Saturday, 16 May 2009
Come back Ivan ... much is forgiven
I have had an interesting weekend of educational banter that has caused me to go back, in the end, to my educational roots. I have never, and I believe, will never be an institutionalist and so have never believed that schools were good places for education.
Their strength used to be that they were populated by dedicated, inspirational people who were urgent to make a difference to and for the young people who crossed their paths on a year by year basis. If only I felt that was the case today. It is not to say that I don't believe in the dedication of the people it is just that the pathway has changed and somehow the route has got lost amongst the trees.
So I went back and reread, just to revitalise, the works of my mentor Ivan Illich and I am pleased to say that my ideals are still alive and well. Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them.
They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavour are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question.
Their strength used to be that they were populated by dedicated, inspirational people who were urgent to make a difference to and for the young people who crossed their paths on a year by year basis. If only I felt that was the case today. It is not to say that I don't believe in the dedication of the people it is just that the pathway has changed and somehow the route has got lost amongst the trees.
So I went back and reread, just to revitalise, the works of my mentor Ivan Illich and I am pleased to say that my ideals are still alive and well. Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them.
They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavour are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question.
Ivan Illich Deschooling Society (1973: 9)
In the coming age of Web 2.0 technology this escalated to nature of the ownership of education and the vexed question of 'push' or 'pull' with regard to real learning. I think that teaching is potentially overrated and it stupefies creativity in sport, work and life ........... the truly greats are and were individuals defining their own truths in their own way and our education systems appear to do nothing at all but institutionalise and take of all of the exciting peaks and troughs in peoples' learning pathways and make them into plateaus. It is not just about being good ........ it is about developing the 'goodness' ............ teaching can play a part but education is different.
We should not be taking so much of the lead as educators we should be opening doors and drawing maps ..... the ownership and control needs to shift to the learners and it is up to us to ensure that as it does they, each and everyone, is in a state to take on the power that this ownership endows. I see this approach as one towards personalisation.
Not the institutional idea of personalisation : Personalisation in education, though, means pupils get what they need; not what they want.
It is not the pupil’s decision, but someone else’s. You can read about the institutional inconsistencies here but ..... mine (and I hope Ivan would have agreed with me!)
To see where all this might be going in the modern idiom read Ewan McIntosh's blog post about the MET Schools.
Exciting times
No teacher left behind ...
Every teacher matters ...
What is it that you haven't found yet ... click here if you dare ... it will/might/should/has the potential to ... change your life
Every teacher matters ...
What is it that you haven't found yet ... click here if you dare ... it will/might/should/has the potential to ... change your life
Anything can happen - will it?
Ken Robinson in his wonderful TED presentation on the nature of Creativity delivered firstly in Monterey in 2006 (and elsewhere since) makes a clear statement about education for creativity. He also says that we can't predict what the future holds ... just think about the last 9 months in the world economy?
From consumers to co-operative participants
Don Ledingham asks in his blog - Perhaps the time is right to explore alternative delivery models for education where we shift our thinking from people being users or consumers, to being participants? and I know I agree.
For too long education and learning has been ‘done to’ people. It is quite clear that we cannot go on this way. Ownership is everything - it is the thing that makes the difference. Teachers are inspirers and must be given the opportunities necessary to inspire. We are going further and further away from what is needed and, as Don says, our current system - as it has evolved - has been dominated by the tenets of centralised control . We have created dependency on it. Is it because education is a politically driven institution or is it that we simply haven’t allowed it to evolve enough?
The steps forward are not simple … but they do need taking … and the answers will not fit easily into the present climate. I just wonder if the current economic downturn will have taught us anything about what is important.
For too long education and learning has been ‘done to’ people. It is quite clear that we cannot go on this way. Ownership is everything - it is the thing that makes the difference. Teachers are inspirers and must be given the opportunities necessary to inspire. We are going further and further away from what is needed and, as Don says, our current system - as it has evolved - has been dominated by the tenets of centralised control . We have created dependency on it. Is it because education is a politically driven institution or is it that we simply haven’t allowed it to evolve enough?
The steps forward are not simple … but they do need taking … and the answers will not fit easily into the present climate. I just wonder if the current economic downturn will have taught us anything about what is important.
So what happens now?
The progression from Web 1.0 through Web 2.0 and onwards is exponential.
From docs to blogs, pods, wikis and beyond, children, students and learners of all types are using the growing power at their fingertips to develop their ideas in exciting, stimulating and creative ways.
They are collaborating, creating, digesting, reworking, demanding, focusing, inventing and re-inventing! The 'read/write' aspects that excited us with passion last year have sprinted forward giving new meanings to both parts… read and write.
Each day we find institutions besieged by the advances made, which they seemingly have little or no control over and today‘s person wants control! What price is a three to five year development plan when change is so fast?
How do we match this in a world where earthquakes and the global 'crunch' have the capacity to change peoples' lives forever? How do we manage all of the information we now have? What effect does it have on us and ours? Who are the owners? Who are the buyers and who the sellers? …
So what happens now … let‘s explore the opportunities and take the risk of finding out
From docs to blogs, pods, wikis and beyond, children, students and learners of all types are using the growing power at their fingertips to develop their ideas in exciting, stimulating and creative ways.
They are collaborating, creating, digesting, reworking, demanding, focusing, inventing and re-inventing! The 'read/write' aspects that excited us with passion last year have sprinted forward giving new meanings to both parts… read and write.
Each day we find institutions besieged by the advances made, which they seemingly have little or no control over and today‘s person wants control! What price is a three to five year development plan when change is so fast?
How do we match this in a world where earthquakes and the global 'crunch' have the capacity to change peoples' lives forever? How do we manage all of the information we now have? What effect does it have on us and ours? Who are the owners? Who are the buyers and who the sellers? …
So what happens now … let‘s explore the opportunities and take the risk of finding out
Beyond Engagement
This is worth a read: Beyond Engagement studied the use of ICT to enhance and transform learning at KS2 in literacy, mathematics and science:
This report summarises the findings of a smallscale investigation focusing on the extent to which ICT is being used in primary schools to enhance or transform learning in literacy, mathematics and science. 21 schools were visited for a day by a DCSF School Standards Adviser. The schools were nominated by their local authorities as having at least good practice in the use of ICT and some were judged to be amongst the most effective schools in the local authority.
Recommendations: 1. To further the development of the ICT primary schools will benefit from focusing on:
2. Pupils’ experiences of ICT could be extended to support deeper and enhanced learning in mathematics – rather than, for example, just isolated practice/revision programs or teacher led demonstrations – by sharing more innovative pedagogical approaches of using ICT in the subject.
3. Schools should continue to build connections between the use pupils make of ICT at home to the approaches used within school. In relation to the further development of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), schools need further guidance on how these can best be developed to enhance pupils’ learning.
4. There is a continuing need for support for the leadership of ICT in primary schools. This support needs to encompass senior leadership as well as leadership at subject leader or co-ordinator level.
5. Providing an adequate level of dedicated technical support for ICT is a key priority. As more flexible hardware solutions are implemented, the requirement for expert support to maintain the ICT infrastructure In primary schools will become even more critical.
6. Schools could usefully develop their processes for monitoring pupils’ ICT capability through the key stage so that they can: * identify aspects requiring further development and next steps for pupils; * identify potential gaps in the scheme of work; * be clear about the ICT that pupils should be able to apply in other subjects at each stage of the year; * provide meaningful transition data for secondary transfer or change of primary school to support continuity and progression.
The recommendations are interesting:
Point 1 Bullet 1 is significant as it seems to be commenting on the integration of ICT into context rather than the teaching of the 'nuts and bolts' ... excellent!!
The idea from Point 1 Bullet 2 that ICT is an empowering tool that can have really far reaching implications in all subjects beyond the usual ideas of motivation and enjoyment is excellent and needs to be reiterated into the strategies! This is exemplifies in Point 2.
Point 3 comments that schools should continue to build connections ... rather many should actually begin this process and not see it as a voluntary add on.
Point 5 emphasises the fact that this level of use of technology can only be successful if the right technical support is available to make it function and to develop. All too often the technical support is curtailing the development of creative use of ICT rather than supporting it. The expert support must be sympathetic to the aims of the use!
** Thanks to Anthony Evans, Redbridge Primary ICT Consultant, for pointing me in this direction.
This report summarises the findings of a smallscale investigation focusing on the extent to which ICT is being used in primary schools to enhance or transform learning in literacy, mathematics and science. 21 schools were visited for a day by a DCSF School Standards Adviser. The schools were nominated by their local authorities as having at least good practice in the use of ICT and some were judged to be amongst the most effective schools in the local authority.
Recommendations: 1. To further the development of the ICT primary schools will benefit from focusing on:
- issues of teaching and learning and not simply on the technology of the ICT application itself;
- the potential of the ICT activities to move beyond pupil engagement to supporting enhanced and deeper learning in core and foundation subjects;
- providing on-going CPD and support for staff in terms of collaborative working and sharing of effective practice.
2. Pupils’ experiences of ICT could be extended to support deeper and enhanced learning in mathematics – rather than, for example, just isolated practice/revision programs or teacher led demonstrations – by sharing more innovative pedagogical approaches of using ICT in the subject.
3. Schools should continue to build connections between the use pupils make of ICT at home to the approaches used within school. In relation to the further development of Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), schools need further guidance on how these can best be developed to enhance pupils’ learning.
4. There is a continuing need for support for the leadership of ICT in primary schools. This support needs to encompass senior leadership as well as leadership at subject leader or co-ordinator level.
5. Providing an adequate level of dedicated technical support for ICT is a key priority. As more flexible hardware solutions are implemented, the requirement for expert support to maintain the ICT infrastructure In primary schools will become even more critical.
6. Schools could usefully develop their processes for monitoring pupils’ ICT capability through the key stage so that they can: * identify aspects requiring further development and next steps for pupils; * identify potential gaps in the scheme of work; * be clear about the ICT that pupils should be able to apply in other subjects at each stage of the year; * provide meaningful transition data for secondary transfer or change of primary school to support continuity and progression.
The recommendations are interesting:
Point 1 Bullet 1 is significant as it seems to be commenting on the integration of ICT into context rather than the teaching of the 'nuts and bolts' ... excellent!!
The idea from Point 1 Bullet 2 that ICT is an empowering tool that can have really far reaching implications in all subjects beyond the usual ideas of motivation and enjoyment is excellent and needs to be reiterated into the strategies! This is exemplifies in Point 2.
Point 3 comments that schools should continue to build connections ... rather many should actually begin this process and not see it as a voluntary add on.
Point 5 emphasises the fact that this level of use of technology can only be successful if the right technical support is available to make it function and to develop. All too often the technical support is curtailing the development of creative use of ICT rather than supporting it. The expert support must be sympathetic to the aims of the use!
** Thanks to Anthony Evans, Redbridge Primary ICT Consultant, for pointing me in this direction.
Now I know of, and have read, the Williams Report on Maths and recently I was in Manchester to listen to Mike Waters and others explain the Rose Review and I have read the Cambridge Review ... so what happens if, in the not to distant future, there is a general election? (check out the odds here)
It could easily happen before any of the reports/reviews have a chance to impact upon teaching/learning/parents/schools etc ... never mind BSF and Primary Capital Programme.
Any views or ideas on this would be appreciated ... check out the Conservative Party, Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats policy documents for enlightenment.
Cast some light on things for me ....
And remember - you have until the end of July to have your say about the Rose Review ... if you don't take the chance - then ....
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things ..." and to have your say about them, it is not all 'done and dusted' yet. But let's hear it for ICT as it enters the 'core' (where did science go?) And if you wish to get a sense of déjà vu then read here ... and you could, while you are considering all of these things, ask where Sats fit into this plan.
Curriculum reform consultationThe Secretary of State is launching a public consultation on proposals for a revised primary curriculum and changes to Personal, Social, Health and Economic education. Alongside these proposals, the Secretary of State is also consulting on changes to national curriculum subject level descriptions and updated guidance for the teaching of religious education. The consultation takes place from 30 April to 24 July 2009. The questionnaire, an interactive tool to explain the new curriculum, detailed programmes of learning, revised level descriptions, the updated guidance document, and other information on all aspects of the consultation can be found here.
This is really important stuff and the chance for everyone invloved with teaching and learning to say what they feel should be happening and perhaps why they feel so strongly about it. I wonder if it will, as usual be the LA advisors and those with more vested interests who will spend the time to respond or whether teachers and TAs will take the necessary time. It would make a super staff meeting!
PS
Also have a read of the 2009 Horizon Report and check out where people thing that the innovation is going to take place over the next five years.
These are the things to become familiar with if you wish to be at the cutting edge of things:
Mobiles. Already considered as another component of the network on many campuses, mobiles continue to evolve rapidly. New interfaces, the ability to run third-party applications, and location-awareness have all come to the mobile device in the past year, making it an ever more versatile tool that can be easily adapted to a host of tasks for learning, productivity, and social networking. For many users, broadband mobile devices like the iPhone have already begun to assume many tasks that were once the exclusive province of portable computers.
Cloud Computing. The emergence of large-scale “data farms” — large clusters of networked servers — is bringing huge quantities of processing power and storage capacity within easy reach. Inexpensive, simple solutions to offsite storage, multi-user application scaling, hosting, and multi-processor computing are opening the door to wholly different ways of thinking about computers, software, and files.
Geo-Everything. Geocoded data has many applications, but until very recently, it was time- consuming and difficult for non-specialists to determine the physical coordinates of a place or object, and options for using that data were limited. Now, many common devices can automatically determine and record their own precise location and can save that data along with captured media (like photographs) or can transmit it to web-based applications for a host of uses. The full implications of geo-tagging are still unfolding, but the impact in research has already been profound.
The Personal Web. Springing from the desire to reorganize online content rather than simply viewing it, the personal web is part of a trend that has been fueled by tools to aggregate the flow of content in customizable ways and expanded by an increasing collection of widgets that manage online content. The term personal web was coined to represent a collection of technologies that are used to configure and manage the ways in which one views and uses the Internet. Using a growing set of free and simple tools and applications, it is easy to create a customized, personal web-based environment — a personal web — that explicitly supports one’s social, professional, learning, and other activities.
Semantic-Aware Applications. New applications are emerging that are bringing the promise of the semantic web into practice without the need to add additional layers of tags, identifiers, or other top-down methods of defining context. Tools that can simply gather the context in which information is couched, and that use that context to extract embedded meaning are providing rich new ways of finding and aggregating content. At the same time, other tools are allowing context to be easily modified, shaped, and redefined as information flows are combined.
Smart Objects. Sometimes described as the “Internet of things,” smart objects describe a set of technologies that is imbuing ordinary objects with the ability to recognize their physical location and respond appropriately, or to connect with other objects or information. A smart object “knows” something about itself — where and how it was made, what it is for, where it should be, or who owns it, for example — and something about its environment. While the underlying technologies that make this possible — RFID, QR codes, smartcards, touch and motion sensors, and the like — are not new, we are now seeing new forms of sensors, identifiers, and applications with a much more generalizable set of functionalities.
It could easily happen before any of the reports/reviews have a chance to impact upon teaching/learning/parents/schools etc ... never mind BSF and Primary Capital Programme.
Any views or ideas on this would be appreciated ... check out the Conservative Party, Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats policy documents for enlightenment.
Cast some light on things for me ....
And remember - you have until the end of July to have your say about the Rose Review ... if you don't take the chance - then ....
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things ..." and to have your say about them, it is not all 'done and dusted' yet. But let's hear it for ICT as it enters the 'core' (where did science go?) And if you wish to get a sense of déjà vu then read here ... and you could, while you are considering all of these things, ask where Sats fit into this plan.
Curriculum reform consultationThe Secretary of State is launching a public consultation on proposals for a revised primary curriculum and changes to Personal, Social, Health and Economic education. Alongside these proposals, the Secretary of State is also consulting on changes to national curriculum subject level descriptions and updated guidance for the teaching of religious education. The consultation takes place from 30 April to 24 July 2009. The questionnaire, an interactive tool to explain the new curriculum, detailed programmes of learning, revised level descriptions, the updated guidance document, and other information on all aspects of the consultation can be found here.
This is really important stuff and the chance for everyone invloved with teaching and learning to say what they feel should be happening and perhaps why they feel so strongly about it. I wonder if it will, as usual be the LA advisors and those with more vested interests who will spend the time to respond or whether teachers and TAs will take the necessary time. It would make a super staff meeting!
PS
Also have a read of the 2009 Horizon Report and check out where people thing that the innovation is going to take place over the next five years.
These are the things to become familiar with if you wish to be at the cutting edge of things:
Mobiles. Already considered as another component of the network on many campuses, mobiles continue to evolve rapidly. New interfaces, the ability to run third-party applications, and location-awareness have all come to the mobile device in the past year, making it an ever more versatile tool that can be easily adapted to a host of tasks for learning, productivity, and social networking. For many users, broadband mobile devices like the iPhone have already begun to assume many tasks that were once the exclusive province of portable computers.
Cloud Computing. The emergence of large-scale “data farms” — large clusters of networked servers — is bringing huge quantities of processing power and storage capacity within easy reach. Inexpensive, simple solutions to offsite storage, multi-user application scaling, hosting, and multi-processor computing are opening the door to wholly different ways of thinking about computers, software, and files.
Geo-Everything. Geocoded data has many applications, but until very recently, it was time- consuming and difficult for non-specialists to determine the physical coordinates of a place or object, and options for using that data were limited. Now, many common devices can automatically determine and record their own precise location and can save that data along with captured media (like photographs) or can transmit it to web-based applications for a host of uses. The full implications of geo-tagging are still unfolding, but the impact in research has already been profound.
The Personal Web. Springing from the desire to reorganize online content rather than simply viewing it, the personal web is part of a trend that has been fueled by tools to aggregate the flow of content in customizable ways and expanded by an increasing collection of widgets that manage online content. The term personal web was coined to represent a collection of technologies that are used to configure and manage the ways in which one views and uses the Internet. Using a growing set of free and simple tools and applications, it is easy to create a customized, personal web-based environment — a personal web — that explicitly supports one’s social, professional, learning, and other activities.
Semantic-Aware Applications. New applications are emerging that are bringing the promise of the semantic web into practice without the need to add additional layers of tags, identifiers, or other top-down methods of defining context. Tools that can simply gather the context in which information is couched, and that use that context to extract embedded meaning are providing rich new ways of finding and aggregating content. At the same time, other tools are allowing context to be easily modified, shaped, and redefined as information flows are combined.
Smart Objects. Sometimes described as the “Internet of things,” smart objects describe a set of technologies that is imbuing ordinary objects with the ability to recognize their physical location and respond appropriately, or to connect with other objects or information. A smart object “knows” something about itself — where and how it was made, what it is for, where it should be, or who owns it, for example — and something about its environment. While the underlying technologies that make this possible — RFID, QR codes, smartcards, touch and motion sensors, and the like — are not new, we are now seeing new forms of sensors, identifiers, and applications with a much more generalizable set of functionalities.
Preamble
Welcome to this session which will explore some ideas behind the creative use of technology in teaching and learning with reference to where we are now and where we might be going.
We will talk about many things including a wide range of tools I have come across and have used but mainly we will talk about the changing world of learning and that collaboration is king but creativity is the essence.
I hope this blog will provoke you to add your views and ideas so that others can share.
The posts will provide links to things that I say and some that I don't have time for ... please use the poll to let me know what you think.
This blog is at http://www.bradford09.blogspot.com/
Thanks
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