Author: Pran Patel

Leadership – Valuing Dissonance.

~ Pran Patel ~ 1 Comment

It can be argued that the only job of a leader is to strategically keep an organisational culture on a path towards the vision.  Let me define management as the day to day tasks which are involved in the running of an organisation

This is often constrained by the need for the leader to step into a management mindset to reaffirm and sure up skills before stepping back into leadership. (Wallace 2004, calls this the meta-task of orchestrations).

The leadership of any organisation is dependent on its followers and stakeholders, of course, models of change which involve mass exodus of the staff body bring about shifts in culture. However, within many contexts, this simply isn’t an option, for reasons such as recruitment and more so due to social and moral integrity.

The vision should be set out early by leaders, this means followers, can make their own choices on whether they choose to follow or not follow. This may to seen as a risky strategy. What happens if are mass of followers who cause dissent and refuse to participate? Here I would go back to your core purpose, interrogate the core purpose of the resistors and re-evaluate the vision of the initiative. Analysis of the shifts post introduction I refer to as the observation phase.

Organisations will always take the path of least resistance. There will be resistance to any change, no matter how glaringly positive, articulate and succinct the vision is. Prepare yourself for this. 

Through the observation phase. Identify your resistors, the people who will hold sway in staff rooms, the power players with the staff and… talk to them. Take real value in their views, the success of the uptake/buy-in may depend on listening to those misaligned as you are sure to get a more honest appraisal from them.

The first step in any change is trust, trust is always built through conversation and then the resulting actions. Leadership literature rarely references ‘talk’ to build trust. The first step in any change is trust, trust is always built through conversation and then the resulting actions.  Your resistors are in many cases your greatest asset. These are not only the people in your organisation with natural leadership potential but with the strength and bravery to challenge your vision/ actions because it doesn’t align with their own. 

‘They are challenging my authority that can’t be a good thing’.

Well that depends on why they are challenging you, is it because they fundamentally disagree with you, your policies or is it because your vision is quite right, is it articulated clearly? 

Leading people is always about personal gain for the follower, whether that is moral, financial or social gain. As a leader you have control of all three, controlling someone pay is a sure fire way of making people do what you want. However, this will create nothing but an echo chamber within your organisation. 

If this is the only means a leader leads, the only currency a follower has is blind faith and unforgiving allegiance. Fear is stepping out of line could mean a falling out of favour, ‘you paid to do this and keep stum about it’.

Many teachers are naturally drawn to the ‘vocation’ nature of our profession. There is an inherent value in working with young people. The salary is often a side to this.  What does that mean? Working in school leadership relies heavily on moral and social gain for your followers.

Leadership is about integrity, I fundamentally believe that it is never about one person exerting their power over another, followership is a choice. This choice is not necessarily linked whether they choose to work for the organisation or not.

If it’s not about power, how do I make change without solely directing people?

This is why I have always advocated a protracted time as a middle leadership before senior leadership. At those levels you have no real ‘power’, skills in manipulation (or a more positive word charm) have to be employed. Leaders at these levels have to rely on their personal or team integrity to recruit followers to their vision. 

Senior leadership should involve exactly the same process. Remember leadership is never about individual ego but the ‘we go’ of the organisation.

Resistor Check List 

  1. Is my vision clear in the mind of my followers? What will I have to clarify with the resistors?
  2. Is this reaction simply fear of change? Will this subside naturally? Do I need to reassure with my integrity?
  3. What are their concern and ideas? Are they and do they feel valued?
  4. How are you going to support this passion to bring about positive change? 

Leadership: Accountability!

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Many organisational visions start with a flurry of energy, through beautiful orated speeches which conjure an alignment of visualised outcomes for many if not all followers. This energy then falls as, the day to day happens, followers have to fulfil their roles regardless of the original buy-in of the initiative. 

Leaders must reaffirm their visions regularly. The frequency is obviously relative to the context, various techniques such as having a diverse array of people leading change, using a joint vision and creating a common language are wonderful techniques in resistance.

This reaffirmation is not the iterative tiresome speeches in which we have all sat through, where people nudge each other, roll their eyes and mutter ‘here we go again’. Rather it’s the actions and the structures in place to hold people to account. 

Holding people to ‘account’ normally comes with negative connotations. Here it really does not. Once bought in followers are introduced to a culture of quick wins for this to happen followers work MUST be monitored. 

Here accountability does not have to take the form of a stick or a carrot but the aim is to make your followers accountable to their own buy-in.

I have always worked with a model of ‘it’s okay’ and then ‘How are we going to do to fix this?’ when followers are not on track. This is still holding people to account, being supported in a safe environment has always yielded better overall and sustainable results. It also breeds an honest environment, where people are more likely to come forward in good time and ask for support. 

This also endows followers with the self-efficacy of their role. They are in control of their buy-in to the initiative, that they are trusted and supported in their endeavour.

Various models around the world use this to great effect. Weight Watchers being one, where followers voluntarily (actually you pay don’t you) sign up to a scheme (buy-in) and follow a plan (act) and weekly you hold yourself accountable to your future thinner self. 

I can hear through you through the screen, what about those people who won’t buy in, perform at the required rate and are detrimental to the organisation as a whole. I too have moved people on to other organisations, but always once all support avenues have been exhausted. Not because it’s (just) fair to the follower but so it fair to the organisation. Losing a follower is the loss of an asset and part of a leader’s role is to keep people on track to achieve the vision.

Leadership: What is ‘Vision’?

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“You don’t need eyes to see you need Vision.”

Faithless

What is Vision? 

A ‘vision’ for me is the visualisation of a destination point (this obviously can be and will be dynamic), all leadership is around facilitating and expediting that journey.

Starting with successful organisations,

Organisation Vision
Amnesty International Amnesty International’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.
Microsoft Welcome to Microsoft UK. Over the last three decades, Microsoft has consistently transformed the way that people live, work, play, and connect through great technology. We are inspired every day by the genuine belief that we can change the world for the better.
BBC To be the most creative organisation in the world.
American Express We work hard every day to make American Express the world’s most respected service brand.

How many of you knew that the employees work towards the BBC’s vision ‘to be the most creative in the world’? I certainly didn’t, but thinking about it it makes perfect sense, why would they want anything else for their organisation?

The BBC's vision is 'to be the most creative in the world'? I certainly didn't know this, but thinking about it it makes perfect sense, why would they want anything else for their organisation? Share on X

Let’s start with your organisation. What matters to them? what are the most important priorities? think about the mission statements and the artefacts around the corridors and use your own experiences to draw these out.

Rank these in order of priority.

1.

2.

3.

What matters to you?

Now think deeply about the above question (This activity was the most important thing I ever did as a school leader). Highlight points from your list which are the most important things, the things which you get up in the morning for. This essentially is your core purpose.

1.

2.

3.

Warning: If these two lists do not marry up relatively closely, I would suspect you are in the wrong organisation. As everything that you do in life should be in relation to your core purpose; When these values are compromised inner peace and congruence cannot exist.

Visualisation of Vision

In my leadership sessions. I often start with some blue sky thinking? If I could give you unlimited funds, unlimited time and resources, a proverbial magic wand what would you do? think big, not the little day to day changes but the huge and overwhelming, you can only dream of changes.

  1. What is does your perfect school/organisation look and feel like? Including you, the staff body and the pupil?

Visualise this. Draw out common traits,

e.g.

A place where all pupils feel safe.

A place where all staff are valued and feeling comfortable enough to challenge leadership.

…

Keep going until you feel you have covered the needs of all your stakeholders. This picture in your head is your vision and the trait and are what you must do you articulate it to your followers. (that blog is for another day).

Planning with the Teacher as the Expert

~ Pran Patel ~ Leave a comment
  1. Print off a copy of the specification.Picture1
  2. Print the spreadsheet of pupil’s prior attainment.
  3. Read the section of the specification that you’re delivering including the learning points preceding and proceeding. identify what has been covered sufficiently.
  4. *Important* Write down all the things as an educator, subject specialist/undergraduate level and a human being you feel will be of value.Picture2
  5. You should now have 10-20 ‘objectives’ on the pages. Identify the objectives already covered.

Picture36. Work out which objectives you’re going to teach in your lesson and how that fits in with the everything on the page.

Picture4

7. *Important*. Actually, produce what you want *all* of your pupils to be able to produce at the end of the lesson. If that’s a DT graph, draw the graph, if it’s an argument for and against a point, write down examples of both.

Picture5

Here I want pupils to be able to label the axis (with units) and draw a 3 part graph. However, in drawing the last graph and needing to cover the other two objectives. I redraw my graph.

Picture6

And then,

Picture7

Finally, a unit analysis.

Picture8

8. Now and only now do you start thinking about the tasks involved.

Which types of tasks/activities will lead them to the end product? How do you support, within the tasks, what will all the pupils need to produce what you’ve just produced? (This will form the foundations of your activities and your differentiation).

An example I would use would include an entity that moves forward and then backwards to their origin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qwtjpiCKo8

I have used the above video, where a footballer races a car. This has enabled me to model mathematically with the pupils, write predication and conclusions, etc. I am at this stage aware I’m using a cis, hetero, middle-class male as an example of success. This is fine, I notice, keep this in my head and use more diverse examples in future lessons.

10. To make your lesson inspiring I also try to incorporate the S.E.R.V.E method (see blog).

Self Reflection

Evoke Emotions

Relative to the audience

Value and Worth

Entertaining

 

11. Plan to address all pupils in the lesson (or series of lessons). Plan some example questions and who you will aim these questions too. As you become more experienced this becomes more organic. I still keep a log (a dot next to their names on the register) of interactions to ensure I interact with everyone.

12. For me, I start with a zip test (see blog), this not only utilises retrieval practice but allow the teacher to assess confidence and prior knowledge.

13. Then I use my expertise in gathering data, by data I mean the ‘what worked well with who’. This is dependent on the group, certain nuances will mean certain things will be more efficient than others. i.e. ‘Johny hates being asked to speak in front of the class’ and ‘being aware of Seema she takes over the learning in ‘collaborative activities’. If it’s your first lesson, obviously go with a more generic approach.

14. Then teach a section (which leads to the outcome). The content or the method of delivery is of no real consequence make sure you use the data from step 15.

15. Assess what each pupil has picked up. Try different methods, some are really fickle thumbs up/down (still have some value), others such as peer assessment of exam questions in other context are less so, never underestimate the value of your interactions in your walk around.

16. If there are pupils who have not picked up the necessary. ACT

This action could be as small as moving a pupil to another pupil, who you know has a grasp of the subject to giving pupils a further task; and Reteach that aspect of the lesson. (Ensure the reteach is different to the original)

17. Repeat the above until all pupils can produce your product.

18. Your pupils have gone, now to the marking their books. This should be easier as you’re only marking for your objectives. Has the pupil shown you that they have picked up those objectives? if so extend them with another task, if not, give them the means to access it and reassess.

I have various resources I have used around this type of lesson. As always if you would like a copy, comment and get in touch.

Curriculum, Teaching to the Test, Teacher Identity and Professional Efficacy.

~ Pran Patel ~ Leave a comment

Through recent interactions, I’ve have been challenged with questions around teaching content to key stage 3 pupils which do not appear on the GCSE specification. I have always believed that I came into this profession to ignite the flame for a love of learning, we are not exam coaches.

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However, I am aware that through the introduction of performance management (which to my knowledge was never intended to include pupil outcomes, the local union meeting, Wolverhampton, 2006/7) and performance-related pay, teachers are judged on their exam results.

The nature of this blog may read as polemic. The way I have justified this through my career is that I will attempt to inspire my pupils and equip them with the tools I believe will serve them well, through this they should perform well in exams. Seeing the learning and the acquisition of knowledge and skill as the end goal and exam performance as a by-product.

“To do this (a generality of knowing), teachers need to be able to channel pupils” thinking in ways that relate to contexts beyond schools and schooling, classrooms and classroom culture. They need not only to understand the concepts and skills they are trying to develop, but also how they relate to broader inter-connected frameworks that are not limited by the boundaries of the curriculum or school.’ (Twistelton 2002)

Teacher self-identity is of paramount importance in this process, if teachers see themselves as task managers and that their primary role is to keep pupils busy, the connection between classroom learning and the world and beyond will not be made. (Twistelton 2002)

Counsell (2018) describes in detail the work of Hammond and her work with fragile and non-fragile ‘A’ grade History students and identifies the difference between these students in being the way they write specifically

‘She began to conclude that some pupils appeared to have formed extensive, secure schemata from studying a wide range of history, not just this early twentieth-century topic but other twentieth-century topics, wider European history and other periods and cultures at Key Stage 3 or earlier.’

This absolutely nothing to do with exam literacy and mark scheme box ticking. Viewing the curriculum as a narrative, which enriches the lives of pupils and prepares them for life as a historian, scientist, mathematician, etc. Every single one of us is all of those things every single day.

This is echoed within andragogy and heutagogy where the aim of educators should be to develop capable as opposed to competent learners.

heuta

Lots of lessons can be learned from the heutagogical approaches where the onus for the learning model with the learner. This is how learning happens within the early year foundation stage, which if you have never observed, as a secondary practitioner I cannot urge you enough. This approach all but disappears until the graduate stage of universities.

Schools should mirror universities and beyond, set pupils up for the highest echelons of academia. If we are aiming for anything less, we are putting the needs of the school and pupil results before the need of the pupils. Long have I advocated that teachers are as graduates best placed to deliver an education, a curriculum, which serves their pupils best.

Yes, the delivery of the curriculum is important (core) but the journey around that (hinterland) is essential. Expert practitioners should aim to understand the best measure of learning is rarely exam success.

“The trick here is to handle paradox. Even though clearly, as the word suggests, ‘hinterland’ is just supporter or feeder of a core, when it comes to curriculum, the hinterland is as important as what is deemed core.” (Counsell 2018).

Counsell goes on to describe ‘core’ as being a measurable quantity that can be captured as propositions, and reducing teaching to solely focus on this makes teaching harder and in some cases, kills it.

Twistelton 2002 categorises three stages of teaching (from ITE), normally teachers move towards concept and skill builders through the gaining pedagogical experience.

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Due to the environment of school league tables, performance related pay, performance management, teachers have lost their agency over the last 15 years, teachers in the main prescribe to curricula. This is the over-riding factor in their teaching, I’ve had conversations with more and more teachers who openly state if it’s not in their exam what’s the point in teaching it.

Task Managers– Through a self-identity which heavily influenced by their own experience as pupils, task managers appear to mainly rely on a knowledge of educational contexts. Where they employ teaching priorities that involve authority, order and ‘busyness’.

Curriculum Deliverers-Their modus operandi involves a broader knowledge base than Task Managers. Curriculum Deliverers’ primary focus is curriculum knowledge. When working with groups of inexperienced teachers, it’s tempting, as a leader, to put this at the heart of teacher’s daily planning routine and core purpose. However, this is not the aim of teaching, as Counsell (2018) stated simply distilling the residue of ‘core’ can ultimately lead to teaching being more difficult and detrimental to the whole process.

With the implementation of the National Literacy Strategy and the National Curriculum in the 1990s. Twistleton (2002) postulates that this possibly explains why there was a cluster of teachers as curriculum deliverers. This is an extremely pertinent point at the moment with the vast changes to the secondary curriculum and movement to the grade 9-1 system.  More and more teacher are forced (and remain stuck) into this category, through a fear of the unknown. As a classroom teacher, middle leader or senior leader, mark schemes and specimen papers provide solace in a world where you know little about the nature of the new assessment framework.

Concept/Skill builders – “… they saw the task as important only in so much as it contributed to the ultimate goal of an increased understanding related to the broader framework of the subject Insight allows the expert teacher to see deeply into a problem in order to seek the most effective solution. Selective encoding helps in selecting the relevant information to do this. This obviously provides the expert with an insight into the situation, which will: a) enable her/him to make the most efficient use of the time available and b) draw on the most useful areas of knowledge.”

How do we move towards this final category? It is risky, scary to deviate from the mark scheme and the specification, however, it is absolutely the right thing to do. As practitioners, we need to take back our agency and dictate that we have the power and the knowledge to produce well-equipped learners, and as leaders accept this as the aim and move away from the reactionary strategies of last minute (year) games in years of examination.

Taking back teacher agency comes through an increase in self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is defined as, “How well one can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations” (Bandura 1982).

Self-efficacy has the effect of teacher’s taking more risks with the curriculum (Guskey, 1988), attempting new teaching approaches (Gibson & Dembo, 1984) and increasing pupil’s motivation (Midgely et al. 1989) and consequently their overall achievement (Brookover et al. 1979).

Bandura 1997 state that self-efficacy may be increased through,

  1. Mastery experiences (repeated successful experiences doing it- this is the most powerful)
  2. Vicarious experiences/Role modelling (seeing others do it and learning from that experience)
  3. Verbal persuasion (being told that they can do it)
  4. Controlling Physiological arousal (controlling your emotional states such as anxiety, etc)

In conclusion through raising the collective efficacy of the of an organisation, or the professional efficacy of the teachers. Leaders should look to provide opportunities for teachers to reclaim their agency through the above point, as the people best place to deliver the narrative of the curricula. I would advocate that teachers understand that they are the experts in their individual fields and are experts (to at least a post-graduate level) in pedagogical knowledge.

References

Counsell, C. (2018). Senior Curriculum Leadership 1: The indirect manifestation of knowledge: (B) final performance as deceiver and guide. [Blog] The dignity of the thing. Available at: https://thedignityofthethingblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/12/senior-curriculum-leadership-1-the-indirect-manifestation-of-knowledge-b-final-performance-as-deceiver-and-guide/[Accessed 30 12. 2018].

Counsell, C. (2018). Senior Curriculum Leadership 1: The indirect manifestation of knowledge: (A) curriculum as narrative [Blog] The dignity of the thing. Available at:https://thedignityofthethingblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/07/senior-curriculum-leadership-1-the-indirect-manifestation-of-knowledge-a-curriculum-as-narrative/%5BAccessed 30 12. 2018].

Twiselton, S. (2002). Beyond the curriculum: learning to teach primary literacy. PhD. University of Birmingham

Blashke, L. (2012).Heutagogy and Lifelong Learning: A Review of Heutagogical Practice and Self-Determined Learning . The international review of research in open and distance learning, Volume (13), Page61.

Bandura, Albert (1982). “Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency”. American Psychologist. 37(2): 122–147. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.37.2.122.

 

Leadership of Self: The ‘Why’ behind the Pedagogy.

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pedagogy

/ˈpɛdəɡɒdʒi,ˈpɛdəɡɒɡi/

noun

1.          the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept. “the relationship between applied linguistics and language pedagogy”

 

The method and practice of teaching, what does pedagogy mean to you? While lots of teachers argue about what to teach our pupils; I would like to talk about the ‘why’ and how. (Yes, I’m aware this sounds like an advert for Simon Sinek).

Starting with the why: As a secondary school teacher, I ask myself this question daily, to realigning my actions towards my own core purpose. Why am I teaching the pupils in my care this lesson?

Here are some over the reasons, I find myself answering with:

1.          I believe all pupils deserve the best possible chances to succeed.

2.          I believe pupils should become great global citizens.

3.          I believe in giving my pupils the academic passport to choose to take the path they choose, whether that be career wise or within academia.

4.          I believe my subject is amazing, and it will be amazing for them to learn this. This will in turn foster a love of learning.

5.          I believe learning the skills and knowledge in this lesson will serve them well in life.

6.          I believe that they can be inspired.

7.          I believe pupils deserve a safe space, where all pupils feel able to make mistakes.

Now to the how. Now we know the why, the how should fall into place. There no one better placed to judge ‘what is right for their pupils’ than a classroom teacher.

Well, Let’s start with planning.

How

1.     I believe all pupils deserve the best possible chances to succeed.

Number 1 is about all pupil inclusion. For me, this means all pupils are challenged and supported to access the tasks you set for them.

To the list: all pupils, differentiation, stretch and challenge, all abilities and needs catered for.

2.     I believe pupils should become great global citizens.

This is important, whether you teach in a cosmopolitan metropolis or you teach in a rural village. Your pupils may and probably will interact with people across the globe as well as people in their locality. Also, to build an environment where pupils have the right to belong in your classroom.

Is your teaching representative of the world? Representative of your pupils? Or even representative of the truth? Here I would think about using varied examples in lessons and in the curriculum. Who are you actively promoting? Are all your examples cis white able middle-class hetero males? Mix it up and be representative.

To the list: the ability to communicate articulately, to disagree respectfully, to resist democratically, to be kind, pupils embrace and appreciate people for who they are, uses different examples of success including all protected characteristics.

3.     I believe in giving my pupils the academic passport to choose to take the path they choose; whether that be career-wise or within academia.

This is being able to answer exam questions –  yes I’ve said that – but notice I haven’t said let’s all now teach to the test.

In the perfect world, assessment would be based on a system where pupils are valued for their skills and thought processes, instead of a simple test of memory and performance on a particular day. However, we don’t live in that world… yet.

I do recognize that there is also an argument to say that if you fulfil the rest of the why quota, outcomes may become a by-product.

To the list: Exam literacy, use of exam questions, zip tests and retrieval practice, and formative exam assessment.

4.  5. 6. I believe my subject is amazing and it will be amazing for them to learn this. To foster a love of learning. That these skills and knowledge in this lesson will serve them well in life. Essentially that they can be inspired.

4, 5 and 6 are about inspirational teaching, I did not start teaching to become an exam coach, a curriculum deliverer or a task manager (Twistleton 2010). I embark on my journey to ignite the fire, a love for learning in young minds within my subject and beyond.

To the list: SERVE method, interesting/engaging, appreciation of the value of learning, to foster profound learning.

  1. I believe my pupils deserve a safe space, where all pupils feel equal.

Is your teaching representative of the world you? representative of pupils? Or even representative of the truth? Here I would think about using varied examples in lessons and in the curriculum. Who are you actively promoting? Are all your examples cis white able middle-class hetero males? Mix it up and be representative.

So, all in all here’s my list.

a.    Ensure all pupils receive a fair share of my time. (the use of an interaction tracker is useful)

b.     Differentiation so that all pupils have the opportunity to access the lesson, including stretch and challenge.

c.     Communicate articulately.

d.     To disagree respectfully and to resist democratically.

e.     Using different examples of success including all protected characteristics.

f.      Exam literacy, use of exam questions, zip tests and retrieval practice, and formative exam assessment.

g.     SERVE method, to foster profound learning.

h.     Use varied examples of success.

I am not suggesting that we incorporate all of the above into every lesson on top of the lesson’s objectives, but over a module of work, we should attempt to. In fact, I’ll blog on how I plan a module of work…

Leadership: Beware the Panacea of Coaching. Hershey and Blanchard: Situational Leadership

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I have instilled a coaching culture in various schools that I have led in and as a leadership coach the title of this blog may seem like madness. As a leader the value of coaching is evident across all setting and sectors, however, one of the pitfalls is that it doesn’t work for everyone all of the time.

 

CLS_SituationalLeadership_Model_400x400

Photo credited to https://www.situational.com/the-cls-difference/situational-leadership-what-we-do/

Hershey and Blanchard propose that followers go through the 4 sections above S1-4. Personally, S2 and 3 are renamed as S2 Mentoring and S3 Coaching, as I define mentoring as mentor-driven and coaching coachee-driven.

S1. Directing: In the main direction by the leader and little support;

Follower: Low competence and low motivation.

Things to say,

Do this, just like this. Don’t ask questions.

S2. Mentoring: a lot of direction by the leader and a lot of support;

Follower: Low competence and high motivation.

Things to say,

We are working on this, this is how we are going to do it

S3. Coaching: little direction by the leader and a lot of support;

Follower: High competence and low motivation.

Things to say,

What are we working on? How do we make sure you get there?

S4. Delegating: little direction by the leader and little support;

Follower: High competence and high motivation.

Things to say,

What are you working on? What do you need from me?

Leadership: Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail. Effective Action Planning.

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action plan

Credited to: Obviously, the above plan was influenced by Fullan, Kotter and Lewin as well as the various leaders I have had the pleasure of working with.

Columns 

action plan2

I start by listing the why at the top, normally this is a school improvement priority, this is to keep this at the forefront of your mind. Start at the right, detail your success criteria and note any opportunities of measuring it. Then move to what you ultimately want at that stage, and then finally to the who, how and when. The when is important, it not only allows you to hold other able but yourself too. The impact of setting a deadline is psychological, making anything time-sensitive creates a sense of urgency.

Rows

Increasing Urgency: All followers must be made aware of the environment and need for change. If done properly followers will manoeuvre themselves towards the change voluntarily. Additionally, it will provide the impetus for change.

Lewin refers to this as a frozen stage, we all heard people say ‘it’s just the way we do things around here’, work has to done to move organisations from this mindset to unfreeze.

Building the team: Thought must be given to who you bring to lead along-side. I would think around all staff including resistors in some cases and the dissonance will enrich them and refine the messages and actions of the initiative.

Getting the vision right: This is where as a leader you take a step back and guide, together with your team you build a joint vision, as long as the school priority is adhered to who cares where the vision comes from. Leadership is always about ‘we go’ and never about an individual ego.

Communicate for buy-in: Start this stage with building a language around the initiative, providing a coherent message. Plan for responses to resistor to engage and bring them on board. I advocate valuing dissonance here, engaging and not engaging is often driven through the same passion and harnessing this energy is part of your role.

Empower Action: Change agents will need resources to make to the initiative successful, as a leader how are you going to make this happen? Do they need times, training, money, self -efficacy, coaching, etc?

Creating short-term wins: Many initiatives lose their impetus because other day to day priorities get in the way. Keep the momentum through monitoring and celebrating wins, this keeps energy levels around the initiative high.

Don’t let up: Even if the initiative has far surpassed where you envisioned. Evaluate the initiative, forensically, learn from the failures and then adapt what you have and then repeat the process. Refine the process and vision, all the while recruiting more and more followers until it reaches its climax.

Make it stick: Ask yourself

Is the initiative worth keeping?

If the answer is yes then make it stick. Embed it into the culture of your organisation, make it a priority, write it into policy. Sustainable systemic change is the ultimate role of a leader and a great measure of one. Organisations are not built on individuals but the systems that they all follow. When leaders leaves do the systems continue seamlessly? or do organisation descend into chaos?

What you are essentially doing in this final stage is returning the organisation (in this aspect) to the frozen stage,  until you are ready to change it for the better.

Please do contact me if you want a copy of the original plan.

 

 

Behaviour – Teachers Vs Pupils.

~ Pran Patel ~ Leave a comment

After listening to various people over the years talk about behaviour, two main narratives appear across the the divide.

1. Behaviour is the responsibility of the the teacher, any failing falls solely on the classroom teacher.

2. Behaviour is the responsibility of the pupils, pupils always have a choice, if they choose to behave in a certain way. This is solely their fault.

Like everything in our amazing profession nothing is this simple. It is part of our role as teachers to manage behaviour as per standard 7.


However there also 7 other standards which need to be fulfilled and continuous bad behaviour is physically, mentally and emotionally draining.

I’ve heard individual teachers say ‘If a pupil decides to disrupt the learning of the majority. It’s my duty to exclude them from the learning to let those who comply learn’. Thankfully this utilitarian thought process is also not a simple solution and destination.

Consequently, We are left with this dichotic territory of batting blame across the classroom. All of these narratives serve no one well.

Ultimately a classroom is a team effort (excuse the sports reference) with the teacher as the captain, the expert, and navigator; Pupils make up the majority, the team.

Compliant team members do not always make the best team members, willing acceptance of the team strategy, blind allegiance, etc. may make life easier for team captain. However the role of the team is never about making the captain’s life easier.

What should captains want from their team members? Autonomy, Challenge and dissonance and the ability to make the team better for it.

This week’s test match featured the above interaction. Players may not like their captains, however successful professional relationship are never based on just like.

The best captains having a clear strategy and vision, build trust, know their team, show that they are in it together for something greater, accepting that they their team, allowing them the autonomy to run their own game, by fostering a safe environment which accepts and appreciates dissonance.

Captains have power over their teams, they have the power to drop them, exclude them and belittle them. In many cases team members will still play hard if you pay them enough(or berate them enough), but sports captaincy is about leadership, it about winning hearts and minds through the joint vision of the team.

The analogy extend to why better planned lessons, building rapport, allow pupils to feel safe enough to fail and relationships with pupils will aid with this.

Could we just get on with playing the game and stop passing blame around the table.

#MH Tips Doctor’s Appointments

~ Pran Patel ~ Leave a comment

 

For years I thought it was my fault, my brain told my psyche that I was inexplicably upset daily. I spent years trying to train myself to deny this reality. This was the epitome of stupidity, turning away from a demon may provide temporary respite but in the long run, this will always leave you blind sighted.

 

If you feel sad, not right, flat, have intrusive thoughts, go through mood swings regularly. You’re probably ill. You may need help, I mean medical help. Please, you deserve to be well. Go to the doctors.

 

Tips for your doctor’s appointment.

 

  1. Book a double appointment – it was hard for me to get to the doctors and when the doctor said I was out of time before I declare my issue. I bottled it and ran home.
  2. Get there early, I’ve turned up to an appointment 3 mins late and again bottled it and ran home.
  3. Make a list of what you want to say. Without this, it’s hard, to be honest with a relative stranger. It easier to lie and run home.
  4. Take a friend – it’s hard to bottle it a run away when you’re with someone
  5. Listen to the medical professional, if they offer you medication consider it carefully. I’ll come back to this later.

 

Running home serves no one well, least of all yourself. Other than my legs that is, as you may have inferred I bottled it a lot.

 

Pills, happy pills, anti-depressants and SSRI’s, you know the addictive and prescribed to crazy people. Right stop, if we are going to make a difference in the lives of young people we are going to have to be brave for them.

 

Medication is medication. The only thing it means is that your doctor thinks it will help

in the treatment of your illness. If there is a stigma around that, let us turn it into a positive one. You are getting the support you need.

 

If you do not get the answers you need. Book into another doctor. I have had all manner of silly things been said to me.

 

“You don’t look depressed”

 

“Take walks every day”

 

“You’re a little young to be feeling this way”

 

You are important, you have a responsibility to your self.