ENCP Education Summit, Abuja, Nigeria.

"Last week I received a phone call from someone I met at the event with the possibility of an exciting opportunity. I won't divulge here in case it doesn't come off but you never know how a random meeting might lead to something in the future" 
Taken from  'Leaving Education - What Next' post 31st Jan 2012

On Valentines Day last week I set off for my first visit to Nigeria and the capital city Abuja for the 'Every Nigerian Child Project' Education Summit. 
I was delighted to be invited to the conference particularly as Laura and I are looking at opportunities overseas in 2013 in development and education. Over the last few years we have been fortunate to visit a number of schools in east and west Africa together (Uganda & Sierra Leone) and as well as seeing stories of hope, we have also seen schools in terrible disrepair with no funds to improve. 
A few facts intrigued me even more about the state of Nigerian education. I was made aware that literacy and numeracy results are at rock bottom with 98% of children not passing their English and Maths secondary exams. The results look even worse when you consider that this is a country where English is the main language.
The purpose of the summit was for a range of individuals and organisations to discuss and investigate ways that civil society can work alongside the government to improve education. The ENCP was set up by Gori Olusina Daniel, an inspirational guy who has recruited an impressive 'crack' team of UK and Nigerian based individuals with a wide range of skills with the sole purpose of making change happen. Laura has known Gori for a few years through work they both do with the Global Poverty Project and it was her that suggested me to Gori to accompany the team to Abuja as someone with education experience and some familiarity with African schools. I first met Gori at the Gordon Brown Global Education event in Sept 2010.  

Day one of the summit was concerned with the current state of the education system and what could be done about it. The news was pretty bleak. 
Research carried out by the DfID funded ESSPIN (Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria) showed that a high percentage of primary school teachers could not carry out simple tasks related to their job which included being able to do and mark primary maths and English work and use raw assessment data for example turning it into percentages. In one of the states they are working in, 86% of teachers were unable to do this. These findings indicated a substantial problem with teacher training. 
Unlike in the UK and many other countries, teachers in Nigeria do not need a degree in order to teach, rather they need an NCE, National Certificate of Education. The qualification does not seem to be fit for purpose. In addition, many teacher training colleges have too many students studying for the NCE. In one case study, an institution had 3000 students, way above the number of jobs available and it meant that some lectures were delivered to 700 people at a time with some students unable to get inside the lecture. The reason for so many students was the income they generate by paying fees but thankfully that particular college reduced its' intake substantially to 200 recently and the hope is that other colleges will follow suit. 
The other major problem in schools are lack of funds which in the main is caused by local government not deploying funds to schools. In many cases, Headteachers have zero funds.

Day two of the summit was devoted to case studies of what is working. Notable examples included integrated development work by ESSPIN and tales of community action with 'School Based Management Committees' who in some cases are active lobbyists to state and federal governments. It was also interesting to hear case studies of private schools that have been set up although sustainability is a key factor in their future success. A strong message to come from the conclusion of the summit was the need for more accountability and governance for the money that disappears before it reaches schools.
  
All in all, the summit was a great success and was a demonstration that there is determination among individuals and NGO's to improve education. Personally, it was a brilliant and worthwhile learning and networking experience and I am very grateful to Gori and the rest of the group for taking me and making me feel part of the ENCP team.
I believe that with reform and hard work Nigeria has a tremendous opportunity to develop a truly balanced education system where academic learning and vocational learning fit together. The policy makers and advisers realise that getting young people ready for work is just as important as academic learning and I met with individuals who seek to embed enterprise education in the curriculum. Mr Gove take note please. Academic qualifications alone do not equal employability.

There is much work ahead for Nigeria but it is in the fortunate position of having some significant enabling factors for change. Firstly the summit proved there is a will from civil society to work alongside government for reform and secondly there is money in this country which ranks highly in the world economic league tables. 
It is certainly a project I feel Laura and I could add real value to also come 2013. Watch this space. 

Members of ENCP with delegates outside the summit.

Australia's East Coast- NSW (My Love of Travelling Part 5)

My Love of Travelling Part 5

http://travelhappinesslife.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/travelling-working-in-australia-my-love.html

On 24th April 1999, Richard and I left Sydney for a month's travelling up the east coast of  Australia. We decided that the best way to travel would be by Greyhound bus due to it being so cheap (compared to the Oz Experience for example). We had excitedly planned our itinary a month or so before, just prior to my Melbourne-Adelaide-Uluru - Alice Springs trip by covering the floor of the flat with a map of the east coast and Lonely Planet book to hand.

The Route North

Our first stop was South Kempsey, just south of the backpackers 'normal' stop off point, Coffs Harbour where we were to stay with some relatives of Richard's, Lewis and Lorna. In fact many of the backpackers on the bus looked most puzzled as us renegades got off at an 'unknown' stop. As I have described in previous posts, the opportunity to sample home comforts while travelling is one not to turn down. We were excited about proper beds, sofas and proper home cooked food and Lewis and Lorna didn't disappoint. 

Lewis picked us up in his 'Ute' (Utility pick up truck for those not familiar with Alf Stewart in Home & Away) but being a man of initially few words, Richard and I shared nervous glances on the drive home. I was worried this could be hard work. 

As it turned out, it wasn't. For a couple well into retirement they were wonderful hosts and spoiled us, taking us out to explore the local area and feeding us well. Richard, not being used to being in a bed after four months on an inflatable mattress managed to fall out of his bed on night one and then tried to deny it after a massive thud and my question "have you just fallen out of bed mate?"

Hat Head, NSW. Look carefully and it looks like a pregnant lady lying down.

His embarrassment was compounded with Lewis's first question at breakfast "So which one of you 25 year olds fell out of bed last night?" After a few nights and a 2 day game of 'who's the racy comedian Lorna is thinking of' (after our guesses of Chubby Brown and the like it turned out to be George Formby?!!!) we jumped back on the Greyhound for the short journey to Coffs Harbour.

Coffs Harbour

Coffs Harbour is the place that many backpackers learn to Scuba dive because it is cheap but Rich and I weren't doing that, so Coffs is remembered for the friends we made who we would continue to hook up with time and time again travelling up the coast and would continue to be friends to this day. There was Alan, an Irishman who lived in Man Utd shirts with his then girlfriend; Georgina and Helen who had just finished university and Kim who I had worked with in Sydney selling that telephone service door to door. It was also where the greatest comedy double act since Cannon and Ball was born (my tongue is firmly in cheek here) as Richard and I started our dirty jokes and terrible magic roadshow.

Byron Bay

Byron is a coastal town that refuses to exploit its natural advantages, for example there are no high rise hotels or any McDonalds. As well as its beauty, it has an incredibly relaxed charm and  at the time seemed to be home for many of the hippies who refused to conform way after the end of flower power 1967. 

" 'Ere mate, got any cookies?" 

Many residents went bare foot around the town. It was also home to the brilliant Holiday Village Backpackers where most of us stayed. In summary it was 4 non stop nights of partying. In the picture (below) on the right side of the table from the back is Helen, Richard, Georgina and me. This was the night a rugby playing girl beat the record for non stop consumption of wine. Over 3 minutes. Phenomenal tekkers. While in Byron bay we also visited  hippy village 'Nimbin' where we may or may not have purchased some herbal cookies. We also booked our 'special events' in Byron Bay as we heard there was a travel agent in the back of a coffee shop who would do great deals. And he did. We bought our Fraser Island tickets & Whitsunday Islands Cruise and were awarded a free trip on a proper old sailing ship to the Great Barrier Reef.  

So that was New South Wales and the first few stops of our journey north. Queensland was next with all the amazing experiences like Fraser and Whitsundays still to come. 
One piece of advice though. Visit Byron Bay. It is awesome.  

Next: 

http://travelhappinesslife.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/travelling-australias-east-coast.html

  

Five Quick Ways to Improve Education in England

My motivation for writing this post is my frustration and anger at how misguided and wrong education policies are in England. So these are all my ideas, taken from 13 years working and training in the education sector since 1999.
During my time as a teacher, a middle leader and senior leader I worked in a single sex selective grammar school, a comprehensive school that had a larger than normal SEN department in line with their 'caring' ethos and a High School located in a selective area (which was approximately one mile from the grammar school I taught at) with a high intake from one of the most socially and economically deprived wards in the borough and which was essentially an old 'secondary modern'. One of those schools went into special measures while I was there. Have a guess which one.
Here goes.

1. Remove league tables and other crude comparisons between schools.

Every school is unique in it's own way and cannot reasonably be compared to others. Geographical location, type of student intake and school specialisms are just three complex factors that make comparisons futile. League tables do nothing for students. What they do is encourage leadership teams to 'play games' with different qualifications to make their school look better than their competitors. And I don't like this idea of competition for students. Education shouldn't be a competition - all schools should work collaboratively with neighbours and share in their success as well as their own.

2. Changes to Inspections

Inspections in schools are important but there needs to be a culture change in how they are carried out and the judgements made. I agree in theory to the no notice inspection, after all, secret shoppers do not give two days notice. Inspectors should be able to walk into a school without notice and see what really happens on a day to day basis instead of the pantomime that normally ensues of which I have personally witnessed:

• teachers practising a lesson before the inspection and doing it again during the inspection
• leadership teams ensuring the most challenging students are out on a 'trip'
• leadership teams suggesting students stay at home that day or externally excluding students.     

With regards to lesson observations, inspectors must stay for the whole lesson as it is ridiculous to think that a judgement can be made by observing part of a lesson. Professor Dylan Wiliam has recently highlighted this argument with his piece in the TES in the last week and illustrated it with a great analogy:

“If I showed you a 30-second clip of a game between Manchester United and Manchester City and I said ‘who won the game?’, you would say it’s ridiculous to try to predict the outcome of a 90-minute game on the basis of a 30-second clip,” Professor Wiliam said. “And that is what we are trying to do with Ofsted, isn’t it? Instead of saying a teacher is going to teach a kid for 200 hours, they are looking at 30 minutes.”

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6172449#.TyvGsbzP0Og.twitter)

The context of the school also needs to be factored into inspections and observations.

I feel that discipline is very important in schools and have been enjoying reading Tom Bennett's (The Behaviour Guru) blog very much recently. In it he makes the point very clear that boundaries are needed and sanctions like detentions are needed to teach students that poor decisions they make have consequences. But I also feel that personalities are immensely important in the classroom and above all, student-teacher relationships. I am starting to feel that the question of whether students are 'engaged' or 'compliant' is becoming the crux of the matter. Engaged is what I had (mostly) when I was teaching in a classroom where I was more team captain than enemy. In the last year however I have taught in an all boys grammar school and an 'Academy' in a very deprived area of London and although the students were quiet, I felt like the enemy. I could sense the 'us & them' and it was not conducive to learning. I like my classroom to be full of laughter, teacher and class laughing together.

So I would like to see much more realism and humility in the observations that will also bear in mind the context of the school.

Another part of the inspection I would change is the 'instant' judgement and the fact that schools can be placed into special measures after a 'flying visit'. The minimum amount of visits I would accept before placing into special measures would be two... but with the whole lesson observation too. 

Finally, the inspections must take into account all the good work that takes place in a school and not just focus on data. I have referred to a personal Ofsted story in a previous post where the DCSF were in my school making a film about our innovative and nationally recognised employer engagement work on the same day as Ofsted were in for an inspection. Despite me raising it, there was no reference to this in the whole report.         

3. Understand that not all students are academic

It's clear that Gove is basing his whole ideology of education on the simple assumption that 'all children in the UK are like him'. What I mean is, able, bright & academic like we are told he was at school. The system he remembers worked for him because he found reading and learning facts easy and also did well in exams. But this is where the ideology falls apart. Not all students are like this...or me for that matter but I recognise that while the system worked for me (because I was also bright and good at examinations), it consistently fails many others. 
I concur with Sir Ken Robinson that there are many types of intelligences yet in schools children are only tested in academic intelligence. Many students would be better off being able to take a number of more creative subjects alongside the core subjects. I also have different ideas of what these should be - English, Maths, Science, ICT and PSHCE. I think there is also an argument that food technology or 'home economics' should be raised into a core subject. Before you scoff, eating and knowing what to eat is one of the most important parts of any human's life. I have known some students to not know what a pear or kiwi fruit tastes like. Healthy eating should be delivered as this subject or through the PSHCE programme. 
I find Gove's attitude to the 'arts' thoroughly depressing. I became a musician at school and it plays a really important role in my life today. His recent comment that drama should be an 'extra curricular' activity is nothing short of scandalous.            

4. Abolish the EBacc or do not measure schools on it.

See above. The EBacc reduces opportunities for young people to study subjects they wish or may be more suited to.  


5. Take Employability Skills seriously 

I laugh at the fact that Gove and others believe that current education or the 'new' education they are trying to force upon us actually prepares young people for their working life! I would dearly love to know how. I recently wrote a response on the Voice The Union blogpost about vocational learning.  

"My experience of dealing with businesses is that consistently employers say “they look good on paper but they can’t solve problems”. Employers are also shocked at the time keeping of young people and how many lack basic social skills. I remember an article in the Times in 2010 which stated that at a recruitment day for a blue chip company, only 3 out of 50 candidates looked at the employers in the eye, shook their hand and said hello.
I am sure all of us can reflect upon our own experiences and how useful our education has been in our lives. I know that (the content of) my degree was in no way useful for my first job, selling airtime at ITV. In fact it was only useful because generally speaking they only employed graduates. The skills I did need for that job were GCSE level maths and problem solving skills (airtime is a bit like a big jigsaw) and vitally, good communication/telephone skills. Thankfully I had developed my own communication skills and was intelligent enough to understand jigsaws. School helped with the maths"

There needs to be change in how we teach employability for young people. The enterprise programme introduced by the previous government was good but it needed to be ingrained in all schools. Other simple things that schools should be doing is referring to the 'outside' world in lessons and identifying jobs that would use skills that teachers are demonstrating. Finally, we need a team of skilled & innovative 'fixers' working between schools and employers to bring education to life for students and demonstrate how their lessons are relevant to them. The Institute of Education Business Excellence (www.iebe.org.uk) is an excellent organisation attempting to do just that. 

Wonderful Wonderful Venice

Venice is one of the greatest cities in Europe. Laura and I visited for our honeymoon and it didn't disappoint. We stayed at the Hilton on La Guidecca island for our visit which was a short water bus away from St Mark's square (below).

San Marco Piazza

View from the bridge of Sighs

The Famous Rialto Bridge

San Giorgio Maggiore

       While not being particularly cheap, a 'must do activity is a gondola  ride. 

A top tip is to get a pass for the water bus which (like a tube pass) will allow you on any of the routes. 

With that pass, explore some of the other islands. We visited Lido and Burano (see below)  

Beautiful Coloured Houses in Burano