Activate launch (SUPER EXCITING!) | Rethinking Ed North | Next Megamind Zoom

Author

Dr James Mannion
November 25, 2023

Hello friends

I think I’m going to make the Rethinking Ed Roundup a monthly thing, which will arrive toward the end of each month. But it’s been a while because I’ve been deep in a writing hole, so this month there are no fewer than seven tasty morsels I would like to waft enticingly in your general direction:

  1. Activate Asia and UK launch webinars - Tues Dec 5th: ***SUPER EXCITING***

  2. Education Policy Alliance: Please share your thoughts on how we might improve mental health and wellbeing in schools

  3. Christian Bokhove on domain knowledge vs generic skills

  4. Rethinking Ed North - the 2024 conference - invitation to join steering group

  5. Calvin Henry on Ofsted - “It was brutal. Really brutal and unnecessary.”

  6. Upcoming poddies and guest requests

  7. The next Rethinking Education Megamind Zoom: Sat 9th Dec, 11am-12 noon UK time

Let’s dive in!

  1. Activate Asia and UK launch webinars - Tues Dec 5th: ***SUPER EXCITING***

For the last 4 years (!) I’ve been working as part of an amazing team to create a new card-based professional development resource to help teachers and leaders teach kids how to become more confident, proactive, self-regulated learners. It’s called Activate and it comes in a lovely shiny box, published by the beautiful human beings at Crown House. Pretty ain’t it!

So far it has been very well-received - there are some amazing reviews by many of my edu-heroes here - and I am told that preparations for a Dutch translation are already underway.

The good people at the worldwide Cognita schools network have been instrumental in shaping this resource, and because lots of them are based in Asia, on Tuesday 5th December, we’re hosting two online launch events:

There will be offers and give-aways so please do join us - we’d LOVE to hear your thoughts!

  1. Education Policy Alliance: Please share your thoughts on how we might improve mental health and wellbeing in schools

This year I’ve been working with a new group called the Education Policy Alliance, a grass-roots think tank dedicated to crowd-sourcing education policy ideas. We plan to publish five policy proposals before next summer, in time for a potential change of government. The Ofsted one is well underway, and the next one will turn to the increasingly salient question of how we might improve mental health and wellbeing in our schools.

If you have any ideas about how we might improve mental health and wellbeing in our schools - either for educators or for children and young people - we’d LOVE to hear your thoughts! Here’s a short survey - it only takes a few minutes to complete, and you don’t have to answer every question.

Please also free to share the link with anyone you feel might be interested. And please feel free to repost this tweet if you’re one of the hardy souls who still visit Twitter/X from time to time.

  1. Christian Bokhove on domain knowledge vs generic skills

In the last ten years or so, there has been lots of talk in England about cognitive science and the importance of knowing your onions. In my recent podcast with Professor Christian Bokhove, we discussed domain knowledge, generic skills, an infamous article by Tricot and Sweller called Domain-Specific Knowledge and Why Teaching Generic Skills Does Not Work, the Maths Wars - as well as the fact that Christian used to work as a Britpop consultant…

And the full episode is available here in video and audio. As is the 2-minute trailer, in which Christian explains how knowledge can be a double-edged sword…

  1. Rethinking Ed 2024 conference - invitation to join the steering group

It looks a lot like the next Rethinking Ed conference will be in my native Manchester, next September. We’re thinking of tweaking the format slightly next year also - more details to follow soon.

We’re currently looking to recruit people to join the steering committee. It will involve a monthly 1-hour Zoom meeting - probably an early evening, midweek affair - from January to September. It’s a pro bono thing - the conference runs on a shoe-string - but you would be helping shape something truly heart-warming and life-affirming. We’re keen to include a range of people - primary, secondary, leaders, teachers, support staff, young people, parents/carers, governors, researchers… If you’re interested in helping shape next year’s conference, please drop me a line by replying to this email.

  1. Calvin Henry on Ofsted - “It was brutal. Really brutal and unnecessary.”

Until recently, Calvin Henry was the headteacher of St. Mark’s C of E Primary School in North London. Last year, Calvin went through an experience that he describes as being “uncannily similar” to that of Ruth Perry, the headteacher of Caversham Primary School in Reading who tragically took her own life earlier this year following an Ofsted inspection that downgraded her school’s rating from “outstanding” to “inadequate”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Calvin has since parted company with the teaching profession.

In this latest episode of the podcast, Calvin shares his story - which goes right to the heart of everything that is wrong with our current approach to schools accountability. Check out the trailer below - the full episode is available here in video and audio.

  1. Upcoming poddies and guest requests

I have some fascinating podcasts in the can waiting to be processed. Look out for upcoming episodes with:

  • Eliza Fricker (Sunday Times bestselling author of Can’t not won’t and the brand new Thumbsucker) - on being the parent of a child who couldn’t - not wouldn’t - go to school

  • Ben Davis - Salford headteacher and Education Policy Alliance stalwart. Ben gave a brilliant critique of Ofsted on BBC breakfast this week (see here). Also check out his ace thread about the headteacher / football manager comparison

  • Sir Anthony Seldon - headmaster at Epsom College and the author of lots of biographies of Prime Ministers, among much else - on meditation, mental health, private education and much else

There are more super exciting guests around the corner, but I’ll save those until next time.

If there’s anyone you’d like me to interview on the podcast, please drop me a line by replying to this email.

  1. The next Rethinking Education Megamind Zoom: Sat 9th Dec, 11am-12 noon UK time

Once a month, the Rethinking Education Megamind (a free online community of around a thousand rethinkers) has an ‘open dialogue’ Zoom call on a Saturday morning. There’s no agenda - we just pitch up and see what unfolds. It’s a lovely dollop of human connection. Do feel free to join us - the next one will be on Saturday 9th December, 11am-12 noon UK time.

If you haven’t done so already, join the Megamind and I’ll send out a Zoom link nearer the time.

And that’s a wrap! Until the next time amigos…

James

Dr James Mannion
Director, Rethinking Education