Share good news. It helps the learning

I do hope the BBC choose to use their resources to bring justice to the victims of Sir Jimmy Savile and not throw the book at me for copying a few seconds of their excellent 2012 Pearson Teachers Awards show.  (Still available to watch on iPlayer until Sunday)

Thanks to Robbie and Eleanor for letting me know about the program. You make the world go round.

Credit where credit is due

This is the first two-for-the-price-of-one posts.  I hope it stitches together okay.  I was going to post first with a suggestion for clubs considering Wonga as shirt sponsors (Newcastle FC next year.  Currently Hearts and Blackpool have deals).

Plenty has been written on the moral repulsion towards pay day loans and the like, with counter arguments from the pragmatists who argue that people who live in poverty will fall prey to loan sharks of a different kind anyway.  All I'd like to add is a suggestion for any club considering joining the afore mentioned outfits:

Why not take the money and slice off a sizeable proportion to fund schools in your fanbase community.  The cash could fund specific work to help every pupil develop a clear understanding of what x% APR actually means and how to make smart choices by asking the questions the loans companies don't want you to ask.  Then again they could spend the money and develop a credit union. Or both. . .

Which kind of brings me to the second half of this post.  Whilst Wonga.com might have some clever spin-ads they kind of are who they say they are.  Unlike the TES (Times educational Supplement) who position themselves as the great champions of teaching and learning.  Their latest great idea is to provide a 'service' by taking professional's ideas and making them available to other teachers through their website.  Sounds simple enough until you hear about things like this.

There's a lot of rhetoric around these days about creativity and the importance of nurturing ideas in our young people through an education system that recognises we are schooling kids for jobs that haven't even been imagined and to solve problems that we don't yet realise we've created.  All well and good, but we need to be honest with our children.  If their ideas, and those of teachers as above, are going to be appropriated by large organisations under slightly false pretences then it might just sound like a mixed message. Or very devious.  Instead shouldn't these ideas be supported in ways that take pride in acknowledging intellectual property and authorship, rather than throwing a net over them as if to make out that the net-thrower now has rights to them.

As the old saying goes, what goes around comes around.  So let's set an example by giving credit where credit is due.

Passion wins through

Congratulations to all the winners and runners up at this year's Pearson teacher awards. It's geat to see a new category for use of technology - well done Ben Tipton from Sacred Heart RC Primary school for having the energy and passion to inspire young minds whilst becoming a dad. I'm sure Ben will be sent to the Praise Pod after the half term break!

It was also good to see a mention for 'Teach First' too. Having met several cohorts of dedicated staff at Sheffield Hallam University I could really feel their passion and commitment shining through.  Our children are in good hands.

Breakfast benefits brands

So here we go again; research funded by Kelloggs has founds shocking numbers of children in the UK arrive at school without having had breakfast.  Not good news; unless that is you see it as a market opportunity. . .

This promotional deal from the afore mentioned company promises to donate cash to school breakfast clubs, which is all well and good, but I always thought education was about learning to enquire and not take things at face value?

So I did a quick and dirty straw poll of cereals in order to compare the cost of a breakfast.

Non-branded Porridge Oats come in at 75p per kilo - enough for plenty of healthy and filling breakfasts.

Kelloggs Cornflakes, by comparison come in around £4.50 per kilo.  That's 6 times the cost.

By the time we get to the sugar-coated varieties favoured by young children (Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and Sugar Puffs) the cost comes in at £6.00 per kilo - 8 times the cost of the oats.  And let's not even think about the effect of sugar decay for those children who aren't encouraged to brush their teeth afterwards.

So for a £400 cash donation and a "gift" of £50 free Kelloggs vouchers a school receives they will actually engage in subliminal advertising of Kelloggs brand to their children.  Interestingly the application page ask questions about level of need in order to prioritise schools in the most deprived communities -

"Is your breakfast club located in a designated area of social or economic need e.g. a Community First area in England, Communities First area in Wales. Please tick one box:"

"What percentage of children at your school have free school meals?"

(text taken from Kelloggs 'Apply for Funding' page)

I can't help feel uneasy about such targeted campaigns - Well educated, numerate parents will be better armed to see through such 'research' which is of course exactly why the funding is targeting deprived communities.  Many parents will be coerced by their children into buying Kelloggs brands in the belief that they are helping their local school.

Perhaps a good response from schools would be to encourage parents to switch from branded cereals to unbranded oats for one week and donate the difference to the school's breakfast club.  Switching from sugar-coated varieties for one week could save approx £5 per family - for a school with 400 children on roll and an average of two children per family this would generate £1000 in one week.  Suddenly the £400 cash donation doesn't look so generous. . .

Collaborative learning

One of my local universities is has recently taken a look at its history and founding principles.  The notion of a civic university to me has such relevance today as it did during the industrial revolution. We are in the midst of a huge revolution and never before have we needed to value learning, ideas and creativity that is grounded in social purpose.
Every day my one-year old reminds me of the joy of learning and how learning together is such a wonderful experience. Great to see an institution embracing this philosophy so strongly.

CREATIVITY SQUEEZE

I've heard the word 'creativity' used a lot this week; sadly prefaced with 'it's killing my. . . " or "they are stifling my. . .

As a result I know fantastic people who are leaving their professions and saying goodbye to what is still their passion.  And why? Because children are reduced to numbers and ranked by their levels and staff micromanaged by structures and people that employ the very opposite forms of positive behaviour management that we all know work so well.

I so hope that the words of Sir Ken Robinson lead to the kind of deep-rooted change that is so needed.  Structures that hold authority desperately need to grow their creativity, and yet as far as I can see, the pressure to be seen to be busy and held accountable to the minute detail is serving only to drive away any such resource.  All that might be left is a mindset of protectionism, power and control.

Then again that might not be such a bad thing as such places will surely become increasingly irrelevant islands.

Positive parenting for all

From the inspiration of Sesame Street, from Head Start to Sure Start, to today's multiple rewording of troubled / vulnerable / at risk / etc families there has always been a will to make a difference and somehow help alter life courses for children born into challenging circumstances (see the vague language isn't helpful) What on earth does 'challenging' mean?  or for that matter 'troubled', or 'vulnerable'?

I've heard it said a few times that if a 'vulnerable' young person was to approach you on the street it would in fact be you that would feel 'vulnerable'.  Ditto 'challenged' young person.  Fact is the whole definition game is a politically loaded arena, with gains to be made by statisticians able to prove policies make a difference.  Meanwhile life goes on and our gut feeling might lead us to think otherwise.

For me the bottom line is that we must act on what we know to be right.  This means asking simple, fundamental questions, the kind that Joan Ganz Cooney posed way back. Radical but simple questions can lead to amazing change.

In today's smartphone-toting, social media rich culture, I often wonder what media we can harness to make expert knowledge available to everyone?  One great example is the adaptation of Stephen Bavolek's research and parenting programmes in the form of three 8-week on-line parenting programmes delivered though Netmums in the UK.

Any iPhone users signed up to the nurturing parenting programme don't forget Pocket Praise is a great tool to capture and share good behaviours.  Indeed ANY form of positive acknowledgement of children is wonderful and it's hard to overstate its effect.

The more we learn about brain science the more compelling becomes the case for kindness and sensitive parenting.  Research suggests that by the time a child turns 3, each original neurone has formed as many as 10,000 connections, making a total of about a quadrillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) throughout the brain. (That’s double the number of connections in your own brain.) Not only does this perhaps explain the creativity of an infant but make a strong case for supporting the brain's natural divergent development.

The baby brain holds the keys.  We must treat every one as the most precious thing in the world, for it is these very brains, in all their amazing complexity, that will help make sense of the world they have inherited.

Meaningful, purposeful learning

As a qualified Occupational Therapist I'm a real believer in the importance of meaning and purpose in the activities that we engage in on a daily basis.  I only have to spend a few minutes with my 11 month old son to see the pleasure this brings - challenging himself to test the very limits of his abilities over and over again, and take huge delight in this learning, whether it's a new hand grip, or a discovery of the power of mimic and laughter, it's a joy to behold.

So at what point does this innate drive get quashed?  And moreover just imagine a childhood without straight-jacketing structures based on grade levels and charting progress as if the numbers were the whole purpose of learning?

I enjoy Richard Gerver's blog and was taken with the emotion of his latest post.  Words aside, we all know instinctively when something is inspiring.  We only resort to words to try and describe the feeling to others who weren't there.  It rarely does the original event justice. . . .'You had to be there!' being an all too often used phrase.  And of course why would it be otherwise?  True moments of inspiration are felt deep, and with all the senses.  If they were able to be simply written down and experienced to the same degree then this would be the death of all live events.  Thankfully words, as wonderful and varied as they are, have yet to fully convey felt moments.

And that's words, never mind numbers (not that I've got anything against numbers per se) but why on earth do our education systems seem drawn like a moth to a light in heading straight for the numeric reduction of learning to a set of numbers.

So as we approach the season of parents evenings and endless 1:1 encounters with teachers informing us that our child is at level 4a, 5b or whatever, let's try to keep sight of the real purpose of education; to inspire and challenge learners to become all they can become in every way that they are possible of becoming.  As long as we recognise that a lot of this potential is something we can't even imagine we might be on the right track.

The expectation for my son as he approaches his first birthday is that his exponential learning is just a phase and soon it will slow down to a manageable pace.  One question. Why?

Mad world

It's just dawned on me that the boy I was mentoring today owns an iPad.  He receives free school meals; meaning his family are relatively deprived economically in the UK. The cost of an iPad is the same as it would take to build a school library in Namibian primary school.

Now I like the retina screen, don't get me wrong, but the enjoyment I'd get from knowing that a load of children in Namibia were able to access books for the first time would compensate for the lack of definition on screen.

My pledge this year is to focus on purpose not tech.

Less pixels = more happiness

Let's not get carried away. No let's get completely carried away

Okay, so the last post was trying to make the point that buildings matter.  Not to be grande and unnecessary, but to be inspiring and relevant.  I stand by that and don't want this post to be read as an argument for a race to the bottom.

An old school friend Toby Tanser is applying this logic to the construction of schools in Kenya through his charity Shoe 4 Africa

The question for me about school build isn't so much about cost savings as where those cost savings go.  Let's imagine we give the budget to a UK or US school and offer the option for them to play with the design and donate a certain proportion to help build a school in Kenya through pupil-led ideas. . . .

My wife taught in Namibia for 2 years and I was amazed how far a few hundred pounds go - in one case £400 was enough to build a whole library for a rural primary school.  Now let this factor in to school planning and we might see a global connection based on expansive thinking rather than protectionism.

Learning matters?

Are children oblivious to their surroundings?  Do we somehow soak up the meta-level meaning of the buildings and spaces in which we reside?

The latest plans for schools post- BSF seem to me to take the view that nothing much happens beyond the classroom, and learning is strictly what you do in lessons.  Never mind the awe we sense when we experience a huge public space that, let's face it, is only there to impress.

And it's more than corridor crushes and crowded dining rooms; these are both valid reasons to make communal spaces light and airy and that little bit bigger than is needed.  No, it's more the statement that we make when we dictate that our schools must not inspire, or be different, or be challenging in material or design.

Not to say that this is a good thing. .. but it does make a statement that banking is a big, important thing around here.  Shame Mr Gove can't see the meta-level in the issue and not be so prescriptive.

Values and inspiration

As a volunteer mentor to a local school I have the pleasure of chatting with an eleven year old boy each week.  The aim is to support his learning and help with any problems, but of course I know I'll learn as much as I hope I can offer.

Today we got talking about football and what to do when people wind you up.  Next thing and we've moved on to talking about the Olympics and me hearing about the inspiration of Leon Baptiste visiting school.

The visit had clearly been inspiring, with Leon's story rich in dedication and determination to overcome injury and achieve his goals through sheer effort. (My charge was impressed with the the fact that Leon trained 7 days a week)

Compare this with the culture in the premier league and it's perhaps no surprise that a young boy should be turning his back on such a world and instead setting his sights on hard work and determination to succeed.

The 2012 London Olympics it seems as least for one young man has been an inspiration and a million miles away from some discussions I've had with lads of a similar age comparing how much football players are 'worth'.  I can't imagine football nor occupying a significant place in youth culture but perhaps its values are changing.  And if not perhaps they need to in order to chime with young people's natural instincts for fairness.

Connected learning

Brilliant tutorial from Olga Pandanes -how to make a cardboard sundial. Reminded me Of the wonderful project between Sheffield school of architecture and Arbourthorne primary school where the children and postgrads worked together to construct forms from packing cardboard.

Freak Out!

Still one of my favourite guitar riffs of all time, but what's that got to do with embarking on a new career developing connections through technology and the celebration of achievements?

Somewhat late in the day I know but today I discovered the work of Nile Rogers and the We Are Family foundation (WAFF).  Here's how I got there:

1. Tweet update from Michael H Levine

2. Took another look at the Joan Ganz Cooney website

3. Flicked through a couple of presentations, one citing the importance of not chasing the latest tech.

4. And so somehow there's a link to WAFF and a biog of Nile Rogers.

And what's great is that this little journey has helped re-affirm the direction of travel.  Thanks Joan, Michael and Nile. All the connections are there; you just have to be looking for them.