Schools North East Director, Chris Zarraga, appeared on a panel which discussed bold leadership at an event hosted by Big Education in collaboration with Schools North East. The discussion was based around the need for reform within the education sector to build a fairer system for all children.
In the opening remarks Liz Robinson from Big Education observed that the current frameworks set out are all focused with exams as an endpoint. The issue with this system is that it has been designed so that some will fail and is unfavourable toward those who are at a disadvantage where it is not viable to access the extra support which other students can. There was a call for there to be a more expansive curriculum with a range of pedagogy to support this.
Chris was joined on the panel by Frank Norris MBE and Sameena Choudry.
Frank Norris MBE from the Co-op group who also worked for Ofsted during the period where Michael Wilshaw was the Chief Inspector seconded the opening stating that education currently focuses too much on academic progress ahead of providing an enriching curriculum which develops a range of skills. He used the example of the lack of tradespeople where it would be easier to find a person with a social sciences qualification where he lives. The focus needs to be on what communities and regions need with leaders continuing the work which has been built up throughout the pandemic with collaboration from schools and their communities as well as others in the region. He pushed for schools to engage with local businesses as they have their own “clout” and are eager to build a relationship. Collaboration is also something which Ofsted sees as attractive when inspecting as it creates a powerful voice locally.
Throughout the panel Chris, drawing from conversations with school leaders and work with schools carried out by Schools North East, observed that this pandemic has highlighted perennial issues and exacerbated them. He went on to say that the pandemic has not created the disadvantage gap but has significantly widened an existing problem. With ‘catch up’ to February 2020 now being a main focus for the Department for Education, schools should be calling for a ‘recovery’ plan which is far more ambitious than the one announced as aspirations of catching up to last year equates to nil progress for areas like the North East. The current system is built on flawed statistics such as Progress 8 which disregards any understanding of differing levels of deprivation and length in deprivation, which both impact on student attainment. Chris stressed the importance of reflecting on the past year, seeing what has worked and what the barriers have been, as well as having a realistic timeframe for leaders to make changes along with the understanding that schools with high levels of disadvantage will take a longer time to recover. School staff are more exhausted than ever and rushing back to the old norms will not be beneficial.
Communities were something which Sameena Choudry, author of Equitable Education, highlighted as something which schools “have a civic duty” to support and had shown in “abundance” during the pandemic aided by the compassion and generosity of leaders. She also praised the positive collaboration, initially around the operational challenges but has evolved to focus on identifying the systemic challenges within wellbeing and curriculum. The big challenge now is to nullify the fragmentation between parents and schools with a need for higher parental engagement to be at the forefront of leaders’ decisions.
The rest of the event contained fascinating discussions between attendees in breakout rooms with a holistic reflection of leadership as well as a panel session focussed around the current state of assessments and their inappropriateness re children’s needs.
To echo the opening from Liz Robinson this is an optimistic moment for leadership to step in and be a force for radical change, particularly at a time where the decision makers within government are stumbling over making a concise and definite decision over the future of ed
