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Despite the political to and fro of all the counter  arguments about when British schools will re-open after the corona lockdown, school leaders and teachers are ahead of the curve thinking how and when it happens how they can deal with the new realities. We know that the decision to re- open on a particular day is just the start of a long journey. Whether it is a staggered day, a blend of home and school learning or digital solutions, it will be some time before we reach what we recognise as normal.

I could now take this blog in a number of directions. But what I want to do is show how schools networking together, can take us from the reactive response  to the crisis to  an understanding of an effective pedagogy  and  then to  effective action and solutions. Like many of you, I have read widely to find these solutions; I’ve listened to webinars and  spoken with many school leaders here and elsewhere in the world,  but have always been left a little short of hearing anything that seems to offer holistic  support and ideas that will make this immense task  manageable and likely to be able to support our learners to achieve their goals.

A bit of context first. At present I am Head of the International Centre for Educational Enhancement (ICEE) at the University of Bolton working alongside and guided by Professor David Hopkins. We share a common moral purpose for personalised education, inquiry-based learning and developing student agency. But we are also committed to making change effective through great leadership and improvement strategies. We  have also brought to the Centre our UK network of schools that are inspired by the Kunskapsskolan (KED) Program. These 20+ schools are part of a global family of over 100 schools who share these common values and tools that for 20 years now have allowed students to achieve more than they ever thought possible.

As we have explored the impact of the present crisis on these schools we discovered  that those who have been working now for a few years with  the KED Program reported how students have taken readily to remote digital working because they had already build up their self regulation skills as learners. Similarly teachers knew how to blend their approach and develop tasks suited to learners working more remotely. Throughout the lock-down we have been further exploring what has been happening and what can support the strongest learning. We have just set away a major research project to better inform the journey forward.

It’s out of the scope of this blog to explain the detail of our work so check out the KED Program. You can find details on the global website: http://www.kunskapsskolan.com

Together we have explored what we expect to be the situation. Here we have drawn on the international experience of our schools in Sweden where high schools remain open.  Kunskapsskolan Trelleborg serves a very mixed catchment similar to many of our coastal towns, but is now one of the most improved schools in the network. Magnus Dahlberg, the principal has explained how he has a sizeable cohort who are not in schools and self isolating, and at times a reduced staff complement for similar reasons. So they have to manage two different populations of learners and of course these populations change from week to week. This is likely to be where we will be.

We think you will find this:

1. If you are back this side of the summer, and even if it is at the start of the year, you will face a mixed picture of attendance. Some may be self-isolating or fearful of coming to school. Or you may have arranged it so that they are in school part of the time to maintain social distancing.
2. You will face a mixture of issues about wellbeing, feeling isolated, bereavement and young people stressed and worried about the future.
3. It is likely we will face a spike in safeguarding issues.
4. You may have greater staff absence and therefore reduced capacity to deal with these issues
5. There will certainly be staff worries and seeking clarity about priorities and expectations.

We have the pedagogy to tackle this. Students with clear goals and ambition, regular coaching to help them develop strategies to achieve these goals on a day by day basis, a visible curriculum with clear tasks with success factors at various levels, and opportunities for studnts to work independently, digital framework and  an assessment model that encourages masters, review and redrafting. To work as we do requires re- engineering of how you think schools should work. The exact re- engineering that we now need.

Nowhere are you more likely to find this thinking than at Shevington High School in Wigan and from the headteacher Julian Grant.

So using these experiences our response for this unique start back is:

1. Re-establish goals and intrinsic motivation. Do not rush straight back to delivery of content- or worse still comprehensive testing-  before securing the emotional and wellbeing ground. Create a time with form teacher/base group teachers to re affirm their long-term goals and career ambitions. Investigate their concerns and worries about progress as well as their mental health. 
2. Once the goals are set make sure that you have created times in the curriculum for ongoing coaching. With years 10 and 12 this is now essential. Help them work out the strategies in the short term. You know how problems always seem so big until you break them down and get started.
3. Get subject leaders and staff to create a narrative and visible curriculum for the journey to the end of the year. Concentrate on the basic concepts students will need to know and understand and secure them.
4. Think quality first teaching not additional lessons for those that are behind. Research shows that is dispiriting and counterproductive. Put support into the learning not taking them out of the learning.
5. Focus staff training on the teaching and learning strategies – models of practice- that we know make the difference and have large effect sizes.
6. Really think about what the teacher can do and what the student can do by themselves – this is about clarity of learning goals, success factors, resources and assessments.

Together we are working to turn these expectations into  the action that goes with this. We are working to give schools capacity and be their thought partners. But specifically here are some of the examples of our common actions.

A: Top Tips:  Taking this learning narrative, we are going to create a series of short 10-15 minute ‘why do that and how to do it ’ film clips backed up by resources /manuals. One of the challenges of implementing a change agenda is that everyone needs to understand what works and how to do it. We need simple protocols so we  implement  with integrity and  consistency. Big CPD presentations are OK but people need a ready reckoner they can keep going back to.

B: Transitions We are building  a transition unit for the year 7 and year 8  courses themes – ‘Who are We’ and ‘May the Force be with you’. This is to allow students and teachers to do some stock-taking. It will be like just extending the kick off part of the theme. It will create the goals for year 7 – their main mission of the theme- and re-establish them in year 8.

C: We will create a similar transition unit for years 9 and 10 (next years)

D: Subject call and sharing. We have called a 90-minute (max) series of subject leads so colleagues can share their ideas but also come up with ways we and they can help one another. The aim is to focus on the key areas and concepts that need to be covered by the present year 10. These will start  in June and will generate collaborative and supportive work. It will be proceeded by a short google survey so we can collect where everyone is at the start of the call. Each school will want to own their  personal journey but we need to stop schools acting as silos all doing the same thing. That way we create better quality resources for students’ independent  work and help with workload. We just need to identify the key concepts, ensure that students understand them and keep things simple.

E:  Global Arts We have a pilot project running at the moment between our school in the Catskills, New York  and three of our schools in the UK. Through Art, Music, Drama and Poetry they are exploring  how they feel about their situation and their future. In the new school year we will develop this further and involve more schools and countries.  This is important culturally and can be embedded in our programmes but the main benefit has been to enable students to build relationships out of their lock-downed isolations.

F: Effective Implementation Strategies We already have a date this side of the summer with school champions- we will be focusing on effective implementation and models of teaching and learning that create best outcomes so they are in a position to better support staff training through these year.

I entitled this Covid Crisis (that is where we are ) to Pedagogy (how we can re engineer our work) to Action (what we will do together to achieve success). I can in this blog just give you a flavour. But it is built on creating a different culture in our schools that is counter to the atmosphere that is being created out there in the media and from government at the moment. We will only recover quickly if we can create a culture of high expectation, and belief and trust in our teachers and young people.  And for that to really achieve its potential we need those accountability frameworks that dominate our system just to be rolled back for this coming year so we have the space to coach, reflect and rebuild great practice

If you want to find out more and join us please contact me soon. john.baumber@kunskapsskolan.com or j.baumber@bolton.ac.uk