Watch the video.

This is 20 minutes worth of inspiration, and whilst some teachers will find the weight of the moral responsibility Schwartz gives us hard to bear, I am finding him difficult to disagree with!

Any work that you do that involves other people is moral work, and any moral work depends upon practical wisdom.

He goes on:

As teachers we should strive to be the ordinary heroes, the moral exemplars to the people we mentor… we are always teaching, someone is always watching, the camera is always on.

On both sides of the Atlantic we are facing a school leadership vacuum as the Baby Boomer generation heads towards retirement. Ambition doesn’t have to be a dirty word, and there is a recipe for success in moving up the hierarchy in school which benefits everyone. If you are in the early stages of your career, and would like to lead in education, then give these ideas a try. They have all been passed on to me by successful leaders and are definitely worth sharing!

1. Find an influential sponsor in school. This should be someone on or close to the leadership team. They should be unafraid of taking risks and be able to see your potential. They will act as your advocate and guarantor, and will make sure you get noticed.

2. Volunteer for whole school projects. Look at your school’s inspection reports and improvement plans to find the projects that need doing and offer to get them done, even if they involve working outside your remit. Senior leaders are always stretched for time and will appreciate your support. There is no such thing as a school with no room for improvement, although not everyone will see it that way! Tread carefully and keep your diplomatic radar switched to ‘empathic’.

3. Don’t be too picky or too precious about the projects you take on, and stay positive. Take the rough and the smooth will follow once you have shown what you are made of, especially if you demonstrate that you can deliver reliably.

4. Add value. Whether it’s raising standards, saving money, generating positive buzz or making the learning experience for kids at your school better, make sure that there are tangible and measurable outcomes to your projects. You are aiming to create an amazing list of great outcomes that you were responsible for.

5. Get positive exposure in school and in the community. Generate ‘good news’ stories for the local newspaper. Make sure you submit regular articles to your school newsletter. Invite parents and teachers to share in the success of your projects, whether through a website, a letter home or a celebration event. Document what happens with photos, student and staff testimonials and your own learning journal.

6. Network 360° and use feedback. Build up a strong network of peers both locally and beyond who can act as critical friends for your ideas. Make sure you are the first to know about new developments in your area, and make it your business to understand the key challenges and strengths in your school community, including your own.

Good luck getting that promotion!

I am a Fast Track Teacher on my final year in the programme. I am currently Faculty Leader for MFL at Westfield Community College in Watford, and aiming for my first senior leadership post.

For the past year I have been using Twitter to develop my Personal Learning Network. I have found that in combination with my blog, Twitter is a fantastic tool for engaging with other professionals around the world involved in education.

On Sunday 15^th March, an article about school reform in the Sunday Times caught my eye. I wrote a response to it on my blog, and shared the post with my followers on Twitter. Since Jim Knight, the Minister for Schools is a Twitter user; I sent him the link to my blog asking for his comments. I didn’t imagine he would respond, but that afternoon we exchanged ideas about what the English education system needed in order to move forwards. To read the article and the post, click here.

Blogging and using Twitter have flattened hierarchies for me in a fantastic way: I network every day with senior leaders, politicians, journalists and international educationalists. As an example, in the past couple of weeks, I have also been discussing digital literacy with the Principal at Berkhamsted School, after reading a really interesting post on his blog. To read the exchange, click here.

The constant drip-feed of new ideas and inspiration that Twitter provides has given me a real edge at school and means I can stay right on the pulse of educational change. I would really recommend it to any aspiring senior leaders to use this tool to access some of the great thinking and innovation that is going on in the world of education, from your doorstep to the other side of the world.

To follow me on Twitter, go to http://www.twitter.com/mrslwalker

*This post was reinstated after it got lost in the ether when my blog was updated.*

Looking for a vibrant new Wordpress.org theme? Look no further!

I have done a serious trawl for the most creative, interesting and appealing Wordpress themes I could find. My taste tends toward the bright, cheery and vibrant; so if lots of black is your thing, or you just love plain blue boxes you might want to move right along!

1. Rock-Kitty.net

This is a fantastic collection of themes. Whilst the organisation of themes is not as slick as some other sites, there is a varied collection of themes here that can easily be previewed and downloaded. The vast majority are free, but licensing does vary.

2. Wordpress themes

There is a really big collection of themes here. I think that a lot of them are pretty run-of-the-mill themes with blue boxes at the top and rounded corners. However, do a little digging and you will find some real gems!

3. Top WP Themes

This site was a great find. Themes are categorised really usefully (so you can search Adsense-ready themes, or designer) and there is some beautiful work.

4. BlogOh!Blog

This was my favourite site for really clean, simple designs. What’s more: the ‘Salient Features of this design’ detail really helps users find exactly what they are looking for.

5. Design Disease

These guys don’t have an enormous swathe of themes, but that doesn’t matter. There are eight themes here that are beautifully designed and deserve a look!

6. Six Revisions

This compilation list of 50 beautiful themes has been doing the rounds since last November, but it’s still tough to beat. It’s where I found my current theme, Notepad Chaos.

If you find a new theme that you love, or perhaps another great site for the list, why not post a link in the comments?

What’s the point of Twitter? Why should educators get involved? What difference does using Twitter make?

Here are some answers that you might like to share.

1. Together we’re better

Teaching can be a lonely business. In a school where lessons are long and lunchtimes are short, not enough conversations between teachers I work with are about learning. We simply don’t have time. Twitter can be like a virtual staffroom for me, which I can step into when it suits me: in the queue at the supermarket or waiting for for the kettle to boil. I know that within seconds I can access a stream of links, ideas, opinion and resources from a hand-picked selection of global professionals.

2. Global or local: you choose

Whilst some Twitter users will not tolerate many overtly egotistical self-publicisers (some celebrities have come under fire for using the service just to broadcast banalities to their flocks of fans), there is no doubt that Twitter users have the potential to reach very large international audiences. In educational terms this is a real eye-opener: before using Twitter I had only limited understanding of educational systems and practices in countries like Australia and the US. It’s now possible for me to actively compare what’s happening in schools in my county with others on different continents. GPS-enabled devices like iPhones and the advanced web search facility allow searches which tell you what people are tweeting within a certain distance of a location, so if the other side of the world isn’t your bag, you can stick with your own patch.

3. Self-awareness and reflective practice

Excellent teachers reflect on what they are doing in their schools and look at what is going well in order to maintain and develop it, and what needs improvement in order to make it better. Teachers on Twitter share these reflections and both support and challenge each other. Reading about other educators’ experiences has made me question my own practice on a number of occasions, and whilst the resulting changes may only be incremental they are nonetheless important steps in the journey to improvement.

4. Ideas workshop and sounding board

Twitter is a great medium for sharing ideas and getting instant feedback. Its speed and instanteity means you can gather a range of opinions and constructive criticism within minutes; which can help enormously whether you are planning a learning experience, writing a policy or putting a job application together. Just this week, Doug Belshaw (@dajbelshaw) shared the experience of preparing for a job interview and used Twitter during interview to demonstrate the intellectual and professional clout of his impressive network.

As a further example, I tweeted whilst writing this post:

Within minutes various kind followers had responded with suggestions, including:

Whilst Twitter users do not have to use it synchronously like instant messanging software, the tool does lend itself well to quick responses.

5. Newsroom and innovation showcase

Sitting down with a newspaper is not a luxury I have the time to enjoy every day. Twitter helps me stay up to date on news and current affairs, as well as on the latest developments in my areas of interest:  school leadership, technology and languages. By following leading individuals and organisations, Twitter users can stay right at the bleeding edge of innovation and creativity, and literally be among the first to know when a new product is launched, article is published or opinion is voiced.

Whilst very innovative folk, teachers equally spend far too much time reinventing the wheel. Twitter helps me to be smarter about my work by sharing resources, ideas, training materials and policies with other schools. Just this week I am putting together a policy recommendation for staff at my school about ensuring their personal details on Facebook are secure. Several colleagues (including Alex Blagona @blagona and Sacha Van Straten @svanstraten) have been kind enough to share work they had already done in this area. I no longer have to start from scratch and will share my finished policy with any educators who would like it. It’s a bit like the principle of  ‘paying it forward’ on a big scale.

6. Professional development and critical friends

One of the best things about training days is the break out time between sessions, when teachers can get together to talk about what they are working on or struggling with. Twitter enables me to have that kind of powerful networking capacity with me all the time. It’s just a matter of finding the right people to follow. As @melaniemcbride said:

“Following smart people on Twitter is like a mental shot of expresso”

Since cash for cover is not always readily available, days out on expensive courses can’t be a regular thing for most teachers. I love to have access to learning on tap through Twitter as it doesn’t require large chunks of my day, or any financial outlay in order to have an impact. Twitter is also a source of healthy debate, and I have learned that if I am going to make a point I can’t be halfhearted about it; as there will be people who disagree! I have grown in confidence when it comes to my own convictions, and now take that back with me into school.

7. Quality-assured searching

I trust the people I follow. I hone and develop the list of people whose insights I value. Drew Buddie (@digitalmaverick) has mentioned several times that he believes his network to be more powerful than Google, and I am beginning to see why. Once your Twitter network grows past a critical mass, you can ask them detailed questions and get higher quality information back than a bog-standard Google search would generally provide, with the inbuilt assurance that it is a respected member of your network providing the information. On a broader scale, Twitter searching provides information about time-linked trending topics that Google cannot.

8. Communicate, communicate, communicate

Expressing yourself in 140 characters is a great discipline. I have become better at saying what needs to be said in my professional communications with less waffle and padding, and I refuse as far as possible to use txtspk. I previously read somewhere that every professional email could in theory be written in just five sentences. That seems luxuriously long!

9. Getting with the times has never been so easy!

There is no good reason why teachers shouldn’t stick with the times, engage with the technology and keep up with the kids. We need to be able to speak the same language and inhabit the same communities (both real and virtual) as our students in order to motivate them and relate to them. Twitter is anything but complicated! You simply visit Twitter.com and create your account. A little light searching using key words for your areas of interest will soon yield a list of interesting people to follow. There are plenty of websites offering advice on getting started and how to avoid a few common beginners’ faux-pas.

Remember, your experience on Twitter is only as high quality as the people who you follow and the information you share.

Your biggest challenge is likely to be getting the twitter.com unblocked on your school network if your main usage will be at school. Personally I find that having Twitter on my iPhone is enough most of the time. I then forward interesting links to my email inbox to look at in detail from my desk.

I hope this piece helps get more teachers involved in using Twitter. Do send it to your teams at school and all those people who don’t quite understand what it’s all about yet. I’m increasingly passionnate about it: Twitter is a very simple tool that allows me to connect with an amazingly clever, resourceful and innovative bunch of people who never fail to inspire and motivate me. Thanks guys!

I have been gathering thoughts on marking. There is nothing new here, and that is part of the problem! In my school we need to review and refresh our lapsed marking policy, and as part of the process I have drafted the following memo for SLT as an overview of my thoughts and practice/policies I have gathered. What is bothering me is that I don’t think it’s very good. I know that there is loads of innovative work going on with marking and assessment, and 10 years down the line after AFL first appeared there must be a better way. Can you help?

Core Purposes of marking

1. To acknowledge and assess the students’ learning
2. To guide the students in their next steps
3. To inform teacher planning, resourcing and support
4. To share feedback on progress with students and parents/carers/interested others

 They key issues then are:

1. What to mark

A common theme is managing expectations here (particularly parents). Do we mark all student work? Selected parts? What about work which doesn’t appear in the exercise book? An enlightened approach would perhaps be to mark selected pieces in-depth. Other work may simply be acknowledged in a more ’light touch’ way. The appropriateness and frequency of spelling correction / error correction may depend on the subject. Whilst English for example may want to identify all spelling errors, science may prefer to correct spellings of specialist terms only. As long as students (and staff and parents) know what the expectations are it doesn’t seem to be necessary to have a one-size-fits-all approach.

2. How to mark

Marking in a different colour from the student writing clearly matters but opinion varies on what is best. Red seems to be out of favour and green or purple are sometimes used. Some schools (especially primary) seem to use a two colour system – green ticks for good stuff, orange highlighter for parts that need improving or developing, for example.

Cluttering up the student work with information and commentary everywhere seems to make students switch off or become disheartened. Using shorthand or accessible codes makes it quick for teachers to mark and doesn’t cover the page in difficult –to-read feedback.

I would favour a system which separates out organisational and learning-related feedback, so that issues to do with presentation, using rulers, doodles etc didn’t get muddled in with moving to the next national curriculum level. Whilst in some subjects using a ruler correctly makes a difference, you can get level 7 in French without even picking one up. How much time should I spend on writing ‘use a ruler’ in exercise books?

Students should expect a combination of feedback then, including a level or grade, a comment and a target or guidance on how to improve. Having level / grade descriptors available in books is obviously going to help with student understanding here.

3. How often to mark

If marking is to inform planning and progress, it should be regular enough to provide feedback that will make a difference. Having a minimum expectation is helpful for FLs and staff, as long as there is enough flexibility to demonstrate feedback in all skill areas. In creative arts subjects or PE it may be appropriate to gather evidence of student progress within the same timeframes, although the format will obviously need to be different.

4. Record-keeping

Marking using AFL can be difficult to track and it is hard to create data showing small incremental change using NC levels. Using coded Faculty targets can be helpful for this.

5. Homework

Some schools make a big point of homework being clearly indicated in books / files. However, if SLT want evidence that homework is being done, then a homework log in books which includes work done outside of the book might be helpful.

6. Final thoughts

Exercise books can be used by students and staff in a number of ways in different subjects. Sometimes they are rough jotters where students draft work, sometimes they are a place for notes and classwork exercises to be done. Other times they might be more like a portfolio or display of complete work. There is increasing evidence that the exercise book in itself is a pretty outdated concept that is being rapidly taken over in other schools by e-portfolios through school VLEs. Whilst the exercise book provides evidence of work to parents, it can’t be considered in isolation as evidence of the quality of teaching and learning. As I put at the top, marking is in part about feedback to parents and carers, so it would be helpful to them to know what to expect, perhaps by a page in the planner or a letter home. As we already discussed, marking can also be a very time-consuming use of teacher resource (that is not going into lesson planning or resource creation) so whatever we decide must be both quick and effective!

Ed Balls says great school leaders must be backed - 16 Mar 09 | Teachers TV.

YouTube - No Future Left Behind.

Swift Kick Central.

What an amazing collection of inspirational EdTech material!

Thanks to Christine Morris for sharing it.

Our schools need a tough reformer (Sunday Times 15.3.09)

They certainly do! We can’t blame all of the current mess on Tony Crosland for ditching grammar schools, as the system he reformed was not fit for purpose either. But despite an increased spend per pupil of 55% in real terms since 1997 (the year I left school), we have not seen the increase in social mobility that was promised. Instead of revelling in the success of increasingly high examination results in the comprehensive sector, GCSEs and AS/A2 are accused of being dumbed down to the point where some of the schools educating the nation’s brightest sparks are rejecting these qualifications altogether. IGCSE, Internation Baccalaureate… these pupils need something more substantial to get their teeth into, and to differentiate them from the increasing number of students achieving 3 As at A2. The new starred A at KS5 will help to differentiate the most able, but will it be enough?

At the other end of the spectrum, a plethora of lower standard Level 2 and 3 courses mean that many can stay in education who previously would not have met the standards required, but do we have enough proof that it is doing young people any good? There are still worrying numbers of students at 16 for whom a C-grade at standard GCSE is unattainable. In order to get them the magic 5 or more A*-C, schools have to enter students for all kinds of alternative courses that have GCSE equivalence. Many students sit BTECs and other vocational qualifications which bump up the A*-C numbers, (apologies to Ken Boston from the QCA but I am not convinced by your statement about equivalence),  and by extension we should expect more students to go on to further training and employment as a result of these additional qualifications. However, numbers of NEETs have not descreased as hoped but look like they are increasing more than ever.

It’s pretty obvious that the current system is failing the students both at the top end and the bottom. There are also thousands of children in communities across the UK who through no fault of their own are educated in schools which are unsatisfactory in both maintained and independent schools (see OFSTED’s annual report) Ofsted pointed out that:

“The gap between the performance of the best and the weakest schools is unacceptable.”

I still feel strongly that the system we currently have needs big reform from a tough reformer. Could Conservative Michael Gove be the next man for the job? The Times calls him a “worthy antagonist for [Ed] Balls”  and explains that:

“the opposition really does have a reforming agenda. It proposes to build on Tony Blair’s belated public service reform programme, especially his plans to provide more variety and excellence in state schools, of which the city academies are a shining example. Parents, charities and private companies will also be encouraged to set up their own schools under the state’s umbrella.”

It sounds very grass roots and community-led: a massive shift away from the control-driven, initiative-loaded system we currently wrestle with. Could it just work, or will it be a swift leap from frying pan to fire?