|
'I am joined in this episode by Bob Twells and Dave Cole, the co-authors of the book EduCaveman. The book, already receiving 5-star reviews, 'unashamedly focusses on the importance and necessity, of planning for and creating an energised school culture.' From Dave's choice of curry all the way through to Bob's stint as the school window cleaner - we navigate the priority of school culture; not only in Education but in any workplace.' - The South Farnham Educational Turst Podcast
0 Comments
Coaching… so just what does it mean?
‘Coaching’ is a word you seem to hear frequently if you work in education. Some think it a faddish thing. For others, it seems to sit on the school development year in, year out without taking a huge amount of traction. Some staff use it interchangeably to mean different things whilst other educationalists are very clear about when coaching should be used, and with whom. One thing’s for sure though; it’s a word that hasn’t gone away and continues to make an appearance at an educational setting near you… More recently, schools, teachers and leaders have been embracing an approach which is referred to as instructional coaching and, by and large, it certainly seems to be working for those who are using it – both for mentors and for mentees. This said, for me, coaching in it’s purest sense, as I understand it, is very different to instructional coaching. The latter process is more aligned with mentoring or telling and the former often uses quality planned questions to empower the coachee. Of course, both have their place. In the first our of EduCaveman blogs we explored the extent to which our schools and our system are afflicted with the Extreme Negativity Bias and how this phenomenon impacted on school culture. As an educator with an interest in school culture it was near impossible to overlook how, over the years, the many educators I have worked with, have used coaching as a tool with huge potential to bring about or strengthen cultural transformation, and lessen the impact of the Extreme Negativity Bias. I am very careful when and how I use the word coaching as I am well aware that it means different things to different people. I hear it used continually and often it does not accurately describe the user’s approach. Let me clarify. “Did you have a good afternoon?” “I did. I was coaching my trainee” “Excellent, what were you discussing?” “I was advising her on effective behaviour management strategies” “OK. How?” “Well, I was chatting through my list of my top ten approaches which I have compiled over the years” “Did she find it useful?” “Absolutely. She didn’t say a word. She just seemed in awe of me and my list…” A crude interchange but do please bear with me. This exchange between staff seems more akin to mentoring or telling than it does coaching. With the very best intentions, the more seasoned member of staff was imparting her accumulated wisdom and acting as the ‘expert’ in the scenario above. Did this exchange presuppose that the trainee might already have some of the answers / strategies / solutions within her already? Possibly not. OK, so what actually is coaching? Coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning and the development of another. Myles Downey - one of the world’s leading practitioners and thinkers in business coaching For me, Myles Downey, very neatly captures the essence of coaching in the quote above. In fact, it was this very quote that propelled me to find out more and begin my own coaching journey. In 2006 I picked up a book which changed my thinking and my approach forever - Coaching for Performance by Sir John Whitmore. In fact, not only did the guidance in this book permeate my professional approach, it also transgressed my personal life too – particularly into relationships. We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak. Epictetus - Greek Philosopher If you were to speak with either my wife or close friends, I am fairly confident that the consensus of opinion would be that I am now a much better listener; what’s more, through the use of coaching questions, I am much more able to help my friends untangle their thinking often helping them feel more empowered, confident and energised. The best and most succinct way in which I can explain the difference between coaching and mentoring is this: coaching is asking; mentoring is telling. If you adopt a coaching approach you seek to empower the person you are working with. You assume that the solution to the challenges they face reside within them. Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them learn rather than teaching them. Sir John Whitmore - a pioneer of the executive coaching industry Typically, a coach does not act as an expert but comes to a conversation offering a service, acting as an equal partner, a sounding board, a mirror for the colleague to share their perception of reality and articulate their own solutions and ways forward. The role of a coach is more akin to that of a facilitator; through powerful and deliberate questioning a coach can elicit the solution(s) from their coachee or unlock their potential. Before every coaching session I will typically remind myself that the guiding agenda for the session is my coachee’s success. This often helps me to fight my natural instinct to ‘help’ with advice or telling. I try hard, where I can, to leave judgment at the door. Linked to the point above, I think it would be both helpful and relevant to explore the role of a School Advisor. As someone, who sometimes wears this particular badge, I wear it with a certain amount of unease. Why? Because, for the most part, it isn’t how I like to work. Seek first to understand and then be understood. Dr. Stephen Covey - American educator, author, businessman and keynote speaker And, on the occasions when I forget myself, an in-built mechanism pushes Dr Covey’s wise words (seek first to understand) to the very forefront of my mind. But surely, advising is part of my job? Well, yes it is, but I like to embrace another presupposition. For most colleagues I work with, from trainee teachers to CEOs, I assume that the solutions to any challenges they may well be experiencing and discussing with me, are lurking somewhere within them. My job then, through careful questioning and active listening, is to elicit them. Why can’t the person you are working with be the authority, especially given that it is their school, their culture and their vision? After all, it is their problem or challenge and I am merely a guest in their workplace. The moment I sort it out or solve it, I am fostering a relationship of dependency. Occasionally when I am working with schools who find themselves in a tight spot with little time and I am asked for my advice. I will sometimes revert to a more instructional approach, acting as the ‘expert,’ trying where possible, to provide a menu of options to ensure there is a degree of ownership and autonomy. If I am asked which option I would choose, I would, of course, express my preference; however, this is not my preferred way of working. My point is that I try, where I can, to live by a professional mantra – ask more and tell less – it is as simple as that. If you’re like most people, you probably seek first to be understood; you want to get your point across. And in doing so, you may ignore the other person completely, pretend that you’re listening, selectively hear only certain parts of the conversation or attentively focus on only the words being said, but miss the meaning entirely. So why does this happen? Because most people listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. You listen to yourself as you prepare in your mind what you are going to say, the questions you are going to ask, etc. You filter everything you hear through your life experiences, your frame of reference. You check what you hear against your autobiography and see how it measures up. And consequently, you decide prematurely what the other person means before he/she finishes communicating. Dr. Stephen Covey Ask more and tell less? So, what exactly do I mean? I try, where I can, to facilitate the thinking and learning of the people I work with. Telling, for me, is the poor relation to asking. A person’s commitment to action is far stronger if they own their solutions or next steps. Alex Danson, the hockey Gold medallist from Rio, is an excellent illustration of this crucial last point. When she was younger and trying to break into the England hockey team, the Team Manager challenged her to improve her fitness and stamina in matches. She requested that her father help her and asked him to wake her up every morning to go out for a run. He said he wouldn’t do this; however, if she were to wake up and knock on his door, he would always join her no matter the weather (which he did). This subtle difference encouraged a far greater commitment to action from Alex, and the rest, as they say, is history. For me, empowering colleagues through a coaching approach is often more preferable and, in my experience, can result in powerful longer-term changes for the better which can build both confidence and capacity in teams and organisations. A good coach is positive. Your job when coaching is not correcting mistakes, finding fault, and assessing blame. Instead, your function is achieving goals by coaching your staff to peak performance. Focusing on the positive means that you start with what’s good and what works and spend your attention and energy there. Marshall Cook – business author, and Laura Poole – associate certified coach You can see then that coaching is an approach which is vastly different to mentoring. No better, no worse – just different. Whilst some teachers may naturally use a coaching approach, typically, the art of coaching can go against the grain. It did for me as a teacher, and for a while, it felt excruciatingly uncomfortable. I can remember my early cynicism. I’m a teacher for goodness sake; I am here to teach. You can’t just keep asking questions! Despite myself, I persisted - something that is definitely needed in the beginning. When working with pupils and staff alike, I deliberately took a stance of curiosity. I made a concerted effort to ask more and tell less. My absolute conversion and commitment to the coaching approach was sealed as I began to see my staff growing in confidence and autonomy. This, I very much enjoyed watching. I shortly thereafter made another mental link which I have not since forgotten - a genuine personal eureka moment. A colleague, and I can’t remember who, once said to me, ‘we want our classrooms to be full of independent, self-regulating learners. Our job is, essentially, to make ourselves redundant.’ I have to admit that I found this idea somewhat strange at first. I guess, for me, the notion of redundancy, and the impact on my teacher ego, was not particularly palatable. However, I eventually acquiesced and later fully embraced this idea. It is still a central tenet of my thinking and one I hold dear. Anyway, that is not the point. For me, as a wet-behind-the-ears leader, the penny dropped when I realised that my colleague’s quote rang true for grown-ups too; substitute ‘classrooms’ for ‘staffrooms’: ‘’we want our staffrooms to be full of independent, self-regulating learners. Our job is, essentially, to make ourselves redundant.’ I am a real advocate of coaching and truly believe in the power of coaching to transform organisational culture, nowhere more so than in education. Having embraced and used coaching as a tool since the early noughties, I can’t think of a more potent medicine which can help to lessen the cultural damage which has been inflicted by the Extreme Negativity Bias. If what you’ve read resonates, visit www.educaveman.co.uk. EduCaveman is an empowering book for ALL educators which dares to dream of the schools we all want. It marries a nourishing blend of humour with school reality which invites teachers and school leaders to reflect on, and move beyond, some of the more grating and long accepted educational practices. Prioritising people over paper, EduCaveman is a refreshing elixir which oozes practical positivity and imbues professional confidence. EduCaveman will be available to purchase in the Autumn Term Before you read on, we invite you to take a moment and reflect on what would happen if we were to refocus the energy and mindset we currently apply to seeking out what isn’t working in schools towards finding out what is working… imagine that!
Be More dog Recently, I spent some time with old friends from my school days. We had a great get-together and plenty of time to chat. One conversation stood out above the rest. As well as making me laugh, it resonated with me and had me scrambling for a notebook and pen to write it down. My old mate Seamus was talking about his love of dogs and how much he enjoyed being in their company. I jokingly said, “You seem to love your dogs more than your family.” He looked me in the eye and replied, “Of course I do, they mean the world to me.” Knowing I had dogs, he continued by saying, “Look, suppose you were to accidentally lock your partner and dog in the garage. You then go out for a few drinks and a spot of lunch with your friends and return some five hours later a little worse for wear. What do you think would be the outcome?” (Should you ever find yourself in this scenario, our strong recommendation would be to contact Relate immediately!) Before I got the chance to answer, he added, “Let me help you. On your return, you walk down the drive and become aware of your error when you hear screaming and shouting and a little barking and scratching (which you hope is the dog) from your garage. Your heart sinks and you have a sick feeling (plus the hope you didn’t leave the hammer accessible) as you head to free your accidental hostages. “What do you think will happen when your victims are freed? Yes, you guessed right. Your partner will go beyond ballistic, calling you all the names under the sun, including the old favourites that normally crop up at these moments: ‘You’re useless’, ‘You never think of me’, ‘Why didn’t you answer your phone?’, ‘Did it not occur to that tiny brain of yours what you had done?’ The atmosphere for the rest of the evening will be cool to borderline permafrost and thawing will take you well beyond the next UN climate change talks! “Meanwhile, your other victim, the dog, will greet you with her tail wagging while barking loudly and trying desperately to give you a big lick. This will continue for the next few minutes as she contorts her body in an S-like motion, wanting to show you affection. When you settle down to watch television later that evening, she will nuzzle up to you on the sofa after realising you have been put into forced isolation in your own home.” I found Seamus’s tale quite thought-provoking. Both victims love you; one married you and helped you to raise a family, the other you purchased as a puppy (or rescued) and took home to become part of your family. However, their responses couldn’t be more different. You see, your partner is like most people (myself included) and hardwired to find fault – the old negativity bias at work again. In this situation, they quickly lose sight of your strengths, the core reasons they have stuck with you for the last twenty years: you’re great with the kids, you make them laugh, you’re sensitive and you’re always honest and kind, etc. But because of your blunder, their brain filters out your many strengths and focuses on the error, which leads them to think you’re stupid, forgetful and are always out with your mates. The dog, however, loves you unconditionally and, despite being held captive for the same five hours, focuses only on your strengths. She is incapable of seeing anything other than the best in you; her love shines through. After all, you feed her, show her lots of affection, take her for great walks, give her treats and even pick up her poo! Therefore, on your return, she is as happy as Larry to see you. In her mind, there is no need to remind you of your silly, small error. Dogs seem to be hardwired to value and trust those around them. They see the best in you always. I reflected on this story for a while and began to see its relevance to school life and systems that can, on occasion, make us feel cautious and push us firmly on to the back foot. Establishing a default setting in us to focus on the negative and see the worst in situations and sometimes, sadly, in others, too. What receives attention or focus becomes what we (or the client) strive(s) for and eventually becomes a reality. Erika Stoerkel – coach and author A key message throughout our book is the joy of finding strengths in others, acknowledging their contributions, celebrating their success and remembering to say thank you – the very thrust of our tale above. I would suggest a good start to finding strengths is to focus your efforts on the potential of informal feedback - an undervalued yet extremely powerful form of feedback for highlighting staff strengths and giving a positive message and available for all to use at a moment's notice. This kind of feedback is often given during the brief interactions as staff move around the school sharing time together – hence the importance of wearing out your shoe leather, which we explored in our recent blog. Although snatched in a moment and rarely planned, this kind of feedback is so often affirmative; we would therefore advocate that you plan intentional walkabouts to tell staff the ‘good stuff’. It is irrelevant whether this praise is given by a teacher or someone in a leadership role. It confirms to the recipient the good things they are doing. For example, “Loved the assembly”, “The choir sang beautifully” or “Thanks for all your planning ideas the other evening.” You get the picture. If delivered sincerely, how can this feedback not lead to happier, more positive staff and encourage stronger relationships across the school? After all, it is the very glue that binds a school community together. There are two things people want more than sex and money –recognition and praise. Mary Kay Ash – an American businesswoman who founded Mary Kay Cosmetics When it occurs regularly, informal feedback is potent and transformational. This is because it lifts our spirits, motivates us and makes us feel good. Why wouldn’t it? It also helps us to understand and clarify our strengths, giving us licence to do more of the same. In effect, we are spreading a little kindness around the school and creating and/or modelling a culture through these actions, ensuring staff are more likely to go the extra mile for the pupils, the school and its community. 'The most powerful drug in the world is kindness. It works for everyone, it's very hard to get the dose wrong and it's free at the point of delivery.' (Quoted in Private Eye) Dr Phil Hammond – NHS doctor, private eye journalist, campaigner & comic Ultimately, if an individual feels good about themselves, and more emotionally connected to the school and its culture, they are more likely to do more of the same and even exceed what is required of them. They will become intrinsically motivated to go beyond their job description – discretionary effort in action. This will then impact their team’s performance, and any goodwill generated will permeate the school community’s culture. Easy really! Giving positive feedback to colleagues is such a simple thing to do, and yet it is so often neglected. Why? We have a theory about this that we call silent praise; an unconscious phenomenon that is happening in schools across the land. Typically, silent praise happens when staff walk around the school with their praise firmly locked in their heads. They know you are a great teacher, and they know you worked incredibly hard last week setting up the online parents’ evening, but it would seem they just don’t know how to acknowledge this and say thank you. They think that you will somehow pick up this praise via telepathy as they smile at you knowingly. They believe their mere presence is saying all they need to say. Consequently, your inner voice provides you with the all-too-familiar reassurance of, “I must be doing OK as no one has told me otherwise.” I’m sure you’ll agree that in these circumstances, silence is certainly not golden. Let’s knock that myth on the head immediately. We know that staff need to hear the good stuff, and regularly. Imagine going through life with your partner without ever shining a light on the joy you gain from being with them, assuming that because you are thinking it, this will be enough. I am not a counsellor, but I can assure you that this will lead to problems from the outset. Your relationship will undoubtedly be tested. If you don’t believe me, try silent praise for a week at home and let us know the outcome at #yourewonderfulbutsorryIdidnttellyou. Now think of the lovely staff in your department or throughout the whole school, who may go a week, or even a term, without any informal positive feedback or praise. Yes, this can happen. Imagine how they feel as they drive home. Check it out at #whydoIbothernobodyreallycares. So, if you are one of those people who find this approach difficult, then start practising. Find some time to get out and pass on the praise. (We suggest you avoid giving it randomly to passing pedestrians but instead focus on your team!) If you feel awkward, remember that you’re probably not alone, especially if you are not the gushy type. Giving praise and positive feedback doesn’t always come easily to people, especially in the busy world of schools and classrooms. In this situation, you may have to adapt your style, because others may be reliant on feedback and someone being effusive about their practice. So, ‘fake it till you make it’ and one day you’ll genuinely feel it. After all, we are teachers, and most of us have at least one Oscar nomination in the Best Actor/Actress category for some of our performances! If what you’ve read resonates, visit www.educaveman.co.uk. EduCaveman is an empowering book for ALL educators which dares to dream of the schools we all want. It marries a nourishing blend of humour with school reality which invites teachers and school leaders to reflect on, and move beyond, some of the more grating and long accepted educational practices. Prioritising people over paper, EduCaveman is a refreshing elixir which oozes practical positivity and imbues professional confidence. EduCaveman will be available to purchase in the Summer Term Good relationships don’t happen overnight. They take commitment, compromise, forgiveness, and most of all – effort.
Tara Parker-Pope American author of general-audience books and Blogger The quote above was taken from a newspaper article, and while it’s aimed at romantic partners, it could equally be applied to any form of relationship, especially those found in schools. This is particularly true when one considers how staff approach the crucial task of building and, more importantly, maintaining positive relationships in all aspects of school life. In the sixties, a method of discipline and strict conformity was often used to maintain order in the classroom. It was a safe, effective way of getting through the day unscathed, and certainly untouched, by any real connection. Thankfully, times have changed, and building positive relationships plays an important role in any successful school. We’ll go further and say that if learning is to be truly effective and engaging in the modern classroom, a lack of connectedness must not be allowed to hamper the process. Nowadays, teachers and support staff alike utilise the formation of quality relationships in the classroom as their main weapon of choice. These important connections create positive links with children, build up the trust account, allow difficult situations to be tackled more easily and enable every pupil to gain confidence in the learning process. We do, however, acknowledge that more recently, a zero-tolerance approach to dealing with issues concerning poor behaviour, or non-adherence to company policy, has become the norm in some schools. Whilst this may provide a solution in the short-term, it avoids the time-consuming yet more rewarding approach of getting to know your audience. Putting in those seemingly thankless hard yards can be tough and time consuming, but we believe, in the long run, you and your pupils will reap the reward. Through building good-quality relationships, staff hold the key to successful learning and enjoyment of the learning process, for both them and their pupils. It’s worth every single moment you invest. We are not advocating quality relationships simply as a means of maintaining the status quo. We believe that if used effectively, they are a much more powerful tool and move educators towards true contentment and joy. When present and effective in schools, quality relationships encourage opportunities for fulfilment, for both staff and pupils. Enter any classroom where they are at the forefront of the experience being offered and you will notice a buzz about the place. The heart of the school will be beating strongly, and warmth will be radiating throughout the classrooms and beyond. In these schools, every pupil is visible to the teacher, and vice versa. Every pupil is valued and listened to, and dare I say, so are the staff. They will all be enjoying the collective, positive atmosphere they have had a hand in creating. I'm just blown away by how kind the teachers are to students here . . . but I think that's just a follow-on of the whole culture. You sit in the dining room, and you never have to be mindful of what you're saying because everyone's on the same side . . . the staff are supportive of each other, and I think that carries across into the classroom Suzanna Roffey - teacher, educational psychologist, academic and author. Positive relationships between all stakeholders (by which we mean anyone who is invested in the welfare and success of a school and its students,) and the community are the keystone of any thriving, joyous school. They are pivotal in bringing the community closer together. We believe this encourages a school to grow and develop into a motivated, adventurous and happy place to be – a school with an inbuilt ability to stand solid and assured against any hard times, weathering most, if not all, the issues it might face. The subtle difference between our metaphorical keystone and the one used in arch construction is simple. Both are crucial and central to the strength of what is being built. However, the keystone used in constructing arches is often the very last thing fitted, whereas the relationships keystone must be one of the first pieces of the puzzle. Once these quality relationships are in place, building a school community around them becomes so much easier. School development, effective learning and cultural strengthening flourish as a result of the engagement and goodwill of all the stakeholders. Relationships that are locked and loaded and present throughout a school, from the front office to the corridors and cascading out of the staffroom, are crucial to its wellbeing. They break down barriers, encourage trust and confidence in each other and, more importantly, confidence in the systems and structures that the school is promoting and supporting. Staff who understand the importance of strong relationships in the workplace make meaningful connections across the school and encourage their colleagues to do the same. They are pathologically optimistic and see the best in staff and children alike. This attitude helps them to create schools with a confident, caring and supportive atmosphere, allowing them to embrace the day-to-day business of running a school without being overwhelmed. We have come across many such schools up and down the country that ooze this kind of positivity. “How do you identify them?” I hear you ask. “What’s your criteria?” The truth is, we don’t have a particular checklist because this quality is so easy to detect when you are looking for it. You can almost smell it as you drive into the car park. If you don’t believe me, next time you visit a school, have a go at analysing the school atmosphere yourself. There’s no need for a pen and paper, just start your voyage at the front office and continue through to the classrooms and beyond. In the schools that have nurtured strong relationships, you will notice positivity permeating the building like a breath of fresh air. The first thing you’ll notice in such welcoming schools is the buzz; it’s a kind of hum, an energy. These places have a warmth to them; an evangelical openness to share the good news about their school from the get-go. We believe that if the school is positive and accessible to its community then you can guarantee the children will be on point and the staff motivated and confident. As you walk around, the narrative you’ll absorb in the corridors and staffrooms will be optimistic and energised. All the teachers, pupils and support staff will be enjoying the process of learning and the strong relationships they have created with each other. In schools where good relationships are a little harder to detect, the atmosphere lingers like a bad odour - a kind of fog. In these establishments, you might well find that staff are defensive, cautious, wary and pessimistic. Not all at once, and not necessarily in that order, but I think you get the picture. In some schools, policies, structure and detail (the business documents) have replaced the heart and soul of the building. The leadership has become distracted with onerous bureaucracy and is fully absorbed in tackling the demands this puts on them. Inevitably, this moves them subtly away from nurturing the soul of the school to running the business of the school. (We do, however, acknowledge that during the challenging period of the Covid-19 pandemic, tending to anything other than the day-to-day distractions would have been nigh on impossible.) Dealing with the bureaucracy absorbs so much time, and the ensuing directives are delivered at a relentless pace, often leading to overload, strategy fatigue and even further isolation. Obviously, we’re not advocating that staff should suddenly start hugging and fist bumping, but we strongly believe that if schools concentrate on making profound personal connections, they will be far better equipped to tackle change and improve the school. This will probably have a greater impact on improving the school than yet another delivered directive. Well, the good news is that staff tend to get the school they have created or permitted – the school they deserve. Yes, leadership certainly plays an important role in setting and encouraging the daily tone and modelling the kind of school they have envisioned. However, anybody can contribute, and an all-hands-on-deck approach is most welcome. We encourage you to join in whenever you want; it will make such a difference. What great news to finish on! Whoever you are and whatever your role, you have as much power as the next person to transform the culture of your school. If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all. Thumper- Bambi (1942) If what you’ve read resonates, visit www.educaveman.co.uk. EduCaveman is an empowering book for ALL educators which dares to dream of the schools we all want. It marries a nourishing blend of humour with school reality which invites teachers and school leaders to reflect on, and move beyond, some of the more grating and long accepted educational practices. Prioritising people over paper, EduCaveman is a refreshing elixir which oozes practical positivity and imbues professional confidence. EduCaveman will be available to purchase in the Summer Term One of the things that has always struck me as odd, and a little depressing, is the propensity of some people to focus on the negative. I guess I notice this more than the average person as my natural disposition is so often one of blind positivity and optimism (beautifully captured in Taylor Swift’s song Dear John). I have been told on more than one occasion that this is a little irritating, which, to be honest, is a fair comment. That said, I’m sure I’m one of many who choose to think this way. I can’t help it, and I don’t know why, but this is just the way I am wired. Life has certainly not been a bed of roses, and I’ve faced my fair share of adversity, but when the chips are down, I can always fall back on my default thinking, which, to quote Oscar Wilde, assures me that, “Everything is going to be fine in the end. If it’s not fine, it’s not the end.”
Over recent years, though, I have found myself developing an antipathy and a growing resistance to phrases such as: “Assume the worst and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” “Plan for the worst-case scenario and anything else will be a bonus.” “Expect the worst in people and you won’t feel let down.” For me, these phrases are utterly counterintuitive and leave me cold. In fact, I can distinctly remember members of my family making disparaging, tongue-in-cheek remarks about my misplaced utopian view of the world. My retorts were just as barbed. “Must be a joy to live in your cynical world!” Notwithstanding these frequent jibes, I have remained steadfast in my positivity and belief in the goodness of humanity. On reflection, I guess that is why the profession of teaching, for me, was such a good fit; it provided a chance to serve a system that shapes young minds for the good. To me, whether you’re working with children in a nursery or enjoying lunch in a bustling university refectory, the sense of hope and purpose is palpable. Where better to deploy some relentless optimism? Anyway, over the last ten years or so, in my work with trainees, ECTs, Senior Leaders and Headteachers I have sensed a phenomenon which led me to carry out a little more research to investigate whether what I was noticing was an actual thing… It transpires that it was. The negativity bias can be our inclination to embrace negative stimuli more strongly than positive stimuli. We discovered that we have a tendency both to linger on it and remember it for longer. We also learned that the negativity bias can mean that our brains register personal and hurtful comments far more deeply than a piece of hugely positive feedback from a trusted friend or colleague. People may well:
I will now look at each of these four assertions through the eyes of an educator. However, before I do this, I would like to make three personal observations that may help you understand why teachers and leaders may be predisposed to this way of thinking and/or feeling. 1. You criticise my teaching/school, you criticise my very being Teaching is in the blood. It’s a vocation. Speak to any educator and they will make no bones about the fact that this job is heart and soul stuff; it’s deeply personal. If you work in education, the simple truth is that you give it your all, and then some. The bottom line isn’t profit. It’s about something far more important than that: life chances. No educator ever wakes up in the morning, ponders the day ahead, and says, “Today I’ll aim for mediocrity.” They may well aim for survival, but certainly not mediocrity. Programmed into every educator’s DNA is the assumption that every interaction with a pupil could be the one that changes their life. Educators invest in their pupils, and they keep investing, day after day, term after term, year after year. They back their pupils and they back them some more. They invest emotionally, even when their own emotional wells have run dry. To say that teaching or school leadership is an emotional job, is to underplay it. 2. The deficit model of education Let me transport you back to your teacher training. Remember it? If you were in any way prone to sensitivity this would have been a tough time. I distinctly recall my paper-thin skin thickening as I naively navigated the early months of my training. For me, it was an emotional battleground on which development and professional growth was built upon a relentless focus on what I wasn’t doing and the skills I hadn’t yet mastered. I distinctly recall nailing an ongoing target (ensuring an appropriate balance of teacher talk versus pupil talk), and looking forward to receiving some positive feedback. I was like a child knowing that I would be going to the sweet shop after school. Sadly, the reality was thoroughly underwhelming. Yes, my progress against the target was acknowledged, but for the remaining fifty-nine minutes and thirty seconds of the sixty-minute feedback session, we focused on new deficits. Ring any bells? Weirdly, or depressingly, I adapted and came to normalise this perverse way of working. Given that I didn’t know any different, I just assumed that this was how it was in education. And even after nearly twenty years, it didn’t stop – and it still hasn’t. Whether you’re a teacher or a leader, you’ll experience the same phenomenon – from appraisals to pupil progress meetings, from book looks to lesson observations, from governing body meetings to parent forums, and from local authority reviews to health and safety audits – the list just goes on and on . . . And the common thread running through all these systems? As sure as night follows day, you can be certain to find a relentless, unswerving focus on: · Weaknesses · Next steps · Gaps · Even better ifs · Missed targets I began to make a mental note of the time spent evaluating success or strengths compared to the time spent on weaknesses. You won’t be surprised with the findings. I like to call this the deficit model of education. It’s staggeringly unbalanced and if we adopted it with the pupils in our care, we would be nominated at the Teaching Awards in the category of Most Demotivating Teacher. Don’t get me wrong. I am not for one moment advocating that we ignore or overlook areas for development. Not at all. I just think we need to be more balanced in weighing them up with the strengths. Each should be given equal weighting. Moreover, surely we need to be more discerning about when to provide developmental feedback? To win the war, it’s not always beneficial to wage every battle. 3. Use of helpful language Connected to this, and a point worth making, is the use of language within the deficit model. If you listen closely enough, educational vernacular is never far from words such as scrutiny, forensic, inadequate, etc. In fact, if you look closely enough, you’ll even see this sort of language in education’s Ten Commandments, otherwise known as the Teachers’ Standards. The preamble describes the requirement for teachers to be ‘self-critical’. Not ‘reflective’ but ‘self-critical’! That’s hardly language to rouse the soul or foster encouragement. Or maybe it’s just me . . . When you chuck in a global pandemic, I think that some of those working in education move beyond the negativity bias, and experience what we call, the extreme negativity bias. Although a fictional phenomenon, the extreme negativity bias, in my experience, can be very real for teachers and school leaders alike. Taken individually, it is not comfortable to see but collectively, the effects may well be amplified… Collectively, educators shouldering the extreme negativity bias do not make for happy staffrooms, schools, or systems… As schools seek to return to a more normal rhythm following the pandemic, there has never been a better time to focus on getting our culture right in schools and in education. If we can get the culture right, we build a hugely strong foundation on which school development can flourish. If what you’ve read resonates, visit www.educaveman.co.uk. EduCaveman is an empowering book for ALL educators which dares to dream of the schools we all want. It marries a nourishing blend of humour with school reality which invites teachers and school leaders to reflect on, and move beyond, some of the more grating and long accepted educational practices. Prioritising people over paper, EduCaveman is a refreshing elixir which oozes practical positivity and imbues professional confidence. EduCaveman will be available to purchase in the Summer Term |
Dave Cole and
|
RSS Feed
