Monday, 15 October 2012

Education: Something to Celebrate at Last?


My educational spirits have been lifted after reading two brilliant blogs.

Firstly from @oldandrewuk, a transcript of Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw talking about what makes good teaching and what Ofsted are looking for:
  

There is so much to celebrate with what Sir Michael says and I really hope that this message spreads to leadership teams all around the country, not least my last Headteacher who, coming from 'National Strategies' couldn't see the wood through the bullshit and demanded a prescribed three-part lesson with fixed timings for starters as well as demanding every teacher have a written-up 3 page learning (old school-lesson) plan for EVERY lesson. Oh, and a seating plan and assessment data.

Apparently she still does but I didn't hang around to find out. This doctrine, along with many other issues (what's wrong with a SLT jumping on a trampoline?) meant I needed to resign or alternatively allow my soul to die. While I cited my ambition to "do something else within education" in my resignation letter, what I really meant was: 

"I cannot work another day in a school with such excessive demands on my time to do such trivial tasks such as writing up every lesson before I deliver it. Also, I refuse to fail teachers if they do not manage to give me a lesson plan when I observe them on the daily rota. I cannot work for someone who in my opinion has little idea about what good teaching is and cannot see that the key to teaching is positive relationships between students and teachers. So there."

Actually I probably wouldn't have included so there.


Superhero?


So, after all, it appears that Sir Michael Wilshaw is not a super villain - he is a super hero! 

I've been saying for a while after reading the transcript to his appearance before the commons education committee where he addressed the rumours that he'd once said:  
"Staff morale is low? Good! We must be doing something right" 

Here is part of that transcript in February 2012.


Full version here: 

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmeduc/uc1819-i/uc181901.htm


"Q20 Lisa Nandy: One of the things that you said that prompted a great deal of comment, including in a recent session that we held with the Secretary of State, where we asked the public to tweet questions to us to ask Michael Gove, was that if anyone says to you that staff morale is at an all-time low, you will know you are doing something right. We had a great deal of commentary from the public, as I have said, about that. Do you regret those comments?

Sir Michael Wilshaw: A lot of the things I have said have been misconstrued. I have learnt in the short time that I have been here that the press will pick up on particular issues and run with them. I was speaking about school improvement in the most challenging and the most difficult circumstances, and I have been in a number of failing schools, special measures schools, to improve them. I read out a letter at one of these sessions on school improvement written to me by a member of staff I had tackled for underperformance-all the usual issues: he was not teaching well, he was not marking books, etc. This was way back in the eighties. He wrote a fourpage letter that said what an awful person I was and that staff morale was that an alltime low, which is a tactic people use. Actually, it was not low. There were a few people that I was challenging about their performance who were moaning about me, and he used this as a way of trying to intimidate me. I read it out specifically because I was speaking to people in the same position, who have to go in and tackle very difficult circumstances, and it was taken completely out of context. High morale is very important. I would be silly not to say that.

Q21 Lisa Nandy: Have there been any lessons for you from that experience?

Sir Michael Wilshaw: Lessons on how to deal with the press, yes.

Q22 Lisa Nandy: One of the really striking things when we had a public response was that obviously it is incredibly important to take the teaching profession with you if the mission is to raise standards, and what concerns me about those comments is that it can cause you to lose sections of the teaching profession. Do you recognise that?

Sir Michael Wilshaw: I tried to put it right and make sure that the true meaning of those words was understood. I have been a teacher for 43 years, as I said, in very difficult schools in the inner city. I would not have been a successful teacher, deputy head or head unless I worked with people from a range of backgrounds. Teaching is a noble profession, and everyone who has worked with me knows how I feel about the teaching profession, but it is also important to say that we need to tackle underperformance when it occurs."



Now I would like to guide you to another brilliant blog, this time from @tombennett71 :


At last we may have seen some sanity return to the profession.



    

Sunday, 14 October 2012

The Safari Diaries (Part 3)


The Safari Diaries: Ngala Game Reserve (&Beyond) 

This follows parts 1 & 2 - 
http://stephendcook.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-safari-diaries-part-1.html  

http://stephendcook.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-safari-diaries-part-2.html

Tuesday 4th September

Drive 4 (am)

This was to be our last drive with Robin & Ernest as Robin was due some annual leave. Laura and I rose early and were out in the 4x4 by 5.30am, before any of the other parties - we felt a 6.00am start was too late and too bright. We didn't have to worry about that too much however as the weather had changed and it was a little cloudy. Although this meant Laura's photography would be hampered, this drive provided immense excitement for all of us - and a new experience for Robin. 

Our first stop was at a hyena den where we saw a family.





Next up we visited at a waterhole where we saw a hippo, or rather the top half of a hippo wallowing in the lake. 

Then it was a couple of elephants but one started to get jumpy so we didn't hang about! 

Not long after, we spotted two wild  dogs roaming. Robin and Ernest knew they looked hungry and that they were hunting. Robin asked us if we'd like to follow them off road and of course we agreed. Suddenly we were in the middle of a hunt with the dogs and our speed increased, as did the amount of trees we smashed and drove over. With our focus on the dogs we shot by lots of other animals namely zebra and wildebeast. Robin was loving the chase and had a big grin on his face. This was the first time he'd followed dogs on a hunt. Although it sounds about sick, we were all hoping to see a kill.





   
After approximately 30 minutes the dogs moved into attack position which meant they crouched and became horizontal along their head, back and tail. They were heading to a group of Impala and we were there too. Then chaos reigned as the dogs became visible and the impala shrieked and ran. It was quite incredible to be in the middle of these forces of nature. The dogs split to chase their own dinner and within moments we had lost them. We returned to the lodge and thanked Robin and after our lunchtime nap we met our new guide and tracker, Pieter and Elvis. 


Drive 5

On the one hand we felt a bit sorry for Pieter after the incredible success we had enjoyed with Robin but on the other hand he had no pressure to find any particular animals because we had seen them all! We didn't need to worry though, although it was still overcast, we found ourselves hunting with animals again for two nights...with adult male lions.



We started our drive with some giraffes and a little while later I spotted the same two dogs that we had been following in the morning. We knew that they hadn't eaten so followed them on a hunt again. This time though they lost us in the bush. We were aware that two adult male lions had been spotted and got in line to get a viewing. At Ngala, only three vehicles are allowed per viewing. We heard over the radio that the lions were moving so we thought we might not get our chance. However, just as we were driving down a track the lions found us. We couldn't believe it. 




We spent the rest of the drive watching these amazing creatures as they moved or when they rested. As it got dark they settled a short distance from some impala and we waited until finally they went into attack. Unfortunately they failed in their mission. 

Weds 5th September


Drive 6 (am) 

The next day the weather had deteriorated and it was raining throughout the drive. Despite this we still saw an African Wild Cat and zebras and giraffes. 

Drive 7 (pm) 

As we were leaving at 10.00am the next day, this was to be our last game drive. We started with a family of elephants that were near to the lodge.



Next up were some zebra.



And then a family of giraffes.



We then unbelievably spotted the two male lions who we'd been with the previous night and spent the last part of our drive following them on their hunt. They eventually went into some heavy scrub and we lost them but not before we heard them attack a buffalo. On the drive back to the camp we could only reflect on what a fabulous experience we had enjoyed. I was so grateful to Laura for winning it too!

See Laura's Guardian article on-line:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2012/oct/05/safari-south-africa-been-there-photography?INTCMP=SRCH

See Laura's Guardian photo's on -line :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/gallery/2012/oct/04/safari-south-africa-been-there-pictures


Monday, 1 October 2012

The Safari Diaries (Part 2)

The Safari Diaries: Ngala Game Reserve (&Beyond) 

This follows part 1 - http://stephendcook.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-safari-diaries-part-1.html


Monday 3rd September 2012

Drive 3 (pm)

Our first animal sighting in our afternoon drive was Zebra, one of my favourite African animals.



We then dropped Ernest off with some other trackers who were trying to track lions. As we drove away, after approximately 2km I spotted a leopard! I shouted to stop the Land Rover and we followed the leopard through the bush for a little while but this leopard continued to run so we turned back. Then the exciting news came through that Ernest had tracked some lions resting under a tree. We headed to the spot. It was a mother plus young male. That was it, Robin had showed us the magnificent 7 in two game drives which was a first for him. We high fived.



Basking in the glory we headed to one more sighting which was a cheetah with a kill. On the way we encountered a herd of elephants but didn’t really have time to stop.


Then the cheetah with impala kill. I think this was one of my favourite sights in the whole safari.


With my wife's permission, this is her amazing shot. Check out the cheetah's red eyes.




As we returned to the camp we saw a lot of lights in the distance. This was a big surprise for us – dinner in the bush which was topped off by the Ngala ladies choir. Through the headlights we also got our first glimpse of a hyena which had obviously smelt the food cooking.

Coming up - Hyena - Hunting with wild dogs, Hippo and spending two nights with two kings of the jungle.