Keeping it simple: a cycle that makes leadership better.

I'm quite a simple person at heart, anything too complicated and I just get distracted. As an outdoor instructor, we stuck to a basic patters: plan, do, review. This simple system worked well in the high stakes world of mountains: get it wrong and people can get seriously injured or die. Of course, there are many subtleties and tweaks, but improvement, leadership ad teaching are very simple at the core.

I may be completely missing the point (highly probable) but, after a run in the rain, here's what I think:

The beauty of this cycle is that it operates at any scale, from the individual lessons, through long term plans to whole school leadership of teaching and learning.

Big Plan

This is what needs doing. There should be clear aspirations that are shared and form the basis of evaluation. It's the most crucial stage and can take a long time to do. It's also important to note that a Big Plan can operate at different timescales and range from micro to macro. Some examples would be:

How to teach Year 3 reading.
How to reduce the number of persistently absent students.
Adapting the curriculum in response to the removal of Controlled Assessment.
Accelerating the progress of all Pupil Premium students.
Gaining a Deputy Headship.
Getting Science away from being Sig- on RAISE.
Supporting staff to teach better through a better behaviour management policy.

Assess

Again, needs to range in scale according to the plan in place. At a teaching level there is the assessment of and for learning. The important thing here is to revisit the aspiration and find relevant data. School are awash with data, but many often forget that data is not limited to numbers. Ideally, the data would have been identified in the Big Plan:

Attendance Data
The number of report cards being issued to Year 6
Moderated end of term assessments in Year 10 show a gap between boys and girls
Homework isn't handed in
Staff sickness is increasing
Controlled Assessment is not complete
Evidence that students have understood key knowledge, skills and understanding
External examination results and RAISE
Conversations with teachers - sometime anecdotes are fantastic evidence of and for change - just because you can't measure it doesn't mean it's not important.
Parental complaints or contact
Marking books

I would stress the important of live, living data rather than retrospective, historical viewpoints.

At appropriate intervals, the Big Plan should be revisited and tweaked. Stop doing stuff that doesn't work (although there is a fine line between waiting for impact and writing something off too early).

Adapt / innovate

Innovation is a relative concept. What can seem like the latest cutting edge idea can seem humdrum in another setting. Ideas in one classroom can be very different to those in another. And that's OK. In addition, innovation does not equal technology - small, simple ideas and what is often needed. The point here is to do something with the information gathered.

There is very little point in realising there is a problem (identified during the Assess stage) and then not doing anything about it.

Teach / Do

This is where the plan is followed. Remember, good plans need only be tweaked. For example, my first department development plan spanned three years and we stuck to it.

Here are some examples taken from my own experience. As I say, I may be totally too simple here, but this is a story based upon making some real difference, because of my input. The cycle does rely upon the professionalism of teachers, for example my Schemes of Work offered flexibility within a tight framework. However, we must acknowledge that sometimes (and it is in a small minority of cases) there is a need for action, for handholding, increased monitoring and support plans.

On the whole, I believe in giving more accountability to staff with added trust and flexibility. And I'm afraid teachers can't have more freedom without increased accountability. Accountability doesn't mean micro-management.

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options. Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet. Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco. I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option. The result? No egg on my face. As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life. It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon. They may die or be seriously injured. If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way. There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious. Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin. However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal. The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).

Mike Ollerton18 December 2015 at 16:28
I like this post, very much, and the cycle of plan-do-review. Seeing what the main elements which form the big plan is essential. I especially like the following points you make:
1) Conversations with teachers - sometime anecdotes are fantastic evidence of and for change - just because you can;t measure it doesn't mean it's not important.
2) Stop doing stuff that doesn't work.
3) ... innovation does not equal technology - small, simple ideas and what is often needed.
4) There is very little point in realising there is a problem (identified during the Assess stage) and then not doing anything about it.

Senior leaders can have an amazing impact upon less experienced colleagues and, as such, keeping things, acting with humility, recognising the disasters we have had as young teachers, not forgetting what it is like to teach at least 20 hours a week and offering a helping hand are all essential qualities.

David Rogers

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