Sir Michael Wilshaw says he wants more mavericks in education, to help increase the creativity in our schools sector. I don’t believe him. Rather than Cowboys, Gamblers and other heroes from his childhood, we should ignore this wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Photo by pierre_tourigny
Because, hard as it might be to admit, people who work in schools have become like sheep. We have a flock mentality. For more creativity and positive change we need to look to a more hardy version of ourselves to find a way forward. We need to be more goat.
What follows is polemic and is intentionally broad and sharp. Sorry for any offence if it doesn’t fit your experience or world view – and for all the ill informed animal husbandry and ecological metaphors.
Constantly aware of potential threats and quick to startle, educators bunch together with like people like who are like us, huddling close for protection and comfort. Even EduTwitter and the TeachMeet scene has become like this. We have been bred to like our boundaries… as long as we can graze and look after our young… we don’t look too far ahead to wonder what might happen to those little lambs after they are out of our view. We bleat. Boy can we bleat. But we do not bite or butt our attackers back, or hold our ground.
Like a wolf who is part of the pack that has the flock surrounded, Wilshaw is making an opening for more of our brightest and most caring teachers and leaders to break for the open, but who will only find themselves exposed and alone. The academisation policy is ensuring that our already empoverished ecology is now experiencing Enclosure, as did the British countryside of the 18th Century. And as the live stock in those fields, to use Matthew Taylor’s lovely taxonomy, we are being Split, Sorted and Subordinated.
Barks and nips from policy makers dogs, managed by dog whistles, keep us in place. Even when a few brave sheep make a run for it, they only get themselves marked out for slaughter or sale faster. The number of ways out of the fields we are allowed to graze from are constantly monitored and even those who seek to help us find gatekeepers that turn away catalysts for possible change from within.
Of course, a few ‘prize’ sheep will get special attention, and taken to shows, as examples of exceptional examples….but once out of their natural environment, they tend to lose their lustre and become mutton.
Wilshaw, is calling out to a state sector to encourage more risk taking, while simultaneously thinning the flock of creative educators – who often escape to the relative freedom of the independent sector, or go to teach abroad.
I could extend this painful metaphor even further, and ewe know I could get away with lots more puns, but, on with the main point.
Asking a ‘profession’ to completely change to cowboys, outlaws and gamblers is crazy. We cannot change so far – not least as our work means that we need to manage and protect the children we work with and created nurturing environments for this. Not gambling dens or the wild west. And, of course Wilshaw knows that. This is a pretty dirty trick from a wolf wearing a bloody fleece.
So, instead of looking way outside our evolutionary ability, we should look to our goat cousins.
Credit Tom Pennington http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/352800
Hardy, omnivorous, able to function independently and in small family groups, goats will travel for the best and most nutritious shoots, even if halfway up a crag. Ready to defend it’s position, a goat will defend their young and territory.
OK, sometimes they eat the wrong thing. Sometimes they can be obstinate and, well,… annoying. But they have a tough digestive system able to extract goodness from most environments and once they trust you – are loyal and loving
When I left full time teaching 16 years ago, I swore I’d never be part of a flock again. Sometimes it is hard to be outside the comfort of the crowd (and consensus) and to be unpopular. When ever I go back to teach (which I do regularly), I feel the pull of the flock, and often think it would be easier to go for the simple life of not challenging the status quo.
But, since I turned goat, I have found pedagogies (including #PBL) that suit my professional style much better and have made me a better educator. I have found great ways to work (agile / smarter use of technologies), that I now share with others seeking new pastures. I’ve also trained Channel 4 staff in creativity and helped NGOs be more nimble: but I have always come back to education as the sector I want to work in and love.
Being a consultant/advisor means that I get to help all sorts of people involved in education find new and creative ways to help children and teachers. I know that, beneath the weight of the wool that so many professionals have gathered; are brilliant, caring and able professionals. Once they see what is possible when they leave the flock, few look back.
So, join us. Be more goat.
Oh, and Mr Wilshaw… Please flock off.
If you’d like to talk about the work I do helping schools and organisations to realise more of their potential, why not drop me a line at eylan@ezekiels.co.uk