Yr Athro – life at the chalk face

The music in the word ‘education’

Monday, February 8, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Looking at all the fuss going on about budgets, cutbacks, targets, attainments etc, in education (not just att FE and HE) I make no apologies for reproducing one of Frank Coffield’s quotes here. Those who manage education need to remember that for many of us, education has provided the route to enable personal achievement and satisfaction.

“I want to end on a personal, familial and social note. I come from an Irish Catholic family which emigrated to Scotland some time before the First World War in the search for work and in the hope of improving their lot and, more especially, that of their children. My father, James, was the first and only member of the family to go to university, Glasgow, in 1930, at a time when there were only places for around 14,000 new entrants or 2% of his generation. He always said he would never have got through school and university if it had not been for the peace, space and books provided by the local public library. I went up (that’s how I thought of it intellectually and morally) to the same university in 1960, when 93,000 or 5% of my age group entered higher education. In 2000, our daughter Emma, after an excellent foundation course in a local FE college, joined our alma mater and in that year no less than 950,000 or 36.8% of her age cohort became university students. The increase from 2%, to 5%, to 36.8% represents nothing less than a transformation of British society.

Looking back over 100 years and three generations of my family, I can see three great social movements. First, every time the universities and FE colleges have prised open their doors a little, able students have come forward in sufficient numbers to fill with success the places made available. Second, the Scottish education system in 1918 passed enlightened and inclusive legislation, which financed most of the building costs of separate schools for immigrants of an alien (and to many an unwelcome) faith. Third, education has been for my family, and for hundreds of thousands like it, the route into the professions, and to an honoured, secure and well-paid place in society. Our generation must not forget, however, that we are the beneficiaries of the long and often painful journey made by our parents and grandparents, who needed structural and financial help, as well as education, in order for us to move up in society.

All this is cause for celebration, gratitude and reflection; and so I warmly welcome the most recent advances, brought about by the substantially increased investment in education since 1997, as a result of which millions more have achieved qualifications or received training, some for the very first time. These desirable improvements are, however, accompanied by gross, rising, new and unjustifiable inequalities; in each generation whole swathes of the community have been left behind and continue to be left behind in scabby estates which should outrage our collective conscience.

Moreover, something vital to the whole enterprise is being forgotten. I learned from my father, as he learned from his, to hear the music, the excitement and the hope in the word ‘education’. I also learned that it is the job of teachers to help other people’s children to hear and respond to that music. We do it because teaching is a noble profession, which dedicates itself to the lot of those who have not had our advantages. We do it because we believe in social justice and, like our parents and grandparents, we want a better world for ourselves, our children and all children. That is the meaning of our lives as teachers.”

Coffield, F., (2008; 61) Just suppose teaching and learning became the first priority…, LSN London downloaded from https://crm.lsnlearning.org.uk/user/login.aspx?code=080052&P=080052PD&action=pdfdl&src=XOWEB 20 January 2009

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Innovation and Ingenious Schools

Sunday, January 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Having made the decision to join the connected world by investing in an iPhone, I’m surprised at how much more productive I’m being. Instead of my online updating being feast or famine, I’m using the odd five minutes here and there to catch up. Good to be able to connect via the mobile network, as my factory is still not enlightened enough to allow staff access to the wifi network.
So instead of having to sort out laptops and cables, I was able to browse through the twitter feeds and found @josiefraser ’s interview with Stephen Heppell about innovation and ingenious schools.
Since I lead a module called ‘Innovation in Teaching and Learning’ I’m constantly aware of the fact that I’m trapped into a culture of perpetuating Grade 1 performance for Inspections. I’m not really sure of how up to date ESTYN inspectors are (many of them have left education or are seconded managers) and I’m aware of the need not to be too radical because there is a risk that they may not understand content or process. The old thorn of learning styles still keeps appearing despite Coffield’s 2004 report.
In Heppell’s conditions for innovation was the following statement:

Proper reflective practice as learning professionals including research (“Let’s try…”), scholarship (“What have others done…?”), and iteration (“Let’s learn from that and do even better the second time…”);
Being hypercritical of all and any existing practices – for example, “Why have these these timetable blocks?” “What happens if we have a two-block teaching day?” “Why 25 children not 60, or 10?” “Why not mix ages?” “Why age not stage?” “Why did we waste so much money building corridors when the children don’t need to move any more?”
And remembering which century you are in…

In order to attempt ‘let’s try …’ there needs to be support for those who are trying, and in this there needs to be trust and also the ability to learn from practice without criticising.

Daloz Model of Support and Challenge

Daloz Model of Support and Challenge


Daloz’s model is useful for visualising where we all might be. It seems that in many cases, the level of challenge is too high, whilst the level support is too low. There is plenty of support for getting the VLE wheelbarrow loaded with information, but little for learner engagement, or understanding how learning technology might better be applied. Maybe technology is moving forward so fast, or the Web 2.0 cloud so big, that people are happier denying what is happening outside. Speaking of clouds, a blizzard is just spreading across the hills outside my window.

I’m lucky that in my job as a teacher trainer educator I’m expected to be developing new resources and methods, but I rarely have time to make any properly structured changes. Gilding lilies springs to mind; trivial tinkering is the reality. Strategic planning of courses with a proper embedding of a delivery philosophy which embraces learning technology is not easy and is positively resisted in some areas. We still start from the old models in planning delivery (and I’m guilty as I realised I had got to slide 49 on a powerpoint presentation last week) rather than starting from what technology might offer.

This year, for the first time, trainee teachers are more positive about using learning technology to move things forward. Several are on Twitter, and the use of quality blogs in advising journals and assignments is increasing. There has been a good level of risk-taking in the microteaching, and there has been a positive outcome as a result. As a result of this cohort’s development, we have been able to look at what has made a difference, and in that exploration is the beginnings of a strategic plan to keep things moving forward.

Whilst the strategy of ‘poisoning minds with good ideas’ at teacher training seems sound (as sound as a hearts and minds campaign built on bombs and kalashnikovs), there is still the need to make proper, structural and embedded changes at an organisational level. Perhaps as well as insisting on Literacy and Numeracy qualifications, we should insist on ICT skills.
However, too much lip-service and top gloss will not get the results necessary. At the moment I keep seeing people organising deck chairs, rather than steering the boat.

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Plus ca change …

Sunday, December 6, 2009 · 1 Comment

Good morning from Zagreb.
It’s a nice place, the people are very friendly – we struggled at the bus station yesterday and a man came and sorted us out. In the market, people were quick to help with their English when someone else didn’t have the words.
After the beers and meeting with Ana and Martina last night, I got thinking about comparisons, and what is different.
Ana and Martina were fast with technology, iPhones and phones with internet access, Facebook users and so on, yet they don’t have a functioning learning technology system to support their courses.
In a way, they are where I was ten years ago, when we barely knew what a VLE was and those that were available were very expensive, and of course content was king.
But in a way they are not – in ten years we’ve moved from content to social networking, and to Web 2.0. For a moment I lost my way and it was very tempting (or too easy) to suggest a long pathway, and then I realised that I needed to leave ten years’ experience behind and suggest something different.
It’s back to the old question: what do they (their students) have to learn, and how could they best learn it. The tools are the things that make the difference. And there are so many web-based tools.
Off shopping with Ana today, and of course more talking and thinking. There will be an evening barbecue … I’m promised that the vegetables will be delicious!

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Is the VLE dead?

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Watching the Alt-C discussion on the #VLE yesterday was interesting apart from the sound going down partway into the session. The copy of the video was useful.
In a way it seemed like a load of bunting and frolics, but the serious points are about the nature of learning and where and how it is / can be delivered. I suspect that there is still a confusion between teaching and learning, at least in the institution’s mind. In many cases the ability of a VLE to deliver ‘attendance statistics’ helps to support funding requirements.
The whole question of whether we need institutions given the availability of the web, and the ability of systems to provide content to learners, is a long and complex discussion. This then links into credentialism, and why we need qualifications at all.
Graham Attwell’s points about the VLE delivering informal learning are valid and important, but I wonder if asking a VLE to span HE, workbased and ACL is the right choice; people are at different stages, and a VLE is a one-size-fits-all approach.
Certainly in Wales, the ability to get a decent signal over broadband in a remote location is an important issue. But I made that comment 10 years ago, and we are only a little further down the road to having fast broadband at present.
Given the range of social networking software available, and several sites to mimic Facebook (grou.ps, Ning, Wetpaint etc), there is no reason that we can’t create a safe, secure environment for learners … But wait a minute. The web isn’t safe and maybe people need to learn how to walk the streets and understand the pitfalls. It’s all a bit parent-child sometimes.
The serious aspect of things is the separation between work and home. The VLE is my teaching space; outside of work I see my friends somewhere else. As a student online, if I want to meet socially, then that crosses into my personal space. I also need to have my teaching materials organised a a coherent way. But that is how I learned how to learn. Given my Swiss ancestry, the structural cuckoo clock ticking inside me (alongside a piece of slate) imposes rules I have difficulty breaking.
However. Do we truly understand the pedagogy of learning and teaching, and have we created a tool to support learning, or are we trying to get learning to fit into a box called a VLE?

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Out with the old …

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The students came back on Monday to find that the old construction area (paint shops, plastering and bricklaying areas) were being demolished.
The man driving the crane was clearly an expert as he was moving bits of scrap around with a fineness of technique that was awesome to watch.
As the buildings came down, someone asked if R had been seen since Friday? There was a rumour that he was still at his bench. Then it was suggested that he was tied to his bench. Then it was rumoured that someone had found two members of staff locked in a cupboard. Boys, boys. They will have their jokes.
What is more interesting is that construction has moved behind performing arts, and these diverse groups will be sharing the same canteen. Punk meets Artisan meets Artist. Going to be interesting to watch!
But seriously. As the workshops came down, the constructive and creative effort of a generation of craftsmen and women collapsed to dust and big recycle trucks. Sad, maybe. But the old has to give way to the new eventually.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

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Input, Output or Process?

Monday, August 31, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Well, another year about to start and I’m overwhelmed with the usual raft of admin that always stops me focussing on the preparation of the year’s content. But Hey! Get ‘em in, and get ‘em out. My God how the money rolls in.

That’s the problem really. How do we ‘get ‘em in’? The whole problem of registering students twice (once for the HEI and once for us) is problematic. Payment, registration, gate keeper to check forms (twice), regulations, and find a way to stop people getting bored. The last few years have resembled a bit of a party. The whole admin process has been wrapped up in ice-breakers, coffee, meaningful talks. As a result of this, several students managed to avoid paying their bills for several months resulting in me loosing three days fighting with the bean counters over who should pay what and when, and to whom.

And all this with a member of staff down (and no – we don’t have any admin staff).

So this year, and against all odds (sniping from the back row) we have agreed to just do the paperwork on day one and save the pantomime and frolics for the following week.

Will it work out better? Will the customers be less frustrated? Wait and see …

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… there goes another sacred cow …

Tuesday, May 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I’ve added this as it seems to come around every year as I read through research proposals. The link to Chiesa & Hobbs’ work is at the bottom:

Is it time to ditch the Hawthorne Effect?

bin.jpgWhile use of the term ‘Hawthorne Effect’ is thriving in journals and textbooks, its meaning is so vague as to be unhelpful. That’s according to Mecca Chiesa and Sandy Hobbs, who begin their argument by identifying the first use of the term. This was by John French in 1953, as he described experiments on the productivity of factory workers at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company, Chicago, between 1927-1933.

“From a methodological point of view,” French wrote, “the most interesting finding was what we might call the ‘Hawthorne Effect’….it was the ‘artificial’ social aspects of the experimental conditions set up for measurement which produced the increases in group productivity.”

In other words, certain changes were put in place by the factory to increase productivity, but it turned out the benefit to productivity came not from the deliberate changes, but rather from the mere attention of the people investigating.

At least, that is one interpretation of what the Hawthorne effect is. The trouble, Chiesa and Hobbs allege, is that journal articles and book authors all vary in their use of the term. Whereas I mentioned the causal role of the investigators’ attention, other accounts refer variously to the “presence of an observer”, the setting up of a “warm climate”, “concern” or “friendly supervision”.

There is similar variation in how the Hawthorne effect is supposed to exert its influence. By some accounts, the effect is unconscious, whereas others refer to “feelings of pride”, a “sense of participation” or to “job satisfaction”.

The looseness of the term hasn’t been helped by the fact that its use has spread from industrial psychology to educational and developmental psychology, and even to medicine where it is sometimes confused with the placebo effect.

What’s worse, Chiesa and Hobbs add, when people refer to the Hawthorne Effect, they seldom mention the fact that the original Hawthorne experiments were actually severely flawed. Two of the five participants were replaced mid-study (one of them having allegedly “gone Bolshevik”), so any observed alteration in productivity could have come from a change of personnel.

Given its “multiple, contradictory, and imprecise” meanings, Chiesa and Hobbs conclude that the concept of a “Hawthorne Effect” adds nothing to our understanding of the problems faced when conducting empirical research with human participants, and may actually be a hindrance.

 Chiesa, M., Hobbs, S. (2008). Making sense of social research: how useful is the Hawthorne Effect?. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38(1), 67-74.

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Something from Brixton … and Delhi !!

Thursday, May 21, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I’ve just spent the day with one of Greenwich University’s tutors (Priti Chopra) who works between London and Delhi, and we got to talking about education, ethnicity, bilingualism and the impact of gender, class and status on learning. I think the passengers on the tube were impressed as well. Almost surreal to be talking about bilingualism on the tube.
I got to go back to Brixton and to Lambeth College and saw a wonderful ESOL lesson with a great ethnically diverse group of students – full of mischief! Nice to walk through Brixton without the fear I used to have when I lived there – a much brighter and energetic place than it was in the 1980s.

For those interested, the reading links can be found here: http://www.education.bham.ac.uk/staff/martin_jones_marilyn.shtml

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Can e-Portfolios support professional and collaborative practice?

Sunday, May 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment

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E-portfolios – the final chapter

Sunday, May 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Well, the ESCalate ITE conference was as close to getting stressed as I’ve been for a while. The night before as I was finishing the presentation (Using OpenOffice Impress) the network argued with something and locked the presentation down.  I didn’t realise this until I was about 90 minutes to go as I couldn’t open the presentation which was there, but wasn’t. Yes, I know I sound like a student – but instead of going into victim mode I sorted it by starting afresh. As I’m getting the workshop ready someone walked past me and I looked up to see Julie Hughes – the PebblePad champion from Wolverhampton. Despite my pleading she wouldn’t go away, and I knew there was no way to bluff my way out of this one.

In the end, it was a really useful session, but interesting to see how many people demonstrate e-portfolios, use and share resources, and what system they prefer.

You can download a copy from here: http://yrathro.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/epf2009_findings_all.pdf

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