For NAHT - INSTED

I note the NAHT are planning an alternative inspection regime called INSTED. I will not be challenging the copyright of this but, rather, offer my poem motivated by the same exasperation in 2000...

INSTED

2000 The hidden “New Framework” for Ofsted Inspections

Inspecting is our reward as we record D (for Data)

On P (for Proforma) using all the spaces. 

You act normally, we nod formally and do not smile or speak,

For it is A (for Accuracy) we seek

But, unsuspecting, we are collecting the emotion on your faces.

If you S (for Smile), the more we see the better. 

We code S on P in C1 (for Column 1) and then: allocate the letter

A for 1, B for 2, but we stop at J for 10.

When you talk, we count who T (for Talks) to you.

Your T total is captured, neat and black and capital, in C2.

If you lean together when talking, or discuss when walking,

We reward your obvious trouble by counting double.

If we see you mute, stuttering, or muttering about another,

We do not T or S at you, or make a note of your uttering,

We just halve the marks, previously awarded, in C2.

But, if we hear silence, we cherish it as a wonder so rare,

The most precious sign of listening, thinking and intensity.

Is our titillation, the ultimate exhilaration - for it shows you care.

We lovingly place this jewel of judgements in C3

Then move to the final calculation for, sadly,

Conversations and silences are not for such as we.

The Column Totals (CT) are summed to what your Raw Score will be. 

Your TA (for Targets) are always more than your RS (Raw Score) and

TAs are usefully prepolulated for us in P at C4.

So, to the final calculation, of our evaluation:

TA  times 100, over RS, equals Efficiency Quotient (EQ)

Which, accompanied by a short review, we email to HQ,

Where, unsmiling, unspeaking Stepford Wives feed cool computers,

  And, using a raft of reliable tools, print off a league table of rules,

Indicating the most caring and most efficient of the nation’s schools

Thus, people like us, with children like ours,

Exercise parental powers

And move to select and register our child in the very, very best

Whilst disregarding, in our caring hearts,

The consequence of leaving bog standard to the rest.

From "Desire Lines" John Pearce click here

Colleagues might also look at an even better way to evaluate and plan for, "more than Ofsted wants"  The iAbacus click here

He shall have but a penny a day - Payment By Results?

This is an honest (first draft) attempt to disseminate positive thinking and decent research into a tough and polarised debate so please comment and/or send on this link...

I'm old now - I feel it - I fight it - I look it. I see my father in the mirror every morning staring back, demanding to be shaved. It  was his birthday last week. Born 1904 started teaching in 1920, retired as head of a city school in 1966, died in 1995. Horse drawn carts to men on the moon in a lifetime   I recall two things about him this morning; both allow me to see  age as a  blessing when it offers a longer view. 

Arthur Pearce

I remember being jiggled on his knee as he sang, 

"See Saw Marjory Daw Johnny shall have a new Master

He shall have but a penny a day

Because he can't work any faster"  

Performance Related Pay?

See and Saw

This was far more than a nursery rhyme - it was misrepresentation of Keynesian Economics. It encapsulated a cultural belief I was having instilled in me. Ours was a busy household with people coming in and out with papers, bags and instruments and tools. We were taught by example that working hard led to good results. More significantly, we learnt that success was about more than money.   I grew to understand that wealth in the mind is more important than that in the bank. I am not linking money with success. We were neither rich nor poor in financial terms but we were that cliché - a happy family. Our happiness was about laughter with language, music, poetry, crafts, relationships and an outdoor life. I don't actually know what my families examination results are....

I also remember Dad telling me about The Geddes Axe! It sounds awful doesn't it? It was in the 1920s when the PM Lloyd George (note the George) asked Eric Geddes to oversee cuts averaging a third of all public spending. 

Eric Geddes

Teachers pay was massively cut across the board - my father remembers a phrase at the time, "We are all in it together". Hmm...

As another set of financial constraints bear down on our Government public services and large workforces are viewed as places to save money. George, our New Master is thinking, "cut the finance, cut the workforce and hope the fewer work hard enough to maintain production" and then Michael Gove leaps in Education adding, "And if we pay by results they will work even harder and we will get a more efficient system". They cheer, "Quad et Demonstrandum" and segway into,

"See-Saw Marjory Daw
Johnny has got a new Master

He now gets a bonus each day

Because he is working much faster"

But

You knew a big but was coming didn't you? But it doesn't work because their Quads are not Demonstrandumbed they are just dumb. These are shibboleths, a kind of double syllogism(*). Let me explain and then pass you on to the experts and then make your own (open?) mind up...

The first argument, for Payment By Results, reverses an incorrect assumption, "Successful people are richer (note success equals money) so, offer people more money and they will be successful!"  The second defines success, "Successful teachers get better results (note results equal exam results) so, measure the results data and you'll identify the best teachers!" This wobbly illogical pile leads to the dodgy conclusion, "Therefore, we can, identify the best teachers, pay them more and they will work harder!" (**)

So

What am I trying to say?  There is good evidence out there that the core arguments driving Performance Related pay are both weak and unproven. I don't believe payment by results will work and I’m citing two pieces of research to demonstrate that our current New Master's thinking does not stand up to scrutiny. 

a) Money doesn't motivate workforces as we once thought it did. See this from MIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc&feature=youtu.be

b) The data on which "payment by results" is based is at best misleading and at worst illegal. See this http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1298/1043#comment-4795

Convinced, or maybe persuaded?  So what to do...

What

What can you do about this lemming like rush to payments by results? Well, I have a couple of thoughts and a request:

1. Of course we need to reward good teachers and ensure weaker teachers are supported first and moved on if incompetent - there are procedures in place to do that and they have always been (there are too many leaders unwilling to use them I fear) So, let's not invent solutions to problems that are already solved.

2. We need, as a profession to work and argue interdependently, for a professional development model of sustainable improvement based on thought through success criteria. So, let's not argue against ideas without coming up with better ways forward.

3. Above all, we must share effective practice on and about school improvement and publicise good research (not bad arguments and opinion) about what works and what doesn't work. So, please disseminate good practice, share ideas - build our communities of practice.

Yes, this an honest (first draft) attempt to disseminate positive thinking and decent research into a tough area so please comment and/or send on this link...

John  Tuesday 
30th April 2013


(*) I collect these educational syllogisms by the way - my favourite until now was... Inner City Comps are failing - which schools are successful? Let's move the heads from leafy suburban Grammars into the City Comps and all will get better.) It's like arguing that Manchester United players wear red shorts, white shorts and orange football boots. So, I'll buy the red shirt, the white shorts and orange boots and I'll be picked!"

(**) I'm leaving to one side (for now) the corollary that you risk alienating the majority of the workforce if you a) pay bonuses to the few and b) this is based on an incomplete and inaccurate set of success criteria.

New Website - New iAbacus - New BLOG

The aftermath of New Year resolutions is Spring cleaning.  So, I've been reconsidering, refurbishing and refreshing.  The new ventures, new perspectives and new look can be seen on my website - now live at www.johnpearce.org.uk  It has updated information and should be easier site to navigate.  What do you think?

Thanks to Dan O'Brien (my iAbacus business partner) for all his hard work.

JP Consultancy website April 2013

As iAbacus gets closer to the official launch we have tweaked that site too.  Have a look at http://www.opeus.com/iabacus and sign up for a free trial. Dan and I are really keen to get feedback. Ironically, well perhaps not, iAbacus is all about review and improvement...

iAbacus website April 2013

And, not to be left out my BLOG has also been given a new look - have a look here  Oh you already are here (there?)  But please NOTE this BLOG is my work and design not Dan's..

Leafman BLOG April 2013

Oh yes, and a little spruce up for twitter too...here

@JohnPearce_JP  April 2013

So, I'm feeling quite refreshed and relaunched and the weather seems more Springlike too.

So, now it's just a matter of delivering what's promised.

Happy lurking!

John

Wisdom - a vision for education

Healing the academic versus social split

I applaud Ofsted saying that a school will be judged inadequate if “there are serious weaknesses in the overall promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development” but remain concerned that many forget this and see schools as academic factories.

Education - a positive or negative legacy?

What wonderful legacy 2012 could have left us and might still do.  Remember those GB athletes who thanked their teachers and schools?  We must accentuate this positive, identify our brightest and best school leavers and evaluate what made them so.  Unfortunately, the harrumphing gainsayers had plenty to go on in 2012 too as Leveson, bankers’ bonuses, tax avoidance, MP’s expenses (again), crime and rising unemployment, all in a recession allowed them to diagnose, ‘Broken Britain’ and turn on schools (again) for spawning such trouble and brandishing evil tasting medicine.  Some championed a return to gold standard “O” levels, thinking foolscap paper in quiet examination rooms would solve it all.  Eyes watered as others muttered, “Back to basics”, wanting a return to National Service and even corporal punishment, concluding, “It never did us any harm”, forgetting these twin solutions were the very diet of many failing MPs and bankers.

On which side of this positive-negative or academic-social divide are you?  One teacher made his position clear to me “Let me teach my subject, employ a social worker for the other stuff.”  Educators like me believe education is more than subject knowledge.  We know that academic achievement is enhanced by the motivation of a moral purpose. These are not competing visions.

How will Ofsted judge a school?

Ofsted, to whom many turn for leadership, perpetuates a fuzzy, bi-polar view in the new Framework for Inspection.  This January’s update sets out 4 Key Judgements: achievement; teaching; behaviour and leadership and adds, as if an afterthought, “Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education” (SMSC) and a requirement to meet the needs of the “range of pupils at the school”.  This causes some to downplay the last two.  Later, thank goodness, the framework is unequivocal stating that a school will be judged inadequate if “there are serious weaknesses in the overall promotion of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development”.  So the actual message is a warp of academic functions and a weft of the social totalling 6 equal and complementary elements, to weave one rich curriculum tapestry.  So, why don’t we have 6 Key judgements Ofsted?

What do parents and employers want schools to produce?

Parents want children to know stuff, understand things and pass examinations, but guardians of our future citizens also want: awe and wonder; beliefs; enjoyment and social skills. They want their offspring to know about right and wrong; consequences and influences that shaped our heritage.  I champion their SMSC list because overemphasising standards of achievement warps the vision – pun intended.  Industry and commerce want better educated recruits. Of course they want literate and numerate workers who can prove their prowess with a set of examination certificates but they also want honest, thinking, caring colleagues able to take initiative and be good members of their teams. Teachers I meet buckle under the nagging pressure to climb just league tables. I see it saps their energy, creativity and effectiveness, as they subconsciously teach to the test and the fun drains out of classrooms. So I advise anyone who is going to judge a school to chant the two magic spells, “ABRACADABRA!” to check the important academic A, B and Cs and, “Open SMSC!” to evaluate the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education and not forget the D, E and Fs.

Let’s rediscover Wisdom.

Using a stronger metaphor, let’s weld that social-academic split together and place the underused word ‘wisdom’ at the joint.  Wisdom means experience, knowledge and good judgement.  Wisdom knows how to use knowledge.  All the schools I have taught in, led, advised and know of, stress knowledge. The very best create wisdom from knowledge by blending in the spiritual, moral, social and cultural aspects. Students in these schools not only achieve their highest academic potential but also develop thoughtful philosophies and strong ethics.  They know WHAT they can do and HOW to do it because they understand WHY it should, or should not be done.  We really should celebrate the thousands of teachers who create wisdom in their classrooms day after day.  These are the teachers who taught our Olympians and our very best financial experts and members of parliament. I want to explain how I see them creating our successful and wise citizens.

How do we teach wisdom?

Teachers may call it SMSC, Moral Purpose, Pastoral Care, Personal and Social Education or Citizenship, but they are clear about what they mean.  It is about placing values and moral purpose at the heart of what they do.  One negative observer joked that these caring teachers are merely Cookery teachers who have run out of recipes, PE teachers who have run out of wind and RE teachers who have seen the darkness.  But in the greatest schools all teachers use SMSC to make tangible links between their classroom and the wider world because they want their students to be wise.  Visiting such schools you can sense it in seconds, in the displays, the ways the students talk to you, to each other and about what they are learning.  This is tough stuff for teachers.  I was with a Science department recently debating, with great sensitivity, how they would deal with the ethical issues when teaching genetics, abortion and cell generation.  They knew the facts were never going to be enough. 

Increasingly schools are using “The Day” www.theday.co.uk a powerful on-line newspaper dedicated to helping teachers fire up learning with daily articles on current affairs and the associated ethics. Busy teachers use the brilliant prompts for discussion and follow the links about moral dilemmas.  They blend this critical thinking with the content of the curriculum.  Students, left to their own devices, follow the weblinks in their own time and families too are increasingly subscribing to this new, ethical and interactive source of news.

Social learning is the scaffolding for academic learning.

How do we help schools who undervalue SMSC?  First, they need time to think. Development time is crucial.  On such days I ask, “Why did you want to be a teacher?  What values do you promote? We look at the Ofsted criteria and discuss what we mean by SMSC.  We map where SMSC learning happening and what impact it is having.  Increasing numbers of schools use The SMSC Grid here or iAbacus www.iabacus.co.uk  nifty software programs that help track and evaluate quality provision.  We move on to scrutinise the UN Declaration of Human Rights and Rights of the Child discussing how they apply.  As a Member Country we are required, by law, to disseminate, display, read and expound these in schools.  I challenge them to sign a Pedagogical Oath, mirroring the Hippocratic Oath, which captures the principles of our profession. In one school we set up Vision Walks.  A teacher, parent, governor and student recorded, from all they saw and heard, what they wanted more of, less of and what they didn’t see that they did want. Their results led to a rethink. These activities and documents help identify values and actions most reasonable people would espouse and soon, even sceptical teachers are convinced. Days like this re-motivate teachers and through them students.

What next?

Many educationalists believe that blending the social and academic, combining the functional and ethical makes a positive impact to learning.  They want to see brighter, socially minded bankers who might just forgo their bonus and well qualified and compassionate engineers, unlikely to fill in dodgy tax returns. We hope for greater civic participation as more vote, persuaded by able, politicians with a moral purpose.  It should mean more ethical investments, more newspapers with well researched articles and fewer corrupt police.  If so, job done, problem solved, Broken Britain mended and here comes Big Society.  

Of course it is not be easy but many believe it is a solid proposition because it places interdependent learning as a loftier aspiration to independent learning.  High academic achievement is largely an individual pursuit.  It is often lonely, can become egocentric and may lead to selfishness.  When we involve students in Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education, they interconnect, gain a global perspective and find ways to apply their learning with a moral purpose.  They become wise.

© John Pearce 14.1.13

The iAbacus - trains and beads and plans

Written in response to the comment, "Explain the iAbacus  to me simply and don't use jargon!"  

Once upon a time...

When I was little, I loved pushing a toy train, making those "chuff-chuff  too-toot" noises.  I was in that train embarking on some epic journey.  

Later, I became fascinated by how writing left to right develops a story and saw handwriting as a kind of wriggly footpath. Tracing my finger along maps always gives me a buzz.   Maybe it's because I'm left handed, or left brained but left to right movement is somehow.... right.  I even called my poetry book "Desire Lines".  As a teacher, I would draw lines on the black-board, or move a bead along a wire, or piece of string to show progress.  Like the red in a thermometer expands, or speedometer pointers move, the visual representation made it real.    Once, as an adviser I used an old nursery Abacus as a tool, when I was urging colleagues to move on rather than sit there, describing inertia.  So, the "ABACUS approach" became three questions:  Where are you are now? Where you could be? and How you might get there?  Sliding an Abacus bead helps people talk about circumstance and actions to make things  better. There are are about five stages in the process:

Stage 1: Slide the bead, from left to right to describe how you are feeling.  Choose your own topic and labels.  Examples, far left to far right, include:  AWFUL to BRILLIANT; OBESE to FIT; BANKRUPT to MILLIONAIRE and even DEPRESSIVE to CONFIDENT. You can keep two labels, or add others in between. You could insert UNDERWEIGHT and OK between OBESE to FIT  for example.

Stage 2:  Describe each of your labels in more detail.  UNDERWEIGHT would be 140lbs (for me) and I'd show a holiday picture of you when I was a 10 stone weakling.  In the FIT description you'd list a few things you want to be able to do like swim a mile, climb a tree, or run upstairs. Or how you'd look.  You might have a photo of a film star but we have to be realistic... 

Stage 3: Now you have to prove why you have left the bead where it is by providing information, facts, pictures, or something that shows you are right. So, if you are 20 stone you cannot, honestly, leave the bead on UNDERWEIGHT. Conversely, if your rings fall off your skinny fingers, or your best jeans fall down when your belt is on its last hole you can't claim to be OK.

Stage 4: Is about finding what makes things better, or holds you back from moving to the right.  If you want to be FIT you could say, "Eating fewer pies will help, or not going to the pub".  Someone who is UNDERWEIGHT might say, "Eating more pies." because we are all  different.

Stage 5: Write down what you are going to do, by when and how it will look when it's done.  Eating less and exercising is  vague so detail is important. Putting a lock on the fridge and giving the key to your mate might work.  Hanging up a new jumper that will fit, when you get to the weight is helpful, or a pie chart to tick the right number of pies for each week.  Stage 5 is about DOING something that will make a difference.

Stage 6 is really the second Stage 1 because you go back to the start, by asking yourself, as you look in the mirror, "How do I feel and look now?" Of course, you have those pictures to compare and you should be feeling better if you have done what you prepared in earlier stages.  Now, slide that bead a little closer to where you want it to be, a simple and powerful demonstration of movement.  Stage 6  should include a party with no pies, or lots of pies to celebrate.

So, the  iAbacus started life as....er.... an ABACUS...

In 2004 it looked like this:

By 2007 it was being used like this:

That bit on the left has a list of things she's working on - she's not doing very well on Number 5.

At this stage I was using an array of arty Abacuses.  It was working really well and I slid my bead to HAPPY.  I used it when I was coaching, training and consulting.  Folks liked it and it was THE most popular tool in all my evaluations by far but there were loads of forms and guides and lists and data alongside it.

In 2010,  I met "Dan The Software Man" and we started with an idea of using 21st Century Technology to make it slick and easy.  By the end of 2011 we thought we had a really good version, slip sliding away on screen.

Start simple

I have a saying, "Start simple, it will get complicated anyway, start complicated and you don't stand a chance!"   We had listened to inspectors, quality control freaks and gurus and just loaded all their lists, forms and tick boxes into our computer because you can do that - they eat up that kind of stuff.  

Our really difficult work began when we decided to take out all the unnecessary bits.  It was tough but the eAbacus, as we called it, became simpler to use and better to understand, less wordy and more brainy and by 2012 it was working just how we thought it might.  And then... something wonderful happened.  Using it we found it could do things we had never even dreamed of...  

We could allow several people - as collaborators - to add comments and ideas onto a single abacus .  We could attach files and pictures (of film stars and pie charts) and even all those dense (do I mean detailed?) reports the inspectors and quality controllers had written could be appended.  Then we found we could put all the little bits of information from the 5 Stage sequence in order and slot in coloured pictures of the beads in one place and produce comprehensive and detailed reports.  These are even better than those the quality controllers, the consultants and inspectors produce.  And the whole process is done on screen, we don't have to print one piece of paper, at any point in the process.  We  just email reports to each other.  Our maxim is "Print less well, rather than more badly" so, if you do want to print one copy of your final report when all your work is done and things are better - just click the print button.  

  

In 2013 the iAbacus looks like this..

 ( iAbacus links 21st Century internet Technology with the oldest computing machine in the world)

 

Dream first and then write lists 

The thing I am most proud of is that the  iAbacus still starts with sliding that bead - from left to right - the genesis of the idea.  I don't want to be negative but so many systems  START with evidence, data and information - the boring but important stuff that buries us to the depth of meaningless.  It has always seemed  far better to start by dreaming about what could be and setting the compass first.  Writing lists, working out average speeds, fuel consumption and cost per mile can come later.  And they are far more interesting when you know where you are going.

"Chuff-chuff, toot toot!"

The end

Say no to gossip, passive inspection and hectoring!

This post has been updated and moved to the iAbacus BLOG click here

The Animal Education System

In 1986 I found an old version of  "Animal School" by Dr G Reavis, (Director of Cincinnati Schools 1939-48) I just had to update it.  My first update was in 1987, my next was in 2002 – I thought it was due another ....

Once upon a time, the new political animals decided they must do something heroic about the state of the younger animals who were unoccupied, showing signs of discontent, hindering the productive lives of their parents and generally hanging around in field corners.  They were just not progressing!  Furthermore, some of the far-seeing animal politicians saw a new world fast approaching. So they organised an Academy.

First, they had to design a curriculum so they took advice from the brightest and best by forming a committee.  This comprised a cheetah, a monkey, a shark and a swallow, all experts at what they were expert at. This curriculum committee booked a hotel, worked very hard, drank some wine and finally made its recommendations.  The politicians accepted the committee's arguments, so ably put with the use of presentations, slide displays and models of real animals.  The cheetah argued for running, after all it had made him what he was, the monkey championed climbing because she was good at it, the shark swimming - he couldn’t get out of the water and do anything else and the swallow flying, ‘what else?’ I hear you say.  Soon the national, animal, activity curriculum was adopted.  This consisting of four subjects: running, climbing, swimming and flying.  To make it easier to administer, all animals were expected to take all four subjects in the academy – called the Baccalaureate.  This was also the cheapest option.

The swan was excellent at swimming, in fact better than the instructor (an overweight carp) he was good at flying, hit and miss at climbing but very poor at running.  Because the swan was so slow at running, he was withdrawn from swimming and given extra running, often receiving large amounts of running homework.  This was kept up for several weeks until the swan’s feet were badly worn, rendering him only average at swimming.  Whilst average had once meant satisfactory it was now labelled "requires improvement" and so the swan felt a keen sense of failure.

The deer started at the top of the class in running but struggled with swimming and so regularly played truant from swimming lessons, preferring to climb high in the hills.  She would stare, fascinated at the clouds, for hours and dream of flying.  She never flew.

The squirrel was outstanding at climbing, good at swimming, satisfactory at running but developed great frustration in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the tree top down.  He was assessed as weak but working towards flying.  The squirrel took this as a challenge, developed a hernia from over-exertion and, as a consequence, dropped marks in climbing, running and swimming.

The eagle was a problem child, with significant emotional and behavioural difficulties and received severe disciplinary sanctions including exclusion.  He always beat the others to the top of the tree in climbing class, but insisted on using his own methods.  He made too many splashes in swimming with his friend the osprey, refused to run and soared out of reach in the flying class.  Incidentally, flying was taught by a large, enthusiastic ostrich who had a double first in the theory of flying and entertained her pupils by describing the wonderful flights she had made, in the olden days.  She had been appointed because she was a strong disciplinarian, could substitute for the tired teachers of running and had an ability to play the piano.

At the end of the first year, a large frog received the best overall assessment results. She could swim exceedingly well, run, climb and fly (some argued it was actually a long leap but she did "move through the air with purpose").  She was top of the class.

The first animal academy with this new curriculum became famous.  The head animal received a medal and many copied its approaches and the curriculum.  But the system was not a complete success.  The moles kept their children out of school and refused to pay the educational taxes because the governors would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum.  They were strong believers in a holistic education and so apprenticed their children to a badger, who ran a mining business.  Later they joined up with the rabbits and lemmings to start a successful fee paying private gold mine.

Eventually, each of the animal academies became so similar that many animals refused to go.  Then another group of politicians struck a public-private partnership deal with humans to finance some Star Animal Academies.  There could only be a few of these very special schools, but ‘what to call them?’ They could not be called academies – that was not special,  or different enough any more.  Eventually they decided to call them “Zoos”, some sort of acronym. This name was so different it created lots of interest.  Visitors, from all over the world went to view the animals in the new Zoos.  They arrived so excited at the prospect of seeing the new products of the newest of education systems but when they looked, they became silent.  What they were seeing didn’t seem quite right….there was something wrong…. the animals just paced up and down and never made a noise…..there was something almost unnatural about the way they behaved……

On seeing this one of the most enlightened of the new politicians looked for inspiration in one of the few libraries left.  There he found a dusty old book which described an educational organisation called a State School, run by a Local Education Authority.  He could remember what authority meant and so he read on, slowly realising he had discovered a new and exciting idea for another educational system.    So, he stuffed the old book deep into his pocket, found the biggest soap box he could find, jumped on it and called out, "Hey, listen, gather round I have this great new idea for education!"  He was almost, but not quite, silenced by the rumbling sound of an approaching band wagon..