primary school

I am not an elephant….I’m a primary school headteacher!

theprimaryhead9 Comments

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I thought I would stand up and be counted on behalf of all primary educators out there. I hope lots of you have read @michaelt1979’s interesting post on why us primary folks don’t get as much tweet action as our secondary counter-parts. It was suggested that it could be because we don’t engage in the big issues as much as our older siblings; kind of like when the grown-ups are at the big table talking about important things like politics, money and the season finale of breaking bad whilst the kids are lumped on a smaller table a few feet away eating with their fingers and shouting about twerking, sexting and the best place to buy pure Blue Sky.

On twitter you often can’t move for links to dense (as in compact not as in thick) blog posts about pedagogy, skills vs knowlegde, student cognitive processes, learning styles, teaching styles, Ofsted framework updates, behaviour issues and occasionally posts about Bloom’s taxidermy (or some such). Each link is normally followed by even more dense (not always as in compact) arguments that go on for so long I can’t help thinking that Twitter will at some point run out.

And it has to be said that it is often secondary folks who are taking part. Why is that? Are primary people not interested? Are we too busy? Do we not know what they’re talking about? Are the issues not appropriate for primary? If this is the case then maybe we should start differentiating twitter. The secondary swines can follow the ‘blue’ timelines about education reforms and we’ll follow the ‘green’ lines about funny things children say on the way to assembly and the end of season twist in Peppa Pig.

Or maybe we should step up to the plate, set the straw man on fire and engage positively with the issues of the day. Thankfully @michaelt1979 gave us some pointers so I will now try to answer each of his questions in no more than one sentence. (Something a few secondary colleagues could try? #justsaying #onlyjoking #reallydon’twanttostartatwitterwartodayihaveabigcurrytomakelater)

Ok, here we go!

Will ‘scaled scores’ provide useful information at end-of-key-stage tests?

Well it’s always good to have some sort of comparison on local and national levels in order to support schools with their self-evaluation but I wouldn’t think parents would be that fussed and I suspect the powers that be will place too much emphasis on them-oh well.

 How will we assess English and Maths once levels are scrapped?

I think now could be the time to finally get an assessment process that is consistent from Early Years all the way to the top so it’s ‘emerging, expected, exceeding’ end of year expectation statements for me.

Is primary schooling becoming all core and no breadth?

Core is really important and it always has been but give schools and teachers creativity when developing their own curriculum and there’s no reason why we still can’t have a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum that is right for 21st century learners.

Does the new National Curriculum necessarily mean more rote teaching & learning?

No-not if school leaders work hard  and make sure teachers are supported in teaching strategies that will ensure standards improve.

Will the new grammar requirements in the National Curriculum raise standards of reading/writing?

Probably a bit if we’re teaching children how to read and write better ‘technically’ but don’t believe the hype about standards improving when all we’re using is test results.

Do primary teachers have the subject knowledge needed for the new National Curriculum?

If by subject knowledge you  mean being able to teach skills effectively for every subject then we probably could do better; if you mean do they know all the historical facts about the UK since time began that no, they don’t: no one does.

What does it mean to be “secondary ready”, as the DfE suggests we should be aiming for?

It means that pupils are ready to engage in a Year 7 curriculum and have developed skills such as resilience, independence, responsibility in order to cope in a massively different learning environment .

Is the current level 4b a viable expectation for 85% of students?

No because levels are going.

How is the newly-enhanced Pupil Premium going to have an impact in primary?

It gives me more headaches in terms of tracking but hasn’t really impacted upon supporting pupils as we always do whatever we can to support pupils who need it .

How can we use the new sports/PE funding effectively?

Develop partnerships for long term coaching opportunities at a local level and provide access to quality sporting equipment.

How can research findings about feedback/knowledge/learning be applied in primary classrooms?

If there is research that would support a particular area of development in a school then the person/people responsible for improving it should find ways of applying it and measuring on a small scale and then develop it across the school.

What impact are small cohorts or small sub-groups having on Ofsted inspection outcomes?

Small cohorts and sub-groups are always going to be a problem – the solution is to know the ‘story’ of every pupil in that group and evidence everything you have done to increase their chances.

Are stand-alone primary academies viable?

I don’t know.

What is the professional view on baseline assessments for children on entry to YR?

If we’re going to develop consistency in the method of assessing pupils starting in Reception then why not but if it’s going to be detached let’s not bother.

What are the issues related to the proposed free school meals programme for infants?

Huge…I don’t even know how I can get every infant in one hall eating a hot lunch without staggering lunchtime over three hours: I’d rather use the money to provide a free breakfast.

What does constitute effective use of teaching assistants?

TAs who play a part in assessing the pupils they work with alongside the teachers and also help set up IEPs and are held accountable to their progress: that way they will make sure that whatever they do is effective.

And I’m done. I did it. I managed to drag myself away from planning my assembly to answer the big questions of the day. Have I managed to show that primary professionals can engage with the best of them or have I shown the world exactly why I work in primary education? Who knows but at least I tried and in my school that means that I get a sticker!

Your country needs YOU! (But qualified please, don’t take the Michael)

theprimaryhead1 Comment

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I appointed a new office worker this year: she had worked in banking and had experience of working with the public. At the end of the term I asked her how she had enjoyed her first 8 weeks working in a school. She said that she had absolutely loved it but…

…she couldn’t believe the intensity of life in a primary school and how hard all the teachers worked. ‘I knew they’d be busy in the classroom teaching stuff but I never realised how hard they work on the emotional support for the children and the parents and everything else that has gone on this term: it’s just non-stop!’

For me this newly found perception is most interesting precisely because she hadn’t even seen the work that goes on in the classroom: just everything else and as those of us in education know it’s often the ‘everything else’ which is so exhausting and rewarding simultaneously…and a big reason why QTS is important.

So you have a degree, a passion for your area of expertise and you believe you would be a great teacher. That is genuinely fantastic! I’m pleased for you, come into the world of education and you will love it but please don’t break in via a side door while no one’s looking. Do it properly and train: why? Because you’ll be a better teacher, I promise. I know you have a Masters and yes I know you have a passion but all that will enable you to do is to give some high quality information to the children in your class (due to your degree) with some of them retaining some of it (because of your passion). Teaching is more than getting children to remember stuff (despite Gove gulping to the contrary).

Being a teacher is HUGE. You literally can’t get a job with a bigger job description. I haven’t got time to go into all of it but this picture of a mug sort of puts it across – albeit in a rather smug way.

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A mug that is smug…a smug-mug if you will. Every staff room should/will have one.

See? It’s a big job and quite frankly it is too big for your degree in [inset whatever degree subject you want] to handle. It needs a bit more care and attention if it’s going to be done correctly. Oh, and if you think by ‘done correctly’ you think I’m still just talking about the teaching a lesson bit you need to start reading this again or look at the smug-mug or alternatively decide never to become a teacher.

What I’m trying to get at is that with QTS you will understand and will be beginning to be better at working with the pressures and the all the other ‘stuff’ that you have to manage effectively so you can still deliver consistent levels of progress and achievement over time. You still won’t be perfect (but don’t worry we’ll all help you) and you’ll get better.

‘But if I’m going to get better at being a teacher because of working on the job anyway-why can’t I skip the boring QTS bit?’

Oh ok and while we’re at it we might as well just put it about that ‘rosebud’ is just his sledge, Vador is Luke’s Dad, Romeo and Juliet both die, Godot never turns up, the girl in the crying game has a willy and the answer to the life, universe and everything is 42. Do you want to do that? No, I didn’t think so. You don’t just skip to the end, the pay-offs will be meaningless: you’ve got to work your way through it, build up your knowledge and understanding.

Training to become a teacher is far more valid than some certified measure of aptitude and a lot of self-belief. It involves going to lectures and listening to experts talk about learning and the psychology of pupils and the importance of all those bits and pieces identified on the smug-mug whilst doing small work placements in a variety of school settings and reading endless books about becoming a reflective teacher and then transposing them into your own thoughts and pedagogy. It will actually really help you when you finally get your hands on you own class full of 30 (or more) individual minds bodies and souls.

So give yourself and the fellow professionals you wish to work alongside the professional dignity and stature we deserve and become a qualified teacher.

Motivation! Motivation! Motivation! The 3 Ms of leadership.

theprimaryhead5 Comments

leadershipMaybe it’s the pressure of performance related pay or the higher expectations of the new Ofsted framework; or maybe it’s because performance management meetings have started or maybe it’s because some schools are being led by unqualified individuals who wouldn’t know about the complexities of running an effective if school even if they were hit about the head with the latest copy of ‘A Dummies guide to running a free school’; or maybe it’s because the state of education is in chaos with government consultations suggesting terrible ideas to move things on popping up more rapidly than a series of regional NUT strikes; or maybe it’s because it’s nearly half term and everyone is knackered: I don’t know…but for some reason, this weekend, school senior leaders have got a hammering online.

First there was @TessaLMatthews blog on ‘What makes a good school leader?’ which offered up her highly unpleasant experience of an SLT encounter http://tabularasaeducation.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/school-leaders/ . Then @oldandrewuk gave us some sound advice on ‘How to be a bad SMT’ (which can be found at http://teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/ ). Now, you know you’re onto something when even a teachingbattleground post doesn’t divide opinion: judging by the comments that followed both posts they have either only been read by colleagues at the same schools (this is possible but highly improbable unless the school employ a combined total of about 8000 staff) or (and this is more likely) many school leaders are either a) not very nice; b) not very competent; c) both a) and b).

So here I am to defend us poor school leaders because do you know what? You lot…you teachers just don’t get it! All you’ve got to do is come into school and teach but us, we have whole schools to run. We have a million things to keep on top off and getting you lot to do your bloody job shouldn’t have to be the hardest thing to do every bloody day. For once could I just ask you to do something and expect you to get it done? For once could I tell you how we’re all going to teach without having to see your eyes roll and your arms fold with the old teachers sardonically wittering things like ‘oh, we’re going back to that way are we, I remember when we tried that in 1972..ha!’ and the young teachers crapping on about Ken Robinson and moaning how I don’t know what it’s like to be in the classroom anymore-I do actually so shut up and try taking some advice rather than just expecting to give it all the time. Seriously-do your job and no one gets hurt: Got it?

And breathe. Relax. Breathe again and before you click the ‘report abuse’ button, count to five and believe me when I say: only joking. I just wanted to try it on for size and see what it would be like to be ‘that kind’ of leader. Doesn’t really do it for me never has. Tried it once and I just felt like a bit of a prat and it didn’t get me anywhere except made at least one person thought I was a prat (well two if you include me)

However, I was genuinely thinking a couple of weeks ago about my approach to leadership in terms of am I too nice – which is normally a euphemism for too soft – which is another euphemism for ineffective. I had a meeting with a local authority school improvement officer (who I like) and they were challenging me about my ability to ensure the effectiveness of a member of staff. As they were talking I was reminded of ‘The League of Gentlemen’ character Pauline, the job centre re-start officer, who maintained that you should treat people like pens: ‘If they don’t work, shake them. If they still don’t work, bin them.’ I was trying to get across my slightly different approach of utter transparency, lots of support and lots of reviews. ‘Don’t worry I have a system’ I kept saying, that allows me to be nice, fair and could actually allow this person to succeed and if it doesn’t work we also have a system that will take care of that in a way that is professional, fair and impossible to disagree with. ‘But how long will it bloody take?’ was the comment getting repeatedly fired back at me.

Time is important you see. Everyone wants impact in the shortest possible amount of time. HMI want impact within six weeks of RI which means the local authority want it by five.  Headteachers therefore want impact by four weeks which means subject leaders have to show it by three. This leaves teachers with the rather hard task of making impact within a fortnight. If anyone challenges this time frame then they get accused of having low standards and a stubbornness that is a barrier to improvement.

What this then does is create pressure and as we know pressure can make some individuals behave in appalling ways. The buck however stops with the headteacher and simultaneously, the example, should also start with the headteacher.

The most effective way I have found to achieve this is by being transparent, honest and actually quite nice to the people I work with. I want people to want to work in my school as much as I want them to know what we’re all up against. There are no hidden agendas. Schools should be exciting places to and people should feel proud of their achievements. If they are struggling I want them to feel supported – not shamed into it but actually helped along the way. Challenging conversations occur all the time – but they’re so much easier to have if you have shared your direction, expectations, vision at the very start. Now if you hate my vision my direction of the school then your heart won’t be in the school I’m leading anyway so you’re best off out anyway. But even then – we can be nice about it.

I was talking to a teacher the other day who had once worked for a really horrible sounding headteacher. Everyone was terrified. Public humiliations at staff meetings, throwing of stationary, staff crying daily in the staff room. I naively said that I can’t imagine that kind of leadership is tolerated any more. From reading some of the blogs this weekend it seems as though I was way of the mark. I pity the leaders who are this stressed and frustrated that they take it out on teachers and support staff but more so I want them to stop. Stop and think about the damage they are doing.

I know, I know the pressure, the pressure! Pressure does not equate to being able to act like a shit. We get paid more – suck it up. The more pressure a school is under the nicer you should be – seriously. The more you should work with the leaders beneath you to make sure they have a handle on how to improve their areas. Doesn’t mean you can’t get frustrated. My office often sounds like a dock-yard as my potty-mouth is quite frankly disgraceful. Never AT people you understand – well maybe at them occasionally but certainly not while they’re in the same room. When I am working with people however, at the back of my mind is the question all leaders should have: am I enabling this person to operate at their highest level?

If the answer is yes, then it is normally because I have them on my side, I’ve been honest with them and supported them and they recognise that I am actively investing in their development. Okay, that’s what I’d like them to think I’ve done, it may a be a slightly ‘heightened reality’ version but it certainly isn’t because I’ve stabbed them with a pencil, called them a useless **** and told them to input all that data again because at the moment it’s about as helpful to me as teats on a boar. (Like I said earlier, tried this approach once and it didn’t work)

Maybe I’m a coward – I don’t like confrontation and between you and me I try to give people want they want (within reason) as I’ve learned that’s quite a motivator and bargaining tool. But I do have my non-negotiable terms I have my expectations and so far no one has suggested that they are unreasonable and so far no one has left. (one member of staff has even requested to go back to full time since I started my school – and bearing in mind we require improvement and I’ve got them working harder than I’ve ever seen any school work, I think that’s quite good).

Because no matter how ‘up against it’ you are, keeping the troops on your side is the best weapon you’ll ever have – and if I need to take out a second mortgage to keep the staff room cake levels at a constant high, well that’s a price I’m prepared to pay.