Creating schools kids want to attend | New book cover | Upcoming Events

Hello friends

I hope this finds you fine and dandyish.

Here’s a quick round-up of recent developments in the corner of the world concerned with how to make education even more awesome.

First, a couple of personal updates.

1. New book cover

For the last few years, I’ve been working on a new book called Making Change Stick: A Practical Guide to Implementing School Improvement. It’s now almost finished and we’re looking at a January launch.

I’ve spent a ludicrous amount of time thinking about a suitable image for the front cover. A sticky note? Ugh. Stapler? Goodness no. Some glue? It’s all a bit literal, Jim.

Then a few weeks ago I was out for some tapas with Ruthy and we got chatting with a lovely couple at the next table. For some unknown reason I started bending their ear about my book cover conundrum and the gentleman, whose dinner I had interrupted, thoughtfully placed his napkin down, turned and said ‘How about a gecko?’

I fired off an email to the good people at John Catt and they came back with this. Pretty rad eh!

2. Ofsted reform (finally! surely! you never know!)

With my Education Policy Alliance hat on, I recently had a super-interesting, hope-inducing meeting with Ofsted, alongside three of my EPA amigos, to discuss our vision for a new accountability system for schools.

It’s still early days, but under the new leadership Ofsted seem genuinely open to dialogue with people from across the sector in a way that the previous regime did not. We’ve already arranged a follow-up conversation in June - watch this space!

Should you wish to add your tuppence to the reform effort, there are a few days remaining in Ofsted’s Big Listen exercise (using ‘listen’ as a noun there guys - not sure that would fly in a SAT paper).

And if, like many wise and noble folk, you feel that Ofsted’s choice of questions don’t fully explore the territory that they really need to, you can also complete the Alternative Big Listen created by two former HMIs, Prof Colin Richards and Frank Norris MBE.

3. Three new repods

I released three podcasts into the wild recently. (“Live your lives! Be free! Come home when you need your washing doing!”)

The first features a fascinating conversation with Ife Obasa on Representation, Work Experience… and God! That’s right friends - unlike the New Labour government, the Rethinking Ed podcast ‘does God’. Indeed, it’s a topic I’ll return to soon in an upcoming episode with Rupert Sheldrake (a bit lot of a hero of mine). It was great to spend some time with Ife, a final year law student whose extracurricular interests centre around increasing representation and empowering young people to get involved in shaping the decision-making processes that affect their lives. We spoke a lot about the importance of representation in education and how to achieve it. Do tune in, it’s well worth a listen!

I also recently interviewed René Kneyber and Valentina Devid on the power of Formative Action, about their brilliant new book of the same name. René and Valentina are the founders of a teacher training cooperative in the Netherlands called Toetsrevolutie (Test Revolution). I’ve had the opportunity to get to know the Toets gang a little recently - I’ve been out to visit them three times in the last year or so, with a further visit planned later this year. They also spoke at the Rethinking Ed conference last year - as did Ife. They’re super-lovely and super-smart and they’re now turning their attention to the edu-topic closest to my own heart, self-regulated learning. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

Finally, in the week that the general election was called, hot off the presses I just published a timely conversation about some of the questions an incoming government needs to get to grips with. Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Education Secretary, recently posted on X that an incoming Labour government will look at curriculum reform. This prompted a mixed response, it’s fair to say, with many people expressing dismay at the prospect of another curriculum overhaul. And yet the case for reforming the curriculum is strong. My guest in this episode, Meena Wood, is no stranger to curriculum reform, and in her excellent book Secondary Curriculum Transformed: Enabling All to Achieve (2020), Meena argues for an equitable and diverse knowledge and skills based English curriculum, preparing young people for the changing global landscape of society and employment. This was a wide-ranging conversation in which we discuss curriculum reform, the incredible journey Meena and her family made to made to this country in the 1960s, the way in which English education is somewhat insular and would benefit from a little learning from other countries, and flying the flag for Further Education (FE), an important part of the educational landscape doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. It’s a shorter episode than usual but we pack a lot in to just over an hour. You can find it here.

4. Belonging schools

In recent years I’ve spoken a lot (and learned a huge amount) about the ever-worsening attendance crisis. (Where will it end? Will there be anyone left?!!)

While politicians reach for sticks to bash parents with, I think the smartest approach is to ask: ‘How can we create schools that children and young people want to attend?’

A recent report by Professor Toby Greany and colleagues on Belonging Schools includes six case studies of schools they describe, somewhat cautiously, as ‘relatively more inclusive’. The title of the report “highlights the centrality of human relationships underpinned by shared values in all six case study schools. These relationships and values created a sense of belonging - of students being seen, known, cared for, understood and supported in ways which best met their needs.”

It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.

5. Collective leadership: The missing piece

I’m occasionally accused of being a bit Anglocentric in my thinking around education reform. I think this is a fair criticism. So I was excited to read a new report by the global education reform network Teach for All called The Missing Piece: Developing Collective Leadership to Transform Education.

The focus on inclusive, representative leadership is closely aligned with the work I’ve been doing around implementation and improvement science in recent years, and it was great to see lots of case studies of collective leadership in action from around the world.

Take your brain on a world tour of life-affirming edu shizzle!

6. Environmentalism in a time between education worlds

An interesting new collection of essays with a somewhat worthy title by Global Action Plan. Here’s an excerpt from the intro:

“Revolutionary change to the education system is more possible today than it has been in decades. It will not, and should not, be a fast revolution, it will play out over the next decade. We will bolster calls for a new education system that is more democratic, more decentralised, and only lightly instrumentalised. We will do this by making these calls ourselves, but also, crucially, by supporting and amplifying those who are making similar and aligned calls from other – more powerful – corners of the education ecosystem.”

PUMP IT INTO MY VEINS

7. Upcoming events

There’s LOADS of cool stuff happening in the coming weeks and months. Some of these are paid. I’m not on commission (honest!) - I just know the people involved and I think it’s worth spreading the love. In chronological order:

• Fri Jun 3rd, 2-3.30pm BST (FREE) - Online launch of the FED’s Climate & Sustainability Toolkit.

  • A fab new resource designed to equip teachers, sustainability leads and their teams with the tools, knowledge and confidence they need to deliver their Climate Action Plans, which need to be in place by 2025.

  • Tickets are FREE and are available here
    

• Thu 20th June, 12.30-5pm BST (£) - The New School Professionals Day

  • A day of learning about cool stuff at the pioneering democratic school in Croydon. Includes workshops on:

    • The New School’s recent research with UCL and the key ingredients of their practice

    • A deep dive into their pastoral and wellbeing curriculum

    • A chance to explore their outdoor learning approach

  • Tickets are £55 and are available here
    

• Mon July 1st, 10am-4pm BST (£) - Next Generation Schools Conference (Big Education)

  • An opportunity to learn from schools across the country who are working to develop exciting approaches to leadership, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment that make a difference to learning, engage and motivate teachers and build stronger communities.

  • Early bird tickets are £59 and are available here
    

• Tues 13th – Sun 18th August (£) - The Visionaries Educator Camp

  • A one week wilderness retreat educators and youth professionals seeking time to rest, reset & revitalise amongst peers. As a peer community, we’ll spend deep time in nature to initiate new forms of consciousness and awareness.

  • Tickets are available at different levels, including bursary places, and are available here

OK that’s me done for now folks. Until the next time…

James

Dr James Mannion
Director, Rethinking Education