Comments from the recent Incyte narrative discussion led by Meena Wood following the launch of her excellent book: Secondary Curriculum Transformed -Enabling All to Achieve

17:32:47 From Emma hollis : The level of investment in that period was such that the implementation of that 14-19 model was unsustainable…in the post Covid world a funding led model of curriculum will be at the heart of the discussion…it will be interesting to see how the next funding formula will reflect these issues

17:33:02 From joannagoodman : We have this fixation that all children have to jump of the same hoops at the same time

17:34:06 From joannagoodman : jump over

17:37:05 From Janet Dinsmore : Culture in most schools is driven by the structures and timetables rather than the pupils and the rapidly changing world

17:37:12 From Meena Wood : agreed Emma - funding is at core of the curriculum and 14-19 diplomas were providing long term VfM as the YP were progressing successfully and with successful outcomes in the pilot .

17:39:09 From joannagoodman : Relevance is one of the key issues

17:41:25 From Emma hollis : Yes Meena - I was both a LA 14-19 advisor and Consortium manager and it was a dreadfully painful period for so many - I think it has left significant scars and created anxiety and reluctance around embracing new quals like the T levels (which are - I agree- a good model)

17:41:58 From Sophie Price : That would be lovely!

17:42:12 From joannagoodman : It’s also about raising the status of vocational qualifications

17:42:54 From Janet Dinsmore : Qualifications need to be universally valued, best not to discriminate between them at all.

17:43:15 From Gulshan Kayembe : Agreed Janet.

17:43:28 From joannagoodman : Absolutely

17:43:30 From Mike Carter : Same in Lithuania on status of Teachers all been vaccinated. They are held in high esteem.

17:44:02 From dave g : As I said last time vocational and academic education must have parity and be woven into each other

17:44:26 From Meena Wood : Agreed that voc quals shld have parity of esteem ,

17:44:27 From Mike Carter : Give practitioners real ownership to effect change.

17:45:58 From Janet Dinsmore : We need to encourage school leaders to do whats best for their communities , stick their necks out !!

17:46:12 From Meena Wood : agreed Janet

17:46:37 From Mike Carter : affect Oops

17:46:39 From Kate Richards : I agree - whilst the accountability systems are predicated on EBacc etc. it is a brave school which rejects it

17:46:42 From Janet Dinsmore : Blow the tables, they wont exist for the next two years

17:49:06 From dave g : Yes we mustn't be driven by data

17:49:50 From sandra Teacher : for those who remember- The Rose Review put personal development at its heart.

17:50:50 From Joanna's iPhone : match teaching to where they are

17:51:13 From Meena Wood : Thank you Chris - Loved your passion and wanting to make a difference >

17:51:16 From Caroline McKee to Christopher Wade(Direct Message) : brilliant Chris!

17:52:47 From Meena Wood : our curriculum creates the disadvantage gap lack of equity and level playing field

17:54:14 From Kate Richards : agree Mick

17:55:27 From Janet Dinsmore : Most teachers are passionate and so are most pupils, harnessing it is more difficult. How flexible can our systems be??

17:56:00 From sandra Teacher : we need to lobby ministers

17:56:50 From Emma hollis : Lobbying is happening through ASCL and NAHT - the forgotten 3rd project is focussed fully on the disfunctionality of the current GCSE

17:56:59 From Joanna's iPhone : students need to have more ownership of learning and move on when ready

17:57:18 From Meena Wood : where there's a will theres a way and lobbying is one way of govt and unions so that educationalists are given their full say

17:57:35 From Sophie Price : There needs to be a united voice to challenge the gov, from unions, industry, etc.

17:57:46 From Meena Wood : agreed Sophie

17:57:56 From Emma hollis : There is a serious problem with the way in which educational professionals are treated - voices become silenced of their voices become too controversial - some of this behaviour is brutal

17:58:19 From Meena Wood : Agreed emma

17:58:25 From Emma hollis : Kindness, empathy and colleagiality all critical

17:58:34 From dave g : I would like to see a curriculum that has very flexible pathways, a mandatory life and work/business/civicskills core, continuous assessment with external moderation. The Finnish model of incorporating critical thinking and Meena's points about the skiils such as oracy would be built into all subjects. There could be more use in lower years of theme-based learning not subject based.

17:58:51 From Sophie Price : Teachers need more time to go out and see what other schools are doing - it is easy to become insular

17:59:12 From Emma hollis : Meena- love your book - this it is a truly intelligent and considered review - have been recommending it

18:00:19 From Emma hollis : Yes Sophie - and we need to build professional respect which ensures that one trust/group does not feel threatened by the ideas of another- the Challenge Partners peer review structure has achieved a great deal in promoting this kind of work

18:00:52 From Michael Walker : I think we should be clearer about terms such as ‘the curriculum’. The curriculum is much more than the study of subjects.

18:00:53 From Fatiha Maitland : Careers guidance needs to change from primary to prepare children for the future. The curriculum needs to be relevant and creative.

18:00:55 From Meena Wood : agreed but schools are constrained in any case by the curriculum so lobbying is key and professional respect is key

18:00:57 From Sophie Price : Thanks Emma, I've not heard of that - will look

18:02:10 From Mike Carter : Early Years delivers the curriculum we are talking about and as they progress through their education they become more straitjacketed.

18:02:52 From Gulshan Kayembe : Mike - good point - its absolutely what we need.

18:03:12 From Mike Carter : :)

18:03:23 From Michael Walker : The key question for me is what SHOULD be the purpose of schools. What do we want to pass on to our young people?

18:03:24 From Joanna's iPhone : meta-learning

18:03:41 From Gulshan Kayembe : The UAE inspection framework 'learning' is fabulous - that is what we need.

18:03:49 From Meena Wood : Thank you Emma for your kind words about the book - so pleased that you enjoyed it.

18:04:37 From Michael Walker : Interesting re the oracy. anyone remember the Bullock Report - language across the curriculum? Where did that go?

18:04:59 From Janet Dinsmore : Huge opportunity to reassess flexible learing as schools return

18:05:20 From Gulshan Kayembe : Absolutely Michael Walker and oracy is being pushed out by Knowledge and content

Can we really expect students to take responsibility for their own learning

February 18, 2021

Dr. Tassos Anastasiades

Leadership at Finnish School of Kosovo

Do we really believe that students can take responsibility for their own learning with curriculum standards mapped like a learning ladder? Do we really trust that students can navigate with personal accountability for progress and provide us with evidence of learning - sometimes out of the box?

Education in schools was designed to have a curriculum, an assessment strategy, teaching or instruction, data, and if there is time, schools may address the issue of how students think or learn – usually by chance. Is this not the case in most schools?

Collaboration in classrooms is now being recognised as a more effective way of giving every student the opportunity to learn cognitively and creatively being challenged by peers and teachers, using digital technology and social media to enable asynchronous collaboration, allowing students to access learning objectives at their own pace, adding their own thinking, and being able to observe, sit back, internalise, and then offer strategic ideas according to what they know and when they are ready. 

Teachers are finding that all learners definitely have something to contribute if allowed to work at their own pace as this allows them to develop more self-confidence and self-belief when they are empowered and challenged but not forced to learn. They begin to internalise and develop their own true meaning and relevance of the learning and why!?

For the majority of the time in many schools the focus is on covering the curriculum rather than than what kinds of things students are going to be thinking about and how they’ll prove to you that they understand the concepts. 21st-century, media, information-rich (digital and non-digital) environments now makes knowledge available instantly so why spend our time regurgitating what is in the book?

As the class is allowed to become more creative, more student led, more about students developing their own projects around the intended learning objectives, recalling, defining, analysing, creative thinking, critical thinking, communicating and asserting their points of view, challenging - the real 21st century skills become more prevalent. The skills that will help them succeed in this unpredictable post COViD era where we are all being blinded by the concept of virus mutation and are still being told of how to kill the virus? Can we kill a virus?

Dare we increase flexibility of the curriculum so that it is not age related?

Increased curriculum flexibility is essential if every student is to learn effectively and meaningfully.  Learners can now learn at any time and any place and progress at their own rates irrespective of their age. Students do not and cannot learn at the same pace. And therefore, I suggest cannot all be measured by one tool - the terminal test or examination.

All teachers are aware of this. They know the A grade students - and they also know their F students however much support they give them. But they also know that their F students might be the most enthusiastic, make the most progress, have wonderfully positive attitudes and personalities - great communicators, spatial thinkers - until it comes to this final 'test". Universities have moved on - yet they are still looking for the grades to enter - or at least some of them are, correct me if I am wrong please.

Curriculum references are still important and should still be in place ( essential ) so that individuals are challenged at their level, however there is nothing wrong with students of different ages working at with different curriculum levels.  Every student progresses over time through using same of the curriculum objectives.  Students are assessed against the progress they make regardless of their starting points. Every student is expected to make above expected progress – ideally with feedback every 6 weeks.

The way to maximise learning is to challenge learners in a way that is achievable and improves their self-esteem and confidence because they can enjoy success.  If they are not ready or motivated – how can they succeed? Its like being asked to jump a 2 metre high jump when you have just enthusiastically reached one metre through small increments - because your age says you must be able to!

The good news is that many countries are structuring their curricula  into “steps” through which all students progress and using learner evidence to measure progress. The future is about learning and versatility using 21st century skills to develop core competencies such as collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking, and problem-solving that will help students thrive in today's world rather than holding students  to the same age-based expectations  

However there is still a strong argument that we should treat all students equally irrespective of their individual differences except the same from all and work with each student’s current learning needs to help them 'catch up"

I would be keen to hear your comments please.

Evidence of students working document as they begin to collect evidence their own learning as well as being challenged and inspired be the teacher.

Seven transversal competences have been identified in Finland that are seen as especially essential for participating in today’s and tomorrow’s society. If we use these in every day learning tasks, they will become second nature. Even by the process of peer and self assessing....as they are recognizing their own strengths and ... appreciating themselves.

Vilhelmiina Harju ja Hannele Niemi suggests that:

"With transversal competences, education aims to support students’ growth as human beings, enhance competences needed for participating in democratic society, and support the development of a sustainable way of living. It is also essential to support students in recognizing their own strengths and developmental possibilities and in appreciating themselves."

Can students becoming involved in creating their own projects / learning environments become a reality ....

"Students are encouraged to join the planning and creation of teaching and different school projects, and their viewpoints are taken into account in developing schools’ learning environments".

The transverse competencies include, for example, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration skills, cultural competence, and information and communication technology (ICT) skills.

Abolishing GCSEs is a must

if inclusivity is to be achieved

By Malcolm Greenhalgh

So many of us suffer significant frustration about the unfairness of the current education system in England. Not only does it not prepare our children for the demands of the dynamic, forward thinking century in which we live, it continually fails to reach a significant number of learners (probably the majority) who see school as a daily grind that they would prefer not to endure. For too many there is little excitement, stimulation, or opportunity to be creative and to think outside the box, little opportunity to help them to take ownership over their own destination…………

The key thing is that the curriculum in England focuses on teacher-centred education and misses the whole point that is being made by current educationalists around the world. Mainly, that effective education is not done to the learner (all ages are relevant here under the guise of Lifelong Learning) but with the learner so that responsibility, ownership, and decision making (built on such things as critical thinking and problem solving) are shared experiences. It is the only true route to fully engage all and to achieve a fully inclusive system that all can thrive within.

Abolishing GCSEs (and high-stake SATs) will open the door to much greater freedom for schools to develop high quality formative assessment systems moderated at different levels and validated. It will enable learners to follow their dreams in a constructive and profitable way. Those that believe this is impossible need to just look outside the straight jacket of the current English education system and conduct some basic research on those educators in England that are already developing and exploring new systems, and organisations such as PISA which is experimenting with new comparative tests putting much greater emphasis on learner skills rather than content knowledge. The IB is also seen as a 21st century model of education, not perfect, but which can be built on and tinkered with to give birth to similar ways of creating new 21st century education systems. Countries like Finland, which doesn’t have high stakes exams at 16, allows exploration by their local authorities to provide education that meets the needs of the local communities but also allows students to create their own learning pathways. All of these are just some examples that demonstrate what is possible if you have the courage of your convictions, are passionate about meeting the needs of an all through expansive education system and want to provide 21st century thinkers to the workplace. Industry is constantly telling us that this is what they are looking for.

Caroline and I have had the privilege of testing out these ideas in many schools, over many years and in many different countries. Our own evidence shows that when all the things needed are in place within a learner-centred education, the learning experiences of the learners are amazing to see.  Once you have seen it happen and turn the corner there is no going back to what is an inferior, unequal system of education which is not inclusive. Those learners turned off school because of the system (for whatever reason) will never have their needs met as things stand at the moment. And by this, we do not mean those learners with special needs, but in fact all leaners. 

Fortunately, we do have some fantastic schools doing a great job meeting the individual needs of the learners they support through learner-centred approaches.  And, as we develop new approaches, we need to consider that every learner has special needs and a learner-centred approach to education is the only way that these needs can be fully identified and supported effectively.

It has always disturbed us that learning journeys with clearly identified success criteria are kept secret. Thus, enabling the teacher to insert control over learning as the ‘font of all knowledge’ and imparting a belief that they know best.  Without close discussion with the learner this approach can never be a success for all because it is impossible, under a teacher-centred approach to learning, for teachers to know exactly where each learner is at any one time.  The ‘teacher knows best’ approach just doesn’t work as a stand-alone solution.

The critical thing we have learnt during our personal experiences is that if the learners are allowed to take ownership through self and peer evaluation their learning skills excel and their outcomes are significantly enhanced. Various studies, which follow a learner-centred approach through to exams, demonstrate that outcomes in exams also improve significantly. Those schools we have worked with that are delivering high levels of learner-centred approaches have been extremely successful in all kinds of ways. But it must be said that their successes were not gained accidently. Success was always driven by the passion of the leaders who were determined to make a difference and to change the culture of learning in their schools. This is, however, a warning that has to be taken seriously because where the will and passion for change was only half-hearted the whole shift needed in learning culture momentum died a slow death. This was mainly because there were not enough examples created to convince the ‘doubters’ that sharing responsibility, increasing learning reflection time, making learning success criteria transparent and enabling high quality self and peer assessment actually does work. 

The blocking of cultural shift is a control action; not wanting to let go, being afraid of change and the impact that has on self. It keeps in place those that know no better than ‘this is how I was taught’ (and of course they have made a success of their adult lives) so why shouldn’t it be a successful way of approaching learning for all? Unfortunately, this approach also accommodates the idea that it doesn’t matter too much if some fail as long as the majority show some kind of advancement and success!  If this status quo attitude remains it simply means that the system of education that some of our learners have to suffer will never change. There is too much risk taking needed. Controllers and those that comply with them, are just not risk-takers and feel much more comfortable living and breathing within the structures that currently exist! They feel that they have too much to lose. 

Maths is probably one of the best examples you can use to demonstrate why the current education system fails in England.  Rote learning is probably the most common action for learners to enable them to succeed at tests.  However, because rote learner is just remembering what you are told to remember rather than something that needs to be applied or connected in a way that is relevant to the learner the facts become isolated which means they are more difficult to learn. As a result, how much time do teachers spend going over the same outcomes of methods to get the right answer? How much time is needed to make sure the answers they give in exams follow the right pattern? How much tutoring is needed to reinforce this so that the learner does pass the exam?

It will be interesting to know who will be the students that reap outcome benefits from the millions being spent on the current tutoring programme. I suspect that this may not be something we really get to hear about in its fullness as those that provide services for the tutoring programme are wrapped up in contracts that will bring them significant income over the next year or so especially if the programmes continue, which they are! 

There are of course many other serious questions to consider. How much of the content knowledge learners retain for the exam is lost within weeks of the test taking place? How much of what actually sticks is then useful later on if they have not really understood the concepts? Are just two.  

Caroline and I had an interesting experience when we launched a Hungarian company to work on education projects in Budapest. Our understanding of the bits of impact evidence we gathered together over time began to make sense and all came together in a secondary school we were working with.  We couldn’t understand why large proportions of the students were in class (not playing hooky by the way) but were fully turned off learning no matter how hard the teachers tried.  Most teachers took the easier route of ignoring the inattentiveness as the behaviour was simply passive rather than disruptive.  Finally, in discussion with school leaders, we eventually realised the main reason for this was that well over 50% of the curriculum time over the year was spent revising. Repeating, time and time again, the processes that had already failed to stimulate the learners, just to try to ensure they passed the important tests. It was not surprising, therefore, that the students were bored into passivity!  Interestingly, the graduate Hungarians we employed were extremely bright in their knowledge and skills but getting them to think outside the box to adapt their learning to reality situations was not easy – they just weren’t used to it. Neither were they happy to make constructive criticisms of their peers or challenge any of our thinking….to begin with!     

These are just a few of the many reasons why we are so much in favour of removing the GCSE system. But we also go further than that. We need to stop schools from being judged on ‘all standardised assessments’ and certainly not comparing attainment on entry to Reception at 3 or 4 years old, with outcomes at the end of Year 6 (11-year-olds) – this will just close the curriculum down even further. The breadth of primary education over the last 20 years or more has been decimated by these kinds of changes.  So, in relation to this, it was interesting to talk to a colleague recently about the Early Years work she is doing in China. It demonstrated the eagerness of the Chinese to change the implementation of their curriculum model to a more learner-centred approach from the bottom up.  It will take many years for them to achieve the outcomes they want to achieve but then the Chinese don’t work with short-term (1 – 5 year) plans.

Our blindness in England to the long-standing failed education system is a travesty for so many learners who leave school without the skills of learning, without a desire to learn and with a lack of motivation to make a positive contribution to society.

Current education policy is too focused on a quick fix for all which fails to meet the needs of a high proportion of learners in our schools. Rather than a backward thinking approach we need a forward-thinking long-term plan to take us into the 22nd century.

The negative cost burden on the country as a whole of our current education system is incalculable.

The changes needed to turn this around to ensure our school leavers have the key skills to keep pace with the educational development of forward-thinking countries around the world need to be driven by educationalists, practitioners and academics, and should not be driven by politically motivated individuals regardless of which party they belong to.

It is time for radical change to take place in a structured manageable way.

A challenge to the curriculum: what are we going to do about the ‘isms’?

By Gulshan Kayembe

Growing up in Britain in the late 60s and 70s, I was constantly reminded of my racial identity – if it wasn’t abuse shouted across the street or the school playground, it was some daft question or statement such as ‘your dad is going to marry you off as soon as you’re old enough isn’t he?’ or even better ‘the British Empire did a lot of good in India’. So, I grew up very aware of how race featured in the mindsets of those around me and how race, the colour of my skin, factored into white responses, and the prejudice and discrimination that were all too evident, even to my young eyes. I forget how many adults in my primary school looked at me and double checked, with almost comical disbelief brushed across their faces: ‘so you passed the 11+?’. Of course. I was bright. Still, somehow, that I’d passed a test to get into a grammar school created cognitive dissonance in their minds; I’d beaten the odds in a roulette game where the punter always loses.

Roll on much further forward, and, I’d gotten to the point of thinking that ‘poverty’, the issues of wealth distribution with resultant deprivation were the most major barriers to equality for any disadvantaged group. I have to say that the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, and more recent debates I’ve been involved in or listened to, has made me begin to re-think the extent to which making us more ‘equal’ wealth wise would actually solve the problem of racism. My more recent reflections make me wonder whether the barriers to good jobs, routinely encountered by those who are not white, make it impossible to eliminate wealth inequality.

Class has always been of particular interest to me. I come from a country where, through the system of caste, class has become more systemically embedded in culture and social practices than probably anywhere else in the world; Sikhism was almost ‘invented’ to try to defeat the Hindu caste system (if you want to understand the behaviour of many wealthy Indian Hindus, and we have a few prominent ones in British society today, then look no further than the idea of caste to see how it shapes their mindsets as high caste Hindus). I’ve grown up in a Sikh household that tried to live up to the ideals of class and gender equality inscribed and proscribed in the Guru Granth Sahib (the Sikh Holy Book).  This shaped my thinking and inculcated a strong sense of social justice from an early age – in effect ever since I can remember. So, it goes against the grain to ignore or to skim over prejudice and discrimination on the basis of any background. And actually, my antipathy to the notion of ‘cultural capital’, as its been promoted in education today i.e. as a Govism based on the kind of education provided in places such as Eton, stems as much from a class perspective as it does a race one. Instead of actually paying front line workers a decent wage, we tell them and their children that to get on in life, they need to have an elitist curriculum.

There are a number of really useful outcomes from the BLM movement that, I think, help us to further understand, unpack and, hopefully, address bias, discrimination, disadvantage beyond race. For example, the idea of systemic and structural barriers is as relevant to gender, class and disability…etc as it is to race. There’s helpful language, such as ‘microaggressions’, which enables dialogue and explains the narratives around different types of prejudice and discrimination; white fragility – apply for example to male fragility when talking about feminism; ‘white privilege’ – apply that to class and class privilege etc. They also help to tackle the propaganda that seeks to create false counter-narratives around class, race and gender – and it’s not just Trump and his America that are creating these - plenty of people are doing it here in the UK, and other parts of the world.  

Just picking up on race, gender and class, I don’t think the Cambridge Dictionary does anywhere near the justice needed to explain the extent of systemic, historical power structures that try and keep us all in our place. That’s about three quarters of the population. The contribution of the ‘church’ across Europe, including in the UK, needs not to be underestimated; a man-made construct with missionaries in colonies wielding power across the world played a massive role in keeping the masses down financially and educationally, particularly women….or maybe witches?

The intersectionality between race, class and gender is crucial – they all intersect or cross over. I’ve always felt particularly strongly about trying to look at race without the filters of class and gender.  If you do, then the resultant analysis basically takes everything down to the lowest denominator – the worst stereotypes of gender and class mapped across race and accepted as the ‘facts’ about people who are black or brown; ‘they can’t speak English’ ‘they only come here to take our benefits’ and of men, all too frequently, ‘they are sexist’ ‘misogynists’ and brown women are widely consider to be subjugated and suppressed. The surprise, shock even, when I open my mouth to speak – remember I’m meant to be ‘subjugated’ – means having no voice or the capacity to exercise one; don’t even ask about the reaction when I swear! These biased, one-sided narratives blind us to the reality, and extent, of gender equality – have a read of Mary Beard’s Women and Power: a scholarly analysis of gender identity and discrimination from a formidable ally.  

My experiences and ruminations constantly underpin my reflections about education and the role it needs to play in eliminating discrimination and all the ‘isms’. If we are going to support schools with the curriculum, its purpose and why we are teaching what we are, we need to be able to move across and between all these ‘isms’ including where intersectionality comes into play – for example, why are class and education more of an issue for boys? And, we need to ask why across particular racial groups, such as black Caribbean, boys in particular underachieve? And white, working class boys? Why is it that London bucks the national trend when it comes to the achievement of disadvantaged or pupil premium pupils? How come poverty and deprivation don’t play the same role? Or do they? Michael Sandal explores some of these issues in his book: The Tyranny of Merit and shares interesting perspectives about what he calls ‘credentialism’. Its well worth a read. And his work, along with many others, help us to produce counter-narratives about class, race, gender…and at the points of intersection or cross-over between these.

The BLM movement should help us sharpen our thinking and our resolve around all injustices and to be working even harder to eliminate any prejudice and discrimination; it should make us think with greater clarity what true inclusion actually looks like – for everyone.

It’s a brave world out there that is working to produce an anti-racist curriculum; in truth we need a curriculum that is equally anti-sexist and anti-classist, and indeed inclusive of LGBTQ+ and SEN and disability…..and so on and so forth. Most of all we need to keep in mind the quote from Te Whariki, the New Zealand bi-cultural early years curriculum: ‘I come not with my own strengths but the gifts, talents and strengths of my family tribe and ancestors.’ In other words, we need to value every single child and know they come with gifts and strengths that need to be nurtured not white washed or overlayed by what ignorant policy makers may tell us is good for them. And absolutely no, this does not mean lowering our expectations or reducing our children’s aspirations whatever their starting points. It means doing more, and stepping up what we do.

2nd half of the Autumn Term 2020 - Incyte’s school support work

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Tameside - EfM safeguarding audits

Secondary School, Gloucestershire - school improvement partner support

Secondary School, Medway - school review

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Waltham Forest - EfM safeguarding audits

Secondary School, Somerset - Inspire..2..Learn

Secondary School, Bristol - SLT training on self-evaluation

Secondary School, Somerset - school improvement partner support

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Kent - EfM safeguarding audits

Secondary School, Berkshire - middle leader on line mentoring

Primary School, Portsmouth - school review

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Southwark - EfM safeguarding audits

Special School, south west - review of SLT structure

Junior School, Portsmouth - school review

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Lewisham - EfM safeguarding audits

Secondary School, Herefordshire - performance management review

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Blackburn - EfM safeguarding audits

Secondary School, Bristol - safeguarding provision support

All-through School, London - mathematics support

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Nottingham - EfM safeguarding audits

Primary School, London - performance management review

Secondary School, Somerset - safeguarding audit

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Wolverhampton - EfM safeguarding audits

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Islington - EfM safeguarding audits

Secondary School, Gloucestershire - school improvement partner support

Secondary School, Somerset - Inspire..2..Learn

Secondary, Primary and Special Schools, Tower Hamlets - EfM safeguarding audits

4th November 2020 Race at Work

We are proud to have joined the Race at Work Charter

BITC Race Equality #ChangeCurriculumDirectionNow#freebitesizeseminars #leadership #diversity #diversityandinclusion #inclusion #equality #womensequalityday #womenleaders #equalitycantwait

@BITCRaceatwork

November 2020 Free Bite-size one hour educational seminars - various topics

We are delighted to continue our autumn seminars having had excellent feedback from the October seminars. Please see below the seminars available this month and an application form attached.  All seminars begin at 4.30pm and are restricted to 16 participants to encourage discussion.

 5th   - Neurodiversity: raising awareness of the impact of prematurity on education

9th   - Making best use of classroom assistants – building successful partnerships

10th - Inspire2Mentor –  supporting pupils through training and support for staff

11th - Female Genital Mutilation – how does this fit with the RSHE curriculum?

16th - Middle Leaders to Senior Leaders – the paths to take.

17th - Learner centred education – Finland Style

18th - Developing school timetables – ensuring the best use of support staff.

19th - Early Years – latest updates and reforms to encourage best practice

24th - Getting the best from your staff - effective performance management/

structure, deliver and evaluate

25th - Deep Dives – the best methodology

26th - Secret Gardens and Racecourses – the curriculum in a time of uncertainty

The style of seminar we deliver is, as Chris Watkins put it:

Another important aspect of a narrative approach is shown when numbers of people tell their stories: the conversation develops richly. This is partly because “one story leads to another”, and when the stories are the narrator’s learning experiences, conflictual discussion is rare: respect for the authentic voice of the learner is common. It is also common that the conversation “rises above” the particular examples. As narrative therapists in other contexts have put it: “sharing is caring but meta is better” (Christofas et al, 1985). And this process builds a shared culture: as Pramling (2004) put it: “Language and narratives are constructions in groups that make individual memories into shared conceptual systems”.