Andy Hargreaves: The Fourth Way of Leadership and Change L@S09

The following notes were collaboratively created by Jan-Marie, Amanda, Jo, Rachel , Jacqui, Dave, Heath and myself using an excellent tool called Etherpad. Read more about it here. The keynote was inspiring and confirmed my beliefs about systems of change and my own view of quality teaching and learning.

The Fourth Way of Leadership and Change

Andy Hargreaves websites http://www2.bc.edu/~hargrean/
Collaboration started with heheboy via twitter
The Fourth way - What are the other 3?
How did we get here. What did we leave behind?

Other notes on: http://etherpad.com/7WRSymcSBh

The First Way of Change - 60's - 70's
Wanted to change the world. Age where there was alot of flexibility. Alot of innovation in this period, but few ways of spreading it around.


Second Way
Top Down Government
Trying to add some coherernce to performance of schools. Goals / performance / Targets. Reminds me of the ticky box culture we went through and coverage.

Third way: Combination of Top down government and bottom up support.

Fourth Way
Finland a different perspective
Nokia - Finland has not always been high performing - lost access to Russian Market
unemployment 19% Head of Nokia (no tourism - no resources - all they had was people) Become the leading knowledge economy.Skills unmatched any where else. They had very few resources but recognised that people were greatest resource - Therefore set goal to become the best knowledge economy in the world. Nokia named after a town in Nokia - large furry rodent called a Nokia!!! Was a timber company then a rubber company (GUMBOOTS!!!!) 30s ladiesw rubber highheeled shoes cables. Change job every 15 months in mangagement so you are loyal to the brand not the job.

Nokia is named after a town/River Nokia/Large furry rodent! Nokia galoshes/high-heeled showes/electrical communication cables. Bad news travels fast?

Collaboration is direct in Finland

So agree with comment: To be the best you have to reconnect to what you did well in the past. We do need to reinvent the good stuff that we did in schools. That's so right - too much throwing baby out with the bathwater has happened
its the return of the cycle

less than 1 in 10 chance of becoming a primay teacher in FInland - fantastic (!)

competition is a good thing, we need to be more competitive
See teachers as leaders
More value on teachers
Switzerland also recognises value of teachers to uplifting society into knowledge skills,sustainability etc.
Broad Guidlines.
Teachers create curriculum together - trust, cooperation, responsibility important.

Create success by lifting EVERY child up from the bottom

Responsible for all students in your school, not just those in your class

Collaborative trrust and responsibility. For leadership it means if you are away or sick or drunk
school belongs to all of the teachers not just the principal - trust of staff high trust model where have we heard that before norms become important
Capabilities to deal with staff/situations.
Community is

Finnish Improvement Qualities
clear societal vision
strong public investment
high-quality high-status teachers
steering by the state
local curriculum development
trust, cooperation and responsibility
improvement through uplift
leaders who teach
no initiative -itis

Commited to future of community together

Strong helping the weak - not ideology but human decency - lift them up

Tower Hamlets. low decile.

Poverty is no excuse for failure!(Chrisine Gilbert)

imposes impossible expectations...excellent

Measureable targets set with the principals; better to have ambitious targets;
Better to have ambitious targets and not quite get to them than to have mediocre targets and achieve them. Know your people the district the school before applying standards that don't fit.

Finland has no standardised assessments. Lot of data

Great investment in families, communities etc in Finland - not just in education.

high quality teachers with commitment to the community.

They got rid of the poor teachers.

Yay, we want classroom assistants! They are called Parent helpers if you can get good ones (YEP! - just have to train them well). Would like less paperwork!!

And someone doing playground duty - could then get out and play more with the kids.

Support for teachers from the community - including the Imans in the Mosque!
Work with your parents and community.
article from guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2003/mar/11/schools.gcses2002
Community engagement.

Competition & collaboration can go together
Frienldly Win win rivalry not at the expense of others
How to get schools to work together for their communities...

sticking-ness?
keeping people on websites - rather than browsing away

Do we favour students who remind us of "our fabulous selves"?

Andy hates rubrics! - "how can you divide life into four different levels?"
- loves using them too much, penalising students who had different talents, valuing things important to him
Tthe rubric should be a check against our favoritism.

It's like trying to make people think according to the 'De Bono Hats' when their way of thinking doesn't fit any of them.

Powerpoint on the conference website:
http://centre4.core-ed.net/modules/kb/viewentries.php?space_key=21231&module_key=70381&category_key=950

**Fourth way**

* Open professionalism working together
* If you want achievement you have to have investment - there needs to be a return on investment
* ROI - return on investment
* Corporate partners - who practice corporate social responsibility - only be partners with coroprations that practice corporate social responsibility
* Students as partners in change - students are usually the targets of change efforts and services - without students there would be no teachers!

3 Priciples of Professionalism
-high quality teachers
-powerful professionalism
-lively learning communities

Invest in the development in leadership to ensure and develop change

Not heroic leadership but sustainable leadership - so that things can continue in your absence

Network with no nanny - hope NZ Govt is listening!

Responsibility before Accountability - accountability is the reminder that is left when responsibility has been subtracted.

Notes are already up on the L@S09 website: http://centre4.core-ed.net/modules/kb/viewentries.php?space_key=21231&module_key=70381&category_key=950

eTime Tour Day 1

Reflections Day 1: Viscount School

The culture of Viscount school is positive and welcoming. As soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by students and staff-alike – by name. The second impression I had was this school was all about learning. The students knew exactly what they were learning about – where they had been and what was coming next.
They were staunchly proud of their school and their achievements.

Inquiry at Viscount

The only criteria for any inquiry unit is that the learning must be authentic. Students must have a question that has no answer to it in order to be a true inquiry. A question was asked as to whether they were concerned about covering all curriculum areas and the answer was real learning is not put into spaces and that naturally most areas were covered. All students at the end of the unit participate in an ACTION. Students then self-assess looking at things like resources, questions and skills – biggest question is – has your thinking changed? The learner is the only one who knows owns this knowledge – self-assessment is integral. All learning is transparent.

Implementing Successful and Sustainable Change

Keith talked about these things as being integral for school-wide change:
• Collective motivation – actually making real changes not just pretend ones
• High levels of trust – with staff and students
• Risk-taking – teachers must be prepared to take risks. In order for that to happen they need to know that making mistakes is okay – by risking failure you risk success
• Courage of Conviction – must have shared convictions

In order for children to succeed they must know what success is. Opportunities for all students to succeed need to be provided.

Thank you, Keith and Barbara for allowing us the opportunity to visit your amazing school. I was blown away with the attitude of your students – they were focused and extremely well-mannered. Your inquiry programme is an excellent example of student-driven learning. I would highly recommend your school to any educator interested in best practice teaching and learning.

Good Teaching and ICT

I have learned a lot in the past few months. It is hard to believe that I didn't even know what blogging was 6 months ago! Now I wouldn't be without it.

The most significant revelation is that I am a much better teacher because of it. I am invigorated and inspired on a daily basis. My passion has been rekindled and I am reminded of why I became a teacher to begin with.

I often ask myself why I teach (usually in those moments when you are overwhelmed with the sense of responsibility) and I always come back to the fact that I have a chance, an opportunity to assist in and facilitate in shaping the lives of my students. I care a lot about my kids and I have yet to teach a child that I couldn't imagine making a difference to their world (Yes it's a cheesy and romantic notion but totally possible!). Check out my new class blogs (which are still under development) that are all about making a difference.

I believe one of the reasons that the ICT experience has brought a fundamental change to my teaching is the opportunity to network and share with like-minded professionals, teachers who are inspirational and talented.

I am again excited about my classroom practice and challenging my students.

Long Time Posting

It has been a while since I have posted. It is school holidays here in NZ and I have been spending a great deal of time reading about all the wonderful things other people have been doing!
I have come across some excellent sites -- thanks mostly to Kevin Jarrett (be sure to check out his blog as it is jam-packed with excellent resources). A favourite today is www.dipity.com where you can create timelines. I see this being used extensively in reading as well as topic studies.
Mostly this week I have been joining online communities (or reacquainting myself) such as twitter, diigo, Classroom 2.0 and joining up with ad4dcss!
A lot of the conversations and discussions I have come across are very much ICT oriented which is great but I would really love to find a community that is all about teaching and learning. A community that can help with planning and ideas. Like-minded people who can assist in the creation worthwhile learning activities -- whether web2.0 is included or not? Is there anything out there?
For me, web2.0 and ICT are merely tools (albeit excellent ones) in learning. Let's not lose sight of that.

I have also had to change my template as the one I have been using has gone a wee bit funny!