Stephen Mitchell

I’ve been thinking a lot about the impact of COVID on the school community.  It has had and continues to have, a significant impact on the lives of staff, children, and parents across the school.  It goes without saying that many of the pressures that were faced by schools pre-COVID seem irrelevant in perspective.  It then makes you question the purpose behind operating in this way to begin with… SATs, Ofsted, data returns… the list is exhaustive.

I heard a quote today which inspired me to think more deeply about it; “it’s not about reopening, it’s about reimagining” – this really is spot on.  The school closure provides a great opportunity to reflect on current practice and refine areas that don’t work or sit right with our own personal or organisational values.  As it is on my mind, I thought I’d try and articulate it, so here are some of the changes I’d like to see in a post-COVID educational landscape:

• Accountability – school-led and focusing on learning at all levels

I want to set my opinion out clearly before expanding on my point here.  I think that accountability for schools is important and necessary.  Quality education should not be a postcode lottery and school leaders should be accountable for ensuring they provide good value for all children.  However, the system for this scrutiny and challenge needs reviewing.  The ‘audit culture’ inadvertently fostered by high-stake Ofsted inspection activity does not support leaders in easily adopting an ethical approach; something which is essential to be successful.  As part of my MA, I’ve been looking at how ethical stress can be greater under these circumstances resulting in reduced impact from teaching staff.  There are many variables here, but in a nutshell: high stakes = high pressure = reduced impact = cut corners.

There is a body of research to support a more collaborative peer review process.  If facilitated well, this can provide accurate next steps for schools.  Further credibility of peer review comes from the fact that team members are also serving school leaders; CPD and challenge all in one.

It’s fair to say that I can also see the many flaws and potential inconsistencies in this ‘reimagined’ idea…

• A landscape where teacher assessment is king

Overnight, and rightly so, we have lost SATs and other statutory assessment cycles.  Where data must still be captured, it is to be teacher assessed.  Teachers are trusted to provide data reflective of their students’ abilities.  Going forward, we need to see more of this, particularly for younger children.  The research which supports a testing culture in Primary Education is limited and is only really supportive as a scrutiny tool… even then the evidence base is ropey and questionable.  The profession must move towards trust in professional judgement; reducing the need for unnecessary testing.  Without these summative testing cycles, we should see the end to the league tables; or an adaptation at least.  This, in turn, will impact the pay and performance management processes of many schools who still use data as a driving force for appraisals (happy to say we have already veered away from transactional targets in my setting).  

• Advancements in the way technology supports learning for all children

Having been thrown into operating as a virtual school over the course of a few weeks, schools have had to harness some of the fantastic technology available to them.  We have not had to find ways to engage with children like this before, and nor has it been a priority for us.  However, some of the technology we now have access to will support us in being more efficient in the way we operate upon return.   I also hope it will allow our learners to develop the skillset required to access this technology as a way of promoting independent learning.

It’s also been exciting to see tech companies, who do not normally support the educational sector, working alongside teachers to create software packages and platforms which skillfully support learning online – I hope this investment in education will continue.

It has dispelled one theory – the idea that virtual learning will be the norm in the future.  I think this experience allows us to see that relationships, the bedrock of primary teaching, cannot be easily replicated in a virtual environment.

I’m sure I’ve got many more areas of education I’d like to see reimagined, but this is a starter.  When looking back on the first three things which come to mind, it’s a little disheartening to think that only one of them is fully in a school leader’s control.  For the other two, perhaps as the evidence base grows stronger central policy changes will be explored.

But for now, it’s back to the childcare provision and virtual school.  Where did I put my face mask!?