Hang on, I hear you say, haven’t I just had an e-news from you? Yes you have, we have sheepishly to reply. But that was the regular end of term communiqué full of serious and useful info. This, on the other hand, is the Xmas edition, light hearted and full of cheer! And I am going to try really hard to put an optimistic spin on escaping from the dark and turbulent 2016 into the sunny uplands of 2017. Let me know how I make out.
Well, as we sweep away the detritus of the last nativity/Christingle/Strictly Come Xmas/Stars in their Eyes performance of the season, how is the world shaping up for those of us who like to take their education with a light sprinkling of evidence? You could be forgiven for reaching for your anaesthetic of choice at the end of a year which saw the OED celebrate the adjective ‘post-truth’ as it’s word of the year - defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”. Many commentators attribute this phenomenon to the echo chamber of social media in which people narrow down their frames of reference to encompass just those others who agree with them, and then turn the outrage dial up to 11 against any contrary view (just scroll down to the comments section on any Brexit-related article for examples). This of course plays straight into the hands of teachers keen to ban smart phones and their like from schools and is deeply upsetting to others who see in social media ways of making learning both more accessible and more relevant to young people’s lives. And for all the potential ills in the virtual world, such as cyber-bullying, sexting and plain old ignoring-the-teacher, Snapchat, Facebook, WhatsApp and their kin may well be reducing the hazards IRL (in real life) through a steep decline in teenage pregnancy, drug abuse and violent crime. So, a score draw then.
The larger political world seems to be dominated by what I call ‘sod-you’ votes (at least in the USA and UK) in which a sufficient proportion of the electorate appear to choose the fantasy promises of post-truth candidates providing they can stick one on the establishment candidate at the same time. By contrast, in England we have the establishment apparently determined to foist a grammar school solution onto an unwilling public and profession – in the face of the overwhelming evidence that this is A BAD THING. More promisingly and by contrast – and beyond the baleful reach of No 10 – we seem to be witnessing a growth in evidence-informed practice from the ground up (on which more below) Also coming alive this year has been the research school concept – given capital letters by the Education Endowment Foundation but given birth by visionary school leaders and teachers who recognise that great schools offer the staff great professional learning opportunities and that finding out something you don’t know already is a stretching performance management target.
I for one, take cheer from this and from the experience of working with these schools, with 3rd sector organisations picking up the baton of evidence-based practice and with the newly emerging champions of independent professionalism such as the College of Teaching.
So, have a relaxing holiday; if you expect to eat and drink too much, reassure yourself with this article in the Sun about why fat is good for you, and don’t forget to see your friends and get some fresh air – preferably all at the same time.
Merry Christmas
Y Log