Passionate Commitment, Energy and Ideas!

The new world we are entering requires passionate commitment, energy and ideas and needs all of us to become deeply aware of the place we belong to; it's unique and special features, the things that mark it out as different, it's centres of excellence, the things it excels at and the things it struggles with. We can't, in this new world of Academies and Free Schools, command and control schools; telling them what to do and expecting them to want to belong. We have to transform our shared interests into a shared mission with passionate goals and create a real desire for change where people want to be part of something special. Why else would anyone work in schools? We need to develop tools and techniques to improve learning, to support working together and to improve communication. We need to build networks and connections that collect, share and distribate best practice and help build resilience and the foundations for consistently good practice. We need to share our stories of success and prove through evidence, research and outcomes that we can achieve real excellence and deliver world class outcomes. It's not about good enough any more it has to be about the search for outstanding; surely what we all want for every child and young person... whatever their background!

We need to be careful because organisations strive to maintian the status quo; defending the outcomes they are already achieving. Systems, standards, routines and structures work to prevent change and try their best to keep things as they are. But if we keep doing what we have always done we will continue to get what we have always got and it simply isn't good enough. However, the evidence suggests that there are sufficient centres of excellence which we can grow and share and learn from to achieve a real step change in outcomes.

The opportunities this learning journey provides are exciting and scary at the same time. We must work hard to release the enormous untapped potential that sits in our offices, staffrooms and classrooms and whose curiosity, creativity and innovation must be at the heart of a new drive for excellence. This requires commitment to cultural change, to learning and working together, to curriculum and professional development progranmmes. 

A commitment to a learning agenda within a learning community... whatever it takes!

Chris