Category Archives: Leadership

Mobile, Personalised Learning – The Essa Academy

These are my notes from a fascinating day at the Essa Academy, courtesy of Apple. We were treated to a tour and talks by a number of staff including the Principal - Showk Badat, Abdul Chohan & Jeff Ellis.

I was fascinated by not just the integration of mobile technologies (they are famous for giving every pupil an iPod Touch, and now, every teacher an iPad), but also their innovative New Basics Year 7 curriculum and their elective personalised curriculum for years 8-11. I was also impressed by the fantastic pupils and the excellent learning that we saw.

Below are basically my notes as I took them, I hope they’re of interest to some people and I will reflect on them further in relation to my IT Provision Plans.

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IT Provision in Secondary Schools in 2011

Another what’s the best way forward? blog post where I try and dissect my own thinking on what IT provision should look like in a Secondary School in 2011.  Continue the current mix of laptop trolleys and IT suites or move towards a 1 to 1 environment of tablets or laptops?

iPad at age 2

Are tablets the answer?

Financial Planning

This year so far has been all about planning ahead for me. We’ve started the process of planning two completely new courses to deliver to our students in ICT, and I’m delighted that both GCSE ComputingCreative iMedia have enough students interested for me to run both courses next year.

Next on my hit-list is managing & planning our IT provision across the whole site for the next few years. Our school has always been relatively cash-rich for a variety of reasons. This is not the case going forward.  Despite Michael Gove & the Conservatives’ claims that they would not cut school budgets we are receiving less money this year than we have previously. This is after we take into account the pupil premium (and being situated in Central Manchester we have an above average percentage of Free School Meals). All of this at the same time as costs are increasing thanks to the Government’s removal of the Harnessing Technology Grant. Historically the IT Support team has been given a fairly modest budget with which they maintain the existing equipment and add some provision each year.  Replacement of entire suites / trolleys etc have then been funded by ‘Summer Projects’ funded from surplus school cash. I am acutely aware that the surplus school cash may well not be here next Summer and it is time we plan and budget ahead carefully for the next 2-5 years.  And so I come to my current position where I am left impressed at the cost of continuing as we are, yet thinking there must be a better way…. Continue reading

An ICT Curriculum Fit For 2011 #ictcurric

The silence that has descended on this blog has partly been down to another little change in direction for me as I have taken over leadership of our ICT & Business Studies department.  As a Mathematician by nature this has been an interesting few weeks!

Out top priority is to try and deliver an ICT curriculum that is fit for the year 2011.  Something that enthuses our pupils with the subject of ICT and offers them valuable qualifications that will stand them in good stead for their futures.

This seemed a simple task – how wrong I was!

Current ICT Curriculum:

We have traditionally put all our students through the OCR Nationals in Year 9, picking up the equivalent of 1 GCSE for each of them (well most of them).  I’m no great fan of this qualification, in particular Unit 1′s trudge through Office products and folder structures.  ICT is an optional subject at our school, those pupils who choose to continue it at KS4 complete the full OCR Nationals Level 2 course picking up the ‘equivalent’ of 4 GCSEs.  I know there are some good units in there, but we’re increasingly finding that students are then having issues with our local colleges who do not value the OCR Nationals.

Essential Reading:

I must have read every specification out there for ICT based qualifications at Level 2 – not the most exciting of tasks I can assure you!

Other key reading this week has included two new reports:

The Next Gen report from Nesta “sets out how the UK can be transformed into the world’s leading talent hub for video games and visual effects”.  Written by key players from both industries it’s a wide ranging review of the educations system from Secondary School through to University.  It’s quite critical that our education system is not providing these industries with people with the required skill sets, and that this runs all the way back down to the skills we are providing pupils with at school.

Some key excerpts in relation to school based ICT:

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#LWF11 – Lord David Puttnam of Queensgate

Lord David Puttnam, man of many hats, but perhaps pertinently Chairman of Futurelab:

Joked that Stephen Heppel and he had have achieved so little in the last 20 years!  Not yet a state where what’s best for the child is also what’s best for the child.

Left film industry as it had ceased to be inspirational in it’s use of tech and thought more could be done in educational policy.  Sadly was wrong in hindsight.

Barely begun to explore how technology can transform education.  Digital creation economy is fastest growing.  PwC report shows us as poor exporters of our services.  Education has prospective growth as an industry for the UK.  Could be a driver of growth in modern & competitive world.  More dignified than Financial Services!

Significant division within government on the role of technology in education.

Platforms and technologies have become embedded in the daily lives of teachers, they too are now digital natives.

How did we get ourselves into this mess when BETT has 70 education ministers from around the world?

Digitising old practices seeks to simply get the old outcomes only faster.

What would a digital curriculum look like if disruption did take place?

Apple re-imagined the computer and phone. Disrupted those markets.  Even got a joke about Flash in for the iPad 2!  The App economy has consequentially changed the landscape for software.

Mobile tech is close to reaching every single human being on Earth.  So where is the specific disruption that will change the way we learn?  When will we recognise the learning that takes place in creating a Youtube video or collaborate within an online World?  Our job is to build ontop of these experiences and develop them into learning opportunities.

Worst possible moment to abandon use of tech within learning, but exactly the right moment to re-start the discussions about technology in learning.  Need to talk about what the World of work will look like in 2020-2030 when the students of today begin work.

Next multi-billion invention may be in the field of learning.  Fitting in with Stephen Heppel’s evolution from earlier.

Imagine being able to lower the amount of time spent in school, increasing the productivity.  Would allow us to revisit the economic discussions around school.  Higher productivity, higher skills, higher wages could let the teaching industry enjoy higher prestige.

Young people have less time to listen to ‘corporate speak’, dialogue makes online connections work.  Expect to be active participants within a discussion.  To win back their trust we need to engage effectively with their World.  Need to move technology to the core of their learning.

No matter how gifted or charismatic you are you will never effectively teach someone who does not relate to and respect you.

No education system can be better than the quality of teachers.  Teacher training in digital age has to be continuing. With paid time out for development.

We have to become far far more persuasive in getting our message across.

Another impassioned and inspiring call to action – I think he and Stephen may have been talking before today!

#LWF11 – Stephen Heppell – What’s on the horizon?

Stephen started with a nice anecdote about starting his career asked a tough group of students to help him out by getting teaching tips from other teachers in return from him teaching them the content.

Be Very Afraid programme.  Students taught themselves to play an instrument in a month.

Evolution of tech in our lifetimes: Hardware -> software -> databases -> searching -> socialising -> learning next.

Learning will happen where we least expect it.  e.g. subtitling Bollywood movies in other languages in India; superclasses – 3 teachers, 90 kids, 5 terms learning in 3; Sugata Mitra – hole-in-the-wall.

Spent a few minutes tearing apart teacher training, if you don’t have the very best schools in that area then what right do you have to teach teachers?!

Should be ashamed to be at the top of Gove’s English Bacc league table – child cruelty!  We can do better.

People plus technology breaks cartels – education is a cartel that will be broken by people and technology.

Interesting to hear that Stephen is planning a free school, taking advantage of Gove’s policies to push his own way of doing things Academy!

Pupils need to prepared for the uncertainty.  The reason we are in the vanguard is because we’ve lived through the endless surprise of technological innovation in our lifetime.  We haven’t articulated how good this could be.

The World is broken, learning can heal conflict and suffering.  We have the chance to do so.  Make it loud make it heard!  A proper call to arms.

A captivating talk, Stephen showed how easy it can seem to present when you know your subject matter so well, no notes, just a series of images and a belief in your argument.

SSAT #NC10 – Dr David Hemery

Bio

David Hemery, Olympic Gold 400m hurdles winner, now working on the 21st Century Legacy as part of the London 2012 Legacy programme.

My Notes

Dr David Hemery vice chairman British Olympic association. 21st century legacy.

www.21stcenturylegacy.com

Incredible amount of untapped potential in everyone.

Hi achievers have self awareness and self responsibility. Study in sport and business.

Be the best you can be! Programme. Aiming to inspire, engage and empower young people.

How to of empowerment is coaching/facilitation and a child centred approach. Generates awareness and responsibility.

Programme involves getting an Olympian into a school to tell their story and then to push back on the pupils to ask them what is their dream and what do they need to get there. how can they empower themselves to get there.

Coaching framework follows delivered through pshe or similar.

Coach Billy “just take the first step”!

Coaching question “What would it take for you to take the first step?” encourage.

Reflections

David was charming and passionate.  His tales of his coach Billy pushing him to and beyond the limit by asking him to “Just take the first step” were inspiring.

‘Taking the first step’ is at the heart of David’s 21st Century Legacy project.  At heart it involves getting an Olympian or similar successful sportsman in to school to tell their tale of success.  From here support is given to allow teachers to coach pupils, asking them what their dreams are and what it would take for them to ‘take the first step’ on the path to that dream.

All the details of the project are available here: www.21stcenturylegacy.com

Key Questions

How do we remove the barriers to learning? Inspiring dreams and coaching students to take the first step on that path seems like a great way to remove barriers to learning.  Fitted in nicely with this conference theme.

SSAT #NC10 – Dylan Wiliam – Formative Assessment

The first of a series of notes / reflections on sessions at the 2010 SSAT National Conference.

Bio

Dylan Wiliam has the grand title of ‘Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment‘ at the Institute of Education in London.  He is a former Maths teacher and co-author of the book “Inside the Black Box“.  He is a world renowned expert on assessment for learning, and was recently to be seen on BBC television in The Classroom Experiment.

My Notes

On learning environments & the role of the teacher: Teachers do not create learning.  Learners create learning.  Teaching is engineering of Continue reading

SSAT National Conference 2010 #NC10 – Initial Thoughts

The SSAT National Conference took place last week at the ICC in Birmingham (a venue rightly compared to Escher’s Relativity!).  I was fortunate to be able to attend as a punter on the Wednesday and as a presenter on the Thursday as we launched the SSAT National Digital Leaders programme!

The theme of the conference was ‘Excellence for All’, and I have to say that the SSAT delivered , each aspect of the conference itself was excellent.

Wednesday started for me with Dylan Wiliam extolling the importance of assessment being the key to good teaching.  He was as inspiring a speaker as ever, as those of you who watched his recent TV program would know.  In particular I was impressed with Dylan’s ability to demonstrate his techniques within a ‘classroom’ of 400 educators, and also his incredible use of research evidence to support his teachings.

Wednesday Keynotes came from David Hemery, former 400m Hurdles Gold medal winning Olympian, he was telling his story and promoting www.21stcenturylegacy.com , part of London 2012′s legacy programme for schools.  He was followed by Sugata Mitra, telling his engaging tale of children teaching themselves using the Internet, from his hole-in-the-wall Mumbai slums experiment to his recent work in Gateshead.  This was an engaging tale that at first seemed to question the need for teachers at all!  As with all the speakers, more to follow in a future blog-post.  I would add that I was fortunate enough to chat to Sugata over coffee following his talk, a charming man. Continue reading

Two Thought Provoking Discussion Starting Videos

The two following videos have been doing the rounds over the last week in the ‘blogosphere’ (I do hate that word!).  But just because you’ve seen them a couple of times doesn’t mean everyone in your school has – share them with you network now.  We used them both as discussion starters in Leadership Meetings this week.  Stephen Fry had us discussing Language for quite some time!

Both of these take existing speeches from Stephen Fry and Ken Robinson and turn them into stimulating videos with typography / animation.

Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography:

RSA Animate & Ken Robinson – Changing Education Paradigms:

So go start another conversation with them yourselves.

The Fast Lane

Life in the fast lane! CC image by fishtail @ Flickr.com

No post in several months. Certainly not down to having nothing to write about, rather having done so much that I am struggling to find the time and energy to keep up with my blog reading let alone writing.

Since September I have been responsible for eLearning, Maths, data, timetable, marketing and other logistics within our school. Needless to say this has been a leadership baptism by fire.

The opportunity to lead on whole school initiatives is a great privilege, but for a perfectionist and tinkerer it’s difficult. I’m spread frustratingly thinly at times, but I’ve been massively developing my delegation and coaching skills. To get things done effectively I need to rely on my teams to do a lot of the legwork.

Some work and initiatives that I’ve been working on and really need to write about:

  • Pushing results and expectations with Higher Tier GCSE Maths.
  • Setting targets in every subject in every year for every pupil using Fischer Family Trust predictions as a baseline. Developing a more inclusive target setting process from these baseline targets.
  • Publishing school news on a Posterous blog / Facebook page / Twitter account. Continue reading