The NZ principal's conference is always a fantastic opportunity to pause, reflect, discuss and listen to many different educators from around the world.
The conference was opened by our current National president Whetu Cormick, who is always excellent to listen to. The current environment within education is concerning but he remains confident that with the current Government , we have the right people to get positive outcomes for our students.
A quote that stood out above all others from Whetu was " Leadership is not about position, it is about action". It made me also reflect on another cracking statement - would rather your child have a teacher who creates 30 experiences in a year for them or one with 30 years experience.
What I take from these is that anyone can lead, anyone can also be a fantastic teacher. Neither time in the job or the position itself means much, unless this is backed up by positive action/s. I am sure many of us can think of a teacher in their early stages of their career who has done more within the school environment than someone with 20 years experience... Action, not position or title.
We have a strong distributed leadership example at Gilberthorpe, where all staff are encouraged to take ownership and lead. Not only does this allow leadership skills to develop but it also ensures great outcomes for students.
The Minister for Education, Chris Hipkins also spoke and certainly acknowledged how much can change in a year. Last year Whetu pleaded with Nikki Kaye to remove the National Standards, now they are long gone. The Minister's key message was that we all want what is best for students, change is happening, it will not all happen overnight, or even within one term of governance but it is vital that we work together, truly collaborate to get this right. 1 in 5 graduates from Teachers college are not teaching the following year, mind blowing to think 80% of graduates are not working in the field they trained in.
In terms of the speakers, I loved listening to Dr Jason Fox who spoke twice. He works as a motivational speaker and leadership advisor and has worked with many Fortune 500 companies including Coca-Cola, McDonald's, HP and many more. He was even once voted "Keynote speaker of the year".
www.drjasonfox.com
His opening showed the paradox with new learning and technology. For example email was introduced to make life easier and save time when sending things to people. What has happened though...?? we now use it more and more, taking up incredible amounts of time. This emphasised how many times new things are introduced to save time/money etc but often have the opposite impact.
The message that really stuck out for me throughout the whole conference was when he spoke about "defaults". We often go to these, at work and in our personal lives but default and quick fixes end up taking up 90% of our thinking. We are constantly at risk of being too busy and using these defaults, I could certainly relate to this. We must create time in our days to be creative, to truly reflect, in order to maximise growth. Too many people think that curiosity and creativity look like time wasting and we worry about this far too much.
We follow a path of - start up- growth-maturity-decline, new thinking and learning needs to be constantly added to the mix "only things in which can change, can continue"
He also spoke about goal setting and some some valuable messages. Too often we are looking at a small, measurable outcome or goal, which pertains to one key area, there is so much other rich information in what we do each day.
"Goals should be treated like prescription medicine, not medicine over the counter" Obviously goals are needed and have their place but need to be used wisely and in conjunction with many other methods of gathering information.
A Harvard study looked at - What is it that motivates those to do great work? Recognition? Incentives and rewards? Clear goals and targets? Clear sense of progress? The results showed that it was a clear sense of progress that was the biggest factor. Celebrate small wins! 92 emails down to 12 feels like you are winning :-)
Jason also illustrated something that we can all relate to... the feeling if you "leave early" or "don't stay as long as everyone else" A locksmith used to take 60 minutes to fit a new lock and was paid accordingly, now that times have changed and he can fix the lock in 20 minutes, should he be paid less? Do we value effort more than actual value added? Some people like to broadcast that they are working or appear to be doing long hours, these are signals that something is happening but is it always true? It creates a delusion of progress. I still remember teachers leaving school the back way so that the principal didn't see them leave early, or staff staying late so that others thought that those who worked late, worked harder... Again, can be a delusion of progress. Time doesn't guarantee productivity.
I am sure many of us know that if we worked at home we would get more done, so why are so many married to this concept of "if you are at work till late you are doing more than others" This needs to be questioned even more in the digital era, given how many emails are being responded to after hours.
He referenced Jerry Seinfield being paid huge money to open a conference on "The secrets to success" He had a three word mantra... Do, The , Work! Simple message but very effective.
He finished on Friday by challenging us to identify something personal or professional that we have not made the progress we want. so, I have decided to go into "Beast mode" My challenge was losing weight, now that I have put it here, it has to happen. I am going to create time and as Jason put it "Little rituals" can that support that process. Watch this space. If I put on weight, tell me to pull my head in! He also suggested that we need a project to aim towards, like a half marathon. I haven't locked something in here yet but watch this space :-) Perhaps another boxing match, any takers?
Professor Peter O'Connor from the faculty of Education and Social work at Auckland university also spoke. He specialises within the Arts and has worked with many students and teachers following both the Christchurch and Mexico earthquakes.
He emphasised that we need to wonder and wander, create moments of awe. Research shows that students who are in "Art rich" schools perform better academically. Partly due to a crowded curriculum and partly due to National standards, we have potentially placed too high a focus on Literacy and Numeracy at the expense of other curriculum areas, including The Arts. John Dewey said that the Arts are the tool that train the imagination. The Arts help in sadness and tragedy.
Thoughtful question- Do children do things that matter? and through doing it, do they learn that they also matter?
The Arts are disappearing, next year, there will not be a single music teacher in the primary sector of Auckland University, instruments are gathering dust... sad sad news.
Another great quote - "Schools are places where we learn to become fully human" I mulled over whether he was just referring to the students...
Sylvia Martinez addressed us next. She is the co-author of Invent to learn : Making , tinkering and engineering the classroom.
"Kids learn by being deeply involved in what they care about" We have heard this time and time again but what do we do to ensure this happens? Do we ask students? Do we plan for this in our programmes?
Empowered teachers leads to empowered learners, we need to feel like we are learning again.
The maker movement is upon us, it is not just about technology. It is about making things, solving problems, owning solutions and sharing with others.
Joanne McEachen is the director for New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL)
She was passionate about measuring what is important. Traditional measurement practices are one of the most significant barriers to learners success. Technology is providing huge opportunities but technology is not pedagogy, it is the accelerator.
This got me thinking about what we measure and why. How do we measure the values or students?
When our students leave our school, what do we want them to be armed with?
The global team looks at learning outcomes based around- Character, Citizenship, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity and critical thinking.
"None of us are getting out alive, what we do, must count!"
"When I'm old, I don't want someone who can measure my weight, I want someone who can relate to me and give me a hug". #Keycomps
So what... What action do I plan to take ?
- Inspire others to cause action, forget position
- Find time to be creative, unpack things, be strategic, avoid constantly working in default mode
- Create healthy rituals for myself, little things as often as possible, work on a project!
- Measure what matters, starting with a frank discussion around what we assess and why.
- Challenge myself and staff to ensure we have exciting , engaging learning contexts for all students, do we walk the talk?
A great week, catching up with colleagues, taking on board key messages and watching lovely humans dangle from the roof (paid to do so) while eating our dinner :-)
