I'm the 3rd President from Swindon following Matt Cammish, and Arthur Burke-Jones in the 1970's. Matt is in his 90's and was my own Headteacher at Secondary.
I had a wonderful working class upbringing in the 1950's and 60's and can remember a time before a television arrived for the 1958 Cup Final
My father and grandfather worked in the GWR. My Mum made the decisions for the family. There was always food on the table. After the privations of the second world war that was essential. The journey to freedom through the sacrifices of those who fought in that war are only too well understood last week, and some Royal Navy shipmates of my Dad's laid down their lives for it.
For many years when I was a child my Mum sat in bed early on a Sunday morning using beautiful copperplate writing and sums to ensure the bills were paid each week. I grew up thinking that there was a shop called 'apro' as Mum would come home with a pair of trousers or shirt and check if it fitted. It wasn't until I was much older I realized that she would go to the Co-op menswear in town and buy clothes for me 'on approval'.
I lived in a town which had a highly skilled workforce and was a world leader in locomotive technology. It had extensive adult education programmes, and more voluntary societies per capital than anywhere in the Country. In many ways it was idyllic. We always realized however that there was a glass ceiling, and this was largely based upon education. Even comics of the time reflected this division. We had Alf Tupper tough of the track who would invariably defeat the effete character from a privileged background who expected to win races on status alone. Unfortunately, this did not always reflect life and the 11+ condemned many at an early age.
How times change? Well last year only 12 children from free school meal backgrounds made it to Oxford.
There has of course been a meritocratic revolution. My generation - and I'm 60 - was the first to have the opportunity to go into higher education and even be given a student grant. Although it can be argued that a graduate's potential earning power should require a contribution through tuition fees, we should be careful not to restrict access at a time when the Country needs to invest in it's children and youth.
It faces a challenge from international systems of education. It is a challenge we have to meet if we are to have the freedom to flourish.
I want to take you on a journey. Where should we start?
Well according to the OECD PISA studies of international comparisons - and often quoted by our Government - a top performing Country is Finland.
I was speaking with a group of Finnish Headteachers on Saturday. There is no external test in Finland prior to 16 years old. The Finnish Heads said that their Ministry of Education was considering introducing tests as an easy accountability. It might be easy but it is sloppy thinking and the Heads were unanimous in condemning such a move as they felt it would distort the curriculum and encourage teachers to teach to the tests.
Returning to our journey. We live in an interdependent world, but we have we have to ask what about another of our competitors for future contracts? Singapore. In a Singapore Primary of 1500 pupils one of the classrooms had a complete wall as a computer screen set up as Singapore Harbour in the second world war.
is not just having the technology, it is what you do with it that counts. Our challenge as a Country is not just to innovate, but to look to children developing those skills, attributes and values that the future world will require. Even the CBI recognizes that a list of historical dates by itself will not make you an effective team player. I do though appreciate the need for children gaining core cultural knowledge. My 23 month old son is effectively using a computer for fun and can actively read 50 words. We also swim, sing songs, enjoy stories, and go to football, but I want his school to access the best technology. By the way it means I have to work until I am 81.
So what about Canada? Ontario is a major Province and the Superintendent of Schools can and does rotate school leaders. That means families moving to another part of the Province. The UK Government is moving down a greater autonomy route. Autonomy in our Country has been hard won and is jealously guarded. The new autonomy does provide challenge and opportunity to the NAHT and to schools. The NAHT is going to kitemark a Services to Schools provider for support services such as HR.
We need a NETWORK system for professional development. In Ontario, 95% of professional development for school leaders is undertaken by school leaders. I've often marveled at the brilliance in many of our schools. How often do we visit each other and see this. We need to capture and share it. The NAHT could facilitate this. We need local/national and international networks of schools. We also should consider how we resource the time and workload involved and ensure it doesn't fall on already busy shoulders.
In Australia, the Country has largely escaped the major ravages of the recession and decided that it would keep its employment and activity in the economy up by providing one classroom or library for each school. The disadvantage is that, as with Building Schools for the Future, was bureaucracy and inappropriate matching with individual school needs.
We are told that Charter Schools in the US are the way forward and that the linked FREE SCHOOL model from Sweden is the way forward. NAHT National Council is about to take a view. At the very most we would want to see the 16 schools already announced be evaluated as a pilot. The potential for duplication in a time of austerity, and having a negative effect on surrounding schools is significant.
In South Korea high attainment rates disguise a very high teenage suicide rate that we would not accept.
The NAHT is currently conducting some research into these comparisons.
Prof Andy Hargreaves and his team at the Lynch School of Education in Boston supported by the Institute of Education in London is about to realease some work on Performing Beyond Expectations - businesses, sports clubs, and Schools - that are exactly that, and teases out key attributes and features for success, including:
High fidelity
Fraternity pride community
Fairflow courage
Fallibility try risk
Friendly rivalry with other schools. Work together - assist each other
Fusion lead
Feasible growth shallow not built sustainable
Culture and collaboration
Use resistance to innovate
Fast and fair tracking sample testing important not summative
Charismatic legacy
Fortitude perseverance courage
Counterflow unexpected
Connect to the past and an inspiring future
Firm foundations
Fight for what you believe in
If you are depressed then sort it out.
Fundamental future
Fear can't deliver Henry V before Agincourt. How you respond to it is vital.
The destination is a dream not a number.
The Spirit Level by Wilkinson and Pickett published by Allen Lane identifies that unequal societies such as the UK and US do worse in a whole series of measures.
So to be a Headteacher I think is the best job in the world. To be a Headteacher in my hometown gives me great pleasure, but it also is a continual reminder that we are largely accountable for our children's life chances and that is an awesome responsibility. When things go wrong we must expect quality support from peers.
So the message to the Government is thank you for the freedoms, but that there is more to a league table than a list of numbers. Do not cherry pick on the basis of political expediency, look beyond the Daily Mail, and instead celebrate the excellence of much practice including school leadership, in this country.
Our challenge is to ensure we raise standards still further by opening our doors to one another and share this practice. Perhaps the South West could lead this revolution.
This then will give us the freedom to flourish.
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