Tag: Journal

Connectedness and 11 years of blogging

I sit and write this in a hotel in Sheffield ahead of recording some webinars related to the DfE Digital Standards over the next 2 days.   Today isnt special for me due to what I am about to do, although I am very happy for the opportunity, but due to the fact 11 years ago, sat on the bed in my villa in Al Ain in the UAE I setup and published my first blog post.   And yes, there is quite a difference between a villa in the UAE and a hotel in Sheffield;  lets just say I am certainly not as warm as I used to be.

When I started my blog I was very much doing it for me.   It was an act of putting things down in writing which forced me to decompose my thinking which often led to me challenging my own perspective and views.    Part of the reason to start my blog was the fact I accepted that my memory was not as good and photographic as I thought it was and therefore writing things down, publishing them online made for a permeant record that I could compare over time.    I will admit, when I started,  I never saw myself still posting 11 years later and I don’t think I saw me finding the process as quite as valuable as I now find it.

And in writing for myself I have found that there are actually people out there reading my thoughts and at many points I thought no one read my musings;  But remember my musings were for me so this wasn’t an issue.    The recent BETT conference included a number of individuals, some I had met in person but a number I hadn’t, telling me they read my posts.   I was connected to these people in sharing, but possibly more importantly my posts built an opportunity to connect with these people in person;  I was originally going to put “real life” there but how is a connection made online any less “real” than a connection in person, although I would suggest in person has greater value in the non-verbal side of communications, empathy and emotional connections which are not as possible online.    When I was struggling from a personal point of view I found people reach out and offer support, with some being people I knew in person and others being people I knew only online.    I found myself helped by a network built from sharing my thoughts, although again those in-person relationships were that bit stronger than the online only ones.

When I consider online connectedness I have always considered it to be shallow and in some cases simply an illusion;   I can be online chatting via social media with lots of people but still feel lonely, something I have posted about in the past.   But equally the online connections can spring into real life connections that maybe, otherwise might never have occurred.   I know after BETT I came away happy and energized, against a backdrop of some personal challenges.   Some of this was due to connecting once more with in-person friends, some of it was due to new in-person connections but some of it was also due to online connections suddenly becoming in-person friends and colleagues.    So maybe online connections arent shallow;  Maybe this is too simplistic a categorisation.  Maybe if they remain online and that is our only and principle connection, they remain shallow, but if this is simply the seed from which the in person connection grows then maybe we are all the better for it.   Maybe there is a balance to be sought in relation to in-person and online connections, seeking to maximise the benefits of both types.

So 11 years of blogging;  Where has the time gone?   Funny enough I can answer that simply by reviewing my posts over the last 11 years.   So, to the future, I will keep blogging for now at least and see where things go from there.    For those reading this I just give thanks for giving my musings your valuable time and if I havent met you yet, then I look forward to hopefully meeting you in person at some point in the future;  EduTech Europe 2024, BETT 2025 maybe?

This post was written on Monday 12th Feb, 2024

2023 in review

I previously shared a blog reflecting on the autumn term, a difficult term for me on a personal level.  I note I found great comfort and support in the friends and colleagues, both past and present, who reached out to offer their support;   The education community is a great place however it is often only in difficult times this becomes quite so apparent.     

Following on from this, and from the pledges I set at the start of 2023, I thought I would now share some reflections on the wider year, 2023, ahead of setting some targets for the year ahead.   To frame the review I am going to use the same headings as I did for my pledges back in Jan 2023; You can read my original post here.

Podcasts

2023 finally saw me working with Ian Stockbridge on a podcast.  This had been something we had talked about for a while but just never managed to actually make it happen however in Jan and Feb we finally put aside some time and launched In Our Humble Opinion, releasing 10 episodes focussed on cyber security within schools.   It was a fun and worthwhile experience and I feel I got quite a bit from it.   We did very much approach it as the two of us having a discussion which led to some interesting episodes although it also meant they suffered from being inconsistent in length.    As 2024 starts it would be good to pick this up again.

Time Management

I think the challenge of the increasing fleeting nature of time is one resulting both from education, where we rush from one half term, or one term, or one academic year to the next, combined with the fact I am getting older.   I don’t think 2023 saw me get any better at dealing with this as I still felt time disappeared and questioned what I had achieved.  In fact, sitting in January back at work it is as if the festive period simply came and went.    I think the way to deal with this is to try to create unique, new experiences, so maybe this is something for me to consider in the year ahead, although it was a consideration I raised back at the start of 2023.    I also think I need to accept that my sense of time is only going to see time pass more quickly as I get older, and also as we continue to add more tasks, complexity and jobs in the name of improvement and efficiency.   So maybe rather than seeking to do something about this issue, I maybe need to become more accepting of it.

Running

My running in 2023 was very inconsistent and I didn’t reach the 600km target I had set myself, nor the regular 10km runs I had hoped for.   I also saw my pace steadily decline to around 7min/km.   I did still manage around 450km which is ok and managed to get some consistency in Dec.    I think part of this was due to other commitments, part of it due to not having short term targets and partly due to low motivation levels.     Here it is all about balancing out my commitments and working out where running sits in terms of my priorities, and then simply getting out and putting the effort in.

Reading

As with 2022, I didn’t read as much as I would have liked to during 2023 although I will note I did read a few very interesting and useful books, including actually reading some fiction.   In the case of the fiction, the book was kindly provided by a colleague and my initial perception was that it wasn’t something I would enjoy, however upon starting to read the book I found I really got into it and thoroughly enjoyed it.   I think this highlights that you cant judge a book by its cover and that somethings getting over the initial perception can lead to positive outcomes, in reading but also in other areas of life.   New experiences as I mentioned earlier.

Holidays and Experiences

I think I did make more of an effort to create more memories and experiences in 2023 which was a good thing.   Trips to London, both for work and for leisure, were enjoyable, plus my trip to Amsterdam and a trip to Glasgow were all positive.    This is definitely something I need to continue in the year ahead however maybe go a little further afield.

Contributions to the wider Education and Tech Communities

I think I made significant efforts in 2023 to contribute to discussion and events related to education and more specifically technology use in education.    I was happy to be invited to speak at a number of events in Leeds, London, Amsterdam and Birmingham, although had to reluctantly turn down an opportunity in Glasgow.     I found it particularly busy in the Autumn term in particular with a number of speaking opportunities alongside a number of events I attended as a delegate.   I also got involved in a number of groups and projects including supporting an ISBA Digital survey, an ISC event and the plans for EdTechCentral.    My hope is that I can build on this in 2024 although I will need to be careful to find a balance such that I still leave time for other activities such as running, reading, etc.

Conclusion

2023 had some very positive events in it, such as a couple of days in London where I managed to get some personal time, attend one event and speak at another.    I also had EduTech Europe and the opportunity to speak in Amsterdam, but also the brilliant group of people I am now working with ahead of EduTech 2024.     2023 also saw my son turn 18 and an enjoyable afternoon taking him for his first drink (and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and a few more!).    The year also had some really low points, with these occurring in the closing months of the year.     Looking broadly on 2023 there is much to be positive about but the availability bias, focussed mainly on recent negative personal events makes it more difficult to find anything positive from 2023.   

2024 is now upon us, so writing and sharing the above marks me trying to draw a line under 2023 and start afresh.   But I do need to also try to take the positives from 2023 as there were definitely a few.   With that in mind, onwards to 2024 and lets see if I can make it a much more positive year.

Reflecting on a difficult term

And so it’s the end of the autumn term and the end of the 2023 calendar year; Where has the time gone?   I think on reflection the speed with which time is flying partly relates to age (I am no longer 21!) but also the nature of working in schools where we sprint from one term to the next.   I suspect that as we are busy and as we each sprint to the finish line of each new term, this results in us not getting our heads up and engaging in new experiences, or taking in our surroundings or achievements, and the very things which make memories.   So, with the end of the term and the year I thought it a good opportunity to reflect firstly on the term, and then in a later post I will look back on the whole of 2023.

Firstly, I need to acknowledge it has been a very difficult term for me on a personal level, especially the last few months.   Now am not going to go into the nature of the challenges however I have found my life torn apart and things I had taken as read and as fact suddenly changed overnight leaving me staring at a very different future, and 2024, than I had originally anticipated.  Throughout I have tried to keep a brave face on things, and at times this has been very difficult and as we head into the festive period I am finding it even more difficult.   I think the next few months will just be about pushing forward from day to day and trying to establish a new set of norms but at this point it is very difficult to remain positive, although I am doing my best to keep my spirits up.   Am not sure what the future holds for me, but maybe the current situation is what is needed to bring about some change, to build new memories, time will tell.

The autumn term saw me much busier with external events and speaking opportunities than I have been previously.   Speaking at the Schools and Academies Show (SAAS), EduTech Europe in Amsterdam and a number of other events provided me plenty of opportunities to share my thoughts and ideas particularly around the potential for AI in education, while also providing me a focus which helped keep my mind off my personal challenges.   Looking at my schedule forward into 2024 and I already have a number of events in my diary including a return to EduTech Europe for their 2024 event.     I will admit engaging in these events has been fun, if also a bit of a challenge when factoring in my day to day role as Director of IT but thankfully I have a great team of people who work with me which has given me the time and focus I have needed in order to contribute to these events.   I am definitely looking forward to trying and contribute to the educational discourse, including on AI, cyber and digital citizenship, to name but three topics.

From the day to day side of things this term has seen significant work on using PowerBi in a number of different contexts to analyse school data.  It has also seen quite a bit of work going into delivering both cyber security and digital citizenship awareness materials to staff and students, with one of my colleagues doing a particularly excellent job getting out into departments to deliver short awareness talks to those who may not attend the bigger annual events.    Additional to this there has been some progress made on esports with us now looking towards the F1 sim racing for next year, plus looking at progressing our current esports offering for students.   I am also looking forward to speaking on this subject to a number of other schools during the course of 2024.  I think I have managed to find a good balance of getting my hands dirty in some areas, whereas being more strategic and less operationally involved in others. This is something I need to continue to work on.

In terms of fitness, I haven’t been able to establish the same patterns of effort this year as I have managed in the last couple of years.   As such my running has been very much up and down, with some weeks with 20km covered, often followed by weeks of no running.    As we approach Christmas though I am trying to get back to a pattern of effort, using the downtime post the end of the term to get back into it and hoping I can carry my running on into the new year.    I suspect I will fall short of my 500km target for 2023, however I don’t think I will miss it by too much.  

Its been a busy term!   I don’t think I will be able to reflect on it in any more positive terms despite there being some positive events and memories buried under the less positive (read: crap) memories.    Just now need to try and relax and collect myself over the holidays and then move on from there.    Life goes on!

Autumn term blues

We are now in the 2nd half of the autumn term and I cant believe where the time has gone.    We had the usual build up ahead of the start of the new academic year, followed by the unsurprisingly manic start of term.   The start of term in schools and colleges is normally manic as new students and staff join and as everyone tries to quickly get back up to speed following the summer break, trying to establish the positive habits which should underpin the year ahead.    For me, the first half of this years autumn term was made all the busier due a number of events which I had agreed to attend or contribute to, such as a couple of industry cyber security events and speaking at events in Leeds, London and Amsterdam.   Each of these events were really useful however the travel and preparation work related to the events add to the stress and pressure.   Its worthwhile, and I certainly take much from each of the events, the ANME/Elementary Technology AI and EduTech Europe events in particular, but it isnt half tiring.

It was therefore no surprise that I reached the half term feeling very drained and run down but having quite a bit to catch up on before the planned period of rest towards the end of half term.   And this is where sod-law kicks in.    Just as I get the time to regroup and to rest, illness shows its head.   Why is it that just when you get time to enjoy yourself and relax, that you end up ill?    Now I suspect part of the answer is the fact that, when busy, adrenaline carries you through and keeps you going however as soon as you see the light at the end of the tunnel, as soon as you take your foot off the gas and your body and mind relax a little, the bugs, the viruses and the general malaise set in.   And so it was that I spent a fair amount of the half term period working on, as us IT people need to do in school holiday periods, while feeling less than 100%.   When I did get a few days off to relax the time was largely spent in bed or crashed out in front of the TV with little energy and a persistent cough.

Before I knew it, the 2nd half of the term had begun and the opportunity to spend some proper time on wellbeing and mental health has passed me by.    So with the 2nd half of the term now fully back in the swing of things, it is once again time to put the foot to the floor and proceed towards Christmas (bah humbug 😉) .    At this point I still don’t quite feel 100% but I am definitely better than I was during half term and for now I hope I can get to Christmas, and pass into the festive holiday period without any further illness.   But only time will tell.

The challenge we all have is in accepting that life and work is not linear;  There will be periods where things are manic and busy, and where mental health and wellbeing will take 2nd or maybe 3rd place, however equally we need to seek a balance which means there will need to be times when mental health and wellbeing come first, even when this is at the expense of other things.    For me, the manic autumn term just means I need to ensure I put time aside for myself, either at Christmas or at some point in the spring of summer terms, putting myself first over other pressures.  

Onwards and upwards as they say, and also let me share an important message with all my colleagues in schools and colleges;   make sure to look after yourself as unless you are well, physically, mentally, cognitively, etc, you won’t be able to effectively help, look after, teach or otherwise support others.    Take care and good luck for what remains of the autumn term!

First day of term: A Director of ITs view.

So, Monday this week marked the first day of the Autumn term and the new 2023/24 academic year and it was the usual very busy start to the year for myself and my team.   I suspect IT teams working in schools, colleges and universities across the world will find it the same when staff and students return.   Forgotten passwords, new devices, new requirements and services, the fog of the summer holiday period meaning people cant remember how to do or find things on the schools intranet or learning platform.   All of these issues suddenly appear on day 1 and the first week, meaning from an IT point of view it is probably the busiest period of the year.    As such I thought I would share some of myself and my teams day.

Lots of issues continue to be reported via email as email is a fire and forgot medium.   As such a fair part of my day was spent reviewing and responding to emails.   Despite my best efforts, by the end of the day my inbox contained around 300 emails yet to be reviewed or requiring action;  I try to only keep the emails in my inbox where they are unread or where they require action.    I hate to think how many emails would be in my inbox if I hadn’t allocated small amounts of time throughout the day to review and action.

Part of the schools programme at the start of the year involves a school service at a local cathedral.  This is always an amazing event and a great way to start the year.  This was due to happen on the Tuesday however over the weekend the actual programme for the service had yet to be finalised.   As such I popped down to our reprographics office to provide some support to our reprographics manager who would be responsible for trying to turn around thousands of printed programmes within the day.   As it was the finalised programme arrived just after 9am with the whole run completed by mid-afternoon thanks to the hard work of the reprographics manager.    Meanwhile my creative technologies team were in the cathedral itself getting all the audio visual equipment in place to allow for screens to help attendees see clearly what was happening even if sat at the back, to allow for recording of the whole event and to provide the necessary audio setup.    The whole event is quite a logistical endeavour however is brilliant in marking the start of a new academic year.

Back in the office and the team are hard at work supporting users including both staff and students.   A quick look at the IT ticketing system at the end of the day shows almost twice as many tickets being logged as is usual and this doesn’t include a record of the many students and staff who simply physically came to the IT office for help.   Issues ranged from new students not knowing how to log in to the Wi-Fi, students having forgotten passwords, staff and students with new devices where their old device was the one setup for MFA, and many other issues.    If variety is the spice of life, there was certainly plenty of variety in the issues, albeit there were also a fair few of the usual issues common for IT teams at the start of a new academic year.

As part of a new project this year we had a photographer in doing photos for a number of our year groups rather than my team being involved in this.    Just after lunch I popped across to see how they were getting on given they had around 700 to 800 photos to do within the day.    As it was the company confidently worked their way through the students, largely due to their experience in doing the same with other schools, and the new photos were uploaded to our school management system before the end of the first day.

I had also put aside some time on day 1 for a couple of more significant projects.    I find if I don’t allocate time to significant projects, other less pressing issues seem to deplete my available time.    One of these projects is in relation to some data analysis using PowerBi.    I continue to see PowerBi as such a powerful tool and can only see this growing over time as we gather more and more data, but need to find value in the data, where BI can help us visualise and explore the data and therefore hopefully find the value we seek.     The second project I was working on was in relation to a conference I will be speaking at later in the month where I will be discussing AI in education.   I had some rough thoughts on the content of the presentation but had put some time aside to flesh these out noting that the organiser is asking for a presentation to be provided in the next week.    I will admit I have a tendency to be working on conference presentations until minutes before I present, and I suspect this may be no different.

The day finished with a meeting discussing data and data analysis, setting things up for a meeting the following day to further explore the data and analysis requirements.

It was a long and busy day but also a productive one in many ways.   And this is all after a busy summer of IT infrastructure upgrades, client device changes and upgrades, systems development and other IT works.    The rest of the week will be similarly busy before things settle down a bit in week 2 and 3 as staff and students get into routines and as everything returns to the usual habits, ebbs and flows of a busy school.     

I hope all staff in IT roles in schools, colleges and universities survive their first days back and come out of it with minimal issues.    You all do a great job, often invisible to most users in the school, except when things go wrong.   This is the way of IT, if done correctly it is nearly transparent to the users, simply being there and adding new possibilities to teaching, learning, school administration, etc.   Without you this wouldn’t happen, so keep up the great work!

Review of 2022/23 in photos

As another academic year begins I thought I would have a quick look back over the photos I have taken throughout 2022/23 to see what highlights I might be able to pick out.    The below image is some of the highlights:

August 2022 saw me having a family holiday abroad which was a pleasant way to relax and prepare for the year to come.     Following the usual busy first half of the autumn term I found myself visiting Meta’s London offices for an online safety event, the first time I had ever visited their offices, before then travelling up to Birmingham for the Schools and Academies show where Abid Patel presented me with an Irn Bru Xtra just at a point where my supplies of the Bru were running low.    Timing is everything! It was a busy couple of days and a lot of travelling but worthwhile in the end.  Later that month I then led the South West ANME meeting;  I think this was the first ANME meeting I had led.   It was enjoyable to contribute to discussion and to share with other schools from across the Southwest.  It would be nice to see more school involved however the geography of the Southwest makes this challenging.

January saw myself and Ian Stockbridge begin our In Our Humble Opinion (IOHO) podcast after over a year of discussion without getting anything off the ground.   Having started the podcast the Microsoft event in Reading proved an ideal opportunity for Ian to sport his IOHO branded T-Shirt.     March saw me in London for the BETT event, however also using the opportunity for a day off to spend in London, including a quick visit to Madame Tussauds for my selfie with a Stormtrooper.   May saw a trip up to Leeds to present at an Elementary Technology event alongside Kalam from British esports, discussing esports and schools.   A great event albeit my journey up to Leeds wasnt short of my usual challenges with significant train delays. I was then involved in a similar esports session, this time with Tom from British esports, along with a cyber resiliency session at the ISC digital event in June.   It was great to present, but also to be involved in the organising of an ISC digital conference especially given the extended delay between the previous ISC event and this one.   Here’s hoping that the ISC event once again returns as an annual event.

The end of the academic year finished with the 2nd LGfL event in London and a good opportunity to catch up with some of the ANME team, among many others.   I then, as the holiday period began, took a trip with my wife to London for a few days relaxing and exploring London, including engaging in a bit of Morph hunting.   I will admit to finding wandering around London with a limited plan other than to amble around and have a few drinks, very relaxing. The weather was also surprisingly nice which makes all the difference.

To be honest, the photos above are only a small number of highlights representing a busy academic year.   Here’s to 2023/24, new challenges, new opportunities and another positive academic year.  I wander what photos I will have to look back on a year from now?

A [broad] review of 2022/23

And so, the 2022/23 academic year draws to a close so I thought I would share some brief thoughts and reflections on the completion of yet another year.   This is the first of two posts I will share in terms of reflection, this one focussing on broad reflections where the future post will focus much more on some of my more personal reflections.   

So what are my main takeaways from the last academic year?

Technology

This year I managed to get around and visit a couple of different subjects and see how others were using technology in their lessons.   It was great to see how technology was embedded and almost transparent in its use, but also heartening to see where teachers were deciding to use non-tech solutions in their lessons where this better met the needs of the students and the lesson content.   Technology is a brilliant tool but equally we need to reach a balance in its use and be willing to use or not use technology as appropriate.   My sense post pandemic was that there was a real danger of a rubber band effect on technology use, seeing technology usage quickly regress to pre-pandemic levels however this does not quite seem to be the case.    That being said, looking outside of schools to exam boards and other centralised education functions, they have moved very little and I suspect this will be the most significant challenge for education;   Schools themselves are able to move forward and progress in the use of technology however for education to move as a whole will require bodies such as exam boards, government education departments, inspections regimes, etc to move forward with their adoption of technology.   It will also require them to ensure that their staff, including those who visit schools to carry out moderation, to carry out inspection or to provide support or consultancy, all have a reasonable level of technology skills.  My experience to date suggests both the technology adoption and the technology skills are currently lacking.

Cyber

Linked to the above I have seen exam bodies providing software for use in educational establishments where the software required local admin privileges.   I have also seen hardware sold where the operating software provided only supported an outdated version of a networking protocol, rather than the newer more security version.  No update was available with the only solution the vendor could suggest being to purchase their newer, more advanced and unsurprisingly more expensive hardware option.   In order for schools to be better protected against the increasing cyber threats of the world we live in, we need to ensure we do the basics which includes limiting the permissions provided and using “least privilege” as a standard, as well as ensuring updates are available and that the newest protocols and standards are used.   Those organisations and companies providing software and hardware to schools need to ensure that cyber security is baked into their solutions by design and where it is not these solutions should simply be prevented from use in our schools and colleges.   Until we address the issue of EdTech software and hardware being designed with security in mind, both in terms of the current issues but also in terms of future risks and issues through the anticipated lifespan of the solution, education will continue to be an easy target.

Generative AI

Generative AI has really hit the news particularly in the last 6 months.  I have already written a fair amount on Generative AI however my main takeaway from the year is that generative AI is here and will only get better.  As has been said a few times, the current AI solutions available are the worst they will ever be.    We therefore need to shape its use by experimenting and identifying how it can help teachers, students and the wider school community.  Equally we must ensure that those using AI understand the risks and implications of its use.    This can be done in a pragmatic way focussed on the present, however we must also look to the future and how AI might significantly change the world of education.   Will teaching and learning look the same as it does in 5 or 10 years time?   What about assessment and exams?   Will changes finally allow greater time to work with students on digital citizenship along with health and wellbeing in a digital world?    There are lots of questions we can now seek to ask as we seek to explore the art of the possible in a world where Generative AI is now available.    These are interesting times.

The negative world

Reflecting back on the academic year and on the wider world there has been a lot of press in relation to the things which aren’t working as we wish they would, some of which having incalculable impact on those involved including leading to loss of life.    The cost of living crisis,  war in Ukraine, fuel cost crisis and many other negative events have flooded our TV news and our social media.   My concern here is that these negative events might blot out any of the good that may have been achieved.   The availability bias might come into play as all that comes easily to mind is negative, leading to increasing issues with mental health.    I worry that the news, including TV, social media, etc, not only reports event but also shapes future events and if this is the case, and the current news is more often negative than positive, what might the net result be for the future?    How do we achieve the balance in the world, in our countries, our towns, families and in our own lives where the prevailing message is that things are getting worse?   It was however heartening to hear Ty Goddard speaking at the LGfL conference talk of the need for hope, faith and leadership.    How do we lead people, including staff and students through this period where things feel so bleak, and how do we seek to cultivate the hope and faith that may be so important going forward?

Conclusion

The summer period is an opportunity for many to reset and recharge.  For myself and my team, it is an opportunity to get lots of the technology related upgrades, updates and other development work done while things are a little quieter;  I note we have summer holiday courses here throughout summer so things are never fully quiet.    It is also a key milestone and opportunity to reflect and also to look forwards and plan for the next academic year.     As I think about the implications of AI, I think the end of the academic year also represents an opportunity for us to look inwards;   Looking back and looking forwards in time is useful, but sometimes we need to be introspective and look at ourselves as humans, as individuals, considering health, wellbeing, resilience, etc.    We are more than a list of achievements, struggles or a list of plans and targets.

For me the year has had its ongoing challenges such as cyber risk and the generally negative context of the world, with these being an ongoing grind.  It has also had its positives in seeing the work of my team, in supporting technology use, being realised in classrooms with teachers confidently using technology and with the technology being almost transparent in its use.    And the year has also seen AI gain prominence, providing such potential or opportunities for the future.    It has been another busy, challenging but also rewarding year.  

So 2022/23 has ended.  Now we wait and prepare for 2023/24!

Good enough?

In the world of education, it is easy to become obsessed with the pursuit of perfection. Teachers and students alike strive for excellence, academic, pastoral, and otherwise, pushing themselves to achieve the best results possible and constantly seeking to improve processes, knowledge and skills.  I look back on over 20 years of working in schools and see all the things that have been added for teachers, school leaders and support staff to do.   All of the various things that have been added have been added for good reason, to improve education or to address risks or dangers, but they largely have all been additions;  additional systems, additional processes, additional statutory requirements, additional school requirements, inspection requirements, compliance requirements, etc.   We cannot infinitely continue to add.    Also, in this relentless pursuit of perfection, it is all too easy to overlook the value of “good enough” and the negative effects that perfectionism can have.

The concept of “perfect” is a subjective one, and what one person considers to be perfect may not necessarily be the same for another. The problem with striving for perfection in education is that it can lead to unrealistic expectations, which in turn can lead to feelings of failure, anxiety, and stress.  It can lead to increasing workload where workload is a considerable issue impacting on educators the world over.    We can become so fixated on getting everything right that we lose sight of the bigger picture, and what really matters and is most important.     And what is most important is equally subjective;  is it academic achievement, developing character, soft skills, sportsmanship, preparing students for future life, supporting student wellbeing, or the many other things which schools are involved in.

I believe the culture of constant addition is doomed to fail us, it is simply unsustainable.   We do not have the resources and this is already clear given ongoing discussions regarding workload in schools. As such we need to look towards what is most important and prioritising.  We need to look towards “doing less” which is one of the principles I have shared with my team in looking to identify the tasks and activities we do that add little value or provide little impact, seeking to cease these or spend less time on them.   Now this is a difficult process as anything which has been added has been added for a reason however not all reasons are equal and the impact and value of all tasks and activities are also not equal.   And this is what is hard in comparing tasks and identifying which are worthwhile to continue and which can be ceased or reduced, while acknowledging that ceasing any tasks will result in a negative impact; Remember we started a task for a positive reason, so ceasing or reducing time on it can only reverse this; a negative impact.   But we need to start to reverse the culture of addition before we reach a tipping point, before the workload crisis goes beyond where it already is.

In terms of the difficult task of prioritisation I always come back to values;   A schools values should help guide on identifying that which is important and which adds value, therefore helping in identifying the things it might be possible to cease doing.    And if not ceasing doing things it should help in identifying priorities and allocation of resources so rather than stopping something, we may simply do less of it. These are the difficult discussions which need to happen, identifying how to divide up the limited resources available, and what areas or tasks cannot be done, should not be done, or will see less resources to make way for other things.

In schools and colleges we want to do the best for our students but maybe in seeking to do so we need to recognise that best does not mean perfect as this simply isnt possible;   the resources, the staff, the time, etc will never be sufficient to be perfect.   Therefore do we need to become comfortable with “good enough”?    I feel as a manager of an IT support function that this is the right thing to do although equally as an educator I am uncomfortable with it from a student and a learning point of view, where I would want to deliver the best possible learning experience.    But maybe the discomfort is unavoidable, and better to work with good enough than to try to be perfect across too many areas of education, the pastoral, academic, wellbeing, health, fitness, etc, such that we fall significantly short of even good across all of them.  

The above is a bit of a rambling chain of thoughts but in terms of sharing my thoughts, concerns and ideas, hopefully it is Good Enough!

Some wellbeing thoughts

Following on from my post from a week or so ago, when I was sharing feeling a little bit low, I thought I would share some thoughts on wellbeing.  I note I am currently in a slightly better place than I was having re-established some positive habits such as reading and running plus being a bit more conscious of and seeking to better manage my mood.

So what is wellbeing?    I think this is key to establish what it is as it is multifaceted involving taking care of your physical, emotional, and mental health.  I found a diagram which talked of deep health including physical, emotional, mental, environmental, relational and existential elements which might be a useful model.  But the key, no matter the model used is that the elements are all inter-related.   I remember reading about an experiment where researchers asked their subjects to hold a pencil in their mouth with some asked to have the pencil length wise, thereby forcing a smile, or endwise, so forcing a kind of frown.   When they asked how the individuals felt those who had the pencil length wise, which forced their mouth to assume the shape of a smile, provided more positive responses than those who held the pencil endwise.   Also when I think about my running, if I am not in a good place mentally or emotionally, I struggle and tend to run slower, while when I have a good run I generally feel better.   So basically physical events can impact on emotions rather than always being the other way around, and vice versa; e.g. you feel good so you are more inclined to smile, or you smile/laugh and feel better.   Physical, emotional and mental are inter-related.   And here in lies the challenge in wellbeing, it involves a number of inter-related facets so managing your own wellbeing isn’t easy.  

My recent challenges highlight this.   If your mood isn’t in a good place you are likely to feel less happy and emotionally drained which means you are less inclined to smile, which reinforces feeling emotionally drained.  Being drained you are then less likely to engage in physical exercise, so become less active and healthy, with this in turn likely to result in more emotional negativity.  Basically its a negative spiral.

A positive spiral is also possible where you get into a habit of physical exercise, which makes you feel more emotionally positive and balanced, leading to more smiles and laughs, which in turn make you feel better.   You are also more likely to engage with other people and social contact with this again leading to more emotional positivity.

The above positive and negative examples are however extreme and the reality is we spend a lot of our time in a delicate balance.   We might have the physical exercise bit sorted with regular runs which makes you feel good and healthy but due to limited time you are not challenging yourself mentally through reading for example, which therefore has a negative emotional toll as you are aware of the lack of reading.   So you allocate more time to reading but then find you are spending less time with family or on exercise, so feel better for the intellectual challenge but feel worse of for the reduction in social contact and in exercise.    We want our wellbeing to be rather stable albeit positive but the reality is it is a constant rollercoaster in need of monitoring and management.  

Ideally you hope to have positive wellbeing but the reality is that your wellbeing will fluctuate with your efforts, successes/failures, with interactions with others and with local and even national events, among other factors. You will have occasional negative spirals and positive one. The reality is far less even than we would like as I have tried to indicate in the below diagram:

So what are some of the things we might consider in seeking to manage our own wellbeing:

  • Exercise regularly: Exercise is one of the best ways to improve your physical and mental health. Regular exercise can help reduce stress, boost your mood, and improve your overall health.
  • Eat a balanced and healthy diet: Eating a balanced and nutritious diet can help you maintain a healthy weight, reduce your risk of chronic diseases, and improve your energy levels.  Note: Balance includes some enjoyable food and drink where I count my Irn Bru as part of this equation.
  • Get enough sleep: Getting enough sleep is essential for your mental and physical health. Aim for at least seven to eight hours of sleep each night.
  • Manage stress: Stress can have a negative impact on your physical and mental health. We also need to note that challenge, or good stress exists and is an important part of our wellbeing in the need to feel successfully.    We therefore need to seek out challenge and things which push us to achieve while finding healthy ways to manage negative stress, such as through meditation, yoga, or deep breathing, or whatever you find works for you personally.  
  • Connect with others: Social support is crucial for maintaining good mental health. Spend time with family and friends, join a club or group, or volunteer in your community.
  • Practice self-care: Self-care involves doing things that make you feel good, such as taking a warm bath, reading a book, or going for a walk. Make time for self-care activities each day.
  • Seek help when needed: If you’re struggling with your mental health, don’t hesitate to seek professional help. Talk to your doctor, a mental health professional, or a trusted friend or family member.

Remember, managing personal wellbeing is a process that requires consistent effort and self-awareness. By taking care of your physical, emotional, and mental health, you can lead a happier and more fulfilling life but I think we also need to accept that things are not always positive and that we therefore need to manage the negative when it arises.

Wellbeing, like so many things in life, is messy and cant be distilled into a simple list.

A difficult month

It’s been a bit of a difficult last month or so, so thought I would share some brief thoughts in the hope that writing things down and sharing may help.     First of all there was BETT-lag.   The end of March included the BETT conference which for me was a very busy series of days, of attending panel discussions, visiting stands, meetings and catching up with many EdTech friends.   So, it was useful and enjoyable but also very tiring especially when you factor in the long travel times from Somerset to the Excel in London.   Thankfully the end of BETT coincided with the end of term so I had high hopes for being able to recover over the Easter break.

Around the same time my fitness efforts and running had hit a bit of a roadblock with limited distance covered in both March and April.   The fact I couldn’t get into a routine and regular running habit was depressing and with each opportunity for running missed it made me feel all the more negative.     Additionally, my reading habit had also taken a nosedive partially through a lack of motivation, similar to my running, but also through a lack of interest in the book I am currently reading but combined with a reluctance to just put the book down, to give up, and move on to another book.

March had also seen me take on a number of projects including creating some webinar content and recording a regular weekly podcast among other things.   It was good to be busy and led me to feeling a sense of achievement, however it meant that by the end of the month, and the BETT conference, I was already tired and the event, plus the post-event BETT-Lag were still to come.   And then there was the void left once the activities had been concluded and no longer occupied my time.

And next was the kicker, when initially I started feeling a bit of a cold part way through the Easter break, the time I planned to use to try and relax and recover.  Getting hold of a covid test, I decided to test and low and behold it came back positive.    What followed wasn’t that much worse than a cold however I found myself lacking in any real energy which led me to achieving very little in terms of the long list of things I wanted to get done.     The tiredness, lack of achievement, lack of running or reading, all left me feeling negative and downright depressed at times.

Mental health isn’t a simple thing.   It isn’t something which can be solved by a simple “wellbeing activity”.   It is about physical fitness and activity, about mental activity, about feeling a sense of achievement, feeling well, feeling suitably challenged but not feeling stressed or over worked or overly tired.   It’s a delicate balance and one which I don’t think I have sufficiently managed over the last few months.    My hope is I can use the new term as a new start and better address the need for balance.  But for now am just going to relax and enjoy the weekend before the new term begins.