Nurture 1415

There are a lot of blog posts reflecting on the last year, and while I am obsessively reflective I haven't taken the time to look at the wider picture and so this is my offering.

Looking back

1. Endings and beginnings

For me this is quite pertinent as the first point, least of all because it is the end of the year and start of another, but a lot of other things have ended and begun.  Firstly I started a new job at quite a different school.  I had been at my previous for 9 years where I worked my way through the middle management levels within the department.  I have come to look at my departure as the end of a good run and the time was right; quite simply I had outgrown the school.  My new post is at an independent school, and despite only being a term in, I have already felt a renewed drive and enthusiasm to become involved and be an integral part of the progress and development of the school - I am starting a small revolution!  Secondly, I finished, submitted and was successful in being awarded Master of Teaching with the Institute of Education.  It was a slog but the degree's structure has ignited a thirst for research at a higher level of academia that I hadn't considered before.  Thirdly and finally, my son started his own new school.  As a newly turned 4 year old this was the most challenging ending and beginning for me.

2. Public vs private: moving to the dark side

I confess that I knew close to nothing about the private sector, tending to believe the bitterness of those in the public sector about the moral and ethical views on free education, paying for grades, schools selecting the brightest and the best etc.  The opinion of many about my 'defection to the dark side' was I needed the professional respite care because it isn't 'real teaching', to be able to get my confidence back because 'it isn't really that difficult', to do the private school thing and then decide what was important to me because 'teaching is about giving something back'.  But, now that I have sold my soul, I can quite frankly say I love it!  My teaching is better than it has ever been, because I am actually teaching! The students are normal: they have just as many issues and struggles as any other young person.  I'm not proclaiming that private schools are in any way perfect, mine has its own pressures points, but I'm okay with that.

3.  'As a teacher every child matters but your own'

The TES article by Jo Brighthouse, posted by @jamie_thoms and a recent article by the Guardian's Secret Teacher really struck a cord with me.  I have always been determined to work, and I was described as feisty by the HT at my interview, but this year I have felt, keenly, how absent I am from my children.  I may finish early at the end of the term, and have longer holidays, but like every other teacher, I too have to work late during the week, commit to weekends throughout the year, attend events that don't finish until late.  I may be happier, less stressed and feel better and more confident about the profession, but I can't take my children to school, I can't pick them up from school, or attend their parents evenings.  Like other full time parents I work very hard, and my children have to learn to be independent and self-sufficient individuals which is the right thing, but it doesn't make life easy.

4. Twitter: 'underground and black market CPD'

I have been 'on twitter' for a few years now, hoping from frivolous to more professional followings.  I have to thank the professionals I follow for their oblivious inspiration for my Masters.  The idea to investigate SOLO taxonomy came from a post I saw; the work of Tait Coles @totallywired77 'Never mind the Inspectors, here's to Punk learning' (not to mention the touchy-feely cover!) shared some of my rhetoric about teaching; David Didau's blog The Learning Spy and Pam Hook @arti_choke both provided me with food for thought.  The power of twitter is remarkable and is becoming recognised as an emerging research method within the world of social media and micro-blogging.  Being able to share and develop my own PLN (Personal Learning Network) has been a significant contributor to the approached and strategies I use every day in my teaching.  Thank you Twitter!

Looking forward

1. 'Progress not perfection' Robert McCall, 'The Equalizer'

Neither my new school nor myself are perfect, but I hope to continue to progress as a practitioner and be part of the bigger picture for the school's development.  As a direct result of completing the MTeach, the trajectory of my career has changed from departmental leadership and management to whole school improvement through teaching and learning.  I have some high aspirations I want to achieve, some easier than others, but the biggest for me is to embrace research based teaching and learning: I want to be a Research Lead, set up a school improvement team which uses research to help departments develop and ultimately be part of the school's growth long term.  All this is thanks to the researchED conference led by Tom Bennett @tombennet71.  I attended the December conference at King's College, arriving late after getting lost in a bus lane, but the day was brilliant! I have signed up for the 2nd conference at Corpus Christi in March.  So excited!

2. researhED to PhD

Attending this conference was step 4 in my revolution.  Not only had we broken up for the holidays, but it was also a Saturday.  Prof Rob Coe pointed out that we were the converted, those attending the conference were the potentially the change agents for schools: that is a powerful acknowledgement.  He also made the point, as did Alex Quigley @HuntingEnglish and Carl Hendrick @C_Hendrick,  that there is no evidence that Research Leads actually make an impact: not because it doesn't work, but because this is so new, no current research is available.  I want to change this.  I have spent the last few weeks researching PhD or EdD programmes that I might join so that I can add to a body of research evaluating the impact of using research to promote school improvement.  This may be a pipe dream, but Rome wasn't built in a day!

3. 'I believe in an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out' Arthur Hays Sulzberger

Keeping an open mind was a tool I used to cope with changes and challenges from my previous post.  Now my open-mindedness is about embracing different ideas and ways of working.  When presented with a problem I solve it by accepting that I haven't got the answer, yet.  Being in a new school I am delighted on a daily basis; being a new member of staff but conversely a very experienced one I have had to keep an open mind in order to be delighted.  I hope that this doesn't change.

4. Capacity for improvement?

I can always be better than yesterday, but not as good as tomorrow.