This year’s Northern Celebration of Education was once again online with delegates logging in to be a part of an event which, just as the name says, celebrated the hard work of all schools following this particularly difficult year. Delegates were able to view sessions from school practitioners who work at the chalkface along with well known specialists in pedagogy, good practice and policy making up an excellent programme with 6 keynote sessions and 37 pre-recorded sessions..
Schools North East Director, Chris Zarraga, opened the day by thanking school staff for their hard work over the past year as well as providing context around EdNorth who, working in partnership with Schools North East and SHINE aims to reach the areas in the north which have high levels of disadvantage in order to work towards closing the disadvantage gap. Following on from this John Hardy, Chair of Trustees at Schools North East, welcomed participants by firstly reflecting on last year’s Celebration which showcased the determination of the teaching profession, and development of the art and craft of teaching. His focus was on the progress made by practitioners who have learnt how to efficiently use tech to engage students and communicate with parents. The pandemic has highlighted the crucial role played by schools in addressing poverty which as a result has helped to transform the world for the better. The pandemic has required teachers to learn more, learn faster, learn to be more immediately effective by utilising evidence in order to take risks. In his final words John left the delegates with the hope that over the past year they have enjoyed finding new solutions, and stressed the importance of collaborative practice and sharing of knowledge as one of the keys to success.
In the first keynote session of the day, Hywell Roberts outlined how much the experience of the classroom teacher counts for when delivering a lesson. Hywell also stressed that there is a need for teachers to reassert themselves as expert practitioners, not just deliverers of content. The challenge of a lesson is what Hywell called “Botheredness” with the trial of getting children to engage with the learning in the classroom. Following this there was a demonstration of professional imagination and storytelling in the classroom to promote blended learning. Throughout the past few years there has been little space for this to be exercised with a limiting curriculum not providing the scaffolding for teachers to achieve it. The session ended on a hopeful note with conversations around the opportunities available re curriculum due to the new inspection framework.
Rachel Lofhouse, Professor at Leeds Beckett University, quoted Fatboy Slim for her session title ‘We’ve come a long, long way together: Celebrating the Collective.’ Sharing observations, it is clear that throughout the pandemic, schools have built on a long history of collaboration as a way to support teachers and leaders to learn, and learn from each other, recreating the patterns of schooling through the power of the collective. It is clear that schools are essential infrastructure, with Rachel stating that “schools sustain communities and opportunities for young people. There is a history to all schools, a purpose, and a future.” By using the analogy of a patchwork quilt to describe the change from normal functions of schools to the disarray caused by the pandemic. The hard work of schools was highlighted, especially when the school system has gone from something carefully crafted, not always perfect, but that functions, to something less recognisable. The pandemic created new and necessary conversations, and collaborations in the education community.
Chaired by TES editor Jon Severs there was a panel session which explored how schools can cultivate individual success stories. Schools North East trustee, Colin Lofthouse, framed thoughts around three areas:
1. Equality: the pupils’ experience at school which is not equitable. As a result, not all can talk confidently about successes and positive experiences.
2. Opportunity: there is an unequal playing field currently in the education system.
3. Quality of experiences: this focuses on inclusion and special educational needs, there needs to be a reappraisal of the limits of inclusion which can impact on positivity in terms of experience in school.
Alex Fairlamb, Assistant Headteacher at St Wilfrid’s RC College focussed on quality and how there must be a quality of the curriculum which is representative of diverse communities so pupils can see themselves within the curriculum. This needs to be accessible, satisfyingly challenging but with scaffolding to support. There was a suggestion that the parameters of success should be reevaluated so it is measured by making sure students get their voice heard.
Stephen Gorard from Durham University believed that we shouldn’t separate children more than necessary with Schools acting as mini-societies. He also defined success as fruitfulness of engagement and outcomes with threshold entitlements. However, some students will require more to reach these thresholds. Emily Davenport from Ambition Institute shared her views that success in schools should come from organisation, structure and opportunities for great feedback where students feel valued as individuals. Lynne McKenna, Professor at Sunderland University, felt that success was dependent on the provision of high quality teacher training as every child needs a suitably qualified teacher.
The second day started off with a keynote session from Lee Elliot Major from the University of Exeter titled ‘Social mobility and education in the post-Covid era.’ He told our delegates that education should be focussed on levelling up. Through Social mobility, the ideal scenario he set out was that everyone should have the opportunity for getting decent jobs and lives whilst remaining within their communities, if they so desired. Covid has caused inequalities exacerbating many of these issues. Lee believed schools should focus on immobility and inequality as he shared findings that earnings are declining with the stress on the importance of ensuring people can live decent lives. He also brought to the attention of delegates the education ‘arms race’ in respect of the private tutoring boom. All of this poses several impossible jobs which schools are expected to do in order to counter inequalities outside of school. He was positive towards the National Tutoring Programme, but felt the delivery has not been as good as everyone hoped, but does support the levelling up of the playing field. There was an explanation that the effect of the pandemic has been to push back progress made in the last 10 years in regards to closing the attainment gap. In his closing remarks there was a look at how social mobility can be measured with income, but we must be careful about only focusing on those things that are measurable.
In the final keynote of the day Sam Twiselton from Sheffield Hallam University looked at ‘Teacher Development – Exciting Times.’ The session started positively with clear reasons to be cheerful. She urged delegates to ask What kind of a teacher are you? Sam explained that there are three types of teachers (on a sliding scale): Task manager, curriculum deliverer and concept/skill builder. The main focus of the session was around the teacher recruitment and retention problem, in particular among those earlier on in their career. She outlined the importance of the mentor in a teachers ITT year which provides the basis for later career progression. Like many of the other sessions there was the observation of large regional inequalities and disparities around disadvantage.
We would also like to thank our other live speakers as well as those who sent in pre-recorded sessions contributing to making this year’s Celebration such a success. We would also like to thank the exhibitors who supported the event along with our media partner TES. Finally, a big thank you to all our delegates and school staff across the north-east. If you would like to sign up to see the recording of all of the event’s session click here.
