Exclusion From School-Inclusion In Prison.

Edinburgh University has carried out research that suggests that excluded pupils are more likely to go to prison as adults. I'm pretty certain that many of its readers will have reacted with mock (Oh really!!!) shock: did we need another report to tell us this? Well, yes and here's why. Looking through the TES summary http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6318854 there are some success stories and maybe we should be focussing on what appears to work.

I was brought up in Birmingham and we are blessed with the "Number 11 Outer Circle 'Bus Route. 

The route takes you around 26 miles of Birmingham and when we were kids....yes you get it, this is how we spent our sad gaming platform free existences. It prepared me well for my work in Education generally and working with challenging young people particularly: mainly because if you wait long enough, the Number 11 will, unfailingly turn up again and do the same thing as it did the last time. Only the drivers (and heck the dates me) and  the conductors were different.

The Education Workforce has been driven around the place by a plethora of Drivers and monitored by a head scratchingly diverse range of conductors some of which should not have been allowed anywhere near the Education Bus. Others have skipped along a continuum of bus driving techniques

• Break neck and destabilising-inducing panic and vomiting amongst the passengers
• Ponderous to the point that everyone thinks we've stopped
• Indifferent to the needs and understanding of the passengers-about their journey requirements, arrival times and so on.

Amongst all of this uncertainty, one fact remained the Number 11 would always be there.

And here we have it. Schools, academies and other providers are subject to regular changes in the manner in which they are expected to deal with challenging young people. The report "Vexed Questions over Exclusion" raises an interesting success story: that Schools with behavioural values based tend to do better in addressing challenges and that punitive approaches work less well.

Teaching values is tough: particularly when we consider how we (the adults) manage the gap between our Espoused (what we stand for) Values and our Lived (What we really do) Values. Kids can spot the gap from miles away and the bigger the gap is, the less credibility we have, proving to them that Monkey Say and Monkey Do are two very different monkeys that pretend to be the same one.

We can take a punitive approach-a "Short, Sharp Shock" that has more to do with organisational revenge than moving processes and people forward in a meaningful manner. It will gain populist applause and eventually serve no one as thresholds slip, consistency vanishes and appropriate responses to challenge converge into a Number 11 Bus route of sanctions.

Where we have have strong values, where what and who we are is informed by what we do and say and vice-versa, we stand at least a chance to deliver a strong message based on how we deliver the values we espouse. And yes, there need to be sanctions, sanctions that go hand-in-hand with well measured support and access to a range of options that engage with the person, not just the behaviour. This might give us a better chance of keeping the important link between the provider and the child.

I'm off to relive my childhood on the Number 11!

Why Do People Delay Before They Report Child Abuse?

The NSPCC’s review of its Helpline Service “Helping Highlight: a Year in Review” http://bit.ly.Hn6qTh produces some interesting and worrying information. In 2011 nearly 45,000 people contacted the NSPCC, worried about a child. For those watching the Manchester derby tonight, it’s about that many-a ground full.

This is a 29% rise on last year’s figures-good, more people are getting in touch with their concerns. Here’s the worrying bit: 56% of those whose call produced a referral said they’d delayed getting in touch for over a  month-thus leaving the child at risk for a longer period. Here’s the breakdown:

• 12,000 (almost) calls-Neglect
• 8,000 (over) calls-Physical Abuse
• 6,000 (almost) calls Emotional Abuse
• 5000 (over) calls Sexual Abuse

The amount of calls to the NSPCC has, over the past 5  years, doubled. The NSPCC now has a facility to contact them by text message. (  88858 ) they aim to make contact within 3 hours of receiving the message. In 2011, 40% of those who contacted the NSPCC by text said they would not have made contact without the texting facility

Without ever under-estimating the difficulty in making a contact, we need to work hard to deliver the message that we all share a Common Law and an Ethical Duty of Care towards Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults. The abuser’s power grows in the assumption of silence.

Six Ways To Destroy Yourself: Regularly and Often

I was going to attend a Business Networking Meeting today and can’t: I have had to re-prioritise a couple of things that have to be in place by next Monday and that’s it. So what to do? Telephone my friend and associate T and tell him that “I can’t make it and here’s why. ” Do I enjoy this kind of call? No, and I wrestle with my sense of letting myself and others down. I do understand though that there is a greater loss if I fail to complete on the other tasks-due next week and running late. So, a call to make and a blog to write.


I thought I’d use today’s example as one of the ways in which we occasionally tear ourselves to bits. Competing priorities are only part of it. A more difficult challenge is “What do our decisions say about us?” Well, here’s the rub: “Is it better to make an early decision and state that this can not be done, or is more desirable to turn up, rushed, distracted and pre-occupied: which is the more damaging message and which will, in the course of time, cause more reputational harm?” So, I’ll work through today and resolve the outstanding priorities and bear in mind as I’m doing so, they are reasons, not excuses.


I picked up a copy of Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” -timeless and sure footed in its message-you need to be active and positive in the manner in which you engage with the world and the people in it. He gives-in a nutshell-Six Ways To Make People Like You and I love the simplicity of the message. Here they are:


Principle 1


Become genuinely interested in other people
Principle 2


Smile
Principle 3


Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language
Principle 4


Be a good listener, encourage people to talk about themselves
Principle 5


Talk in terms of the other persons interests
Principle 6


Make the other person feel important-and do it sincerely
OR


Self Destruct Principle 1


Others don’t matter, they have little to say that’s of any interest unless you feel you can make a few quid, dollars, euro out of them. Beyond that their lives are 1 dimensional and beneath your contempt.


Self Destruct Principle 2


Smiling is for sycophants who honestly believe that their ingratiating fawning will work. Think yourself as a player in a world-wide poker game in which any betrayal of emotion will lose all you’ve gained, making you vulnerable and beaten, add into the equation an air of mystery and inscrutability-practice these expressions in the mirror (not the one in your car-others will think there’s something the matter with you-and if you’re doing this, there probably is!) Try your new found skills at your next meeting social gathering: bring something to read.


Self Destruct Principle 3


Just tell other people this, “I’m bad at names, I meet so many important people in the course of a day I have to prioritise my brain-space, so remind me; who are you again?” This I find is a brilliant way to secure seclusion, tranquillity and ultimately, poverty.


Self Destruct Principle 4


Learn how to feign attention, interrupt and tell people about something you’ve done that is more exciting, has earned more money or has demonstrated how smart you are. Combined with Self Destruct Principle 3 above, this becomes a powerful strategy that ensure that people will never forget you. They might not want to remember you but that’s not the point.


Self Destruct Principle 5


Other people’s interests are just that: they are other people and therefore consigned to the midden of “dull and pointless”. What of course, they are really waiting for is to hear about you.


Self Destruct


It’s much more important that other people understand how important you are: you might forget them abut they must not be allowed to forget you. The above Five Principles, applied singly, in combination or (and why not go for it?) all together will leave an indelible impression on those lucky enough to have met you.


Good Luck!

Premise:

The August riots-a tragedy in their own right-have presented a golden opportunity to an ever-present mob of reactionary voices that all too easily fall into a time-worn, clichéd dialogue containing the following key words and phrases:

• Back to basics
• Respect
• Discipline
• Punishment
• Do gooders
• Trendy Teaching

I’m pretty sure you catch my drift!

Here’s some information gleaned from the Pimlico Academy-a transformed school that did a a few pretty straight forward things.

1. They decided what they were there for and told everybody in six straight forward sentences.
2. They set up a great pastoral system-a house system that worked well because it emphasised the importance of learning and behaviour and did something about it when things started to slip
3. A strong tutorial system and after school support-access to specialist teachers and boosters
4. A strong sense of corporate identity with a uniform-grants for families who were struggling to afford one.
5. A Firm, Fair and Followed disciplinary system
6. A rewards system that acknowledges an celebrates progress in behaviour.

Outcome :

The number of pupils achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE (including maths and English) was 60 per cent in 2010/11, up from 36 per cent in 2007/08.

At the end of the 2010/11 school year, attendance was 94.3 per cent for years 7 to 11, compared to 78.3 per cent in 2009/10.

Staff absenteeism has halved since the introduction of the new measures thanks to reduced stress and pressure on teachers.

In the first year that the rewards system was introduced, there were no permanent exclusions. The following year there was only one.

Prior to the rewards system, 50 to 60 pupils were sent out of lessons each day. Now it is fewer than 10 and they are normally sent out for less serious reasons than was previously the case. Overall there has been a huge change in the atmosphere in the school, maintains Holt: “The staff are happier, the students are happier and the school is basically a much nicer place to be.”

The above takes a little more thinking through the simplistic rantings of “Put the teacher back in charge” and it sits comfortably with my view-if you want respect you need to earn it-power and authority are given and received, not enforced and tolerated and, without consensus we’re nowhere.

This doesn’t mean that we “hand over control to the kids”-it means for me that life is far more subtle and nuanced than  ”Do as I say or else,” and the sooner we establish learning cultures that transmit those values, the better it will be for kids, their families and teachers and wider society.

We have, as part of our professional portfolio a considerable depth of experience working in schools and colleges on behaviour related issues. Our experience would bear out the key elements of the above and we are happy to discuss this here or by contacting us directly at enquiries@coadyconsultants.co.uk

Listening and Acting On Workforce Voices

Premise


Can listening to and engaging with a workforce make a positive contribution-we believe it can as long as it is honest, authentic and can show that a "difference for the better" has emerged. We also believe that this will work in any organisation-large or small-providing the process is well managed.


Here are 3 areas for consideration

1. Principles
2. Benefits
3. Challenges

Principles of Listening to Workforce Voices:


o Mutual respect given and received between and within the workforce 
o All adults have equal worth in the workplace
o Communication is open, honest, valued and provides an exchange of ideas and views between workforce
o Investment in the future – accepting that all members of workforce are entitled to express their views about things which will affect and determine their future
o Meaningful active involvement where any decisions about workforce are made with them
o Working relationships are sustainable, effective and responsive
o Equal opportunities exist for workforce to be involved in a range of activities/development processes
o Workforce participation, involvement and voice are continually evaluated and reviewed.


Benefits of Listening to Workforce Voices:


o Gives additional information and insight into what the workforce thinks of structures/management etc
o Helps to strengthen partnerships between workforce and management
o Helps workforce members work out what is best for themselves and their colleagues
o Enables the workforce to gain better understanding of the things that really matter to colleagues
o Helps to create a listening environment
o All workforce members feel valued, respected and treated like equals
o Helps to develop reflective thinking 
o Increased confidence, self esteem and aspirations
o Enables the workforce to become more motivated to get involved in their jobs 
o Strengthens the feeling of community
o Develops teamwork
o Promotes more creative thinking
o Increases effective communication between workforce 


Challenges of Listening to Workforce Voices 


o Some of the workforce may be anxious about criticism of their work/leadership/communication skills
o Some of the workforce may be wary of the unpredictability of comments and views
o Some of the workforce may have reservations about voicing their opinions/blame culture
o Some of the workforce may worry about the loss of authority in their department
o Some of the workforce will not be prepared to accept the opinions of others
o Some of the workforce may use the opportunity to “take over” or dominate discussion areas
o Managing the initiative will call for careful planning/time constraints etc

Fly The Flag: Stick The Sticker!

First things first, I’m Irish. I’ve lived in England almost all of my life and I like it here. Next, Ireland’s failure to get to the finals was in part down to an awful refereeing decision and the never endingly perplexing stance on 18 yard box technology generally, goal line technology particularly. Last: I shall be supporting England in the World Cup.
We in the U.K have been through some pretty challenging times and with many others I suspect that they’re far from over. A recent poll in LinedIn suggested that there was a strong belief (around 81% of respondent if I remember correctly) that things were likely to remain uncertain in the Global Economy for a while.
There hasn’t been too much to smile about over the last 20 months or so and it is clear that there are some bruising encounters ahead for people who may have previously thought their job to be secure, their future safe and subsequent plans in place. The jarring reality is that this is not, for the vast majority of us, the case.
The World Cup? A chance for people to park, just for a while, the fears and anxieties they’re dealing with and get behind the England Team. It’s been great to see the Cross of St George flying as the anticipation builds, good to read articles on how managers may wish to implement some flexible working arrangements for the period and uplifting to feel “part of the party”.
Today I read that the party has been pooped. Enterprise, the major Public Service contractor has, it would seem, informed its employees that stickers must not be stuck to or flags flown from any of its vehicles because of Health & Safety issues, stating that the Health & safety of their employees, customers and the general public is paramount. Good for them.
It would be very wrong to jeopardise the well being of the population by allowing a refuse collection lorry to fly an England flag. Do these people not realise that a sudden change in wind-speed or direction may have an adverse effect on handling and vehicle stability? In cities and rural communities, the hitherto unheard of sound of a flag, flapping on the wind of progress from a vehicle may inflict trauma on hens and hoodies alike.
Stickers in windscreens too present a hazard that is almost incalculable in its potential to cause multi vehicle pile ups from motorway to middle England as vast tracts of the driver’s vision are obliterated by massively intrusive ermmmm….stickers.
Given the hard times we’ve been through and the tough challenges ahead, I wonder if it would be alright, just for a few weeks, to let people enjoy themselves in a relatively harmless expression of national unity and purpose. I know some will take it too far and make the headlines for all the wrong reasons; life is a bit like that at Christmas and New Year too. I’m convinced though that the majority of us will enjoy the life, get involved with the competition and bring some “feel good” back into our lives generally and the workplace specifically.
I know it’s not for everyone; that shouldn’t mean that we can’t all benefit in someway from the sense of unity and hopefully pride and success that waits. Maybe, Enterprise, you might wish to reconsider your decision and do the grown up thing: issue your drivers with flags for their vehicles and a windscreen sticker that suits, together with a full set of instructions!