Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me (Pink Floyd)

Velocity's sixth law for a world gone digital: 
No good joke survives a committee of six (or 'have the balls to make the calls' according to Ahmed and Olander).

So this one is aimed at leaders really. 

Guess the captain and the co-pilot from flight 1549.

The guys mention a wonderful story about the captain on US Airways flight 1549. You'll remember the flight that landed unscathed in the Hudson River after a bird strike? The story goes that the co-pilot lifted off and the plane quickly ran into a flock of geese and lost thrust in the engines. As soon as that happened the captain said two words: "My aircraft".

That is the guy I want flying my plane. Always!

Ahmed/Olander use the story to illustrate the idea that when it comes to it somebody has to take command, make the decision.

[In a business sense, companies who want to make a shift from good to great can't do so via consensus.

In education, schools who want to improve, make a gear change from great to outstanding, can't do so via consensus.]

I think they've pointed to a great truism in life: people resist change to their routine or challenge to their expertise for the usual reason: fear.

It's been interesting tracing the move to vertical forms within our existing vertical House system at Woodford. As you know I've been posting about it since April. 

In seven months we've had many meetings, a Change Action Group, staff inquiries, consultations with staff students and parents, we've had more meetings.

Left to a consensus we would do nothing - some of the girls don't like it; some of the staff don't like it. They fear the change. 

Finally, the decision was made recently to change some of the horizontal systems for next year. The decision: vertical forms within Houses from next year.

It took a while, but it's the right decision. 

What is it good for? (Edwin Starr) Part 4 of 4

I came across this article recently while I was looking for material on vertical tutor groups (did I mention that I love vertical tutor groups and House systems as a key part of a school's organisational culture?)

Vertical learning - teaching pupils of different ages together - could help your school reach new heights.  According to its advocates, “vertical learning” - getting pupils of different ages to work together - is one of the most powerful interventions you can introduce into the classroom. Breaking away from traditional year groups can, they say, have a remarkable transformative effect on the quality of teaching and learning, as well as attendance and behaviour.
There is a surprising lack of in-depth research into the benefits of vertical learning strategies, but the number of schools going vertical in some form is growing fast.
It began with vertical tutoring; the idea that smaller form groups comprising pupils of different ages can improve relationships and have a knock-on effect on everything else. Now more and more schools are adopting vertical methods for teaching, too.
This “stage not age” approach is becoming more common at GCSE level in England and a particularly popular model has Year 9-11 (S2-4) pupils sharing lessons in non-core subjects. 

Try here for the full article: http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6260076

I really really like this idea - it is something I've blogged about for years - removing barriers for learning and moving away from fixed year group social promotion systems.

There will come a time every school does this and people will shake their heads when they think about the bad old industrial models school used for learning and teaching. What WERE we thinking? They will say.

What is it good for? (Edwin Starr) Part 3

Let's turn from the dark side and embrace the good in vertical forms.

Advantages

1. Creates a more cohesive and friendlier school community where students know and work with students from other years ("like a family").
2. Emphasises students as individuals, not just members of a large group.
3. Bullying is reduced, as older students see younger ones as members of their tutor group with whom they associate on a daily basis.
4. More opportunities for student leadership within their tutor group and house.
5. Easily accessible positive role models for younger students.
6. Increased opportunities for students to develop their social skills through working with students of different ages, in preparation for adult life.
7. Students support one another and understand the stages that they will go through as they move through the school. This has the potential to increase aspiration and motivation.
8. Tutors get to know information for every year group, which is often of great relevance during their teaching sessions.
9. Tutors can attend to small numbers of students at once, at critical times for them, e.g. new intake, option choices, work experience.
10. Tutors develop a "whole school" experience and understanding of progression that makes them a stronger tutor.
11. Reduces opportunities for "gangs" to form.
12. Enables greater flexibility for intake numbers, as a new vertical tutor group can be more easily created than a tutor group all of one year group.
13. Enables greater flexibility for the curriculum as learning groups will not need to be based on tutor groups.
14. In conjunction with a House system creates a deep sense of belonging.
15. Positions the House system at the heart of the organisational culture of a school.
16. Allows all staff to share in the experience as usually smaller tutor groups mean more need for non teaching staff to become tutor group leaders. 

The testaments to success are many and varied. Here are some from Principals in the U.K.

• Vertical tutoring has had a “dramatic” effect on pupils’ behaviour and, most importantly, their aspirations.
• “It is the single most transformative thing that we have done in school,” she says. “The relationships and dynamics have vastly improved.”
• “What vertical tutoring does is provide a new learning support operation that replaces the factory model and adds operational coherence. It builds value in and requires no social programmes and no cost other than time to learn. It transforms the culture of schools by positively building inclusive learning relationships and partnerships.

 WOWIE ZOWIE!!!

This had me at 'creates' but replacing the factory model? Yeah baby!

What is it good for? (Edwin Starr) Part 2

This post continues my BIG PICTURE look at the organisational culture within my current school.

Last post I considered 'socialisation' and my pursuit of bananas. Today it's a look at our status quo horizontal situation.

I Googled 'advantages of horizontal tutor groups' and nothing came up in the search. Nothing! Go on - see for yourself!

Instead a few billion entries on the advantages of vertical tutor groups came up!

I tried other variations of 'horizontal' and still nothing.

I'm not as green as I am cabbage looking - I know horizontal forms are popular beasts but clearly the bully boys from the vertical forms have bounced them off to the outer rim.

So I decided to use the interweb's 'disadvantages of vertical groups' search results to see if that made a case for horizontals.

And here they are:

Disadvantages of vertical forms

1. Reduces opportunities for same-age students to be together.
2. Older students may not be good role models.
3. New intake may be intimidated by the presence of older students in their tutor group.
4. Tutors may need support to manage the breadth of issues within their tutor group.
5. Communication is more complicated, e.g. having to send out notices to every tutor group in order to reach a single year group.
6. Tutor group activities must be widely differentiated to enable all members to participate.

Let's go through them:

1. Reduces blah blah - well yes - that's obvious. Horizontal forms are same-age forms. As I said -  I haven't read any research that says it's inherently good to have that opportunity.
2. Sure - that could happen - there is good and bad in all of us and in any situation. But so what - horizontal forms have that capacity as well.  
3. Yes - that could happen. Some schools I worked in chose to use a horizontal format for their new entrant cohort but I've also worked in schools that successfully vertical formed everyone.
4.  Tutors may need support. Yes, I guess they may but I'd argue they may need that support no matter what the format.
5.  Communication - yes this is probably better with a horizontal group.
6.  Activities - yes I can see this too.

So - what is the horizontal system good for? On the whole - not a lot there apart from some bureaucratic advantage.

The organisational culture at my current school is heavily weighted to horizontal year groups. The Deans' structure is a very powerful presence. 

How do I know this? 

Last year's staff photo. 

Most staff photos I've been in have the great and the powerful in the front row. Usually this is the Principal - centre front, flanked by senior leaders, then further out - senior Heads of Departments - the middle managers.

Who sits in the front row in our staff photo? 

Senior managers and the YEAR LEVEL DEANS! That's who.

Changing the organisational culture to vertical forms would affect the Deans' structure. A change to vertical forms would mean a change away from year level Deans  towards...THE HOUSE structure. 

Currently no one knows who leads the House structure - in fact the staff take a back seat to the students in this regard. But why couldn't the House Leaders (staff member and student) share that role?

I'm all for strengthening the House system in terms of giving it a pastoral care role. Would the school be brave enough to tamper with the status quo? Not on current evidence.

That bunch of bananas looks like it's set to outlast me.

What is it good for? (Edwin Starr) Part 1

I threw down a bit of a gauntlet at school this week to a distinctly luke warm reaction.

Not only did I support a move away from the old Teacher Parent Student conferences (you know - the ones where only a few of 'the good' parents attend for a 5 minute feel good slot)  towards longer more holistic meetings with form tutors (10 minutes with, ideally, every parent and student in the form class) but...and I couldn't help myself...I also put in a plug for vertical forms.

Shock horror. I know - what was I thinking?

It went down like a cup of cold gravy with a hair in it!

But WHY?

Well I know why. I was messing with the organisational culture of the school. More specifically I was messing with the socialisation of the culture.

• To explain how socialisation works consider this experiment. A caged group of monkeys is confronted with a bunch of bananas on bungling from the ceiling. There is a ladder placed invitingly just under the bananas. Immediately some monkeys rush to the ladder. As soon as they start to climb it they are all hosed down, not just the monkeys on the ladder but all the monkeys in the cage. As they don’t like water they leave the bananas. One hussy monkey tries again but the same thing happens, all of the monkeys are hosed. Now they watch each other to make sure no one comes near the ladder. Then one monkey is replaced by a new one unaware of ladder-water misery. He sees the bananas and rushes to the ladder, but to his surprise is beaten up by the other monkeys. Now a second monkey is replaced by a new one. He approaches the ladder and is beaten up. The first new monkey who himself had been beaten up participates in the mugging because he wont permit another monkey to do something he himself was not allowed. This continues until all the monkeys are replaced by new monkeys none of them having the experience of being hosed down or even having a faint idea about it. The reason why they wont permit each other to reach for the bananas has become of a metaphysical nature, it is simply not done.

This is the area where I'm a new monkey, a relative outsider and the long standing members of the culture are protective of what they've established over time.

Nevertheless - over the next couple of posts I will be looking at the advantages and disadvantages of horizontal (same year level in the tutor group who may or, usually, may not stay with one tutor during their time at school)  AND vertical forms (a mixture of form levels make up one tutor group who stay with one tutor during their time at school).

First up - horizontals! The status quo. The bunch of bananas in question at Woodford House.