Summit 2015: Vision for 2020
The core of this year’s SCHOOLS NorthEast Summit was to provide a Vision for 2020, looking ahead at the big issues affecting education in the North East.
Ian Bauckham, Past President of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) was the final keynote speaker at the conference. In his session, Mr Bauckham presented a ‘Blueprint for a self-improving system: Challenges and opportunities’ looking at teacher professionalism, curriculum, assessment & qualifications, funding & governance, accountability, scrutiny, oversight & intervention, and finally strategic planning.
After looking at the future of Local Authorities and suggesting that the big pressures they are under “may indeed finish them off”, the ASCL Past President urged teachers to focus on pedagogy and becoming better informed.
To sum it up, Mr Bauckham quoted Professor Robert Coe (CEM, Durham University), saying: “Keep the main thing the main thing. Focus on students learning.”
His speech was followed by a panel discussion with North East Head Teachers Kieran McGrane (Ponteland Community High School), Monica Shepherd (St Anthony’s Girls’ Catholic Academy), Chris Wain (Pallister Park Primary School), and Philomena Marshall (Excelsior Academy). The panel was chaired by John Hardy, Head Teacher at St Vianney’s RC Primary School and SCHOOLS NorthEast Chairman.
The panel discussed ways to tackle mental health issues in schools, agreeing that “good welfare care is integrated and at the backbone of what we do, but there are fears that budget cuts might erode them”. The Heads unanimously agreed that school leaders very often know better than the Department for Education what works best for their schools and should have the confidence to implement that.
Resonating that, the Vision 2020 discussion was ended on a high note by SCHOOLS NorthEast Chair John Hardy: “We are the people we’ve been waiting for. It’s up to us!”
- Ian Baukham’s presentation slides will be available on the SCHOOLS NorthEast website next week