Culture and Anarchy

Don't panic, as Douglas Adams ensured was emblazoned upon the cover of the Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy. The title is not leading us down the route of a rant about what it may seem. I'm simply reading a book that I barely understand - it's far too clever and allusional for a pleb like me - but which seems to contain some gems; wonderful quotes and sound ideas.

Apart from being a poet - the third best of the Victorian era, apparently - Matthew Arnold was a progressive, for his day, Educationalist, which is a bit like a junglist. It even has a movement. But not a massive. He was a bit god-loving for my liking, but it seems that his ideas were very ahead of his time, and that they were later adopted, as a means of stopping violent proletarian revolution (mild sarcasm).

Anyhoo. Here are some delectable selectables from google the book:

One has often wondered whether upon the whole earth there is anything so unintelligent, so unapt to perceive how the world is really going, as an ordinary young Englishman of our upper class.

Less about education that our current government. Sorry.

Culture, then, is a study of perfection, and perfection which insists on becoming something rather than in having something, in an inward condition of the mind and spirit, not in an outward set of circumstances.

Let's strive for perfection, unattainable excellence. Why not?

New Day

Much exciting and interesting news this week. The main thrust of the blog was going to be homage to Arsene Wenger, in honour of his consistency and longevity, the way he has stuck to his footballing values, playing the game the right way. A mildly unfortunate, yet amusing, result yesterday has put paid to that riff, however. It would have been predictable - sustainability, building for the future and keeping the ball on the floor are much more important than flashy short term fixes, spending millions on identikit midfielder players or hoofing the ball into the box endlessly.

Yes, I'm talking about the team you support, if you support one. And, yes, it's what I say every week, just a different metaphor.

However, we have an exciting and potentially productive new start this week. You're all sacked, and we've hired some robots.  We have, much less frighteningly, two members of the LSW team joining us, to be used creatively, and to hopefully have a powerful impact across the ability ranges and year groups. I'm really looking forward to this - details will be following on email, and in discussions over the next week or two as we work out how to make this new day a bright and happy one. (Apologies, that was a tenuous metaphor entirely to work in this song.)

We can now move on, creating a new culture, and I'm really pleased we're getting some new faces in to provide dedicated support. For all the technology in the world, I'd much rather have people.

Let's make sure we think out side of the box of cliché with this opportunity. A flexible and thoughtful (that's alliterative when you speak like me) approach to this staffing change will allow us to make the most of what we already do well, and what we need to do to move on further.

Lastly,  let's keep pushing revision on a Wednesday, promoting revision on the anthology texts, and ensuring that we teach to the best of our ability at all times. Everything else is meaningless if we don't do that.

A Powerful Weapon

Not a nudge-nudge wink-wink title. Honest guv. It's a quote from early in this video.

And it is. What we do is powerful - transformative. Life-changing, life-affirming. 

It should never be like this. It sounds like hell. We need to track, to be accountable, to know where our students are, and where they could be, with a little more. If you feel that we're going too far that way, tell me. Instantly and bluntly. Please.

There is a telling comment from a student below that article. She talks about the pressures on students, how teachers pass, unwittingly (mostly) their pressures to students, pressing them to make statistically meaningful progress. Look at our pupils. Consider the pressure they're placed under. 

Frankly, I think it's unfair. We have a duty to ameliorate the effects of this pressurised system, to diffuse, somehow, the pressure which filters down through the system. If, at every level - SLT, Middle Management, teachers - we take off some of these rough edges, we'll be doing ourselves and our pupils a massive service.

Let's keep things simple, straightforward, tight and well-structured. Speak openly with each other, and with me, about the pressures, about backlogs of work or marking; if we do this, we can deal with it. If we don't, we can't. 

It's the business end of the year now, so let's get to it. Be creative - take the lead, act autonomously in how you approach lessons, pupils, specific bands. Don't be afraid to book the LSC and lecture some whilst doing focused work with others. Don't even feel you have to ask for permission. Just do it. 

Progress or Process?

We had some very pleasant results this week, but, personally, I've been more encouraged by the burgeoning attendance at revision, with so many sets represented. Let's keep pushing this. When we look back, steps along the way, however impressive they may sound statistically, will count for little if we can't say we did everything we could to achieve the best.

How we get there is at least as important as the destination. I'd rather arrive late, in style, knowing I did things properly, than make a loud entrance, screaming look at me, only to discover I'd neglected to dress the lower half of my body. At all. If you know what I mean.

We've got where we are with consistency, focus, team work, a lack of ego. We haven't taught to the test. We've engaged, challenged and pushed. This is what needs to continue. There's a higher mission to teaching; it's easily lost in this Babylon system of percentages and accountability.

As a wise man once said, we need to make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be.

House of Cards

The title is just an excuse to point you in the direction of House of Cards, which is an amazing political drama set in Washington, featuring Kevin Spacey as a Machiavellian politico at the centre of an intriguing plot. Watch it.

Also, it makes me think about where we stand now, as a team (and as a school, I suppose, but that's slightly outside my remit!). I won't waste my time exploring the metaphor of the House of Cards. It's pretty clear, and reminds me of the biblical story of the man building his house on sand, or modern tales such as building mass dwellings on flood plains or land that was reclaimed from the sea in the Middle Ages (see the Somerset Levels and most of Holland). 

We've made great progress - steady and sustained - over the last few years; looking at the recent work on schemes, tracking, differentiation and marking, this will continue. However, I wish to warn against complacency, and against doing things which aren't sustainable, undertaking endeavours which seem to have an immediate impact, but leave no lasting legacy. Such actions would be short-termist and selfish. Our actions, whether aimed at each other or at pupils, must be focused on selflessness and long-term gain. Sure, we can work for short-term goals, as we are with revision and intervention, but our long term priorities must be the ultimate focus.

The long-term priorities are what will ensure that the current year seven are going to achieve their potential, that any teachers joining us, in September this year or a year later, are able to hit the ground running. 

We live in a culture of immediacy. I fundamentally disagree with this culture, seeing its pernicious influence all around. Many of the behaviours which challenge us are, I believe, a result of this culture. The only way to fight a hegemonic culture is to refuse compliance, to play your own game - we make the rules.