talking about the primary revolution. This was much to Mrs Rose’s irritation because she had to cancel her ‘secondary webinar’ with the president of the Lichtenstein mathematical books emporium (best performing education system this week!).

Over a bottle of wine the atmosphere got very frosty. Mrs Rose accused Mr Rose of being a Blob and progressive; She told him to go find his Element up his backside and he called her a reactionary right wing think tank… Not nice. A bear shouldn’t have to put up with this kind of shit. In truth she did have to take me around B&Q for two hours looking at taps and that must be enough to hate all human life.

Seriously, I hark back to the good old days when kids pulled my legs off and set me on fire… That’s the problem with kids today they are far too ready to follow the rules.

What I Learnt This Week from Judgeless Observations

I have had a week in which I feel rather bruised and battered because I decided to stand up for something I felt strongly about in the wrong forum (Everyone felt differently to me) and about something that gets passions rising – school uniform. Sometimes, I wish I did not go with my instincts. That has not been the case with judgeless lesson observations though. The nicest thing ever said about me in a 360 was, “Brian (Yep – being open and honest after being ‘outed’ this week) has never forgotten what it is like to be in the classroom – as a child or a teacher.” I love the person who wrote that! I think it is something that sticks with me and it was with this in mind that I went into lessons this week.

Following the in vogue format I started lesson observations this week purposely avoiding the judgement grade. In fact, it was far more than this. I purposely avoided the now accepted way of doing a lesson observation. I did none of the following:

Look in books to see either progress, marking or challenge.

Talk to children about learning intentions or targets.

Look for a WALHT.

Look at planning.

Focus on PP children, or children with concerning APP data.

And it was the most refreshing time I have had in the classroom for years.

This is what I did do.

Make each visit as focussed upon the teachers Performance Management as possible.

Look for the positives.

Look at the challenges the teacher and children faced in the lesson. For example, questioning in a reception class where pace could be killed because of so many questions (due to the fact that the teacher had such an exciting and inspired idea) that it is almost impossible for the teacher NOT to respond to them – worse still challenging ideas (“Men cannot have a cream bag”) without just telling them.

Have open and honest conversations about what I saw, heard and observed based on trying to give GOOD advice. This was based on another great challenging conversation with my deputy who basically said – if you give them nothing then what is the point in doing the lesson observation?

Try to be a LEARNER again. I had an epiphany in lesson two. Recorders, I just sat there and thought lets be in the lesson and see what I CAN learn. Firstly, the children were amazing. They were offering all sorts of advice before I started. Hold it like this, make sure you fully cover the holes, A is like this etc. I then hit the difficultly of keeping up because the others had already had three lessons from a brilliant teacher who really knew her stuff. I was left behind so I reverted back to my 7 year old self and began to play the class clown, making children laugh playing imaginary jazz recorder. One withering look from the teacher, I was meant to be observing, refocused me. As the lesson went on I felt great with each little success – a clean note, keeping in time and remembering some pretty complex routines. At the end of the lesson we were doing mini compositions and I felt excited that I could do it but also proud for the children in class. It was like we belonged because we were in it together.

I left the lesson thinking THAT’s IT! For next year’s performance management targets everyone should have to learn a NEW instrument. BE a learner and our staff meetings should be based on sharing our experiences. Then everyone should have to perform to the children and talk about what they learnt and had to overcome. By NOT doing the classic Ofsted lesson observation I had left the lesson with a little more insight and a much better understanding of learning.

Finally I observed a P4C (Philosophy for Children) lesson with a reflective and brilliant teacher doing it for the first time. We have talked a lot about P4C and if this had been a typical grading lesson I think they would have not been as open in their teaching. It felt much more real than typical observed lessons, much more honest – by that I mean it went where it took us rather than the teacher taking it where they think the observer wants it to go. With this teacher (the only one who has left me emotional after a lesson – for good reasons) being able to feel the judgement was not about set criteria, but far more about developing her craft, seemed liberating. We spoke via email after and they came up with suggestions for next time and how they could involve the quieter children and develop the session.

So what have I learnt?

My teachers are suddenly much more impressive because I am not narrowing the criteria for what a lesson looks like. I am not seeing them as grades I am seeing them as professionals.

I am thinking about lessons and learning differently because I am not looking at the bleeding obvious, (books, marking, targets and planning).

The discussion afterwards is not a “Am I safe? Did I get through? Only good?” type conversation but a LEARNING one – in which we talk about the future and how we develop our practice. That’s not to say those conversations did not exist before but now they seem less of a problem to have because they do not upgrade or degrade the teacher.

It is very early days and I still believe in aspects of the rigorous observation (but they are much easier to separate from the in class observation) but I do feel that I have learnt something very valuable this week about how to take the art of lesson observations forward.