TRUST, AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY... PASS IT ON!

Education is a passionate enterprise built on the interaction between human beings: teachers, students and parents.

We know that we can't make anyone learn; learners, teachers, headteachers and schools have to be active in their own learning and unless they come to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, and how they might deal with them, they will never make progress. It's also vitally important that we understand that the things that stop us learning are not cognitive. It's not that young people can't learn; it's often simply that young people don't want to learn what we are trying to teach them. If we invested a fraction of the energy and resources we spend on transmitting information in developing instead a love of learning in our young people supported by powerful assessment for learning and learning leadership we would achieve much better results. We also struggle because OFSTED simply isn't fit for purpose and our accountability systems fail to engage and involve learners, teachers and head teachers and as a result we risk undermining their motivation, ownership and sense of responsibility. Trust lies at the heart of any successful organisation and the chances that we will be successful in driving up standards and improving outcomes are much greater if we trust each other. Our systems and mechanisms must foster and nurture trust, autonomy and accountability: between teachers and students, between teachers and headteachers, between educators and authorities, between educators and politicians, and between educators, parents and the wider community.