Sunday 29 September 2013

The Purpose of Education: Making a Difference

Twenty years ago I began my teaching my first primary school class. This was some years later than I might have anticipated. My original intention, to teach History at secondary school, was scuppered when my finance for my MA fell through and I had to work for a living. Finding myself in the misogynist's haven and creative abyss that was the insurance industry in the City of London, and being neither a 'barrow boy', the owner of an old school tie nor a serial philanderer, realised my calling lay elsewhere.

I never wanted to be an insurance broker, I wanted to be a ....



I wanted to be a ...


Twenty years on, I haven't looked back. However many teachers do not last the course, and education is not a profession they remain in for a range of reasons: pressure of OFSTED, management or behaviour management; the demands upon their time; greater financial reward elsewhere.

Which brings me to the topic of September's Blogsync: The Purpose of Education.

Simply put, I believe the Purpose of Education to be to make a difference in the lives of those we work with, the children. 

By difference I do not mean getting a struggling child to level 4, or to Grade C at GCSE, though of course those are hugely important to the student. Nor do I mean coaxing a child to perform in just the right way at the very moment the inspector enters the room. If any of  my former pupils achieve fame and fortune, they aren't going to appear on 'The One Show' recalling revision sessions or SATS papers. No! They will remember setting the classroom up as if we had been burgled overnight, class assemblies presented as a mythical journey or as an episode of Doctor Who, memorable trips and humorous moments. 

Think of the films that celebrate teaching. Goodbye Mr Chips, To Sir With Love, Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, The History Boys. All have teachers that inspire, engross and impact the lives of the students they encounter. The students all achieve, but with that extra special ingredient- engagement, the achievement really means something. Engagement is something that OFSTED look for, and it is explicitly stated in the revised Framework, but engagement is that key element, that secret to unlocking the potential within each child.


Coincidentally I sat my A-levels in the same year as the film was set.

One of the hardest things for boys to learn is that a teacher is human. One of the hardest things for a teacher to learn is not to try and tell them.”

 The History Boys

“We don't read and write poetry because its cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is full of passion.” 
Dead Poets Society


Education has the power to make a difference in the lives of our young people. Engaging them in powerful and effective ways can convince them that their learning has a vital place in their future. There have been suggestions that white working class boys in particular are disengaged from learning ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7316891.stm) and my own experience would bear this out:

 'He'll be alright! He don't need no qualifications to get by!'

'Bloody teachers, think you know it all don'tcha!'

'My mum says I don't have to do what I'm told in school and if you say otherwise she's coming down here to sort you out!'

I remember all these from my very first year, very typical of parents who were in an anti-school and anti-authority culture in the 1970s and 1980s, perhaps trapped in a cycle of generational unemployment. 

Well these days 'He won't be alright'; in the 1970s school leavers could turn up on a building site build a wall and be a bricklayer by lunchtime, now they can't get beyond the gates without certificates. We need to go beyond simply insisting upon attendance, attention and homework completion; we have to give these meaning and purpose. There is no right or wrong way to do that, but the armoury of intellectual and persuasive weapons at our disposal can enable us as educators to empower the youngsters in our charge with the skills for the future and to step forth with aspirations.  

I think of the teachers who engaged me: Mrs Dalrymple and Mr McCann at primary school; Chris and Pauline Collier who lit the flame of my love of History; John Wohlers, who scared us all to death but got the whole class grade A or B at O-level Maths, Janet Lawley, who never taught me but whose very presence oozed her love of learning and her vision. These names don't go away, but those who didn't inspire are hard to recall. 

Few of us can hope to be 'Legends', or 'ledge' in the children's parlance, but at least we can hope to be remembered for a few years. 

Sunday 15 September 2013

New Horizons

After being in my first teaching post for twenty years (I won't explain, its a long story) here I am two weeks into Deputy Headship and I'm loving every minute of it.

Twenty summers spent planning, preparing, compiling reports and trying to grab some family time! This year I was determined to completely recharge my batteries, particularly with working late most of the final half term at my previous school, finalising as much as possible for those taking on my old responsibilities. I read several good books, experimented with a few new recipes and ingredients in the kitchen and was able to appreciate the weather, made all the better by success in The Ashes!

At assembly on my final day I joked that twenty years beforehand, I had arrived dark haired, happy and full of great ideas, and that I was leaving with two out of those three still intact. The gene pool is to blame for the first on this list!

I didn't divorce myself entirely from education over the break. Twitter provides wonderful opportunities for free CPD for the teaching community, and serves as an excellent platform for sharing of the best practice and current development. The most useful links for me came from Heather Leatt (@Heatherleatt) with the highlighted changes to the OFSTED framework http://www.heatherleatt.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/School-inspection-handbook-09_13-with-changes-highlighted.pdf and http://www.heatherleatt.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Ofsted-changes-to-School-Inspection-Handbook-Sept-2013.pdf . Extremely useful to have this 'heads up' before the year began. 

I am very much looking forward to attending SLT Camp (@SLTcamp) in November, with the chance to meet some of my fellow tweachers, and to share inspiration and innovation. Many thanks to Sarah Findlater (@MsFindlater) and Stephen Lockyer (@mrlockyer) for organising this.  With CPD offered by some LEAs a little thin on the ground and of sometimes questionable value, what an opportunity this is to encounter like minds, and to interact with secondary colleagues too. So glad I don't have to pack my wellies and sleeping bag.

Two weeks into term, and unsurprisingly I'm very busy already. There are plenty of challenges ahead, but I knew that, and it is one of the reasons I took on the position. One challenge to myself is to develop my educational blogging further. Let's see if I keep that one up!

Lest we forget, the reason we are in this business is to make a difference to children, and the responses they give our professional lifeblood. I took my first whole school assembly this week; the importance of creating a good first impression was my theme. I showed a picture of George Clooney. 

'Does anybody know who this is?' 

'Is it you Mr Cowley?'

I'll take that one! The gene pool has its uses sometimes!


George is often stopped and asked if he is the new Deputy Head