whelkstall

There are various little rituals in educational recruitment which are designed to let losing candidates down gently. The problem is that everyone know what the rituals mean and as a result, they are an insult which make people feel worse than if they were told the truth.

When there is more than one candidate for a job, everyone is obliged to sit around waiting during all the interviews and for the period when the interview panel makes their decision. The successful candidate is called before the panel to be offered the job.The losers are then offered individual feedback which consists of some flannel about it having been a difficult choice and how they came second.

So you are either appointed or come second, regardless of the number of candidates.

If you are the only candidate, you are only told the outcome on the day if the school intends to appoint you. The words that tell you that you haven't got the job are, "We will write to you." Not only does that phrase tell you that you didn't get the job, it also says that they haven't the courage to tell you to your face.

I've had a few such letters and I've never bothered opening them.

I can live with not getting the job. What I really hate is the unprofessional way the losing candidates are dealt with.

Just how difficult is it to tell someone to their face that they don't fit the bill? In every other work environment I've been involved in there are better ways of telling people interview outcomes that don't involve playing games. There is no need to keep people hanging about. Telling all candidates you will write to them means that one person will get a 'success' letter.

Schools are probably too bound up in ritual to change, but farcical gameplay calls into question the validity of the recruitment process generally. If the way they deal with outcomes is a silly game, can you really be sure that the process is treated any more seriously?

A plan for cross curricular integration of ICT must be carefully thought out. The whole ideal of Educational Technology is still very much in an experimental stage despite the very wide changes that have taken place and continue to take place.

The changes in Technology and been rapid and evolutionary. Educational developments are not mirroring the societal changes that the technology is bringing about. In many respects, the whole concept of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in a retrenchment to allow incorporation of the technology into education without disturbing what is considered mainstream.

Most schools follow a very narrow, prescribed, formulaic and ultimately quite dull curriculum that is provided by Government. There is little pressure to challenge the status quo and as a result, ICT remains aloof and incongruous with the needs of society

The proper incorporation of ICT requires a model. While we teach the kids to labour with a model that requires identification and analysis of the issues, followed by design, testing and evaluation, there is little evidence that school do anything similar in their approach to forwarding the larger ICT project.

One of the major reasons is a lack of vision. On the one hand, there is a conservative profession defending itself against the implications of ICT. One the other there are a range of ICT teachers, with a very wide differentiation of skills, whose main priority is to serve results. Being able to show that you have helped raise the number of level 5s or 5 A to C grades will earn you brownie points and early promotion. Suggesting ways to take the subject forward is more likely to get you the sack.

If the incorporation of ICT across the curriculum is to be a congruous and coherent process then schools have to develop appropriate surroundings, resources and skills and these will, to a large extent, depend on the level of skills available. Almost all of the present ICT curriculum can easily be delivered by a keen and competent teacher of Art, PE or any other subject. Most of it is trivial. The real skill is the ability to see how ICT fits with the bigger picture. This skill is strategic and requires more than the ability to create a PowerPoint, a poster or a spreadsheet.

The necessary skills will enable the integration of ICT to promote successful leaning and teaching practices both in and for the Information society. It is therefore absolutely essential that this integration is cross curricular and presupposes a consideration of the skills required by teachers, the competitive aspects of a cross curricular approach and the use that will be made of ICT by students and teachers.

ICT hands powerful resources to the teacher which aid motivation and organisation but also challenges authority because access to knowledge is no longer so easily controlled. Because of this, integration must be carefully planned. An obvious example of where this is not working in practice is the ICT key stage 3 test. Ultimately, it is another layer of SaTs to teach too, where it most obviously should be an ongoing process integrated into the teaching and learning of ICT wherever and whenever it is used.

In today’s society, the ability to use ICT is as vital as being able to read, write and be numerate. It could probably be called the fourth ‘R’ if I could only think of a mnemonic. But the rigour is different. In most schools, kids go to ICT once a week to ‘play’ and really not much more than that. An hour or less per week is really not sufficient to become proficient or to even think about the broader implications of the subject.

ICT frequently becomes a domain of the ‘expert’, often very enthusiastic and competent, not always an expert but frequently regarded as the person responsible for ICT and therefore in control of doling out the resources once the hour a week of play is allocated.

Even worse, I suppose, is the room timetable which is filled in rapidly by those who use the ‘book first, plan later’ strategy and then fought over with those whose Scheme of Work tells them they have to search the Internet on Thursday period three. ICT isn’t allowed into the educational system. It stands in a room in the corner to be proudly shown as ‘progress’ and to be squabbled over or ignored in equal measure.

We need real policies and a real and determined way of integrating ICT across the curriculum. Ensuring that teachers are trained in an essential step, but training them to use a spreadsheet or turn their lessons into PowerPoint presentation is not the central issue.

Firstly we have to consider why and how we use ICT with the kids. We are not simply doing it because that’s what we are told to do – or are we. I’ve met teachers who “would rather not, but it’s in the plan.” For students, ICT is an increasingly important focus for developing their knowledge, to store and communicate what they have learned. They need much more unfettered access to the equipment of ICT with the idea that the learning for a particular is in a particular time and room become increasingly foreign. Even libraries never really saw the inculcation of the idea, “Can I go to the library to find out more? But ICT has the advantage of not needing to move. This is part and parcel of the need to encourage a creative and autonomous spirit and the ability to solve problems and to develop opinions independently.

Central to the above are the organisational needs. Students have to be able to search, select, analyse and organise information effectively. They need to be able to understand that breadth and depth is important. A Google search, for example, may throw up thousands or millions of hits. How many people step beyond the first 20 or so, or really know how to?

But the real need is for ICT to be used rationally. “We have to teach word processing, spreadsheets and databases because that’s what they use in business.” A pound for every time I’ve heard this b*ll*cks please. If we have to teach them, and I’m not saying we shouldn’t, then it has to be because they are useful and purposeful in the here and now. If they are useful in your job later then that’s a bonus. It is not, in itself, a rational reason for teaching them.

The last point suggests what teachers have to do. Cross curricular ICT assumes that there is a clear and purposeful plan for is use. It means that ICT isn’t in the Scheme of Work because it has to be, but because reflection and planning sees it as the most effective means of achieving the teaching and learning aims of the subject.

The competitive nature of ICT use is damaging. A proper cross curricular model is about far more than integrating ICT. It allows faculties to discover where their subjects overlap so that teachers find links and encourage that approach in the students. “We can’t teach that bit of physics because they haven’t done the maths yet.” Is another piece of nonsense that proper integration, including ICT, can help eliminate.

The motivational aspects of ICT are important. Phillipe Stegler’s idea about mobile phones is just one example:

http://www.feeds4all.com/Item.aspx?ItemID=12480024

It’s about enthusiasm and looking for ways to buck the trend.

I have a model for integration and considered publishing it, but there are people making a pig’s ear of it and earning maybe six times what I earn stacking shelves. My decision to reserve it reflects my feeling that while my opinions are free, my expertise is valuable. I’m happy to share lesson ideas. My organisation and implementation of my vision goes with a teaching job and ultimately will probably never blossom.

Having said that, a lot of what has to be achieved is obvious. The uses of ICT have to be spelled out; The cross curricular links have to be identified; Plans have to be drawn up and agreed; Resources and activities have to be incorporated into schemes; and, a cycle of evaluation and improvement has to be put in place. As I said at the start, teachers have to do what they are trying to teach the kids.

Teaching ICT as it is presently formulated may be relatively trivial but the integration of it across the curriculum and providing planning, organisation and a sense of direction requires a clear understanding of the technology. It requires an understanding of what it can do and the vision to ensure that it is integrated into the curriculum for the greatest benefit of the students and the larger society.

Demanding that education be creative is to be extremely radical. Many schools proclaim their radicalism but most are driven back by the need to meet the demand for results. As a result there seems to be a tightening circle that is best summed up in the phrase, “teaching to the test.”

Creativity generates change. It is about freedom and allows people to experiment, to innovate to show independence and initiative. It is also not without its risks. If you take chances you will sometimes fail, but the evidence suggests that many schools are failing without taking any chances at all. One is reminded, albeit in miniature of Stalinist five year plans which achieved, so it was claimed, their objectives while actually producing a vast imbalance in output. Schools plan for the maximum five A to Cs and the cost is a loss of maths and science ability.

Creativity is the flux that has allowed human progress and those times when it has been stifled has often been accompanied by some of the worst periods in human history. If it is encouraged in the educational process it can allow for better use of resources and a learning process that is centred on individuals rather than institutional outcomes.

Creativity is about intellectual and cognitive effort, but it is also emotions, relationships and interacting with society and the environment. It is what allows the creation of novel ideas and the striving to solve problems.

It is often thought that creativity is an ‘artistic’ idea. It certainly isn’t. Walpert’s “The unnatural nature of science” was an exciting read because it pointed out quite clearly that science often challenges ‘common sense’ and needs that creative edge to see the reality in something that would otherwise, wrongly, be taken for granted.

When I cover maths I often introduce as a starter the story of Gauss and the lazy teacher who set the “add the numbers 1 to 100 problem.” The creativity of the outcome still has a certain mischief to it that kids find entertaining.

To be creative is to be anti-conservative in a conservative profession. It requires an atmosphere of freedom and the humility to realise that there is likely to be far more creativity in the classroom than that which the teacher brings. It requires that sense of adventure that allows children to experiment and explore, to not fear failure but to se is as a tool for taking the next, more informed step.

I suppose some insight into my feelings might help. I am teaching year 7s, 11and 12 year olds, how to use PowerPoint. The prescribed method is to get them to enter the text, about themselves, then the graphics, then the background colour… and everyone ends up with something very similar and not very interesting. I have always felt that the subject has to be something ‘important’. By that I mean that you are trying to persuade an audience that something needs to be done.

By giving them the freedom to use their imagination you release enormous potential and a lot of hard work for yourself because structure is important. What you end up with is always far more differentiated and always contains significant work that is rarely achieved in a tell, tell, tell environment. This is an essential element of the constructivist model.

Given freedom, children are released to develop their own strategies and are enabled to develop their own attitudes rather than just accepting without question the ones imposed on them. We are not only removing the chains from the children but also from ourselves.

Creativity allows a school to respond more realistically to the needs of the children. Able children are allowed to exercise their abilities with fewer constrains, while the teacher can direct his or her efforts to the less able child who may be transformed by encouraging them to reflect and apply creative solutions to problems. The teachers own creative instincts are also released to allow a flexible and more personal approach to delivering the subject.

It is so important that we move away from a psychology of mere learning of techniques and methods to one that allows the incorporation of these methods to real and meaningful projects.

Ambiguity and uncertainty are a part of life and instead of trying to shield children from them by driving learning by the rigour of the test, we need to help them be tolerant of the uncertainty and accept that problems need to allow reflection as well as calculation, copying and rote. Not all answers are immediate. Sometimes ideas need to ‘incubate’. Obstacles require perseverance. They need to be seen as opportunities, not threats.

Knowledge is not static and unchanging, except in some classrooms. ICT give us and the children the opportunity to step outside of the classroom and to find new meaning, new knowledge and new interpretations. This does not reduce the teacher’s role but makes it more important and demanding as a filter, referee, validater and arbiter.

Creative thinking is probably more difficult that imagined. Looking at what is currently served up by the media under the name of entertainment it seems that our society is driven by the need for instant satisfaction rather than reflection. Writing a play or sit com takes time and thought. Sticking a group of idiots in a situation and watching the outcome takes none at all. There is nothing inherently wrong with ‘reality’ TV, other than the misnomer, reality. Circus lions need to be poked to perform and so do ‘reality’ performers.

Conventional schooling favours the ‘right’ answer with the teacher being the holder of the ‘truth’. Creativity hands much more responsibility to the learners. One of the delights of teaching ICT in a creative way is the ability of the kids to astound with their interpretations of the task and the significant additions that they can make by using the media to present their meaning, rather than regurgitating the meaning required by the teacher or the exam board. Some of the current crop of examinations are dreadful in this respect, being so prescriptive as to actually mark down students who show any originality beyond that prescribed.

Prescribed originality is not originality at all.

Classrooms need to become places that surprise, astonish, entertain, mystify and demystify and encourage children to investigate and find out why, where, how, when, what and who. Rudyard Kipling’s servants are still powerful tools. Creativity is for children to take pleasure in the unexpected, to squeal with delight when something happens that they haven’t seen before

Ultimately, when he or she leaves school, the students must carry their own personal backpack of learning, thinking, creativity and ability to communicate and not simply a bundle handed down to them by their teachers.

In France, mobile phones aren't confiscated by teachers, but used as an essential part of lessons. A Montpellier teacher, Phillipe Steger set up a range of educational activities after developing a means for students to access their lesson via mobile phones, with Internet access.

The method is relatively simple. The students log on using their mobile phones and select the material they need for the lesson. The students can take a test to review progress before moving to the main content

The system has enormous potential because more than threequarters of students have mobile phones in France. The percentage in the UK is certainly higher.

In France nearly 1000 didactic activities have been made available by different teachers and the evidence is that the students are enaged and productive.

The service is not completely free and there has been a lot of work to try to ensure that social differences and different Internet access doesn't prevent students engaging with the system. Conversations with mobile phone operators may enable the removal the 2 euros per month that each individual's access costs.

My immediate thought when I read about this was those kids who manage to type a line of text on paper or on the computer during a lesson, but can type dozens of words per minute on their mobiles.

If that skill can be transposed to doing their schoolwork we may be on to a winner.

What would be the attitude to these in school:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd99gyE4jCk

One proposal for English using ICT is the Wikinovel. This is a collaborative literature idea from The University of Duesto (Bilbao).

The authors develop a text with plots and characters chosen collaboratively. It is a very open format and quite transparent, unlike those story games that involve writing knowing only a limited amount about the foregoing plot. Some of these collaborative ideas occur in newsgroups too but lack the ability to tie it all together in a systematic way.

In many respects it is like the oral tradition where stories are told and retold being added to and elaborated by the listeners and by future retellers of the story.

The Wikinovel has the ability to incorporate a range of mulimedia elements too. The completed wikinovel has a collective ownership.

Most of the works so far have been in Spanish and Euskara although there is one in English. The first project is now complete. Not every page has an English translation and the explanations are not very detailed, but there is enough information to enable an teacher to set such a project in motion.

http://www.wikinovela.org/index.php/Main_Page

Education is changing rapidly, but is it changing to reflect society's changing direction? I'm aware of quite significant changes in approach abroad, but the UK system seems still very conservative and resistant to change.

The difficulty of learning varies with the learner and the subject and that requires that both learners and teachers are required to make considerable effort. My feeling is that traditional educational methods and approaches are frequently dull and lacking in life and it is the duty of the teacher to engage, not simply deliver.

Suggesting that fun and games have a place in education is inviting a critical response, but what the hell. I'm not teaching, but I have an opinion that may, hopefully, stimulate a few people to reconsider, even if they don't ultimately agree. People disagree because they believe that education is a serious business that really shouldn't be devalued in this way. I've seen it claimed that looking for 'fun' is making teachers into entertainers, even clowns, instead of teachers. My view is that teaching is a multifaceted profession, and being an entertainer is just one of those facets. My notion shares that of Seymour Papert who talks about learning in terms of "hard fun". Fun doesn't have to be easy and it doesn't have to be trivial.

By introducing the notion of fun into learning is not to trivialise. It is part of the search for diverse ways to engage, to gain attention, to generate interest and to make learning rewarding in itself as well as for its outcomes. So I'll be looking at what I think are the advantages of this approach.

Fun can be challenging. Games are fun and many games require considerable effort, physical or intellectual so that creating a challenge that is enjoyable to engage with is central to motivation. Differentiation is so obviously important too, because not being able to engage with a task is no fun at all. I do not suggest devaluing the skills and learning but the adaptation and differentiation of the learning and teaching activities. This process is likely to replace stress with a more relaxed attitude and the removal of negative attitudes may help to lesson disruptive behaviour.

The fun approach must have educational advantages and not be used for the sake of it. I think that's part of the objection is the assumption that the fun is the priority. The learning is the priority, fun is part of the approach that must enhance learning and not just burn up time or create diversions. You must know how and why you are using such an approach.

By introducing a fun approach to teaching and learning, the daily routine changes and motivation may increase. Using games, for example, allows the development of communication skills and this is a key factor in all learning. It is not just about learning, but about being able to communicate what you have learned. Some private schools employ chess teachers, for example, in recognition of the other skills that are gained from playing a game.

I suppose an example might help to illustrate. Teaching ICT, there is a Unit 7.1, "about me". My experience of this is that kids rapidly run out of steam and while there are always creditable efforts, they still depend on the varied experiences the kids bring with them.

My approach was to set a project that required that they present an argument about an important topic. That always seemed much more engaging because they had to 'find out', find resources and 'think' about the message. I've seen some remarkable work from 11 year olds, including the message unfolding and told by an animated character central to the presentation. I don't believe that would happen with 'about me'. Indeed, kids with other teachers in my faculty who stuck with 'about me' produced far less work and far less imaginative work. Introduce the notion of fun and you set the kids free. The credit is not with the teacher but with the freedom.

If you enjoy yourself you are less anxious and more fluid in the way that you work. Think of chores and how often you stop and start when the opportunity arises. If you get a run at them the chores are done, but you often have to force yourself.

Fun and games often require and are enhanced by co-operation and collaboration. The teacher facilitates in a true constructivist way and the kids engage in activities. By collaborating it is possible to exceed what individuals can achieve. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

So is this approach always appropriate? If you are going to use such an approach you must ensure that the modification of the tasks enhances them and is entirely consistent with the subject being learned. Some learning may already contain its own rewards or be rewarding for some learners so it has to be directed at the correct audience.

It never ceases to amaze me how activities that people do for pleasure in their leisure time become reduced to repetitive chores in education. This is not so much the fault of the teachers as of the curriculum requirements.

Shakespeare is our greatest dramatist, but who actually 'likes' Shakespeare. I've seen all the plays and read them at least once, because I wanted to, but I've heard so many kids say, "Shakespeare is boring." "This is cr*p". Somewhere, the magic is being lost, or not being conveyed in the first place. The reason the plays were written originally was because people would pay to see them. This is where cross-curricular links can be so helpful. There is fun to be found in the rhythmic structure. Everyone can repeat 'iambic pentameter', but who can explain it? I have a cover lesson in my supply bag that links the rhythmic patterns in flamenco with those in Shakespeare. Somehow you have to demonstrate that rhythm is linked to mood. It can be light or aggressive. It can be passionate or sullen. For an hour it comes to life. You have to be the sort of person prepared to dance around the room in these rhythms, I suppose, but once the kids get a hold of it, it becomes obvious to them and fun too.

There is no age limit to fun. There are few limits to the diversity that can be introduced into a lesson. It requires giving the freedom to explore, to share, to collaborate or to compete in a way that aids understanding. I've mentioned elsewhere the idea that computer games can aid learning and really I'm extending that notion here to learning activities in general.

In summary, then, what types of fun and games are useful to a classroom situation? They are those that give kids the ability to practice their skills in a relevant context. They are activities that allow for differentiation in a way that frees the learner to express themselves; They are activities that bring variety into the experience of learning. They can be collaborative or competitive. They can encourage reflection, dramatisation, categorisation and much more besides. The one thing the teacher must ensure is that they fit with our educational objectives. They must never trivialise nor be used to fill otherwise empty time. That would be boring.

Learning can be difficult and it requires effort. From a teacher's point of view this can be so much easier if you have learners who are motivated and animated to learn. I realise that it sounds like Mary Poppins, but finding what is enjoyable in what you are teaching not only makes it more fun for the kids, but also for the teacher.

Doing supply I have sometimes covered MFL lessons and for a supply teacher they can be the worst to cover because, while you can be reasonably competent to teach almost any other subject, languages require that you have the language yourself.

ICT can help considerably here. You need to realise that the MFL level of most children will not be very high. MFL isn’t popular anyway and there seems a reticence to learn another language. But you can get their interest.

I often use foreign sites aimed at primary children. These are usually colourful and fun and they are accessible. A game that only says “muy bien” or “otra vez” at the end of a level is reinforcing and by a native speaker too. Careful selection of sites can provide a lot of language experience. Although the sites are primary, secondary kids accept that it is about language and usually enjoy the experience.

As an example, because a MFL teacher of Spanish asked and because it’s the foreign language I am most comfortable with, I’ve put a selection of links. They are chosen for no particular reason, but Disney will be familiar and every child knows the story of ‘los tres cerditos’.

http://www.rompeques.com/

http://www.lavacaconnie.com/connie_cast/home.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/alt/fmoren17/index.htm

http://www.aulainfantil.com/peque/peque_ai.htm

http://www.leoloqueveo.org/

http://www.storyplace.org/sp/preschool/preschool.asp?themeid=13

http://milcuentos.galeon.com/

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/conflict_sp/index.html

http://www.disney.es/DisneyChannel/playhouse/friends/higgly/

http://www.elosiodelosantos.com/lasvocales.html

ICT in the Foundation Stage can compliment, augment and sometimes even replace older resources. The IWB is a particular case in point which can be used just like a traditional whiteboard but adds enormous additional functionality and interactivity. ICT allows children to investigate, manipulate and to express themselves in very different ways. ICT has the potential to motivate and excite but as with all Infant activities it is essential that they learn to collaborate and share. We're not in the business of creating 'geeks'.

Using ICT gives children access to an enormous amount of information and the ability to be creative in quite different ways. The intention at the Foundation Stage is that they will accept ICT unconditionally, as a strand of their learning experience. This gives teachers the responsibility of obtaining new knowledge and competence which allows them to teach and develop the children's competence and knowledge and to deliver motivating experiences.

ICT is something very matter of fact for children. They are, what Marc Prensky describes as "digital natives". They coexist with ICT and are able to adapt to it quite seamlessly. This requires new didactive approaches, with teachers increasingly being led by the experiences the children bring to the classroom.

The Foundation Stage is usually a child's first contact with the educational system and this experience underpins their future learning and intellectual growth. Habits aquired then are habits of a lifetime and ICT has to become as much a habit as being able to read and write. Because of this, the onus is on the teacher to be secure, fluent and unphased in the use of ICT.

It is therefore clear that Foundation Stage interaction with computers with be fundamental to the development of later ICT skills. ICT is a part of every subject and enables and requires the development of, among other things, curiousity and an investigative spirit; the desire and ability to experiment and to use trial and error techniques; to work collaboratively and to share ICT learning and experiences; to be creative both in using ICT multimedia tools and in thinking through solutions to problems; and, most importantly, to respect the learning of peers.

In some respects, what we are trying to acheive in Foundation Stage ICT is an extention of the core objectives of Foundation Stage education. In others it requires a vision of future learning and teaching that is outside the experience of the teacher.

I don't suppose I always sound optimistic, but I have a great belief in the power of this somewhat imponderable quality.

I was 14 when I left my secondary modern school and officially defined as thick. OK, they didn't use that word, but the nature of the teaching in my last year and the careers advice I got made it very clear what 'society' expected from me. Secondary modern schools were what you might call 'pessimistic' schools. They had low expectations and generally worked no harder than they needed to achieve very basic results.

I spent years sweeping, cleaning, fetching and carrying, and during all that time I refused to believe the judgement of the system. When you're at the bottom you soon realise just how stupid some of the 'clever' people in charge are. I took evening classes and discovered that these exams that the 'clever' people took weren't difficult. I discovered that all you needed to be able to do to read 'intelligent' books was to read, so I spent lunchtimes and evenings in the University library. In my day, students tended to be quite smart. I like to think that it was my 'working class’ scruffiness that started the trend.

Over a number of years I was able to demonstrate that the judgement of the system was wrong. But my optimism wasn't entirely for myself. My schooling had been designed to create an academic failure and it is hard to break out of that ideology. My optimism was and remains that the undermining of the aspirations of millions of children would stop. I don't believe there are thick people, only that there are institutions designed to create thick people.

I want to see the creation of optimistic schools.

I've been in a lot of pessimistic schools. The staff in pessimistic schools see the catchment area, the social problems, the single mums, the petty crime, the 'chavs', ..., and they teach to the perceived problems, losing sight of the potential that is there to be drawn out if only you believed you could do it.

The optimistic schools are those that transmit hope to the children and the staff. They are schools that have a leadership ethos that wills teachers to find potential, to motivate to desire success and to make challenge something exciting and worthwhile to encounter.

You see this kind of optimism in other areas of endeavour. May I commend to you Pauline and her team at a local cancer clinic that I have had cause to visit regularly, but not for myself. Everything about Pauline is optimistic and forward looking and it infects her colleagues and everyone she has dealings with. I think she adds years to otherwise fading lives by refusing to be negative and by making people smile.

In schools, the underachieving kids generally have low self-esteem, low expectations and the system plays to that. When I go to cover a class I generally prefer not to know who is naughty, or problematic. I sometimes pose a little challenge. "I don't know if there's anyone here who's usually naughty, but let's see if we can keep it a secret for the day." I sometimes write the phrase, "it's a secret," somewhere too and point to it if there's any 'twitching'. It's a game that sometimes works, but you have to work at providing an engaging day too.

In pessimistic schools there's too much tell, tell, tell and far too little stimulation. The kids have ideas. There are no 'bad ideas' only ideas to draw answers from. Self-esteem can be fragile and effort has to be rewarded whenever possible. Rather than saying "that's wrong," it is so much better to say something like, "now what if I were to suggest...," and attempt to draw out an answer. Optimism pays dividends.

Optimism is a key to constructivist teaching. Prime the kids with the expectation that they will come back with a bonus of knowledge and understanding beyond your initial input. Tell, tell, tell and at the end the most that they know is what they've been told. That's pessimism.

Good employers also take care of their staff. Tell, tell, tell has to be avoided here too. In pessimistic schools teachers become defenceless against the onslaughts of dictatorial management. To conform or leave. In education you do not want conformity, your need diversity. You need professionals who are prepared to experiment, innovate, be creative and above all, share. An authoritarian regime makes this impossible. Pessimism reigns. If it happens to the teachers it will happen to the kids too.

When people are unhappy in one sphere, they start questioning and their unhappiness often rubs off in other spheres of their lives.

Optimism shows itself in results. A tough local school has recently reported a great improvement. In reality the results are a lot lower than surrounding schools but they build on an all time low at the bottom of a downward spiral. There seems to be a changing ethos and an attempt to build an optimistic future.

Taking on failure is akin to a commando raid. Commandos are people who believe they are going to win and the euphoria of their optimism compensates for many difficulties. The optimist tries harder. The optimist insists on success and this is a key requirement in overcoming the adversities you meet in difficult schools.

Hiring staff is an area where you see optimism at play. Schools all too often opt for "a safe pair of hands", "someone who will fit in", "a team player", and any number of similar meaningless phrases. The reality is that almost everyone can be made to be safe, to fit and to be a team player, but if they also bring enthusiasm, innovation and creativity you have gained something really worthwhile. Pessimistic schools filter out those qualities because they believe they are minimising risks.

Pessimistic school managers are forever looking over their shoulders, looking backwards, fire fighting and trying to place the blame. Optimists are more forgiving, thinking about what can be learned from mistakes and where that learning can take us forward. Pessimism creates a blame culture, optimism one of opportunity.

To create an optimistic school requires a sense of purpose. It's no good having lesson plans with objectives if the prevailing attitude is, "this is what I'd like to achieve, but...” A good lesson is one where the participants leave with a sense of satisfaction.

Optimism, it is often said, is in the genes, but realistically that's probably only a third of the story and nobody is going to have that entire third distributed to total pessimism or total optimism. Life experience will also have taken its toll and part of what school should be trying to achieve, alongside the three 'R's - hey, you understand that shorthand - are positive and optimistic attitudes.

What we have also to teach kids how to recognise the nature of their thinking, the ability to be self aware and analytical and to respond positively and appropriately. In effect we need to be teaching kids a lot of psychological skills and at a very early age. In modern day psychiatry there is a lot of work of this nature with adults but it is much more difficult and time consuming. The ability to question yourself and respond is a very powerful tool.

One of the things that infuriates me is the notion that kids should "build on their strengths." I take the analogy of physiotherapy. If you break an arm which atrophies in the plaster, does the physiotherapist have you exercising your good arm to 'build on your strengths'? They do not. They put in place a regime for building on a developing strength. That is how we should be working with kids. Identify weaknesses and work on them. Obviously, strengths should not be neglected.

What makes you feel good? What was it about what you achieved that gave you such a reward? If we can build that into kids' perceptions, we can achieve so much more. Optimism feels good.

It is difficult to reduce pessimism. "Cheer up, things could be worse, so I cheered up and sure enough, they were." Increasing optimism is easier. "You did that well, let's see if we can do it again, get close, do better." Optimism makes success more likely. Pessimism guarantees failure.

Optimism and pessimism both cause stress but they are of different kinds. In a pessimistic school the stress is draining, wearing and undermining achievement. In an optimistic school it fuels enthusiasm, innovation and creativity and is the very key to a successful and happy environment.

The old photograph above was taken in 1914 or 1915 on the Falkland Islands and is a unique record of a period from when few photographic records exist. The following is a short account of the circumstances of it being taken and some ideas for teaching that arise from it.

My grandfather had a habit of lying about his age. In 1914 he was 15 years old but managed to persuade the Royal Marines that he was 18. So it was off to Chatham for basic training and from there serving with the Fleet.

His first term of duty involved sailing on HMS Canopus, a slow pre Dreadnought battleship to the South Atlantic. Initially they were sailing to join Admiral Cradock's squadron in pursuit of Admiral Graf Spee fleet which had been attacking merchant shipping.

Canopus didn't reach Cradock's squadron because it had been defeated at the Battle of Coronel, the British Navy's first defeat since before Trafalgar. Canopus turned for the Falklands and was beached at Port Stanley as a stable gun platform. Apparently it was a miserable several weeks trying to fortify Port Stanley and daily expecting the German Fleet.

In response to Coronel, a powerful British fleet under Admiral Sturdee had been sent to attack and destroy Spee's fleet. Canopus had to hold the fort at Port Stanley in the meantime.

On 8th December 1914, the cruisers Gneisenau and Nurnberg were spotted approaching Port Stanley. The Canopus gun crews rushed to their stations, my grandfather joining the aft crew. The forward crew fired and the shell fell short, exploding in the water. The aft crew discovered that there was still a practice shell in the breech, so instead of wasting time they decided to fire that. As luck would have it, it bounced off the water and dented Gneisenau's funnel.

The German ships turned back and were soon engaged in battle with Sturdee's fleet. All but one of Spee's ships were sunk. Had it not been for that single shot from Canopus the outcome may have been very different.

When Canopus sailed for home, my grandfather remained on the Falklandss for a tour of duty as part of a Royal Marine gun crew with a six inch gun. During his time on the Falklands, the Canopus shell was the only shot fired.

While on the Falklands, my grandfather took a few photographs, not of the ships, but some of his Royal Marine colleagues and several of a peat digging expedition, one of which illustrates this article.

Was the peat for keeping warm or was it to fuel the ships? I never thought to ask?

The entire history of the Coronel and Falklands battles is told in detail elsewhere. I’m not a historian. My purpose is to find ways to enliven and make history more relevant and interesting using ICT.

Children may find that relatives have interesting and valuable stories to tell about historical events or about people they met. History can be recorded and ICT provides a unique way of researching, recording and sharing. Ancient photographs provide visual evidence of times past and ICT can enable us to enhance and restore these images. If the person is still alive their experiences can be recorded for posterity.

I spent half an hour yesterday talking to a BT helpdesk operator. He was based in India, but that didn't matter because he was able to talk intelligently about my connection problems. He had a tick list to go through first which we got out of the way fairly quickly and we established that there was a problem and narrowed down its probable location.

Thinking of what is taught in ICT in schools, I shudder to think of what an English helpdesk operator would make of the discussion. This sort of help requires specialist knowledge and an articulate manner, but people of that calibre are unlikely to work on a helpdesk in the UK.

I came across this article about ICT in the Developing World and realised that the very same focus should apply to the UK. The mish mash approach, the ego driven SMT hardware purchases, the mickey mouse schemes and exam syllabi seem more reminiscent of the banana republic than the education system in a developed country.

Ten lessons for ICT..., Robert J. Hawkins

http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cr/pdf/gitrr2002_ch04.pdf

The ability to transform knowledge and information into products and services in the 21st century is the key to economic success. If we are to remain prosperous we need to recognise that information is the most important resource and that our young people need proper education to ensure that we remain productive, and competitive. I already expressed the view that an Internet helpline is located overseas for more that just for economic reasons.

Many Governments around the world have a very clear focus and are increasing the quality, direction and access to education. Education is changing and we really do need to consider with much more care what represents quality in the use of Information Technology. Are UK ICT teacher s convinced that what they are required to deliver is quality?

I'm not sure of all Hawkins' arguments, but his focus and sense of direction is convincing. I look at ICT in schools. I read requests from ICT teachers asking for help with things that are trivial. I see kids doing inane ICT work and I wonder if we ought to sign up as a developing country.

Our children are capable of so much using ICT but are forced down a narrow path by a system that lacks vision and the need to build next years SaTs, GCSE and 'A' level results rather than the 21st century world.

I've been thinking about the discussion about Death by PowerPoint and thinking why I have a certain hostility to using the program. I am well aware of the work of Edward Tufte, 'PowerPoint is Evil' and his reasoning about the way it is misused. It is potentially an authoritarian's plaything. The teacher is in control of everything, the content, the timing and the way things are presented. Tufte also suggests:

"Particularly disturbing is the adoption of the PowerPoint cognitive style in our schools. Rather than learning to write a report using sentences, children are being taught how to formulate client pitches and infomercials."

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html

Writing as a stream of conciousness is so important at any age. That doesn't mean that you don't plan or think things through, it means that you let the planning direct your thoughts, but leaving you free to digress. The bullet point ideology stops that dead. You have five (or seven if you're really clever) points to make and you bang them out one at a time like a dictator ranting at the admiring masses.

"Um, excuse me Adolf, but what if the Sudeten Germans don't mind...".

Tufte demonstrates quite well the underlying reasons that questioning is drowned out by the 'noise' of the presentation. It is about 'telling'.

Clive Thompson's 2003 New York Times article, 'PowerPoint Makes You Dumb" examines these issues further and concludes with the telling:

"...And PowerPoint still has fans in the highest corridors of power: Colin Powell used a slideware presentation in February when he made his case to the United Nations that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. Of course, given that the weapons still haven't been found, maybe Tufte is onto something."

http://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/000631.html

If you're going to con the entire world, maybe PowerPoint gives you the power for real Death.

I refuse to use PowerPoint at interviews, despite one headteacher assuming I didn't know how, because the interviewers should be interested in how well I account for myself in an interpersonal situation rather than how well I can play with this fashionable toy. I have also had a head say how refreshing it was not to have to sit through one, so there are swings and roundabouts.

Yes, I've seen some really dull lessons using PowerPoint, I've also seen some fantastic use of the Interactive White Board (IWB) and it's great if you can get kids involved with it. You need to separate the two things. The IWB is a board that extends your piece of chalk, the Powerpoint presentation steals it.

I use powerpoint. It has the power to do some quick interactive presentations, but Flash and Java are better. I sometimes put up a picture and slideshow when there is an intermission between lessons, but you can overdo this sort of thing.

We are told that we have to use multipart lessons and nobody could disagree that, unless you deliver a very formal lecture, a lesson has to have a number of parts. The reason the PowerPoint is attractive to some teachers is because the system has not provided enough input into why this structure is so important.

The four+ part lesson has to be approached in a consistent and rigorous way. I'm not one for always following detailed lesson plans listing, in bullet points, saying what is going to happen every minute. What I do believe is that the structure must be very clearly in your head with the main headings explicit and the intended learning very clear.

'There has to be a starter.' No there doesn't. There has to be 'activity' that focuses the students on the learning to be
undertaken. So wordsearches, games, and other interludes may distract unless they are very clearly directed to the intended learning. It is just too easy to switch on the irrelevant. A lot of published starters have this problem.

This is one of the reasons that disruptive behaviour has to be given zero tolerance. I don't care if they have one of the currently fashionable syndromes, are worried about the fate of some 'Big Brother' idiot or just want to impress their mates with their stupidity. If you don't deal with misbehaviour immediately and with finality, it becomes the focus of the lesson.

The content has to be focussing too. I recall a unit from a scheme that was all about saving the planet after it was mostly destroyed by an asteroid, and involved making traps for wild animals that had escaped from the zoo and programming a robot in a Government building.

Now there may be potential there for a fantasy game, but for an ICT lesson? I'm not saying that the ideas are bad, but that they lack reality. Unless a real asteroid is on the horizon and imminent it isn't a very purposeful scenario.

There was another unit that ended up with graphs of the weather of three years ago. Oh joy.

"The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labour." The Myth of Sysiphus, Albert Camus.

The important thing an ICT teacher (well any teacher) does next is to 'demonstrate' what it is that the kids have to achieve. This is where the IWB really comes into its own. With practice you can demonstrate anything and more. You can have the kids doing the demonstration, and that is so motivating.

That's an important point. You cannot motivate. You have to produce activities that create motivation in the learner.

Demonstration is the key. "Here's how you do it." or even better, "Wayne is better at this than me and he's going to show you how to do it." Don't be afraid to admit that they have skills. Don't be afraid to admit that they might be better at it than you. Ultimately what you want are kids who are better than you. That's progress.

Too much education is about telling. That's the PowerPoint way. Tell, tell, tell. "Invade Poland. Don't ask, listen and do as you're told."

Demonstration is about creating the motivation and there should be a smooth transition between "here's how to do it," to "let me do it." It is vital that kids do it because they 'want' to achieve the task that has been set and not just because they have been told to under threat of a detention if they don't.

The activities have to be acheivable and there must be the ability for the kids to recap. This is where some demonstration software - Flash, Java, Viewlets, even PowerPoint sometimes - comes into its own. However careful your demonstration there will be kids who need help. Perhaps you break the task down into more than one demonstration or perhaps you have it ready to put up again on the IWB, or on their PC if its a hands on ICT lesson.

One of my best ideas for a plenary is to ask, "OK, you know how to do this now, what are you going to do with it?" If you've geared the learning to what they're doing in other subjects or made it relevant to their everyday lives it may not be just another learning experience which is forgotten with the turn on the page in their exercise book or saved and occupying wasted space on your server. It is learning to be used. Isn't that what learning is for?

Which brings me again the what I learned from W. W. Sawyer's little Maths book. You have to relate the learning to the real world. It has to be purposeful. Learners want to know what use can be made of what they've learned. It's so much easier if you start off your lesson with that purpose in mind. It's so much more motivating if you can see a use for it.

Hey this isn't philosophy. I mean, if you ask about Satre and existentialism and being and nothingness you expect different ideas.

"What do you do with that philosophy stuff anyway?"

"It gives me something to think about when I'm flipping the burgers."

But even philosophy can have a purposeful objective. 'This idea' helps me makes sense of the world. I like trying to making sense of the world.

Revolutions are often only recognised as revolutions after the event. People during the Industrial Revolution probably didn't feel that the events going on around them were revolutionary and that's hardly surprising because the changes occupied more than most peoples' lifetimes. The Industrial Revolution is said to have been causal in the creation of universal schooling, but that fails to account for the fact that children were seen as economic units with schooling often being a secondary consideration. Even in the early years of the last century, children found that the needs of their family farm took priority over school.

Today's revolution is one that we are well aware of being a part of - the Information revolution. Computers and computer science are no longer separate from communication but are firmly embedded within it. We even have the term Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to reinforce the fact. One of the great pities is that the Computer Science element has been downgraded in terms of what is taught at school. Too often ICT is downgraded to office skills. Few ICT teachers seem to have heard of people like Seymour Papert, let alone realise the importance of the vision, the practical and philosophical contributions he makes to the use of Computers in education.

The Information revolution will have important consequences and many of them are quite unforeseeable. While education has ICT on the margins it will not be able to respond to changes that will have a profound impact on it. Platonic and Aristotelean methods have been in use for thousands of years and still underpin much teaching practice. But knowledge transmission is rapidly outgrowing the ability of such methods to cope. I recently read somewhere that the sum of knowledge implicit in just one copy of a Sunday broadsheet already exceeds the total knowledge that a person might have access to during a lifetime in the 19th Century.

Not only has the quantity of knowledge changed, the qualitative changes are even more remarkable, with different forms of media conveying not only text but images, sound and video. Children are obviously responding most easily to these changes. It's a joke, which like most good jokes isn't a joke at all, that if you want to know how to use the remote control, ask a 5 year old. In schools, I regularly make a habit of asking the children about the Interactive White Board. I say, looking puzzled, "how do you use this thing?" Lots of hands go up and there is usually at least one class expert who has the job of showing the unfamiliar supply teacher what to do.

Allowing kids to show off their skills like this is good practice and you really shouldn't worry that you might look foolish. You won't. The kids are just pleased to some have ownership of the learning. Paper expresses so little to children compared with the multimedia they receive. It is vital that alongside writing they communicate using music, voice, sounds, images, animations, video and anything else multimedia throws at them.

And who can see this output? It used to be teacher, peers, maybe mum and dad, but today, via the web, everyone can see it. The Internet allows learning to be shared. A child's picture need not simply adorn the classroom wall. It can be shared with everyone and be available potentially forever.

The way that children adapt to ICT is of important consequence for education. Children, not teachers must be the dominant force in the changing educational world. New technology turns school work on its head and teachers must not only adapt but anticipate by becoming creative and innovative. Yellowing notes and well rehearsed lessons may have to be discarded sooner rather than later.

Take something simple like spelling. Word processors come with spell checkers so spelling is less important. Right? Wrong! Most definitely wrong. We have to continue teaching spelling. We have additional tools to help us but we also have to take account of online dictionaries and spell checkers. This makes spelling not less relevant but even more relevant with added dimensions not previously in existent. It is worth noting the text message. Spelling disappears without loss of meaning. How do we, as teachers, encompass both the formal and informal methods. Clearly we have to.

There is still, to my mind, a lack of will to properly confront the Information revolution. When a child shows me something achieved in a way I hadn't thought of, a different approach to a problem, an idea for something that can't be done without ICT or an enthusiasm for doing things because they can, I want to celebrate. But it's a bit premature for the champagne just now, because schemes of work will become ever tighter as schools strive for 'results' and teach to the test.

We are in the middle of a revolution. We have the advantage that we know about it. Have we the sense to respond.

“What qualities do ICT professionals need?” That was the teaching topic I had to address at a recent interview. I’ve been an ICT professional for more than 25 years, but could I come up with the right answers? My approach to teaching this short observed lesson reflected my belief that learning should be meaningful, relevant and engaging, so I decided to do a short case study about some of the successful ICT professionals I have been associated.with.

For a starter I had the students quickly brainstorm some ideas. All of the ideas were, to my mind, acceptable ideas. Honest, relevant knowledge, enthusiastic, reliable, innovative - all qualities that I, as an employer, would value in my workforce.

I had worked closely with the company I chose for the case study and had contributed to their early success so I was able to introduce them as real people I knew and give an account of how they started and how they progressed. The main task required the students to read some short biographies of the company’s senior managers and identify those qualities that had made them successful. They came up with a considerable list of very relevant qualities, which we then tried to put weightings to for the plenary.

It was an interesting and engaging session. Unfortunately, it wasn’t correct learning and teaching in a modern educational environment.

I had the chance to discuss the successful candidate’s approach. He had taken the view that context was irrelevant, All the exam board required was that the students could recall two or more of five prescribed qualities. Any not on the prescribed list would not be accepted and lead to failure. The students had to learn the list. If they started thinking about the question they would probably fail so it is essential to focus on the list and not on meaning.

I can understand the reasoning behind this but to me it smacks of all that is wrong with an educational system driven entirely by the need to meet targets. We have to meet our targets and ultimately, thinking will get in the way of this.

So, much teaching is fragmented. Learn the five qualities an ICT professional needs without any thought as to why. Learn three reasons that Iago deceived Othello with no need to know the whole account of the play. Learn how to label the parts of a volcano without any need to understand the processes involved. I can’t help wondering if the time will come that the successful maths students will be the ones who remember the answers to the exam questions without the need to do any calculations.

There is no single answer to many questions. If you tell young people that they must rote learn the prescribed facts, you are simply stuffing lumps of knowledge into their minds and ultimately being a dictator. It’s like sticking a knowledge pump to their brain, choosing the octane of learning you think they need and the precise quantity needed for the journey. What is their task?

It is not teaching and learning, it is cramming for the exam. Too much time that could be used for teaching and learning is used for learning how to pass yet another test. Real education requires thinking rather than recall, but thinking takes control away from the teacher and makes testing more difficult. Consider a student who writes a list of qualities which aren’t on the list. A marking scheme makes it easy. If they’re not on the list you don’t allocate a mark. A student who remembers the rote learned list will pass. A student who thinks about it and concludes, for example, that an ICT professional should be honest will fail.

Some of the conclusions that can be drawn from this tell you just how silly this approach is. Our ICT professional can be a feckless and unreliable crook, but if he can communicate, whatever that actually means, he passes. He may be unenthusiastic and uncooperative, but his management skills will ensure he gets the job.

That is the point. Most of the qualities you need to be an ICT professional are the same qualities you need for most jobs. Narrowing the list to suit the marking scheme trivialises beyond redemption. The same skills are equally valid for an architect, an accountant or a zoologist and the piece of learning is therefore rendered meaningless because the right qualities are just part of the list of qualities one would hope for in any good employee.

What qualities do teachers need? Is there a list? There’s one in every application pack. Discerning applicants learn to read between the lines. Some are designed to massage the ego, others tell you something about the interviewers. The need for a sense of humour tells you that this school is a difficult place to work. Do teachers need to think?

Think about it!

We are disturbed by rumours currently circulating that the sponsors of the new Academy intend to sell off the prime land attached to the school, leaving it without adequate playing field provision.

The rumours are without foundation. Before the ink was dry on the contract disposing of the unneeded land, the sponsors ensured that playing fields, including a new football pitch, were in place, together with improved swimming and washing facilities.

These facilities are pictured above and it can be observed that, not only will students have access to Olympic standard facilities, but that landscaping has made for a very attractive environment. Girls toilet and changing facilities are the more than adequate clump of bushes at the top left of the pitch and the clump to the right of the pitch is very ample for the boys. As can be clearly seen, showering will require nothing more than a short wade.

We hope that these reassurances will lead to an end to the unjustified rumour mongering.

It’s strange how words in teaching get to mean things rather different from what you would expect. One such is ‘behaviour’. There is even a forum on the Times Educational Supplement (tes) staffroom entitled behaviour.

Behaviour is what you do from the time you’re born until the time you die. I suppose lying there slowly decomposing after death is a kind of behaviour too, but I’ll leave that.

From a school’s point of view, the kind of behaviour required is of the reading, writing, experimenting, making things, exercising… variety, that accords with the teacher’s wishes. There are other behaviours that are acceptable too and some that are not. The problem is that the word ‘behaviour’ is simply too broad to be useful.

A more appropriate word, despite its more authoritarian connotations, is discipline, which rather more accurately defines the set of formal and informal rules that moderate some aspects of behaviour in a school. Discipline isn’t without its problems but is a better concept.

“Tell me about your attitude to behaviour,” or a variation on the theme, is a question that is always asked at interviews for a teaching job and too often, candidates fall into the trap of thinking it’s about a specific sort of behaviour.

Maybe the interviewers do want to know how you deal with dissent, but a more sensible approach is to deal with the broad theme of behaviour and the intention that the class will be on task, with learning and teaching happening most of the time. That’s the optimum situation and you should really try to plan your lessons to ensure that the kids don’t get bored and don’t have cause to find inappropriate things to do.

If things don’t go according to plan you have to look at discipline. How do I deal with the situation. There’s a well known line when you’re a performer. “If there’s unexpected laughter, check your flies.” You really must check what you are doing first. Are you the cause of the problem? That’s a hard one because the kids who misbehave do it for many teachers and it becomes such a habit that you can easily lose sight of the fact that the kid is struggling, bored, confused or otherwise driven to dissent and every time the teacher responds the real issue is ignored.

Discipline is about good behaviour too. I am sickened, having worked in mental health and teaching to see people recording behaviour, often on specially designed charts, and without fail it is always about what the person is doing wrong, never about the positive things they do. It seems so obvious that it is ignored that what they are doing right is what you want more of. What is it about what they are doing right that motivates them in this way and how can we get more of this behaviour and less of the other sort. The positives tell you what you want and that’s where you should be looking. You already know what you don’t want.

The last point is about consistency. If there are rules they are the same for everyone. “I’ll let you off this time because you’re usually good,” is giving a very wrong message to the kid who is often in trouble because he or she never gets let off. Be consistent even if it hurts.

To repeat the most important message, look for what is right and build on that. If you have to record behaviour, record all of it, with particular emphasis on the positive. The notion that you’re collecting evidence for a statement or a Ritalin prescription has to stop. You’re looking for ways to help the child succeed. It really does help if you are positive too.

Ok, so it's shameless plagiarism and a bit tongue in cheek, but that seems to be what the Pinko revolution is willing to tolerate. I'm just using it as a handle on my ideas which I may or may not run with as the mood and response takes me. I've referred several times to the fact that many kids are very much more ICT alert, literate and responsive than they are give credit for. For example, I've met quite a few adults who struggle with the fucntions of a mobile phone but it seems second nature to kids - often infuriatingly so when its in your classroom. Bebo.com and msn demonstrate quite clearly that they are adept at communicating using ICT.

Too often, this is ignored by teachers who demand ownership of the learning when that is clearly becoming inapproapriate. I believe that we have to tap into this 'community' spirit and become actors with the rest of them. The development of VLEs gives some opportunity in this direction but there's the danger that they will be used for an online version of the same old thing.

I'll be putting up a lot of ideas over the next week or so.

Enjoy

I recall having to teach a quite boring unit from a scheme from which the kids ended up with a spreadsheet showing what the weather was like in 2003.

I've just found this neat weather site which not only lets you view the weather around the world but also in various languages. It uses Farenheight or Celsius, MPH or KPH too. And you can choose your own little pixie to display the weather.

http://weatherpixie.com/index.php

A nice set of games and activities for getting kids interested in things European in Citizenship lessons. In several languages so useful for MFL teachers too

http://europa.eu.int/europago/index.htm

When I worked in the software industry, it became obvious that testing was a key issue. A programmer, when testing, would tend to test the functionality of the piece of code he or she had just written. A proper regime of testing required that a team of dedicated testers did everything in their power to break the program, to find bugs.

It is sad that this kind of rigour does not apply to educational software, which seems to be developed on the principle that the users can find and report bugs. This is an appalling approach as myriad complaints about the 'award winning' online ICT key stage 3 tests demonstrate.

Education materials that are designed to be used remotely have to address the fact that there may not be expertise on hand to aid and explain. The materials therefore need to be robust, motivating and geared to the learners' success. They need to communicate information effectively, leave no room for uncertainty and allow for an effective dialogue with the learner.

In the 'real' classroom the teacher can respond immediately to a learner's questions, adjust his or her responses an take account of his or her understanding. This is part of differentiation. This kind of interaction cannot occur at a distance.

Using online resources means that the interactions between teacher and learner are occurring in quite different times and space with little or no opportunity for intervention. Educational software design must therefore proceed from the premise that the learner is dependent only on the materials in front of them and must second guess all the problems and dysfunctions before the materials are released.

Planning needs to be far more detailed than for a conventional lesson for the obvious reason that the teacher designing it will be absent at the point of use.

Programming should proceed on the basis of considerable forethought. In a classroom a teacher can improvise, can demonstrate and can be a poseur if it suits them. This just won't work for 'virtual' materials. It needs to have answered all the questions, account for:

• What resources does the learner need?
• What is the relationship between the materials presented and the learning/assessment objectives?
• At what point in the learning cycle are these materials appropriate?
• What is the context of their use? Will the learner be alone or supported by a teacher?

Virtual materials have to be geared or be alterable to account for varying educational, social and economic situations. The have to be developed with an alertness to the fact that prior knowledge and experience will vary widely and that the amount of time available to be devoted to them will differ.

Quality control is vital. The technology must be used to ensure that materials presented are accurate and trustworthy. Facts, physical laws, processes and procedures have to be in accord with the best knowledge currently available and capable of update to take account of changes or growth in knowledge. Educational software development is a process. For this reason, a developer should be alert to the fact that changes will be needed and the design must reflect this. While the materials should be as self contained as possible, links to help or further materials are obviously essential too

Some virtual learning has to be complete and integrated and has to present to complete learning objectives in one package with no room for equivocation. They have to be watertight, bombproof and not requiring further resources. I'm thinking perhaps of a mathematics module teaching a particular skill.

Most virtual learning will be flexible and open ended. The learner is invited to reflect, to criticise, to contemplate and to analyse. This kind of learning requires the ability for formulate questions, to look at different possible approaches. Since they are not bound by the same time and space constraint as classroom learning, considerable advantage can be taken of this.

Materials must be significant. One of the big criticisms of ICT online testing was its focus on the trivial and on skills where the point is not how well the learner has tapped the keyboard or moved the mouse, but the quality of their output from doing this. For example, a spelling mistake is relatively inconsequential in the overall assessment of the learning that has taken place. The learner must have the sense that they are going to gain from the educational experience and leave it with something new and significant.

It is difficult enough in conventional learning and teaching to pull together the multiplicity of variables that make an effective lesson. There has to be a coherence between the lesson objectives, its content, the differentiation the activities and the evaluation and assessment. For virtual learning, learners will need far more feedback and support and the nature of this is quite different from the classroom experience.

Fun is something often missing from conventional teaching and learning. I've already mentioned elsewhere the, "you're here to learn, not to enjoy yourself," mentality of some teachers. Virtual materials do not have the same compulsion as the classroom and if they don't engage they can easily be switched off. On the other hand, I noticed from Bebo.com the kids have a clear idea of what school offers. I read one of my old students writing, "I like school. You don't have to do anything and you can talk to your mates."

Which neatly brings us to how effective lessons are. If you don't have to do anything and can talk to your mates they are very ineffective indeed. materials real or virtual have to motivate and transmit the intended learning effectively. In both cases, learners need proper feedback on what they have achieved compared to the objectives they were given at the start.

interactivity is an essential part of the multimedia paradigm. Interactive materials have to maintain a permanent dialogue with the learner. A web page of text like this you are reading is simply an exposition, a lecture, perhaps even a rant. Virtual learning and teaching materials require active participation allowing the learner to engage with the process with a combination of asking questions and offering solutions, evaluating responses and providing feedback. Interactivity improves learning.

A lesson, while complete in itself is part of a larger scheme. It has to take account of prior learning, consolidate and build upon it and it has to be proactive and facilitate the learning of future lessons. It has to move from the simple to the complex and take account of parallel learning in other areas. Virtual activities are no different in this respect and require careful consideration of the differentiation required.

The Internet is a dangerous place. It is easy to be led astray and to find information that lacks validity and honesty. Virtual learning materials must be beyond reproach. materials have to be representative of the discipline or subject they are teaching.

I've admitted to being something of a rebel but my belief is that interactive materials benefit from a considerable degree of standardisation. The placement of menus, the presentation, the house style the layout and the way of progressing through units has to be consistent. This doesn't mean that it has to be tacky like a 70s Spectrum game which is the feel the ICT online tests have managed to achieve. It simply means that you design the structure, create a template and are rigorous in your use of it. You are trying to make the learner feel comfortable, secure and familiar. The learning should be about the content, not the application.

Interactive materials are not cheap but they have to represent value for money and a lot of what is available in the UK is certainly not. Are the materials being used profitable in terms of their learning outcomes? That has to be the main test. Do they achieve what they are required to achieve? Going round schools I see so much software going unused. I see so much being taught using computers that achieves very little. I don't know if it's lack of will, lack of knowledge, poor training, poor materials or combination of all these factors. The ICT online test is just a symptom of this malaise.

Sometimes you come across people who think they can teach who actually cause more confusion than there was to start with. I came across this web site that illustrates the point perfectly.

http://www.aoiko.net/maths/simultaneous_equations.php

The problem he poses is a familar one.

A group of old ladies meet for an afternoon tea party. They bring all their cats. In all, there are 22 heads and 72 feet. How many old ladies and how many cats are in the room?

The obvious and most easily found answer is sometimes the best one. Maths is just a way of thinking, after all. All credit to his effort but it's messy and confusing.

I've given my approach below.*

The point of todays numeracy teaching is to enable kids to choose appropriate strategies to solve problems, not to crow about some notional superiority. People who call themselves elitists often seem terribly insecure.

Because it dates from 1943, W. W. Sawyer's, Mathematician's Delight is dated in its prose, but it was a book that opened up Maths for me. Sawyer realised that for many people the subject needs to start from the purposeful and concrete before they get bogged down in the techniques.

With that in mind I would probably pose the question in terms of how many cups and how many saucers were needed for the aforementioned tea party.

* I did it this way:

The 22 heads must have at least 44 feet. The remaining 28 feet must belong to the 14 cats, leaving 8 old ladies.

I'm an ICT teacher but it is extremely unlikely that I'll ever get to teach ICT again. The reason for this is that I am creative, innovative and wanting to push boundaries. Education has an abhorrence for people who won't tow the line. Despite their media reputation, teachers are generally a very conservative group of people.

You see in job adverts that they want a team player. What you generally find is that the team is more akin to an army platoon and the team leader the sergeant who controls in a single minded way. Similarly, innovative and creative in job advert speak always means that they've done the innovation already and you have to bend to their creation. Teachers are rarely liberals.

Now I know lots of nice teachers. Some of my best friends are... you know that phrase well as the bigot's get out clause, but in this case I mean it. Teaching is a tough job where single mindedness and a consistent sense of purpose are often a key to success. Unfortunately, they also tend to stifle those qualities that can take the profession forward.

My ICT background is from the world of games. The customers are mostly children and the key to success is engagement. If a game is dull it won't sell. You don't have to buy what you don't like in the marketplace. Education is different. Kids have to be there if it's dull or not.

“You're not here to enjoy yourself, you're here to learn...” If I had a pound for every time I've heard a teacher say that. If I had a pound for every time I heard someone say, “If I had a pound...”. Metacliches. My firm belief is that learning should be enjoyable. Children's play is learning. Children's play is ubiquitous and it is purposeful. Learning and teaching must tap into the inquisitiveness that is inherent in a child's sense of fun. If a child say's my lesson is boring I look around to discover if others feel that way.

But I'm writing about ICT here. I believe that it is still regarded as the worst taught subjectand frankly, I'm not surprised. Somehow the system has conspired to create a curriculum that is dull. “Children like ICT,” is another well worn phrase. Well actually they don't. Children like some of the experiences they get from using computers. What they hate is being bored.

So, what I considered a good ICT lesson. The kids were from a physics lesson and supported by a science teacher. I was teaching about spreadsheets and creating charts and graphs. It always seems to me that if you can tap into the work the kids are doing elsewhere there's a learning bonus to be had.

I used an online simulation of a car braking. It is programmed to account for speed and road conditions – dry, wet and icy. The kids had to experiment to find out how long it takes to stop, in terms of thinking time and braking time, at different speeds and in different conditions. They logged the data and from there produced graphs which allowed them to report what they learned.

This kind of experiment hands a lot of the ownership to the kids. It was interesting to watch as some tried other values for friction co-efficient than the ones I gave them. They discovered that a high value made you stop as if you'd hit a wall, where a low one left your car unstoppable.

The lesson included a lot of physics, learned by experiment rather than formal teaching and a considerable amount of ICT skills. It was also enjoyable and easy to differentiate because support could be given to the weaker kids while the able ones sailed through at there own speed.

At the end, the kids were able to explain what they had learned and relate it to the real world too.

To my mind, this was a valid lesson, but it doesn't come directly from the National Curriculum samples. I had to design the lesson myself and map it to various parts of the National Curriculum to justify it. Although the lesson itself is quite straightforward, the mapping looks messy because it combines several National Curriculum elements and cross curricular elements too.

Creativity and innovation can look untidy. Teaching still seems glued to the notion that you have to work through the book a page, section or chapter at a time. ICT makes that approach increasingly unnecessary but it seems to frighten a lot of conservative teachers. ICT takes control away from them. While they may still control the topic, they can lose control of the learning, because it now comes more from the experience than the text.

It saddens me but doesn't surprise me that most ICT teachers I meet demand that you follow a very tight and unwavering path with no room for experimentation, innovation or creativity. It doesn't surprise me that a lot of important learning is absent. Is that because the person writing the unit didn't know or didn't think it important? I suspect the former.

ICT can change the way children learn, if only teachers will let it.

Should I drive a 70 mile round trip each day to work in a really tough school and get paid two thirds of the going rate? That's what's on offer for September. The school wants me, but for half a term initially, paid at daily rate through an agency. Following LEA policy, the school is prepared to pay me £90 per day. (For some reason, there's a shortage of good supply teachers in that LEA.)

At present I am well respected as a supply teacher and a lot of schools are happy to pay me £140 per day. Most of these schools are reasonably local too.

So the dilemma is multifaceted. If I take the job and they decide to appoint someone else I'm up to £1500, plus petrol, out of pocket. Ditto if they simply decide not to appoint me at the end of six weeks. I'd be working a day at a time like any supply job, but each day will tend to burn bridges with other supply agencies I usually work with.

The carrot is a job at the end of the half term, if the school is happy with me.

I'd quite like the job, but I'm not sure I can afford it.

Further research reveals that the information that might be disclosed on a person without their knowledge is rather more diverse than the guidelines suggest.

Employers share information and there is a standard letters which states:

(Employer) hold a copy of an original Enhanced CRB Diclosure issued to (employee). You are recorded as the countersignatory. In accordance with the CRB guideline we require confirmation that the disclosure is "clear"

The Countersignatory is then required to complete a questionnaire requiring one of two boxes to be ticked:

There is NO additional information regarding this disclosure other than that shown on the candidates's own disclosure copy.

There IS additional information received from the CRB that is not shown on the candidates's own disclosure copy.

Additional information is very common, including membership of political organisations, opinions expressed by third parties, involvement in campaigns and demonstrations and other unsubstantiated ‘soft’ intelligence.

Who was it said that “if you’ve done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear?”

The fact that the State collects, stores and shares masses of information on its subjects, without their knowledge, in this way is really quite frightening.

For a supply teacher, the support you get defines a school. Poor support, particularly with regard to discipline, can make for a very difficult day.

I was in a ‘good’ school a few weeks ago. By good I mean by the reported measures of performance. The pupils wore uniform and any deviation was dealt with but there was nothing obviously special about the children.

During a year 10 lesson covering French in a computer room, I told one student to stop playing games, sending e-mails and using chat rooms. She ignored my request so I moved her to a desk and gave her written work to do. She became a bit rude and disruptive so I recorded this and passed it to the head of department at the end of the lesson.

A few days later I was back at the school. I called the girls name during the register and was told by other pupils that she had been excluded for two days for being rude to a supply teacher. Later, in the staff room I discovered that her parents had been into the school and a process was being set up to monitor her behaviour in the future. Rudeness was not tolerated against any staff.

The next day I was in a very difficult school. Although there was a uniform it was not enforced and a lot of the children showed their contempt for it by wearing the tie in an unusual style.

I was covering a year 8 ICT lesson and struggling to keep the pupils off of games, e-mails and chat rooms. About a third of the way through the lesson a year 7 pupil, Daniel, came into the room and ran around switching off all the computers. He then climbed on the bench and switched off the master switch meaning that all of the computers in the adjoining classroom went off too.

Daniel went through to the adjoining classroom, started a fight with another pupil and abused the teacher, swearing and calling her names.

I wrote a note, intending to send another pupil to fetch a senior teacher. Daniel was having none of this. He punched me, grabbed the note and tore into tiny pieces which he scattered around the floor. He ran around the room on the benches, kicked mice and keyboards across the room and screaming abuse all the time.

Eventually, a senior teacher came into the room and asked Daniel to go with her. He looked her up and down and said, “Oh, I can’t be bothered with you, you fat ho, I’m f***ing off home,” and he walked out.

The senior teacher looked at me and said, “is this how you control your class?” and she stormed off too. Later, I wrote up a report which I passed to the head of department.

I was in the school the next day and met Daniel in the corridor. He called me a fat c**t before swaggering off. In the staffroom, I asked about the previous day’s incident. I discovered it had been decided that nothing should be done because it was a supply teacher incident.

I pointed out that Daniel wasn’t even in my lesson, but nobody was listening.

I had a temporary contract as an ICT teacher. The headteacher had decided that employing an ICT specialist was a waste of money because Thomas Telford School had just introduced a scheme that would guarantee every pupil the equivalent of 5 A to C grades just by sitting in front of the computer. The school failed its Ofsted inspection and went into special measures soon afterwards.

So I was a waste of money until the scheme started.

I was teaching a year10 class, 14 year olds with attitude. About 10 minutes into the lesson the special needs co-ordinator (SENCO) came in accompanied by Nigel. Nigel rarely attended lessons because of his disruptive nature and his habit of thumping teachers who dared to tell him off. He spent most of his time in the special needs department. Although Nigel was on my register for this lesson, I had never taught him before

The SENCO was an old guard communist party member who drove a Lada to show solidarity with the Soviet workers, despite the collapse of the regime, and had the idea that Nigel’s behaviour was a response to capitalist oppression.

I was instructed that Nigel should be allowed to use a computer and told to back off and let him get on with whatever he wanted to do.

Nigel’s attention span was quite short. He played a couple of games, surfed the Internet and, being frustrated, wandered around the room chatting to the girls.

He returned to his seat and started examining the bench. It was supported on a timber framework and a few good kicks soon broke one of the supports.

I went over and suggested that he should refrain from his destruction and move away from the computers. His response was immediate. He leapt to his feet and denied that the damage was anything to do with him. I pointed out that I had observed him do it.

He grabbed a pointed piece of timber from the wreckage and swearing every other word, called me a liar and threatened to kill me. I was at something of a loss as to what to do. I could probably have disarmed him, put him on the floor and sat on him, but that would have been assault and landed me in court. Fortunately, while I dodged his attempts to stab me, another student went for help.

The SENCO returned. Nigel dropped his weapon, burst into floods of tears and ran over to her.

“Oh Nigel,” she said, “what has that dreadful Mr. Whelkstall been doing to you?”

Nigel explained how he had been sat at the damaged bench and, having drawn it to my attention, had been falsely accused. The SENCO threw an arm around him, gave me a dirty look and took him back to the special needs department for tea and biscuits.

I have no doubt that Nigel would have stabbed me if he had the chance and I was very shaken. The headteacher came into the room, made some comment about my classroom management and told me to clean up the mess. So having been the victim of a murder attempt I spent my break tidying up the broken bench before teaching the next lesson.

That’s not the end of the story. A few weeks later Nigel was called into the headteacher’s office to answer for some transgression. While there he smashed a chair and threatened to kill the headteacher with one of the chair legs. For that he was permanently excluded. The headteacher was so distressed by this attack that he was off sick with stress for three weeks.

I didn’t sign his get well card or contribute to the collection for a gift.

Three times a week since the start of the academic year, Natasha has dutifully copied the date and the title of the science lesson into her science exercise book. There was some physics, chemistry and, most recently, biology.

Biology is obviously the subject that has made the most impression on Natasha because it was that section which contained a page that contained any other writing than the date and title. On one page in neat handwriting were the words, “The worm is a seg.” That was all.

Natasha isn’t a difficult pupil. The science topic I was covering was food chains. Following the short note that passed for a lesson plan I asked her, and the rest of the class, to copy the illustrations, labels and notes from the textbook into her exercise book. She worked solidly throughout the lesson and by the end the centre pages of the exercise book contained, not only the date, title and staples, but a creditable copy of the textbook.

Perhaps Natasha now knows, not only that the worm is a seg, but that rabbits eat lettuce and foxes eat rabbits.*

I’m only a supply teacher. I had never met Natasha before, but in that meeting I had discovered that she had written nothing worthwhile in her science book for more than two terms. I also discovered that with the minimum of prompting she was capable of doing as much work, albeit only copying, as everyone else in her science class.

Clearly, nobody is checking, or, if they are checking, are just accepting that some pupils do no work and do nothing about it.

What should I do about it? I depend on supply work for my living. Any criticism of a colleague, actual or implied would simply mean that I would not be asked back to that school again. My intervention would be ignored because supply teachers lack authority and status.

Would Ofsted pick it up? Almost certainly not. They usually inspect a selection of books chosen by the teachers, and Natasha’s would not be submitted.

Working as a supply teacher gives you a unique access to what is happening in schools. Having no status or authority means that nobody feels threatened by your presence. You’re not a scientist so there’s no assumption that you understand the lesson and since Natasha never misbehaves there is no reason you should report anything about her from a lesson.

What you have discovered is absolutely vital to the education of Natasha and children like here. She is not learning and she is not being taught effectively. She spends three hours a week in science lessons doing nothing and nobody appears to care.

Later the same day, I met Natasha again. I was covering a special needs class that she was in. This lesson demonstrated the school’s very effective learning support system for English and Maths. In a small group with teaching assistants supporting, Natasha and the other pupils did all of the work required of them.

I have no idea how much work Natasha does in other lessons, but I have seen the same pattern in every subject – pupils with exercise books containing no work at all and maybe a few doodles.

In a few years time, at the age of sixteen, Natasha will have had some three thousand hours of science teaching, but will almost certainly fail a foundation level examination that is little more than a general knowledge quiz.

There is something very wrong with this.

* What do rabbits eat? If they are pets living in someone’s garden then they may get lettuce to eat, but are probably safe from foxes. In the wild, rabbits eat grass and hedgerow plants. Why does a textbook have to trivialise?