Monday Night Blues

A Tom Waits influenced blues, to capture the essential truth that 450,000 teachers make their classrooms "learning homes" every day and are trusted by students, parents and carers to hold the power, the real power, within a system that seems to focus on examination and inspection league tables.

Monday Night Blues

I review Lesson Plans on Monday night

Scan new curriculum content and delight

In blue crossing out political oughts

From the Matters to be taught

Leaving in what I know is right

        The classroom, our classroom, the classroom is our home

I open my classroom door each day

It echoes with sounds of yesterday

And in that precious time alone

I re-plan the shape and tone

And mouth the words to lead them away 

        The classroom, our classroom, the classroom is our home

Cos.. I’m the trusted teacher and I care

The students know I'm always always there

Distant critics may spew derision

U-turning earlier decisions

I smile and point to why, how, where?

      In the classroom, our classroom, the classroom is our home

Our learning journey starts - off we go

To wondrous places only we know

There's so much work to be done

Always time for joy and fun

I guide them, chide them, to and fro

     In the classroom, our classroom, the classroom is our home

Meanwhile in dusty ivory towers

Politician and pundits spend their hours

Tapping out negative witticisms

Soundbites to silence criticisms

Whilst this maverick teacher empowers

 In the classroom, our classroom, the classroom is our home

Locking my classroom every day

Those hurtful headlines fade away

I recap our classy time alone

And how we made this space our home

Travelling, imagining, on our way

 Oh the classroom, our classroom, the classroom is our home

A tale of two appraisals - the worst of times and the best of times.

In which Mr Pearce tells two tales, quotes quaintly and bemoans bad behaviour in his profession. We meet Mr Gradegrind, some revolting teachers and eventually find a reason to be cheerful.

I've just heard two almost unbelievable stories.  

First, a highly intelligent, able and caring colleague told me she has resigned from her Head of Faculty post without a job to go to, despite me advising against it.    I could tell you the full story but we haven't time - trust me.  In short, her senior team are not listening. I can feel the distress as she tells me, "Our school is falling to pieces and the Senior Team are just not hearing what staff are saying.  We are sworn at, the kids are taking over and I, just one amongst many, can't take any more - so my resignation went in today".

My second tale is from a reliable source about another school - trust me.  A head teacher is, banging the table, frustrated, because teachers have put up signs on their doors, "Will not be observed".  Do I need to say more?

Hear no evil and see no evil?

A senior team has stopped listening and a group of teachers don't want to be seen. Why are we still getting these, stand-offs in our schools?  I spy two monkeys with hands over their ears and eyes and this in the term before new appraisal arrangements.  Hard Times ahead...

I'm not listening     You can't see

Well this old monkey is not covering up his mouth and neither should any of us when we witness this kind of behaviour.  But to, "Speak no evil" we need to look back to a darker age before leaping to a happier future where there are reasons to be cheerful - trust me.

Mr Pearce speaking no evil

Teachers should be seen and not heard.

My hypothesis is that these deadly embraces arose because some leaders persist in treating modern adults like old fashioned children.  Despite the appearance of pedagogical sophistication some leaders still behave as though teachers should be, "Seen and not heard", like Victorian children. Predictably, some teachers treated like this respond by behaving like Dickensian children, or revolting workers in an industrial revolution.  "We must do as we are told - ours is not to reason why" Others learn helplessness, despair or resign, and, this is awfully true... a few commit suicide.

All this because yet another generation has failed to slay the shibboleth, inconsistency and hypocrisy that, "Children learn one way but adults another".  Not many argue this any more - it's worse - they behave this way. "Don't do as I do - do as I say" was the strapline (pun intended) of Mr Gradgrind, the schoolmaster in Charles Dicken's Hard Times, who was to emotional intelligence what cholera was to the water supply.  His modern equivalent is Gradegrind - blindly, deafly grinding out grades with scant thought for the impact on people.  I'm thinking of some politicians, some Ofsted inspectors, some heads and senior leaders and, their anathemas, the revolting teachers.  These are the hypocrits - trust me.

"Don't patronise, direct and hector at every turn"

Let's start at the top with our Secretary of State and, if the mortar board fits, other politicians too.  

Many of us applauded the line in the 2010 White Paper, "Head teacher and teachers... do not need to be patronised, directed and hectored at every turn".  But for many, especially perhaps in the NAHT and NUT Michael Gove appears to have done just that.  But as John Lennon imagined, he's not the only one.

Inspectors behave in an educationally hypocritical way.

"I simply wasn't prepared to act out the educational hypocrisy of judging colleagues without entering into the kind of dialogue I expected them to be having with students."

I can't escape entirely either. I have personal experience of the pressure to be inconsistent. As one of the first uneasy Ofsted Inspectors in the 1990s I realised I would be graded inadequate if the criteria I was using to observe teachers were to be used on me whilst observing  (*)   I imagined a teacher behaving like we did.... 

The inspector (teacher) walks in, without any previous dialogue with the teacher (students); sits at the back, makes notes and leaves, often partway through, uttering the shortest of phrases, "Thank you - that was inadequate / satisfactory (**) / good / outstanding.  I am unable to give you any direct feedback". Weeks later an inspection report listing general, not teacher (student) specific, key points arrived. The school is be expected to sort it before the next visit.  

So, I let my Ofsted badge lapse and became a School Improver and worked as coach, adviser, mentor to adults in exactly the same way as I had done as a teacher with students.  I listened to how they saw their world before offering advice - respected their context and professionalism.  I am no less rigorous, have no lower expectations or standards I just know how to get there most effectively.  I simply wasn't prepared to act out the educational hypocrisy of judging colleagues without entering into the kind of dialogue I expected them to be having with students.

  
The Gradgrind tendency

It's not just some politicians and inspectors who are Gradegrind.  Teachers are routinely patronised and hectored by some advisers, consultants, head teachers, senior and middle leaders too. Gradegrinds at these levels preach, run CPD and BLOG pontificating, "iI's important to involve students and listen to 'pupil voice' ".  But in their leadership roles they are making judgements, awarding grades and managing change without entering into meaningful dialogue. 

These are blatant double standards exercised in the modern equivalent of Dotheboys Hall.  I suppose it would be an Academy, or a Free School these days but, let me be clear, Gradegrinds lurk in and around schools of all types.  We see them extolling teachers to provide high quality feedback to students but not hearing the feedback from the teachers.  Mr and Mrs Gradegrind are leading us into Hard Times - the worst of times.

We know how Mr and Mrs Gradegrind will manage the new appraisal, capability and payment by results arrangements in September and there are only 40 school day get-ups to go before then.  These pedagogical hypocrites are already making judgements on teachers, grinding their grades and lurking for the evidence to justify their decisions.  The more pre-appraisal thinking they do, the more unlikely they'll enter into any kind of meaningful dialogue and with less dialogue the more ineffective their appraisals will be - trust me.

You don't get me, I'm part of the union

So, Hard Times if you have a Gradegrind as appraiser.  We have all have witnessed poor leadership spark mistrust and lead to despair but, and yet.... That sign!  "Will not be observed" 

Signs on doors, refusing cooperation and going on strike is unlikely to move us forward. I can see why it happened and, in some circumstances I'd do the same.  But industrial action must be, demonstrably, the last resort and will be most effective when threatened first and used sparingly only after high quality feedback has been refused, written criticism ignored and grievance procedures exhausted.  So I'll also cry, "Hypocrisy" at some revolting teachers who, rightly, demand the best professional development available but support a blanket limit of one observation a term, whilst they robustly observe children learning in order to understand their needs.  Some unions are advising against any form of self-evaluation prior to appraisal. Refusing to enter into dialogue merely reinforces the view of the Gradegrinds that their teacher adults are behaving like children and so, need not be heard. Like magnetism hypocritically similar poles repel each other.  

Quality reassurance

So, what to do if faced with a Gradegrind appraiser?  What to do if faced with revolting teachers?  If you've been a good observer you'll have noted the clues - 20 mentions of trust so far - the foundation of meaningful dialogue, the basis of quality observations and dialogues and, therefore, excellent appraisal / performance management / professional development / learning. Trust is the surest of foundations  - we all know that deep down - trust me.

My advice for a teacher faced with a Gradegrind appraiser  

(i.e. one who does not enter into dialogue prior to appraisal and starts making judgements without considering teacher voice) is based on our best wisdom about learning:

1. Get Prepared - trust in your own judgement, self-evaluate now. Gather your own evidence about your effectiveness.  What is going well and not so well?  What helps and what hinders progress?  What do suggest needs doing yourself? and by others?  (At worst think of this as preparing your defence, or getting your revenge in first).  This means you have to ignore and contest any advice to avoid self-evaluation because you know entering into appraisal without good self knowledge is professional suicide. (using the iAbacus Free Trial at http://www.iabacus.co.uk/ will really help you if you want) 

2. Object to the Gradegrind appraiser and request someone you do trust. The DfE model policy states the headteacher will decide who appraises teachers and wise heads will select sensitively. What if your request is refused?  

3. Ask your union/professional association for advice.  The joint union model policy states, "Where teachers have an objection to the head teacher’s choice, their concerns will be carefully considered and, where possible, an alternative appraiser will be offered" 

My advice for a head faced with revolting teachers 

(i.e. those who refuse to cooperate and enter into dialogue about the Agreed Union Policy)

1.  Advise the teachers to self-evaluate first.  Then provide good CPD (Consider providing them with a personal iAbacus to self-evaluate in their own time, or  become a FREE Pilot School at http://www.iabacus.co.uk/ - there are other self-evaluation and school improvement systems available.) Then guarantee that any appraisal dialogue will begin with their judgements and their views.  Let them work at their own pace and do not push the appraisal process until you:

2.Ask the unions/professional associations for advice (See above at 3.) respond to requests for alternative appraisers because there are plenty of colleagues out there who are not Gradegrinds.  If you can't find any in your school call for help (Consider employing a consultant. My website is http://www.johnpearce.org.uk/ - there are other school improvement consultants available.)

"See the best, hear the best and speak the best"

The very best colleagues, at all levels, live by and through professional development. This most significant majority of reflective colleagues see the good, hear the good and speak the good, tweet, BLOG, write and TED talk the best.  They shine lights into the dark and distressing Dickensian extremes - they talk and listen to each other - trust me as you trust them and they trust you.

Consistent with the latest research

John Hattie's conclusions are well founded, clear and illuminating in this regard. This excellent infographic, from Osiris.co.uk, shows the MOST effective strategies for learners.

John Hattie identifies the 3 most effective strategies for teachers as:

1. Self reported grades - students self-reporting their own grades are more successful
2. Teacher credibility - those commanding credibility make a difference
3. Feedback - just in time - just for the student

All I am arguing here is that the very best leaders in our profession will treat adult teachers like modern children and they will appraise in the best of times knowing that:


(Therefore) The 3 most effective strategies for effective appraisal will be:

1. Self reported judgements - teachers self-reporting their own judgements will be more successful
2. Appraiser credibility - those commanding credibility make a difference
3. Feedback - just in time - just for the teacher

I rest my case... QED as we used to stick at the foot of problems...

(*) Ironically, I first wrote about the tendency, to treat adults like children, in "The Giant Awakes" IMPROVEMENT Magazine Spring  2008 which highlighted Ofsted Inspectors' self-evaluation was being discounted in training when it should be the starting point of their accreditation. 
(**) This was before Framework 2012 refined the judgement SATISFACTORY to be a condition REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT