The Older I Get, The Better I Was!

I started teaching in 1976 and spent four years and two terms at my first school, a High School in Rowley Regis. Someone very recently posted a teaching staff photo on Facebook and it stirred some powerful recollections: I wasn’t on it; I’d only just left when it was taken and in spite of my absence it’s an acceptable photo! The colour quality is good and it captures the essence of the memory I have for my former colleagues. As is the way of things on Facebook, someone posted another photo, a black and white one of the Staff Football team: we were playing the 5^th Year (Year 11’s now) in a match that celebrated their final year in school and the restorative (albeit temporary) power of the male ego: you know, “The older I get, the better I was,” sort of thing. No one took it dreadfully seriously: a light-hearted piece of “pupil engagement”.

1976 marked a time when challenges to the assumed comfort of education as a key player in developing a productive and employable workforce were raised; notably from the political left. Jim Callaghan and Shirley Williams each voiced concerns about the worth, value and relevance of what was taking place in our classrooms. In doing so they added fresh fuel to a debate that eventually led to changes that have in so many ways “wiped the smiles off the face of education.”

And there is the starkest of differences: fun. Things like this happened regularly and often:

·          Teachers running lunchtime activities (Formal)

·          Teachers running lunchtime activities (Informal)

·          “Catch Up Classes”

·          Teachers having time to socialise and build up productive relationships with the kids

·          Teachers having time to socialise and build up productive relationships with each other.

·          Whole staff social events

·          Spontaneous “stuff”

As I reflect on the journey we've been forced to take, it feels that we have lost some of the essence of purpose that made a job a calling. It’s hard to look at the “progress” we are alleged to have made without concluding that it has been successful largely in an unintended outcome: it has made a calling a job.

131496 Hours ago And The Future

We've been engaged by a valued client to support a complicated change process that involves relocation, reorganisation and realignment, Apart from that, it's pretty straight forward.

When we looked for an approach that was developmental and sustainable we agreed that the processes and philosophy of Appreciative Inquiry would be a strong candidate to engage the management team and to enable them to deliver the process to their teams. I wouldn't want to add to the volumes, production numbers, quotes and conferences that have been conceived, born and flourished around the concept of change: I'd just like to state the obvious, that no matter how we wrap it up-you know "challenging," "exciting opportunities,"-and so on, change is for a number of people both threatening and tough. It's also inevitable as a number of organisations are required to make sense of and adapt to a rapidly shifting context in which one of the certainties is that there is likely to be more uncertainty.

An important component of Appreciative Inquiry is the capacity to understand and celebrate who we were, what we did and what happens on are "best days" and as a coach/facilitator I guess I need to be pretty attentive to conversational pearls that help me to help the client recognises their "best days".

Something turned up in a conversation exploring those occasions where we feel lifted and encouraged by an event or interaction. My client referred to an occasion where his help had been requested by a student (Service User). Unsure of how to approach the challenge my client and the student worked through it together, arrived at the solution and had each learned a lot from the other as they were required to get to grips with the technology and its application from two  very different perspectives.

My client talked about this with real pride and stated that it sets out what he values most: to teach and to learn as a transactional rather than an instructional process. Where was this energy accessed from? It was an event that took place

• 15 Years ago
• Or 180 months ago
• Or 780 weeks ago
• Or 5479 Days ago
• Or 131496  Hours ago.

And it steers the future.

Our Domestic Violence Awareness Raising Programme: Evaluations

What we have here is combined evaluation of the above, taking the results from the Customer's Evaluation and a slightly different approach, where participants are asked to write a couple of lines on a post card, detailing what the event meant to them: Thanks to Matt for your help in getting all of this together!

A West Midlands University February 2011: Human Resource Officers – Violence against Women by Men They Know – Domestic Violence and associated factors.

We were asked to run a development session regarding the implications of domestic violence and how it affects people in the workplace. It was an important session because statistics suggest that at least one in four people suffer domestic abuse at some point in their lives – which, for the participants, means that it is statistically probable that victims of domestic violence include people they know, and people they work with. The greater majority of the participants of the event wished to obtain a greater understanding of the issues that relate to domestic violence, not least of which the signs of what to look out for from somebody who may be suffering from it. From this; they would like to be able to listen to and offer guidance and advice to the relevant people. This in turn would help them in their job role as Human Resource Officers, though it was suggested by one participant that disclosures are not common.

Most of the participants agree that almost all of the objectives – both the objectives of the event and their personal learning objectives – had been achieved, one of which commented that the course “has covered all of the areas of domestic violence.” The constructive criticism that we received suggested that there wasn’t enough time to cover every aspect of such a large topic, particularly where it relates to recognising the signals that would point to signs of abuse. It was also specifically suggested that it would be useful to spend some time discussing how, as Human Resource Officers, domestic violence issues should be discussed when a member of staff discloses them. This comment will be taken into account when planning future presentations on this domestic violence; however it is recognised that it relates to the work objectives of this particular group.

We also use evaluations to monitor the quality of the materials used for the event. In this situation, there were some comments made about the case examples that we used, but the statistics that highlight the number of cases and the extent of the problem were seen as the more significant factor in increasing and improving the understanding of domestic violence amongst the participants. We received many comments describing the events and statistics as “eye opening,” expressing their surprise of how common and widespread the situation is. They also recognised the quality of John Dooner as the facilitator for this event, who was described as “Informative, tactful, sensitive to DV issues and [the] group,” and generated an active interest amongst the participants to this difficult topic.

We have some interesting and fair responses from the human resource officers. We have improved the understanding of issues of domestic violence with the people in the organisation who are in a position to act should it arise in the course of their duty. While we had very little control over the time constraints of the event, we ultimately feel that the content was arranged and delivered in the best interests of the people involved, and we hope to see the results of the impact we have made on their perceptions and conduct in issues of domestic violence.

"ONE LINE RESPONSES"

• Having access to the information delivered in this programme can only make me more supportive and effective in my role.
• A thought provoking session for all HR professionals (anon)
• An eye opener for those who think life is perfect
• I think that this course is definitely an eye opener as to what is going on in the real world. I found this course very helpful and informative.
• Very useful and informative
• Very informative, was surprised at the numbers involved.
• Eye opening
• A very eye-opening session! I didn’t realise how common this topic was until I saw the statistics.
• Course provided an excellent overview of the subject and increased awareness of the feelings of the target and why they may behave in certain ways.
• The course increased my understanding of the prevalence and “symptoms” of domestic violence, and how it can impact on ‘target.’
• The percentage of women affected by domestic violence is a real eye-opener. It makes you realise that a large percentage of the workforce are affected. This training helps to give you a greater understanding of how you could support staff who are seeking help from someone.
• It was an eye opener to find out how many women are abused/part of domestic violence and the behaviours of the perpetrators.
• Very thought-provoking and challenging stuff, but a very valuable course.
• A good comprehensive overview into the key issues of this thought-provoking area.
• Very difficult topic – sadly more prevalent than you would anticipate. Thank you.

Keep Calm & Carry On

T

This was a smashing little book was Christmas present from my daughter: one of those spontaneous ones (the book, not Beth) that often has a relevance beyond the original intention.

There was something of a slip in the original typing of the Title: I wrote "Keep Clam and Carry On" and whereas I have no problem with marine and freshwater bi-valves, they weren't supposed to feature here...however. "Keeping Clam" = "Keep Quiet" so maybe there's something worth thinking about here, namely the choices available to us when we can opt to speak or be quiet.

How many times do we pass on unsubstantiated gossip, partial truths, delicate pieces of information that benefit no-one and can result in great harm. When this happens, our poorly judged comment or intentional hurt has a inbuilt potential to come back and hurt us or to reduce our trustworthiness in the eyes of others.