A closed shop (for local people)

I’ve been part of several social media forums recently in which teachers expressed anxiety and became animated when discussing the possible presence of an ‘imposter’.

For example, a WhatsApp group for contributors to a new broadcast service for teachers had found themselves approached by someone who was interested in engaging but whose approach was rather assertive. The ensuing discussion involved lots of outrage and virtue signalling, and soon became focused on whether the individual was a teacher or not; the point clearly being that people on the outside were somehow invalid, and sufficiently threatening to exclude without question.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen this, and am quite sure that the rush to defend the boundary is tied up in the powerful dynamic I see in schools around learning, vulnerability and power. But I am always interested in what learning is lost when new ideas and approaches are so easily shut out.

As a member of the British Psychological Society, I am a keen reader of The Psychologist, the society’s periodical magazine. It regularly features pieces on education and schools, some of which I feel should be made more widely available to teachers. After all, the work of education is 90% psychological, 10% physical.

One such piece is a letter in the current (May ’21) issue from Naomi Fisher, a clinical psychologist and author of Changing Minds: how children can take control of their own learning. In it, she clarifies the baselessness of Gavin Williamson’s recent claim that “evidence-backed, traditional teacher-led lessons with children facing the expert at the front of the class” is the proven way to achieve the best outcomes. In a powerful critique, Fisher clarifies that this is a very selective view of the world, limited to the research available from within the narrow field of ‘cognitive science’ promoted by people like Willingham, Christodoulou and Birbalsingh. She suggests that we might want more from our schools than just the efficient transmission of selected knowledge.

Now none of the teachers I know would disagree with this, and yet because it comes from outside of the boundary, I fear that few will hear of it (even though I interviewed Naomi for said broadcast service … listen again to my programme Schools in the Mind here!).

As someone who is commissioned by schools to help them develop so they can better achieve their aims, one of the first things I do is open the windows. The fresh air is bracing and the clearer view provides perspective, helping fuel the change that’s required.