Here are the bare bones of every leadership course I’ve ever attended:
Am I missing something? Let me know below!
To answer the purpose for education, I went one stage back, and looked at the reason for learning, as I would hope that the purpose for education is based upon this.
What is the reason for learning?
To ask lots, and answer more; to join the dots and make some of your own.
Learning should be a desire like an itch or scratch. Learning should be a driving force, a passion which is almost unquenchable. There should be an excitable agony knowing that you have only uncovered 1% of 1% of the world’s knowledge and understanding – there is so much already, and so much more to learn!
We hear toddlers exasperating their parents with endless ‘Why’ questions, but to me, that is fantastic. Without why, we wouldn’t explore new land, uncover hidden secrets, write new stories and songs, discover new tastes and live more interesting lives. The death of learning starts with not asking why. ‘Why’ should be encouraged all the time, even as adults!
There is a pleasure in watching friends solving a jigsaw. Working together on a shared aim, they work separately, but talking, sharing ideas, and looking to see if they can help each other out. Much of a jigsaw being built is social, and the satisfaction is not at the end when complete, but the pleasure of the journey; the small wins.
There is a tangible excitement to finding your own path, cutting your own way. No-one works better than on their own passions and interests – indeed, studies have shown that strangers can identify the difference between artwork which is commissioned and art which has been done for pleasure.
So if this is my belief as the reason for learning, what would I say is the purpose for education?
To encourage questions, to help uncover answers, to help with making connections, and to guide making their own.
I believe that we learn best when we are most interested in our learning; it follows that teachers and educators should be the ones that help to guide that interest to the most fruitful and beneficial point.
Education should equip children to uncover answers, but to enjoy that journey. Yes, it is good to find an answer efficiently, but it is just as important to discover things serendipitously, otherwise we will have a set of solutions but no contextual interest frame.
We as Educators should relish the opportunities to help young people make connections, using their ideas, enthusiasm and perspectives on life. We should encourage them to refine their focus, and allow their passion fuel their drive. We should help to link and connect things they are interested in (football) and things they aren’t (maths) in a way that helps them engage (league tables).
Our young people are standing on a diving board before the future. We don’t know how far the drop is, how deep the pool is or even, given the future conditions, if they can swim. The purpose of education, our purpose, is to help them make the best judgement possible. We can tell them that the water is deep, but if they don’t believe us, they won’t jump.
Stephen Lockyer, May 2012
(You can find out more about Purpos/Ed and the current campaign here.)
Shackleton’s Way by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell (Nicholas Brealey, £9.99, 2001)
(This is part of a regular series reviewing books outside of the realm of education, and looking at the impact they could have in a learning environment.)
Tagline
Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer
Lowdown
This has to be one of the most powerful, emotive and yet grounded books on Leadership I think I have ever read. The story of Sir Ernest Shackleton is both fascinating and inspirational, and I would urge you, if you haven’t already, to order this book, then come back and read the rest of the review.
Good. now that you have done that, I can explain how the book is written. The story is divided into linear sections, each sharing (using several accounts) the different parts of Shackleton’s adventure, from recruitment, to disaster, to salvation. Each section is carefully written, with clear pointers to his outstanding leadership. At the end of each chapter, the leadership lessons learnt are listed, bullet form.
Aside from the book being a very exciting read, the way that the authors have highlighted leadership qualities is this book’s best feature. It is concrete and understandable, and relates in a way that perhaps other books on leadership can’t.
While we can’t expect to relate everyday school life to the two year expedition and rescue mission Shackleton lead, his story has so many aspects that we can relate to (difficult staff, staving boredom, adjusting plans quickly and with confidence), this book will be inspirational to all who read it.
The Management Angle
The one thing a leader has are, by definition, followers. The simplest message any manager or leader can take from this book is that you need to give staff confidence to follow you. They should be so confident in your vision and understanding, they are willing to follow you through the darkest days, the biggest obstacles, the most treacherous routes. But how is this done? Surely the burden of responsibility is too much to manage this? That, sadly is your lot. To lead with strength, to lead with passion, means to represent your vision and direction as something you have complete conviction in. If this is not the case, your followers will have doubts, and challenge your vision. That is not to suggest that you can’t take advice, be guided or even ask for help, but this needs to be done with thought and care.
The Teacher Angle
The model of leadership in a classroom can frequently be misinterpreted and incredibly wrong. It is invariably an older person, standing at the front, telling others what to do next. The model of leadership Shackleton offers puts this on its head. He dealt with old and young, he listened as much as he spoke, and he entrusted his crew to advice him as to the best path for his direction of the voyage. In class, we use children ad hoc as leaders, but it is for almost intangible things, errands and lining up. This gives each person an experience of leadership, but only in a very diluted version. What if you asked a group of children to lead the learning on an area of a topic? If you feel that this would be too hard for them, then the essential elements which are missing are exactly those skills you need to develop in the pupils in order to help them to succeed. Sometimes putting children out of their depth does exactly the same thing for the teacher. Take your lessons out of the shallow water and see what happens.
The Pupil Angle
A powerful aspect of Shackleton’s story is that each crew member was vital, and each had something to contribute to the crew as a whole – even the most difficult member. Shackleton used two very clever systems to engender a spirit of togetherness and a level playing field – rotational pairs and cross-skills. He devised schedules which ensured that you almost always worked with someone different for every shift, creating a stronger bond among all than divisive pairings. He also made each half of the crew (sailing/scientist) learn the other halves skills, so scientists would take turns on the ship’s wheel, and sailors would test samples for chemicals. Both these things are possible in a classroom, and both are brilliant at finding hidden talents, breaking down factions, and adding an element which is both intangible and also hard to identify – empathy.
Best quote
“There was nothing petty in his own nature. The one thing he demanded was cheerfulness from us all; and was he received from every man serving under him was absolute loyalty.” L. Hussey, meteorologist, Endurance
Ponder now
Who do you look up to in your life? What do you really admire about them? Have you ever asked them how they do what they do so well? What is stopping you?
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (Random House Books, £17.99, 2006)
(This is part of a regular series reviewing books outside of the realm of education, and looking at the impact they could have in a learning environment.)
Tagline
How Endless Choice is Creating Unlimited Demand
Lowdown
This book has been on my periphary for some years now, and when I saw it in a local OXFAM shop, I snapped it right up. The concept of the Long Tail is simple, and yet this book doesn’t feel at all like it it is drawn out over 233 pages, as is the case with some other ‘concept’ books. It suggests, giving proven and credible evidence, that there is now more value beyond the top ten of any film, game, album, booklist. Anderson noticed that in the online age, endless virtual shelves allow consumers to be incredibly specific about purchases, and this is reflected in sales. While the top 100 books get the headlines, with more than a million titles available from Amazon, the actual profit comes from the titles much much further down the lists. Specialism supports the high sellers. The author has a very clam and easy writing style, and has made the idea very accessible, with clever ideas and examples we can all relate to. My edition of the book is 2006, and it is also interesting to see how out-dated some of the examples are – if anything, the Long Tail is even easier to witness in 2012 than six years ago. How is The Long Tail relevant to Education however? To me, this book reflected what any good practitioner actually realises – whatever is heralded as the best new skill practice is actually supported much further down the line by solid, inspired and interesting work which doesn’t get the attention. We are lucky that in our age of social media, teaching is a profession so keen to share, and this in turn gives us access to ideas, concepts and projects which even five years ago, would have been much harder to seek out. Those in charge of Policy need to recognise that while the big noises get most attention, the larger sway of influence is in our Long Tail – that of thousands of classes across the country.
The Management Angle
A parent once shared a brilliant expression with me – “it’s the squeakiest wheel which gets the most oil” – and that is never more true with staff too. There are staff who make a lot of noise, drama and fuss, and often end up getting their own way. There are others who are busy, productive and utterly dedicated, and they are favoured. What the Long Tail reflects on is the value that ALL staff have on the school as a body. Granted, the impact of one or two might be greater, but it is the cumulative effect of all teachers (noisy, professional or otherwise) which actually makes your school what it is. Just as the Long Tail celebrates the niche, do likewise as a manager. Identify key core skills from each of your staff, and celebrate them, sharing with others the strengths you have identified. Everyone wants recognition; not everyone is able to demonstrate this. Part of your job as a manager is to seek this out and celebrate it too.
The Teacher Angle
Every class has the big hitters, the superstars. Kirsty can be relied upon to finish her homework, learn her lines, knows all her tables and brings her PE kit to school every week without fail. She, and the others like and around her, are your Big Top, but the bulk of any class is your long tail. Where are their strengths, and do the others even know or recognise these strengths? The Long Tail message for a teacher is essentially to celebrate the diverse niche in your classroom. A few simple skill Venn diagrams, created by the children, ensuring that they are in the intersection, can begin a culture of identifying skill, and celebrating diversity. A classes’ strength is not in its uniformity, but rather in its bandwidth of culture.
The Pupil Angle
Choice is a tricky concept, but not as tricky as rejecting choice. Offer a child three paints to use or some free painting, they will likely use all three. Offer five, they will want to use them all too. Rejecting choices is about accepting what is on offer, and making a careful value judgement on what the actual choice is. The easiest way to begin this is to experiment with ‘blind rejection’ – given a choice of activities, choose beforehand to either reject the first or last. How did that make you feel? Only by reflecting on the impact of making the rejection choices can we actually determine what some of the right ones are. No-one says this is going to get easier, as any adult with 92 car insurance quotes to select from will attest, but with practise and reflection, making choices will get better. The Long Tail predicts that before long, choice will potentially become infinite. The faster you can improve this key skill, the better.
Best quote
“The question tomorrow will not be whether more choice is better, but rather what do we really want? On the infinite aisle, everything is possible.”
Ponder now
What is the Long Tail in your life – what do you see as big priorities, and what are the niches that keep you going? Where are you on the Long Tail at school, and why do you think this is?
This is from rule two of Parkinson’s famous range of theories, the first being that work fills to the time allowed (if you have 90 days to complete a project, you will complete it in… 90 days).
Bike Shed Theory suggests that the smaller the imprtance of an item on an agenda, the more time is spent on it. Parkinson himself gave the example that a committee would approve a Nuclear power Station more quickly than the colour of a bike shed. The understanding behind this is that a bike shed, and colours, are well within everyone’s comprehension and as a result of that, most people would be happy to share their, subjective, opinions.
Bike Shed Theory pervades education, and drains many schools and staff of energy, enthusiasm and initiative. The trick here is simply to recognise Bike Shed events as soon as they appear on the horizon, and announce the intention of the event, recognising that everyone is likely to have an opinion.