Friday, May 29, 2015

Education Readings John Hattie / literacy/ Finland/ Inquiry learning/ and more Sir Ken Robinson



By Allan Alach


I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

This weeks homework!

Hatties research: Is wrong Part 4 a kind of Svengali
NZ educator Kelvin Smythes latest posting in his series that deconstructs John Hatties research.
I predict the Holy Grail label assigned to his research will, given his personality, prove the death of his reputation pushing him on, to ever extreme expressions of arrogance and wrongness. If he claims to live by academia but does not act on it, only great harm will ensue, in the short term, though, that harm has first fallen on schools. As detailed in past postings, with further devastating ones to come, Hatties research can be declared rubbish, beyond merit, deep into negative territory. The difficulty in conveying this truth and having it accepted is that his research is so wrong as to be difficult to encompass and for readers to believe.


Game Based Learning - the suspension of reality
Another article by Steve Wheeler that raises an important issue.

They are an important part of youth culture and teachers can no longer ignore computer games or believe they are irrelevant to education. They are staring us in the face and won't go away. Our challenge now is to discover how we can fully harness the power of these kinds of engagement and the potential for new forms of assessment in formalised settings. Each of these possibilities make learning through games playing highly motivational, but beyond this, they also enable learners to explore new ideas, reflect deeply in their actions, and ultimately, they are fun.

Why we should focus on well-rounded young people not exceptional grades

“… there needs to be a balancing act between academia and developing essential traits crucial in the real world. They say knowledge is power but what use is knowledge if children havent developed their character in a way which allows them to actually use their knowledge successfully?

When Kids Decide What They Read, They Read More
Really? Who would have thought it?

"This simple intervention allowing students to choose their own books at [the] end of the school year had a significant positive impact. A multifaceted approach is needed to address poor child-literacy rates, but this intervention can be part of the solution.

Why the attempt to make reading simple? A reply to Learning to Read: Should We Keep Things Simple?
Powerful article by Ken Goodman - a must read.

Theres no way to make language learning simple. But there is an easy way to help children to learn to read. It is to make the way they found it easy to learn oral language work for them in learning to make sense of written language.  Written language is learned just as oral language is learned- in the process if using it.

Deficit model in education: a dangerous conceit?
This article by Donald Clark is well worth reading!
The illusory maths deficit is the leaning tower of PISAs awful legacy, branding education as a failure and wiping out huge swathes of useful knowledge and skills in favour of illusory benefits.
And:
If only more people had more certificates, more degrees, more paper qualifications, wed live in a utopian paradise of massive productivity and wealth. Sorry, it doesnt work that way. As more and more people get bits of paper, those bits of paper become commoditized and worth less.

The Global Search for Education: The Arts Face to Face
Featuring…… Finland of course
First, arts subjects are essential if we think in terms of personal development. The arts are essential tools to increase self-awareness and understanding of your own and other's experiences; the arts are a means to understanding emotions and the emotional aspects of life; the arts are also essential tools in self-expression.

Lessons from neuroscience

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting Andrew Curran who delivered a two hour session on the brain and the lessons we can learn from neuroscience to inform our practice in the classroom. In this post, I wouldnt dream of trying to replicate his vast knowledge, but thought Id share some takeaways that might inform what you do. Please note, Im not an expert, and this is my interpretation of what he said.

This weeks contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

Inquiry in the Classroom: 7 Simple Tools To Get You Started
Why Use the Inquiry Cycle?

Often used by science professionals to work through problems and research, an inquiry-based approach, or inquiry cycle, is also used in classrooms for scientific and non-scientific topics to encourage students during the learning process. In an inquiry-based approach, teachers help students generate their own appropriate questions and guide the investigation.

Eudemic: Connecting Education and Technology

Bruces comment: Many teachers use the Edutopia(with its focus on project based learning) devised by Star Wars director George Lucas.  Edudemic is another rich resource for schools integrating technology into their classrooms. Edutopias focus is on project based learning.

George Lucas
Edutopia: Vision and Mission.
Bruces comment: Read about Edutopias brilliant vision.
Our vision is of a new world of learning based on the compelling truth that improving education is the key to the survival of the human race. Its a world of creativity, inspiration and ambition informed by real-world evidence and experience.



Are field trips a good way to spend school district funds? Kids say yes
Students on a field trip
Bruces comment: A school district in California rediscover the value of field trips - will wonders never cease!!!!
It was not abundantly clear that the trip had been a success. Certainly, no one was excitedly explaining how shed just had an insight into how sound waves work; nor going on about the properties of simple pulleys; nor plotting the invention of an improved slow-motion camera.

Sir Ken Robinson's new book: 'Creative Schools - Revolutionizing Education from the Ground Up
In this article Bruce reviews this book and shows how it could be implemented in the classroom.

A must read for anyone who believes in an education system that aims at developing the gifts and talents of all students. My plea is for creative teachers, particularly those in New Zealand, to share this with as many teachers and schools as they can because the message is so important. If we really believe in giving every student the opportunity to leave formal education with their love of learning intact  and with all their unique gifts and talents identified then we really have no choice.

From Bruces goldie oldiesfile:

The killing of creativity by the technocrats.
Not to be outdone by Kelvin, heres an article Bruce wrote back in 2009, that also casts a skeptical eye over John Hattie.
John Hattie, professor of education Auckland University, confidante of the present Minister of Education. Is his influence undermining the creativity of our teachers? Kelvin Smythe thinks so and, after visiting a number of classrooms, I have to agree with him. Read Kelvin's full article on his site.
And:
Somehow, just because Hattie has amalgamated every piece of 'school effectiveness' research available ( mainly it seems from the USA) his findings, it seems, ought to be taken for read. The opposite ought to be the case - we need to be very wary of such so called 'meta research.'. More worrying however is that the approaches he is peddling is pushing into the background the home grown innovative creative learning centred philosophy that was once an important element in many classrooms.

What is this thing called learning?
What is this thing called learning. It seems simple enough. So why do so many 'learners' fail at school? Dysfunctional schools or dysfunctional learners?

Many teachers draw on their experience, common sense, and professional knowledge as the basis for their teaching. What is sometimes missing is a shared languageof what learning is across a school so teachers can, talk to each other, their students parents, and also to hold themselves accountable.


Children as scientists
If children are always asking questions then ought not our classrooms help them in their search for answers?
That we haven't yet created schools based on assisting students research their own questions and concerns just goes to show how much 'our' curriculums, what 'we' think is important for them to learn, has ignored the source of real motivation for students to learn.
 
Fundamentals in education
Maybe its time to reflect on what is fundamental in education.

So what are the fundamentals of learning? It is too simple to fall back on the default mode of literacy and numeracy indispensable as they obviously are. The real basics of learning are: perceiving, thinking, and forming and the tools to make use of these faculties are words, numbers and shapes.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Sir Ken Robinson's new book:'Creative Schools - Revolutionizing Education from the Ground Up'.




Sir Ken Robinson's book is a must read if we want to bring education into the 21stC.



A must read for anyone who believes in an education system that aims at developing the gifts and talents of all students.

Read this article about Sir Ken's latest book

My plea is for creative teachers, particularly those in New Zealand, to share this with as many teachers and schools as they can because the message is so important. If we really believe in giving every student the opportunity to leave formal education with their love of learning intact  and with all their unique interests, gifts and talents identified and amplified then we really have no choice.

Excellent book.
And if you do pass this blog on also send the link to New Zealander David Hoods book  'The Rhetoric and the Reality'  which has the same message. It is time for change to start from the bottom up - that is  until we get a government that really understand about learning.

Sir Ken offers a real alternation to the current standardized, test orientated reform that  countries like New New Zealand have been implementing. The good thing is that New Zealand has not, as yet, gone as far down this standardized approach as Australia, the United Kingdom or the USA.

Sir Ken believes it is time to question the assumptions that underpin traditional education which he believes is now failing too many of our students. He writes that the current reforms, particularly  those that focus on introducing standards in literacy and numeracy based on
standardized testing  , are ironically limiting students with talents in other areas. As well many students currently  failing school often do well in real life - unfortunately not all .Many, sadly, blame themselves for their failure rather then the school system they were forced to comply with.

Current reforms are about standardization, competition and corporatism. (let alone the privatization of schools) - who supplies the tests determines the educations.

Instead of standardization, competition and corporatism, Sir Ken is calling for the personalisation of learning to uncover and amplify the talents of all students. 

So rather than having an 'achievement gap'  ( the 'one in five failing mantra')we need to see it as an 'opportunity gap' and provide educational experiences to motivate all students and not just the academic.

Sir Ken has worked with countries and states, as well as individual schools, to develop such a system. and he shares what he has found with readers.

He also makes the point that there are creative teachers in every school to make use of. He also encourages educators to visit and learn from the best of early education practitioners and then to ask what has happened to something that starts so well  and ends so badly for too many students..

His metaphor for education is not a industrial factory grading one, and sorting and grading students, but an organic living one - a system continually evolving and adapting to changing.
circumstances such as the transformational power of information technology.



He asks readers to consider how they would reinvent schooling and to challenge the taken for granted habits and organisation patterns and rituals that now currently limit students - the demeaning use of ability grouping and streaming is such areas.

 What are the dispositions future students will need? How best to organize schools to ensure all students leave with their love of learning intact and their talents developed? Perhaps it is this
thinking that underpins the 'modern learning environments' that are the latest idea - an idea that requires  personalized pedagogy if they are to be successful,

A personalized pedagogy demand that we value the questions, feelings and 'inner voice' of all students; something that creative teachers, past-and present, have always known. 'Profound things happen', writes Sir Ken, 'when students are given room to explore their own interests and capacities'. Children have a powerful innate ability to learn and Sir Ken outlines alternative schools that have 'recovered' students who, through formal education,  had lost the will to learn.

In New Zealand we at least have the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum to inspire us ( 'every student a seeker, user and creator of their own knowledge') and are also fortunate that we haven't gone so far down the standardized testing road as such countries as the UK, Australia and  the USA. But there is no time to waste.

Sir Ken sees teachers as artists assisting their students to develop the skills and talents required for their future success in contrast to currently demeaning compliance demands to 'deliver' the
curriculum.

Teachers need to create provocative learning environments to tap into their students curiosity; to engage, inspire and enthuse them. No exceptions.

 Stimulating learning means keeping students curiosity alive. It means helping students surprise themselves with the quality of what they didn't think they could achieve. It's about relationships and expectations. About students working with their teachers and their peers to complete exciting integrated learning projects -  at all all levels of schooling.

Sir Ken believes in students being helped to do their best in whatever areas of learning they are involved in - something anyone involved in any form of creative endeavor knows well.  He is also supportive of students being given time to complete work of real  depth and quality.

 I enjoyed his thoughts on 'slow education' which he says is  about individualizing the process, about allowing the space and time to discover students' passions and strengths. Slow learning is about 
doing fewer things well.


The future is about creativity, imagination and innovation. 

Imagination is the root l..of innovation; creativity is putting imagination to work and innovation is putting new ideas into action.

 Creative learning is about enlightened trial and error - about learning through giving thing go. Creativity is being prepared to end up where you didn't mean to go - it is about refining, testing, making new connections and keeping what works. It requires discipline and control. All learning is 'driven by appetite for discovery'..... 'And if you don't trust kids to be natural learners, your not going to get there'.

And this means trusting school and in turn teachers.

 Success is to be judged by what the students can achieve as shown in their finished work, displays, exhibitions and learning( electronic) portfolios. The wrong sort of assessment ( as now seen in schools ) can kills such learning. Current testing measure little of what is important and has a negative effect on both learning and teaching.

Creative teaching requires principals and teachers to operate from a different sense of what education should  and could be, and a different interpretation of success.

Creative teaching is not easy. It means challenging conventions and ingrained habits but it is a task that is worth the effort. Sir Ken's book is full of inspiring examples  to learn from  but their is no one way to success.

'How quickly schools will change will depend, in large part, on the vision of the people who run them, especially the principals, on how they set expectations, and where they draw the lines of permission' . 

The first thing is to get clear on what you want for your children and then to create a positive learning environment for all.

The role of a creative leader', Sir Ken writes, ' is not to have all the ideas; it is to encourage a culture where everyone has them'.


We don't want your ( right wing) mind conyrol

Ideally such creativity ought to be  encouraged by the policy makers but we haven't time to wait for them. We need to start revolutionizing education 'from the ground up'. Class by class if necessary.

This is why it is important to share Sir Ken's book with other like minds.

My advice is to buy the book,get inspired and join the revolution and at the very least to search out the creative teachers in your own school




Pass on this information about Sir Ken's book now.



Further Reading:













Friday, May 22, 2015

Education Readings - Sir Ken Robinson./David Hood NZ/ Annie Murphy Paul/Jo Boaler and Pavlov's dogs!



By Allan Alach


I welcome suggested articles, so if you come across a gem, email it to me at allanalach@inspire.net.nz

This weeks homework!

Increasing Student Voice in Local Schools and Districts
An article targeted at high schools, but theres plenty to stimulate thinking at primary schools.

Student leadership involvement should take place in every high school district. The failure to do so excludes those most affected by decisions from having a voice in that process. It also deprives school boards of some potentially valuable insights. The arguments against this role for students are weak, frequently founded on an underestimation of student maturity and perception that too often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Why Schools Need to Bring Back Shop Class
Sir Ken Robinson..

Vocational programs such as carpentry or welding classes, cosmetology classes or many of the other practical areas of study available in some US high schools and in the vocational schools that dot our cities and suburbs are seen as second-rate options for people who dont make the academic cut. As we argue in Creative Schools, this academic/vocational caste system is one of the most corrosive problems in education. It need not be.


Classroom Practice - 10 commandments of successful innovation
Education's ten Commandments

“… teachers are usually willing to give everything a try at least once. This can be a positive attribute. But often, by indulging their inner magpie and hurling as many shiny ideas into the mix as possible, teachers guarantee that none of them will be successful. They will end up juggling multiple and often competing schemes, their ideas will not be well considered nor given enough time to take effect, and their students will be left confused.



Does tinkering lead to learning?
Annie Murphy Pauls observations on the maker movement - well worth reading.

Making is too young a phenomenon to have generated a broad research base to answer this question. The literature that does exist comes from enthusiastic champions of making, rather than disinterested investigators. But there are two well-established lines of research within psychology and cognitive science that can inform how we understand making and help us ensure that making leads to learning. Taken together, these two strands of empirical evidence provide the best guide we presently have for maximizing the learning potential of maker activities.


11 Ways Finlands Education System Shows Us that Less is More.
Just in case you havent read about Finlands education system, heres another viewpoint.

Currently we believe moreis the answer to all of our education problemseverything can be solved with MORE classes, longer days, MORE homework, MORE assignments, MORE pressure, MORE content, MORE meetings,  MORE after school tutoring, and of course MORE testing!   All this is doing is creating MORE burnt out teachers, MORE stressed out students and MORE frustration.

Knowledge For Literacy
This is a technical article, well worth reading.

The core definition of a word is only a tiny fragment of the meaning that makes it useful in understanding language. Neuroimaging confirms that the full meaning of a familiar word extends broadly through the mind, including associations to every trace that your experience with that word or its concept has left in your memory. For instance, your full knowledge of the word appleextends to the traces in your memory of the many apples in your life…”

Why teaching kids to have gritisnt always a good thing

If you follow fads in education, you probably know that what passes for character educationin this country is now dominated by the teaching of grit,helping students learn how to persevere and stay on task. It is taken for granted that having grit is always a positive thing, but, in the following post, scholar Mike Rose shows that it isnt always so.


This weeks contributions from Bruce Hammonds:

New Zealand Schools the Rhetoric and the Reality - and a creative future
A must read!!!!
Bruces latest blog post:
 ‘The current standardised approach, writes Hood, needs to be replaced by one that focusses on the individual.  Personalised learning is about creating a learning environment that responds to the needs of each individual student and their interests, talents and passions and aspirations.
In an environment where there is clear vision, shared values, high expectation and a culture of challenging traditional ways of doing things, then people will work in a myriad of unplanned , unseen and successful ways; it will be a creative and innovative environment.


Jo Boaler
Memorizers are the lowest achievers and other Common Core math surprises
Bruces comment: Stop the math memorization The real oil on mathematics. In a recent commentary math educator Jo Boaler writes, "We don't need students to calculate quickly in math. We need students who can ask good questions, map out pathways, reason about complex solutions, set up models, and communicate in different forms.

Quick, Draw a Scientist!
Bruces comment: What is your classs image of a scientist? Once you have identified their prior image (stereotype) see if you can modify, or reconstruct, it. A fun activity with some serious learning implications. Consider trying prior drawings’  of students ideas about whatever you are studying, for example what are their prior images of spiders- after learning experiences do another drawing to see if they have changed their minds! A great assessment task.
Inoculating the perception of a scientist is tantamount to fixing the leaky STEM pipeline. If students don't think that being a scientist is for them, humanity loses. A diverse workforce is a better, faster, and stronger workforce. Scientists of diverse backgrounds working together are better suited to solve complex problems, can work with greater agility, and can cure diseases that have been overlooked.

Tech tip: Avoid blurry vision and shiny objects
Bruces comment: Avoid blurryvisions and shiny objects. A short but pertinent article that applies to any school.
If your school (district) doesnt have a clear vision for what it is and what it needs to be, no matter how innovativeideas taken on board are, they will not help to move it forward. Sure, there may be some great discussion and perhaps even some implementation of worthwhile initiatives. But without a vision to clarify and justify the purpose of the initiatives, they all become disparate activities.


From Bruces goldie oldiefile:

Developing a powerful school vision
This article by Bruce explores a similar theme to the one above.

All schools these days have Visions, Missions and Strategy Plans but all too often few people can articulate them let alone say what they really mean in action. No matter how well they are drawn up if no ones knows what they mean they are not worth the paper they are written on.

Pavlov's Dogs - an untold story.
Bruces comment: A new twist on Pavlovs dogs!
It is a shame that we need dramatic shocks for us to change. It took the carnage and unnecessary slaughter of World War One to develop in the ordinary man a distrust of god given authority particularly of the old generals who were long past their use by date



The artistry of teaching and future learning attributes
Bruces comment: And a little more on artistry and the innate desire to learn There is a
.a lust for knowledge, an ache for understanding is incised in the best of men and woman. As is the calling of the teacher. There is no craft more privileged. To awaken in another human being the powers, dreams beyond ones own; to induce in others a love for that which one loves; to make of ones inward present their future; this is the threefold adventure like no other.


Artistry versus conformity in teaching.
Teacher artistry or deliverer of approved best practices?
Teachers need to claim back their professional judgement, or 'artistry', and place greater emphasis on ensuring every student develops their innate gifts, talents, individuality and creativity.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

New Zealand Schools – the Rhetoric and the Reality - and a creative future



It was a coincidence to receive copies of two exciting books on the future of education last week; one by Sir Ken Robinson (Creative Schools) and the other by David Hood. Both have the same message - that schools need to dramatically change, David Hood’s book focusses on the New Zealand’s education system.

This is David’s second book, written 17 years after his earlier book ‘Our Secondary Schools Don’t Work Anymore’. Both  books have been written to provoke debate about our current secondary school system.

David is well placed to comment on secondary education as he was the chief executive of the N Z Qualifications Authority, has had a long career as a principal, in the Department of Education and the Education Review Office and, more recently, as an educational consultant.

Peter Fraser
David in his introduction writes we are ‘still a long way from achieving the vision articulated by Peter Fraser Minster of Education in1935 for an education ‘of the kind and length to which his powers best fits him’.

David writes from the strong belief in the power of education to make difference for all students but feels that our schools lack relevance and purpose for to many students. He writes that the ‘ secondary schools …have changed very little in the past century’. It is a model ‘designed for a world that no longer exists’.

Today what is needed, Hood writes, is a system that frees schools, teachers and students to be ‘more creative and innovative’.

Although written about secondary schools it is well worth a read by primary teachers.

Hood quotes  business ‘guru’ Peter Drucker  that ‘the best way to predict the future is to create it’ and that ‘the first country to develop a 21st century education system will win the future’.

Secondary schools in contrast reflect a past age with ‘subjects with no connections….rigid and inflexible timetables…rules that emphasize obedience rather than responsibility’; a system that has become ‘fossilized and ritualistic’, and largely ‘mono cultural’.

There is however, Hood writes, ‘an increasing mood for change as more and more people realise that the factory model school, designed in the early 20th century, is no longer relevant in the 21st'. It is now time, says Hood for some radical rethinking about the whole purpose of education; our role as educators is to prepare students for their futures, not our present.

Excellent read
Hood provides excellent references about future needs   of students and the key basic skills required for living and working in the 21st century -  the ‘C’ words: Communications Cooperation, Critical Thinking, Creativity and Compassion.



The future demands a system premised on personalisation and creativity rather than current standardisation and conformity. With this in mind Hood is supportive of the principles, values and the emphasis on keycompetencies, of the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum.


Excellent 'first half'.
Unfortunately ‘the higher one goes up in the secondary system the bigger the mismatch between the rhetoric and the practice’

The vision of the much applauded  NZC is lost and there is little opportunity ’for students to engage in their own inquiry, research and discovery, never mind pursue their own interest’ and to work in teams to produce ‘personal products of value’. 

The potential of the new curriculum framework, with its principles, values and competencies, is spoilt by decisions to stick with the traditional disconnected subject-based curriculum.’

For secondary schools, writes Hood, ‘the first half of the New Zealand Curriculum was warmly received when it was released in 2007. The problem is with the second half where it focusses more and more on subjects. The solution is simple the curriculum should end at the descriptors of what each learning area is about.’

Change is difficult in the system for two reasons. One is that our system is designed to sort and separate students and secondly it is a system designed for the average student. One size does not fit
Time for new thinking
all.

Good students to do well, ‘knuckle down, don’t misbehave, don’t complain, don’t challenge, and don’t rock the boat’. In other words 'be disciplined'. Being compliant, Hood writes, doesn't mean being engaged. Those that don’t fit become ‘at risk’ or bored’.

The answer lies, says Dr Yong Zhao ,‘is respecting children as human being and supporting, not suppressing, their passion, curiosity and talent.’

 Hood writes, ‘keeping doing the same thing  and you will keep getting the same results’ and he is dismissive of the current Governments flagship policy of recruiting ‘best’ principals and teacher to lift student achievement which he sees as ‘tweaking the status quo’.

The factory metaphor for schooling
Instead we need a new paradigm for the 21st C – one that goes beyond what schools were established to achieve a 100 years ago.

For those interested in the historical development of New Zealand schools will find informative chapters  to inform them, including the lack of success of current reforms.  There is also an informative critique of international tests  well worth the read as are comments about the inequalities in our system, with particular reference to Maori and Pacifica students.  Current school reforms have, Hood writes, ‘simply advantaged those already advantaged’ and that ‘we continue to pay lip service to the real inequalities that exist’. Secondary teachers will find the chapter on the changing school qualifications of interest.

David is particularly concerned about how assessment still drives the curriculum with its accompanying harmful effects on teaching and learning and number crunching, league tables and competition between schools.

Hood also writes about the various reports recommending changes that that have been largely ignored
Except school!
by politicians and consigned to history.

The last two chapters provide ideas to transform  education from around the world  that if implemented would ensure all students have the opportunities to  develop their talents and passions,  to build positive learning identities, to become self-reliant, and to become questioning, critical and creative thinkers. He also outlines the work he has assisted with in creating schools catering for Maori students in NZ.

Hood is keen that all students should leave with a portfolio (electronic) showing their achievements and answering the questions: ’Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?

21st century schools, Tom Peters in his book ‘Re-imagine’ writes, we need a curriculum ‘that values questions above answers; creativity above fact regurgitation; individuality above conformity and excellence above standardised performance’.

All the models Hood describes share common philosophies and characteristics:

All focus on personalisation of learning determined by each student’s needs, interests, passions and aspirations.

Teachers as designers, facilitators and decision makers.

A curriculum that is relevant to the real world, interdisciplinary, collaborative, project and research based – utilizing the power of modern information technology.

Individual learning plans with students judged by the quality of their work.

Redesigned school environments enabling teachers to work collectively to assist students.

If secondary schools (and primary schools) were to implement such ideas then in the words of Peter Fraser every student will have ‘the opportunity to develop his or her talents to the utmost.’

 ‘The current standardised approach’, writes Hood, ‘needs to be replaced by one that focusses on the individual.  Personalised learning is about creating a learning environment that responds to the needs of each individual student and their interests, talents and passions and aspirations’.

‘Since the advent of Tomorrows Schools in 1989 which was to be about giving more autonomy to schools, compliance has become for (schools) a major time-consuming activity’.

‘In an environment where there is clear vision, shared values, high expectation and a culture of challenging traditional ways of doing things, then people will work in a myriad of unplanned , unseen and successful ways; it will be a creative and innovative environment’.




Start in your school/class now - there is no better time.