Alan Thompson - Thoughts on Education

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 ...

I often wonder what historians will write when they reflect on global events of the past twenty years, sometime in the future. For I have a sense that we are living in a time of extraordinary social, political, and environmental change. It will be known as the era where global politics lost innocence (or at least stopped pretending), hitherto unassailable empires crumbled (and new ones formed), and corruption, voter manipulation, self-interest, and extremism intersected on a massive scale. And if we are indeed living through a crisis in global politics,  there can be no doubt that this is symptomatic of  a deeper malaise - corporate and civic governance, law and order - the basic tennets of society - face a crisis of leadership - visionary, principled, ethical servant leadership.   As school leaders we have a duty to our learners to prepare them for this complex world that provides few ethical markers of its own. Sometimes our efforts manifest in overt leadershi...