Public Services What you believe is what you get

The Welfare State is being atomised into a virtual free market


This BLOG has just been published in "IMPROVEMENT" the magazine of ASPECT www.aspect.org.uk

The original structure of the welfare state is breaking up. The public is faced with a confusing list of school designations and once straightforward medical provision is complex.  The Welfare State is being atomised into a virtual free market of providers. Many within the system are perplexed. No wonder the general public is bewildered.

In these circumstances, doctors, teachers, welfare workers and all are being tempted to operate as individuals and organisations in competition.  Many are making businesses out of services and there is a real risk of losing a sense of communal purpose as thousands are forced out of salaried posts to seek financial support, or success elsewhere.  When established, known and respected providers of services disappear we are in danger of proving there is no such thing as society.

Replacing known knowns with known unknowns!

This is not an argument to go back to good old days or that Public Service is good and Private Industry bad.  It is about the danger of replacing “known knowns” with “Known unknowns”!  More seriously, it is a warning about apparent disarray and a hopeful suggestion.

Faced with these circumstances -  atomised public services - we have to find a new coherence to make sense of what was once a fairly straightforward Welfare State. Whilst many argue for a slower pace of change, and I do, most will accept that the bulk of the old structures have gone and many will accept they were no longer fit for purpose anyway.  But we also know that market forces are difficult to order and systematise.  So, I think it is reasonable to argue that any new coherence cannot be structural. So where can coherence be found?

The key to coherence will be in what we believe

I think a new coherence might well be found in the shared values and ethics of those who provide the services. If the professionals, the providers, the workers can display a unity of purpose, there may be more clarity for the public they meet.  (should that be client, or customer? See how the language changes). If those working in the new service structures can agree the WHY? the WHAT? and the HOW? will maybe make more sense.  So, the key to coherence might well be in what we believe…

I would go further, I see a lot of real confusion around belief, vision and purpose.  It is as though we have lost a sense of common purpose because the known structures are going and they stood for stuff.  I do not believe that workers change their beliefs because they move from a public service post to one in a private enterprise but I have witnessed many who have been forced to make such a move, who have gone silent about their original motivations for being a public servant.

Some even feel these beliefs are incompatible with a company structure and purpose.  Even further?  Yes! Some who have crossed the public servant – company worker Rubicon have been all too quick to assume an imagined new purpose and interpreted this is as a freedom from public responsibility.  They have gorged on the profit motive.  It is just stupid to believe that those in a commercial set up are incapable of caring and philanthropy, or those in state services are, by their nature, inefficient and lazy.  We must not use exceptions as rules but there is vigorous condemnation of the fat cat, bonus awarding, banker who is almost universally derided as a selfish, egotist.  Maybe this review of moral purpose I suggest is not confined to the public services…Whatever, your view of these last thoughts I hope you will accept there is a need to rethink and reaffirm shared values.  So, how do we do this?

What are your fundamental beliefs, your go to the wall values? 

This is about refreshing moral purpose. First, we would do well to refresh, or develop, our personal philosophies.  This will mean making time to take stock. What are your fundamental beliefs, your go to the wall values?  Then it will be about talking in families, organisations, communities and even globally via the internet, for any agreed beliefs or shared “common goods”.  Some will revisit their professional ethics where care and support for individuals in communities involves building their capacity for self help and sustainability. Others may recall the morals of stories from their education, faith, politics, family and life experience.  All should review the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and Rights of the Child, arguably the best non-sectarian set of ethics and it is enshrined in law.

It will take time to remember, discuss and reform these philosophies.  Even then the hardest part will still be ahead.  Translating these strengthened beliefs into new, or different, daily professional behaviours will be tough.  Nevertheless, if enough of us invest the time there will be an inevitable, simple and hopeful dividend in this search for a shared moral purpose.

The common goods are not owned by anyone – they are owned by everyone.

Initially, it will mean challenge, support, heartache and joy when we find common threads and ideas.  These shared beliefs, ideas, ethics and philosophies cannot by definition be of one code, religion or politics, although some will argue they have the perfect set in their sacred, or commonplace book.  The source of the beliefs is actually unimportant – the power of these “common goods” is that they are not owned by anyone – they are owned by everyone.

Having said that I dare to hypothesise about a central truth.  I think this search for what most of us believe will lead us to understand and remember that it is our interdependence that sustains us – not our independence.  The great religions, beliefs and political movements all extol some notion of interconnectedness, togetherness, equality, regard.  The great stories, mores and maxims all support the view that personal success in political, business, or public life, does not have to be at the expense of others. All value care, compassion and due regard of others.

 If I am right and this “common good” is seen to be a truth and worth upholding, professionals working the system will be motivated to realign their personal, public, business and commercial lives accordingly.  They will be more likely to act in this way and be cooperative for the mutual benefit.  Then, no matter what the structures, their services are likely to be more focused on the good of all, not just the few.  Moreover, the competitive implications of independence, “for me and for our benefit alone”  might be curbed.  Ways of working will be challenged, or supported and the silent minority, or majority will begin to speak up and stand up for what they know others believe.

A global perspective

Ironically, this is exactly what is happening in the emerging democracies in North Africa and the Middle East and how small the focus of this piece in comparison!  But an emerging coherent philosophy in English public and private services may well have a powerful effect on their structural arrangements.  There is already a perceptible move towards less egocentric structures for businesses, where, traditionally enterprises have existed, legally if not morally, for the benefit of a few directors. New enterprises and businesses are being established as not for profit charities, cooperatives or mutuals and they are designed and set up for the benefit and support of wider groups: stakeholders, members or the wider community.  There is huge potential for change – if individuals speak up about what they believe.

So what do I do?

The start has be a growing understanding that there is real potential for a new coherence here and that it will coming from a reinvigorated, shared and open moral purpose.  What you believe is what you get, will lead to, what we believe is what we provide.  So, what you do is simple.  You think hard about what you believe – the WHY? you do things – your moral purpose.  You then talk to others and try to find common ground.  Most importantly, you let these shared beliefs influence the way you work, behave and relate to people around you.  Then, no matter what the structures, what the surface changes are, we will maintain, establish and sustain a coherent and caring approach to what we do.

Under a Kenyan Moon II

Further updated 11.3.11

I am a 62 year old man, sitting on a Mombassa beach in very hot sun, shaded by giant palm trees. I am supposed to be retired, they tell me, and I am surely on holiday, but I am beginning to believe that now, only now, am I coming to understand what my real work could be.  Someone, will tell me I am off centre but a stronger muse will no doubt urge me on.  The poem "Under a Kenyan Moon" (see earlier post) tries to capture the emotion of our visit to Nakuru, north of Nairobi, where we met some fine people, dedicated, visionary people, who refired my passion for what too many, in England, seem to have lost the excitement for.  But the Nakuru experience is now just a starter for a big idea about the philosophy and practice of education...

I have to log it simply and urgently here, as a record of teeming thoughts at this time.  Forgive the tumble of words and the typos.... it is expensive to use this hotel computer!

Simon, Nicky, Dodo and I were hosted by Joseph, Lydia and their children in Nairobi and later Nakuru last week.  We visited the two year old school (Bahati Division Academy) Joseph and Lydia had built in their community and met the children, from 4 -14years, who welcomed us with warm and loving smiles.  As sponsors, for some children, we visited their homes, met their families and saw, for the first time, the subsistence, hand to mouth livelihood their communities are forced to rely on.

They were inspirational in their joy, hope and excitement for education, learning and all it can mean.  We were fed and sung to, we listened to their stories and we laughed and cried.  We told our stories and sang English and Kenyan songs.  The "Old Lady who swallowed a fly" was a great hit. My lasting impression is of a developing deep, deep respect for these warm people, their integrity, humour and some nostalgia for the community spirit that exuded from all we met in Nakuru.

I was lucky enough to work with the nine teachers in the school one morning, as requested, and we discussed their reasons for being teachers - the WHY?  WHAT? and HOW? of learning.  I must be careful, so careful, not to romanticise, or worse still patronise, in what follows....but I learnt so much in those all too brief hours we had. It had something to do with the obvious simplicity and cruel reality of life there.  It had much to do with peeling back my unnecessary words and diagrams to a basic message - to a precis of what I wanted to say in response to their critical questions - by email before and whispered, too respectfully, on the day itself.   "How do you bring back the self-reliance of children who have been dominated in an autocratic government system?"  "How do you work with a range of abilities in one class?"  "What is your view of discipline and corporal punishment, as some here believe it to be necessary?"   There were many other questions too and there will be more for next time... Rarely have I been so nervous before a session with teachers and I sensed they were too!  

In the end chalk board notes chartered our discussion of their answers to WHY? they are teachers, We skipped the WHAT? they teach, for that there is no argument. It is clearly laid down by the Kenyan government.  We moved on to the HOW? of teaching.  And suddenly, in that classroom, with those teachers, it all became clear!   The HOW? behind each of their questions -  the pedagogy, the methodology, has to be borne from the WHY? Is it too simple to say that getting right the WHY for education, leads logically to the HOW we educate? Is it too simplistic to say that the WHAT? is already, to a large extent, there in most of our systems? I believe it is, it is that simple.

Put simply - If teachers want to teach to: "make the world a better place;  allow children to find and achieve their goals; make the country more cohesive; bring unity to tribal conflict; to build peace; educate the citizens of tomorrow;  teach moral purpose (all their words not mine!) Then it is simple - each classroom must be a country in itself.  The teacher must be the leader of theri classroom nation - the ruler of their classroo community and society in the style and purpose of the country s/he wishes to build.  How else will the children know how to be leaders and rulers as they grow? 

If the overwhelming and predominant, if not oppressive, force in their classroom is the teacher's views and is dominated by what s/he thinks and says and does  and this is enforced by corporal punishment - then the future leaders will be predominantly dictatorial and cruel.  If classrooms are led by leaders who have a vision to inspire, involve, motivate and work with and alongside their "citizens" and eventually accord them the trust of delegation, sharing and responsibility, then the future leaders in their wider country will be democratic, responsive and enlightened....

We covered a lot in those three hours.  The teachers understood and took the notion of interdependence to heart.  I was not surprised, for the whole of their community already exudes it, I am less sure their educational processes do.

Too soon, we left - after a plaque was unveiled to my good  friend Simon whose original sponsoring, some 33 years ago, began the chain of events that led to this school being built. His emotion, so understandable as they cheered and sang, was embarrassing for him but for no one else.  What he, Lydia and Joseph have achieved in this school was tangible. 

One teacher, Kevin, said, "You can count the seeds in an orange but not the oranges in a seed".  The responsibility on those children is huge. We planted four trees, one for each of us, in the school grounds, with promises that each would be looked after by a child.  The leaf image was not lost on me!  We spent one more night camping and singing around a bright campfire under a massive spread of stars, in a Garden of Eden, a haven, built by Charles Mwai, a giant visionary Kenyan and friend of Joseph and we left, overwhelmed, humbled, muttering of somehow doing more, coming back, keeping the links.....

Here in Mombassa, on the holiday part of this visit, in a great hotel we are relaxing accompanied by a backdrop of flickering  television screens reminding us of the wider world, out there.  There spreading public uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East.  Dictators are falling, threatened and frightened.  Their bluff of power is being blown away in a few days of street protests, fuelled by the horror of deaths in city squares.  Gaddafi, another dictator, holds out in desperation as I write.  Ordinary people are fired up demanding more involvement, a greater stake in their community's, society's and country's affairs.  Now it has started, it cannot be put back easily...although history shows regime change can lead to alternative evil powers and further corruption...  It takes weeks to bring down a regime and years to build a stronger and better one.  I cannot now help but make an obvious link.

It will take decades to educate these new nations.  My thoughts, on this unreal beach, away from it all is that teachers hold the keys to the future. It will be the educational structures, systems and teachers that lay the real foundations for the future in all our countries, not just Kenya, not just Egypt, or even England.  It's the vision and work of individual teachers in their classrooms that will create the sustainable foundations for democracies, or dictatorships. 

 

I am now more sure than ever that, all that "Leading learning for interdependence" is an idea stronger, more viable and meaningful than I could ever have thought before this visit.  We philosophers of education must strengthen our resolve about purpose, common goods and the UN Charter for the Rights of the Child.  We must step up and offer to help these new regimes and some old ones too.  The curriculum developers will be important too but I guess, as always, that the WHAT? we teach will be more obvious and easier to sort...indeed it is probably already there in many of these places, if my experience of global curriculum work is anything to go by...  

It's always far more about the HOW? our methodology.  A new pedagogy will be our most crucial work....  If newly established democracies want their citizens to be empowered, responsible, functional and with moral purpose then the classrooms in their schools must be microcosms of this...  There is surely a critical place for The Pedagogical Oath.  The new governments will do well to think and plan early and work hard, in collaboration, with their teachers about HOW? their classrooms and schools will reflect their new vision.

This has to be a new focus for my work - no not new, or even a wider focus, a tighter focus...

So, what next?  I want to work with "more powerful others"*, interested collaborators who want to motivate and inspire the development of educational systems to build interdependent learners and leaders (*). I want to signpost the HOW? of teaching and ask, "What do teachers say and do to build interdependency in their classrooms (and countries)?" 

So, thank you Kenya, thank you BDA students and most importantly thank you BDA teachers for helping me see clearer... 

(*) These could be Joseph, Lydia, Charles, Simon and Nicky in and for Kenya.  It could be my Moroccan friends in Taroudant (and the British Council).  John in Kuwait.  It could be Brian, John, and others in the Curriculum Foundation England, Pippa, Jill, Illy, Alan, Phil, John, Kevin, Dave and Jennie and a host of others. Please make contact if this makes any sense to you.

Under a full Kenyan moon

Under a full Kenyan moon,
Lit by fires of Bushmen cooking meat

Warm hands clasp. White eyes flash

We whisper then shout smiling words

Over deafening drumbeats.

We talk of names and some meanings

And how places, people, journeys

Always connect on the trail to here and now.

Listening, I come to understand

Why I can never remember names, nouns and numbers.

I know now, suddenly, in this cool Nairobi night, that

Wisdom is not names, nouns and numbers,

But deeper, dark and warm blooded things,

From the born, the dead and unborn people.

Knowing is in the verbs, voices and visions

Captured in these firelight noddings of sadness and joy.

In the hush of families and friends.

And I see all the others’ stories and my little poems,

(To strangers, of enemies and over time)

As specks of light from these fires

Sprinkled over the black earth.

Pin prick mirrors of stars in this black African sky.

And, as each fire dies, it marks a charcoal trail

Under this Kenyan moon.

I see suddenly, truly, that our future was made there

And know that it is being made here, now in this ash and am 

Happy in this place.

This place that needs no name.

 Note:  In penultimate line:  ash = Ashley; and = Andrew, am = Amy the children of our Kenyan friends Jospeh and Lydia

BIG society and a global warning....

Am I sitting on an imaginary fence?

The continued expansion of market forces into non-traditional areas, like the Welfare State, is leading to a significant change in culture.  Let me take one area I probably understand most.  My family's involvement in the English education system goes back to pre universal education in 1870 when my Grandmother ran a small "dame school" in Lincoln.  The system has weathered many phases but the local authority and local democracy has played a huge part.  But our educational infrastructure (like other elements of the welfare state) is breaking up. There is now a confusing list of school designations and once local support is being atomised into a free market of providers.

In these circumstances, we are being tempted to operate as individuals and organisations in competition. We are often challenged with false polarities.  Public service good (or bad) private business bad (or good) - traditional methods versus progressive methods - left versus right etc etc.  We are maybe even creating imaginary fences and boundaries where they do not need to be.  If we enter these false debates, we might risk losing our sense of common, or communal, purpose. We are in danger of proving there is no such thing as society.  Especially so, if we look for pricks to kick against.


Do we need a fence?

I think we can achieve, coherence by working to develop, or refresh a common philosophy for education and the other elements that make up the support systems of a society.

First, we ought to do this as individuals.  Then, together in families, schools, communities and as a nation.  We need to discuss the moral purpose, the ethics and the values in why we do what we do.  We need to ask some very hard questions about what we really need - as opposed to what we want, or have become used to receiving.  We must be prepared to raise the quality of discussion and debate and beyond hectoring opposites.

I believe this will inevitably lead to a global view that interconnectedness and interdependence bind all of us together. I think there are many “common goods”.  My fear is that a selfish - look after me and my own mentality will rush in to fill the void of common sense. Maybe some others should fear but tread...

Kerala - man walking

As news of huge and impending cuts comes in... comments from valued friends, chime with mine, summed up as, “whathe****? is going on?” 

I am holding on to the strength of an idea that we create our futures. We do this first inside our heads and then in our slow steps and pushes and pulls, with those we meet… today and tomorrow and the next day.  

I’m strongly of the view, that in times of cut funding,“sans BSF, sans IYS, sans everything..” we are thrown, inevitably, back into a shrunken survival mode and, as leaders, we must offer hope to those around, by building personal capacity and social capital in our interdependence. This is more about making meanings in the relationships and purpose, rather than the infrastructure.  Once again, it's about who we are and what we want to be, more than what we are having to exist through today. So, look into the picture below… 

What thoughts does it raise in you? 

I took it in Kerala two years – we watched him march purposefully, in oppressive heat, a sure pace and even speed, towards and over the horizon. Survival, determination and purpose personified.  And look at the care and detail in his kit - his footwear. It still fires me up!  How much he is achieving with so little.  We have been here before....we know what to do... it's head down, ever onwards, the hard yards and then upwards, eyes always open for supportive fellow travellers... Looking for a Tower ahead perhaps - too see further - ivory, or folly?

We can learn from such determination, purpose and endeavour.  This too will pass.

The Tower

I was on the fast train to London a month ago and just outside Market Harborough I caught a glimpse of a tower. It caught my gaze - perhaps because, as I focussed on it, all else swirled and moved whilst it remained still. But still the image transfixed me. I found my face pressed to the glass and it has been enticing me since. The idea of "The Tower" has mesmerised me in a strange way. I have tried to write about it and I opened a book of WB Yeats poems, at random, in response to a friend's request to read some poetry and it fell open at "The Tower". On a recent journey I tried to find it again and, just as I recognised the wood it is in, my headphones played a Fleetwood Mac song..."Don't take me to the tower, don't take my child away..." I have spoken about it to friends and several have offered ideas, pieces of music and pictures. I am following the muse on this one and, as always have little idea where it will lead. I do know it will link to the idea of height and solace and seeing things from a different perspective, as in my previous piece on mountains - we must have built towers to gain height... It is even informing my thinking about functionality and moral purpose - the train, rushing me to work being the functionality and the still Tower, calm and separate seems to taunt me about higher moral purposes. Weird or what?

This experience turned into a rather  long poem - see separate page of this BLOG

For me, for us, for everyone, for everything!

I love mountains and being up high - it helps clear my head. It must be something to do with a little less oxygen, using concentrated energy and being away from the hurly-burly of day to day work. I always seem to see things in a greater perspective. So, climbing eight Munros last week (including the Inaccessible Pinnacle - see photo) and musing on the three Fs (functionality + philosophy = fulfilment) I began to realise that a good life is a blend of hierarchical motivations: for me - for us - for everyone - for everything. And the higher we are able to go, the more satisfied we are likely to be - just like mountains. And it is OK sometimes to just look after ourselves (for me) in order that we can, look after others. Those closest first (for us) and then wider (for everyone). A new friend observed, on talking through this "Don't forget the environment and sustainability" and so I added (for everything!). Hence the title of this piece, now my new maxim - like the three musketeers!