Alan Thompson - Thoughts on Education

As a naturalised 'Eastern-Caper', one of my favourite drives is the route from Graaf-Reinet to Bedford. It is there that I feel that I am in the absolute heart of the Eastern Cape. I am struck by its vastness, its beautiful vistas of quintessential terrain. Aloe-dotted rolling hills of incredible biodiversity provide a multitude of changing vistas as one transitions from the dusty Karoo towards Bedford, and then on to the pristine coastline. Most striking of all for me are the big skies and wide open spaces.   How odd that when we think of landscapes we tend to imagine them as places of nothingness, as if the richness of nature and the beauty of  creation has no meaning without clustered humanity being the centre of attention.    Timothy Ingold, professor of Social Anthropology at  the University of Aberdeen   once expressed it thus:  “the landscape tells - or rather is - a story. It enfolds the lives and times of predecessors who, over the genera...

    Education - and the road to leadership in education - is notable for how little attention is paid to developing educators as they advance through the leadership 'ranks'. This is a leadership pathway that is defined more by academic subject expertise (study an academic degree, be a superb teacher, become a head of department, join the management team) than it is by any intentional leadership development. An even shakier leadership progression in schools is the route to leadership via the sporting or pastoral pathway. Here, progression is driven by a passion area (say, sport) which progresses to sport administration and then management and leadership.   Both of these pathways, although common, are deeply flawed. They assume that passion and expertise readily translate into vison, communication, and decision-making skills (which are just some of the demands on leaders) and to a large extent reward simply 'being there' at the time of need. neither really require of us w...

It is easy to criticise, isn't it? And how often are leaders subjected to criticism and comments that pick up on the negative without offering any wisdom or solutions? Like the food critic offering scathing critique of the balance of the  jus  in relation to the  sous-vide ruby trout  - it is much easier criticise than it is to actually  do . I don't have all of the answers, but as I have been thinking about prefect systems and their fitness for purpose (or lack thereof), I have given much thought as to what I would do if I had the luxury to re-design the system.    Firstly, we need to address the fundamental question as to whether we want enforcers, portfolio secretaries, or actual leaders. I think that we want the latter, and so we then need to ask the question as to what investment in time and effort is needed - so that by the time we are seeking leaders we have provided the skills and training to set them up for success. Look outside of school for ...