1. What has been most personally rewarding from your involvement with the Kingsbridge Community College Governing Body?
It has been most personally rewarding to continue to be involved in what I think is a really top-class organisation that has a very important role in our educational landscape.
 
I have been involved in Teaching Schools from their very beginning and I immediately believed it was the very best way of developing teaching and learning within our schools.
 
I think teaching at the moment is as hard as it has ever been, and maybe even harder and I am passionate that teachers from the start of the career and all the way through, have the opportunity to experience the very best training; because when we come into teaching, I think we all have an idea of what makes a good teacher, which essentially comes from our own background and provides a great starting point for our classroom practice.
 
But developing and improving that practice can be challenging and I think the only way you can do it is if you have from the very start of your career the opportunity to experience high-quality professional development and support in your school. For me, this can come about by schools working together and learning from research and striving to ensure that their teachers benefit from such opportunities. This way, I believe that teachers can get the very best outcomes for their students.
 
My involvement over the last few years as Chair of the SWIFT Trust Board has given me the opportunity to see and be impressed by the way in which SWIFT has developed from what was an idea of schools collaborating together by sharing data and seeking improvements in a much more structured way.
 
Teaching School Hubs, like SWIFT, are providing opportunities that enable the very best development in our teachers and school leaders. That is why I am so excited that SWIFT is moving into initial teacher training, because I think that keeps the Golden Thread (as the Department for Education terms it) going from the start of a teacher's career with the Appropriate Body Service and Early Career Framework to National Professional Qualifications. For me, that is the very best model and I consider this to be a golden opportunity in delivering that best model.
 
Being a Governor on the SWIFT Trust Board and working with the other Governors is a way to give back in helping to see and contribute to the work that is being done, monitoring and checking this work and supporting it to be the very, very best.
 
2. And what has been the most challenging?
Truthfully, I have been pleasantly heartened in how well the SWIFT programmes have been progressing. The Appropriate Body Service and Early Career Framework roles are being led so effectively that targets have been exceeded in terms of the volume of participants and their feedback is very positive. I think that the SWIFT Team is doing a magnificent job in continually implementing, developing and monitoring this work.
 
For me the main challenge going forward will be the successful implementation of initial teacher training, because that requires a much broader range of stakeholders and very thorough monitoring. The provision will be subject to Ofsted inspections and hence, the biggest challenge will be ensuring this provision is as effective and robust as possible.

Indeed, I am a tad sad that I am leaving when the course is about to start at the end of August, because I think that it has the potential to be very exciting for SWIFT.

The current biggest challenge for all Governing Bodies is to support their schools in what are very difficult financial circumstances. Schools are having to make decisions now much more on the basis of what they can afford, than on the basis of what is best for their students, than at any other time over the past 25 years that I have been involved in school leadership. Governors have a demanding role in supporting schools to make the very best decisions in these constrained circumstances.

“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” (Henry Ford)

This time last week, it was lift-off for the SWIFT 2024 Summer Conference at the new venue of the Future Skills Centre in Exeter. Hosted by Executive Director, Martin Director and Jen Knowles, Director of Teaching School Hubs, delegates fastened their seatbelts for what was to be a supersonic day.

Education South West (ESW) CEO, Matthew Shanks’ welcome set the tone for the conference in considering the current challenges and key themes for schools and leaders - with a call to action for collaboration across schools in the South West.
 
“Our job is to help every single child.”
 
Matthew reflected how alas, the system is not currently built for collaboration due to disincentivizing
league tables and a lack of support and funding for children’s services.
 
However, with ESW the lead Trust for the Kingsbridge Teaching School Hub, Matthew echoed the SWIFT ethos of selfless collaboration that helps to make a better society and fulfils our vision of creating high-quality opportunities for staff to learn, develop and connect. So that all children, especially the disadvantaged, achieve the best educational outcomes.
 
After the fantastic first three years as Teaching School Hubs, the statistics are splendid to behold.
3,295 teachers and leaders have engaged in over 80,000 hours of training with SWIFT that importantly, practicably, and hearteningly has a direct impact on the quality of education and lives of young people in South West schools. And the good news is that SWIFT is committed to building on this successful support.

On that stirring note, the first keynote speaker took to the stage.
​
Presenting on “Why nice isn’t working: why relational currency supports positive behaviour,” teacher, behaviour specialist, author, education reformer and advisor, Paul Dix began by sharing his own experience as a 24-year-old teacher.

​Re-living the case of the humbling home visit to his pupil, Robert; Paul recounted the discovery of his positive notes that Robert had previously crumpled up (and Paul assumed to have been thrown away) and yet were pinned-up on Robert’s bedroom wall, in an otherwise nearly empty home. Heart-rendering.
 
In a talk that was entertaining and energising with visual props, Paul highlighted the importance of relationships being predictable, systematic, consistent and habitual. Think of the primary children who slipped happily into the habit of shaking the hand of their teacher every morning on arrival into class and who were disappointed when she suddenly stopped this hands-on habit. Such was this happy habit, even parents came into school to shake the teacher’s hand as well.

Relational practice begins with the easy actions. The positive noticing, in a pure and nuanced way and it is this emotional currency that leads to trusting relationships.

“There’s no teacher in the world who doesn’t know the power of positive noticing.”

SWIFT works with select sponsors who provide a range of educational services to help boost our high-quality professional development offer to schools.

As the first of the two conference sponsors, Vice President, Matt Tiplin introduced ONVU Learning: deep thinkers of teaching and learning translated into classroom technology.

Teachers are empowered to review their own practice to provide a better methodology by outcome and with his own story as a past teacher, Matt invited the audience to remember a good teacher from their own life.
 
​Find out more about ONVU Learning at the FREE Excellent Teachers Create Excellent Memories webinar on Thursday 11 July 2024 from 0830 – 0900.

Delegates could then choose one of two morning breakout sessions.

Associate Professor at the University of Warwick, Institute for Employment Research (IER) and Founding Director of CareerChat (UK) Ltd, Deirdre Hughes OBE led the session on “Leading with Vision: transforming education for tomorrow’s workforce.”
 
Leadership, is an opportunity to make a difference as transformational leadership.
Even if there is no single way to transform the educational system, it is a line of sight to work. Otherwise, divisions can widen.
 
Deirdre encouraged leaders to find the value in understanding the relevance of education in our fast-changing world of work with spiralling issues, such as multiculturalism and wellbeing.
Find personal development for decisions and pathways and changing attitudes to the workforce for life-long learning and ways to inspire amidst the uncertainty and change. Learn collaboratively with a commitment to projects and how to develop skills for the future.  

​Former Chair of Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, and author of “The Mentally Healthy Schools Workbook,” Dr Pooky Knightsmith led the other breakout session on “A Whole School Approach to Mental Health.”

Pooky outlined the following six areas of focus in schools with lots of helpful tips and invited the audience to consider where they fit on a scale of 1-10:
 
1. Staff are Happy and Healthy
If schools do not get it right for staff, it is challenging to get it right for children and community. 
Leaders are role models and look after themselves first as children learn from what they see adults seeing and doing and sustainable change must have staff at its heart.
Happy staff feel heard: their opinions matter, whatever their background and diversity. 
Happy staff are mentally and physically healthy.  Think about small changes to ensure staff get fresh air, access to healthy food, have time to eat.

Think how you acknowledge teachers' workload.
Mastery is every member of staff turning up to do their job and do it well, which in turns supports their wellbeing. Passion will make the difference in our job and help to connect with colleagues.
Look beyond Ofsted and ticking boxes. 
 
2. Our Setting Feels Safe and Welcoming
The biggest difference to support a child is a calm adult. 
Meet children with a smile.  Walk through your school in the shoes of a stranger and be honest about all the things you see/feel/hear/smell. 
Children need to know their school is safe place. 
​
Make your school a calm environment that meets the needs of neuro-divergent children.
Be predictable.  Meet the needs of all children and look out for the quiet students too.
Be brave to share when things do not go quite right.  Be an authentic and brave leader. 

Educational journalist, former teacher, and co-founder of Teacher Tapp, Laura McInerney presented the next keynote on “Education Trends.”
 
It was Laura’s form tutor and Teacher of French, Miss Watson who inspired her to become a teacher; noting that the best teacher gets you an A*, even when you do not necessarily like the subject. 

It was Miss Watson who brought a newspaper article into school on Laura’s favourite author, Terry Pratchett and her positive noticing made Laura want to be a Miss Watson - and she has followed her example ever since in always wearing a jacket.

Ten years ago, Laura’s yellow jacket (plus yellow six-inch heels) had a special outing when she was taken to court by Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings for being "vexatious" about a Freedom of Information Act request on the hot topic of free schools. (A longer and highly entertaining court case story cut short, it ended well for Laura).
 
Teacher Tapp came about from Laura’s editorials in Schools Week based on discussions on a minority of teachers and schools. In 2017, Laura combined forces with Professor Becky Allen who wanted to survey teachers to gather data and the dynamic duo created the highly popular and successful Teacher Tapp. Signed-up teachers are sent daily questions that gather data and help to stop misinformation and spot trends. One of the most controversial questions, would you believe, is whether the school provides free tea, coffee and milk. 

Turning to another popular conversation topic for us all, the weather, Laura related her own experiences of living in Michigan, part of Tornado Alley. Unlike the UK, where the weather stops play, and people get angry, in the USA, everyone stays at home and does not get angry.  The same could be said of reactions to education policy.  When the weather turns stormy, we need to change the response, and seek shelter until it has passed. There is no point shouting!
 
With her evident instincts for spotting trends, Laura considered some of the big challenges in education with simple causes.

Looking to the future, Laura looked to the past and reflected on former Education Secretary, George Tomlinson in post after World War II from 1948 and 1951. Facing bombed schools, a high baby boom in 1946 and no university graduates in his inbox, he made the decision to raise the school leaving age. 
It was considered outrageous. Not least from an Education Secretary who had not attended secondary school. 

However, it was a timely reminder to us all with the shared purpose to provide an education for all children and young people.

The metaphorical tornadoes are coming, and it is for schools to try and work out the response.

After that insightful weather warning, SWIFT Delivery Partner at Tarka Trust, Andy Ogden introduced the benefits of SWIFT Membership and highlighted the value of professional development as an investment in staff and the school.
 
Further to the questionnaire to schools at the end of last year, in the next school year, new programmes on offer will be directly related to feedback from colleagues. New Professional Communities will be an opportunity for teachers to access a network in their phase/subject to support their development. Paul Dix and Tara Ellie will also be leading a session on “When the Adults Change – Behaviours Change.”

Looking to support teacher recruitment within the South West, this year, SWIFT has been working with Exeter Consortium/South West Teacher Training, Plymouth Marjon University, SWIFT Teacher Training and the University of Exeter on an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Area Strategy.


The initiative requires all Teaching School Hubs (TSHs) to deliver new strategic roles to support local ITT delivery across their area as an important regional role working with schools and accredited ITT providers to understand the local market, context and challenges. TSHs can also offer information and support to schools who wish to engage in ITT for the first time or to increase their engagement in ITT.
 
Led by the ITT Strategy Team, Andy Ogden, Fiona Bosley and Matthew Wharf who are working together to develop a collaborative ITT Strategy to support the next generation of teachers. 

This year SWIFT has been evolving our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) endeavours so that it is intentional and integral to all that we do. Further to an advert to schools and partners earlier in the year appealing for volunteers from all backgrounds who wished to connect their experience and enthusiasm for DEI, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Partnership Group was born. Krisha Gandhi, Caroline Leigh and Tom Pether attended from the Group and shared how their work is shaping up.

Our very own Roger Dimbleby (Pope) led Question Time with questions including what priorities would panellists propose for the new Education Secretary on Friday 5 July 2024; what would creativity in the curriculum look like, and whether there is a future for written exams (expanded to writing in schools).

The final question: What gives you optimism for the future of education, certainly maintained the momentum of the conference with panellists celebrating schools and Trusts coming together to work through challenges, schools as relational places, overcommunicating the positives messages, sharing joy, talking to families and believing in staff who care.  

Continuing the caring theme, second conference sponsor, Goosemoor Educatering, Head of Educatering, Rob Stevens whet our appetites for the lunch feast that was the follow with an introduction to their bespoke food service for schools. Rob told how he was leading an onboarding session at a school and a child asked her mother if the food tasting was free. Speaking from the heart, Rob shared his pride in how good food makes a difference to all families and knowing children are going home “with full bellies.” Not dissimilarly, conference delegates were to go home having eaten a delicious lunch and we are grateful to Goosemoor Educatering for a feast.

The first of the afternoon breakout sessions was led by Chief Executive, Paul James and Director of Inclusion, Katherine Walsh at the River Learning Trust on “Leading Inclusion: What works?”

The River Learning Trust spans big secondary schools to small primary schools in a high pupil premium area with complex learning and disability needs. The Trust have aligned autonomy, but are not “a cookie cutter Trust” as that would not be a good fit for the diversity of their schools.

An increasing number of children have special needs. 52% who have EHCPs are in mainstream education, and year-on-year there is a 1% increase of children with SEND in mainstream schools. This brings inevitable challenges.

It is important firstly, to boost staff confidence and to support teachers to develop this confidence and secondly, to distribute leadership as the SENDCO cannot be the font of all knowledge. Rather than the SENCO leading all parent meetings, the Form Tutors can also lead and who has a holistic overview of the child and consider how Teaching Assistants are deployed.
 
The Trust have an Inclusion Strategy that is built on knowing schools well and understanding the school context.

The Education Endowment Foundation makes the following five key recommendations to meet the needs of children with SEND:
 
1. Create a positive and supportive environment for all pupils without exception.
2. Build an ongoing, holistic understanding of your pupils and their needs.
3. Ensure all pupils have access to high quality teaching.
4. Complement high quality teaching with carefully selected small-group and one-to-one interventions.
5. Work effectively with Teaching Assistants. 

There is no magic SENDCO tree. We have to make it a motivating, engaging and wonderful job as a role that can make a huge difference.  SENDCOS can move into Headship as SEND runs through all we do.

• Be proactive in planning and be aware that almost three quarters of learners with SEND are likely to have difficulties with elements of:
• Working memory
• Language development
• Executive functioning, e.g. planning, personal organisation, prioritising, self-checking, flexible thinking, impulse control and emotional regulation.

 
Be prepared to do things differently. 
Walk into lessons and think ‘which child is this lesson not working for.’

The second afternoon breakout session was led by CEO of The Woodland Academy Trust, Nav Sanghara on “The Art of Compassionate Leadership.”
 
“It is important to be a kind leader. But it is also important to focus on execution and do hard things. This is about how to do hard things in a human way.” (Raasmus Houggard)
 
In a talk that was infused with wise and wonderful mantras, Nav considered what compassionate leadership looks like. Leaders need to be kind to themselves in the first instance so that they bring energy into their leadership.
There is value in knowing and overcommunicating your purpose and redefining and re-evaluating this purpose.

With a calm tried and tested wisdom, Nav encouraged leaders to have a core principle and to live by your values that drives actions and decision-making and connects with your organisation. Model these values to children and staff. “Who we are is who we lead.”  Psychologically safe teams have real and open conversations. Build one culture and trust together with equity and collaboration and understand the shared vision as a promise to staff and children. 

The final keynote speaker was to end the conference on a moving high.
​
For nine years Chris Lubbe was Nelson Mandela’s bodyguard after a chance meeting and a five-minute interview, followed by a gruelling six months training with the SAS.

Speaking on “My Journey from Apartheid to Truth and Reconciliation,” the audience listened intently as Chris shared his first-hand story of working closely with the revered Nelson Mandela. It was a way for us to feel close to the brave leader who devoted his life to bring apartheid to an end in 1994.

Chris spoke with a heart-stopping serenity bringing to life the Nelson who did not believe in black and white; who showed no anger for his imprisonment and maltreatment; but with an enduring charisma and belief in forgiveness as the key to freedom, he reached out to bring everyone together.

As his boss and mentor, Chris recounted how Nelson once told him to write down all the angry things in his heart and then told him to put the pieces of paper onto the fire to burn. 

Describing his own upbringing in a shanty town, finding thrown-away books to read in the local dump, the two-tier education system and segregated beaches with demeaning signage to match. The stories flowed with a serenity that comes from an inner peace perhaps, and the courageous re-telling. Yet the horrors of the police still sent shivers down our spines. Eight-year-old Chris witnessed the shocking treatment of his diabetic mother taken ill on the bus and pushed off a WHITES ONLY bench by the police that led to three months in hospital in a coma and a long recovery.
 
As a child, Chris bought a map of the world and once a month he wrote to world leaders to ask for their help – including our very own late Queen. Chris was angry, but wanted to do something to inspire peaceful change. As a young man, alongside anti-apartheid and human rights activist, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chris stood tall as a peaceful protester, even when it led to arrests and imprisonment and torture. Terrible times. 
 
Fast forward to working for Nelson, there were however, moments of glamour.
Chris met many celebrities during his time with Nelson – including the Spice Girls who were most miffed when Chris pretended not to know who they were (on the advice of his boss!).

But it was at a dinner with the Queen that reminded me of many of the values shared at the conference of hope, compassion and collaboration. A silver platter was presented to Chris. Inside, the envelope was another envelope and inside that envelope was Chris's letter to the Queen that he had written as a boy.

A faithful letter writer, the Queen had replied to him, as well as writing regularly to other world leaders for their support. The South African authorities had obviously intercepted her reply to Chris that he never received until that grateful moment all those years later. 

To echo the warmth that enthused our SWIFT 2024 Summer Conference, we thank all our speakers for their thoughtful presentations and for bringing a meaningful momentum.

We also thank our delegates for making time and for sharing in the event with us.

A grateful thank you to our sponsors and exhibitors: BCR Associates, CiCI Empowering Careers, Goosemoor Educatering, InVentry, Nasen, ONVU Learning and PHP Law for attending the day and spending time speaking to our delegates about their products and services that add value to schools and thank you to Conferences Southwest for their organisation. 

Finally, we thank Mark Drew and Robin Scott from our partner, Exeter Consortium Schools' Alliance, for their excellent conference administration and making it all work so well.

This issue includes a featured article and some highlighted programmes, courses and events from our partners to support your professional development and enhance the work of your school. Simply click on the booking link to the course or event you are interested in to get more details or book straight on!
 

Featured in this issue we have:
 
SWIFT Membership 2024-2025 | Registration now open
We are delighted to open registration to schools, federations, trusts and other bodies to join SWIFT Membership for 2024-2025. Our Membership Brochure can be found HERE and the link for registration is HERE.
 

Highlighted Programmes:

• Supporting Females on the Autistic Spectrum
• South West Facilities Managers, Estate Management and Caretakers Conference
• EYFS Cross-School Summer Term Moderation
• Professional Communities
• Primary Subject Leader Briefings
• Dr Gianfranco Conti - Curriculum design & memory: An EPI approach
• Events for your diary

SWIFT Membership goes from strength to strength and this academic year over 220 schools are members of SWIFT.

SWIFT Membership offers Schools and Trusts outstanding value.
Our low-cost, £2 per pupil fee offers you unlimited access to the following highlights:   

• Members’ discount on an extensive range of professional development courses and conferences.  We work with leading national trainers, such as Paul Dix and Mark Rowland; as well as experts from the South West region.
• FREE/ unlimited access to 25+ termly Subject and Leadership Professional Communities.
• FREE/ unlimited access to termly Leadership Forum and Curriculum Forums.  
• FREE/ unlimited access to Primary Subject Leader Briefings for Early Years, English, Maths and Science.
• FREE access to Secondary School Performance Analysis through Jon Lunn (Performance Director for Ted Wragg MAT).
• Subsidised Leadership Study Visits to Schools and Trusts within the South West region AND England (limited places).  

SWIFT Membership saves staff time as well as money.
Our booking system on Eventbrite enables quick access to all our events and makes it quick and easy to register.

Many of the 2024 - 2025 courses are live for bookings now HERE and many more will be added across the year.

Increasingly, schools are using SWIFT to support staff training linked to appraisal, providing a quick, one-stop-shop for staff development needs.
 
Powering SWIFT Membership is the dynamic SWIFT partnership of Schools and Trusts that curate, design and facilitate courses, Professional Communities, Forums and Conferences.
We are proud to work with these brilliant teams from across the Devon, Plymouth and Torbay area reflect the best of the school-led system.

It is the penultimate UPDATE newsletter for this academic year 2023 - 2024 and we hope that there will be something of interest for you in this June issue.

Associate & Strategic Leader of Teaching & Research Schools (ESW) Roger Pope CBE gets into TikTok and the #WorkTok trend that leads to thoughts on today's workforce with reference to Professor Thomas Roulet at the Cambridge Judge Business School:

"He argues that what has changed is not a willingness to work hard, but rather what we now ask from work. Our work has become a more significant part of our lives. The demands on younger generations are greater than those on older generations. They are asked to give more - and so they ask for more in return."

As we will soon have completed our first three years as Teaching School Hubs, we tot up the numbers of colleagues who have engaged in over 80,000 hours of training with SWIFT and muse on the direct impact on the quality of education and lives of young people in South West schools. We also share some of the benefits from our recent wellbeing in the workplace training with ACAS.

Our interviewees this time are Krisha Gandhi of Cranbrook Education Campus and Tom Pether of East Allington Primary School and also valued co-Chairs of the SWIFT Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Partnership Group. 

Kingsbridge Research School enlighten us with The Education Endowment Foundation’s new and updated Guide to Effective Implementation and highlight the changes.

Understanding that Health and Safety is a fact of a life and practical awareness is essential for schools, our sponsor SchoolPro TLC has recently added SchoolPro Safety to its arsenal of services to schools and you can find out more about their services.

Other sponsor news. ONVU Learning considers whether cameras in the classroom means Big Brother is watching you (spoiler alert - no! It is much more exciting in the 21st Century). Remember, you can meet ONVU Learning in a FREE Excellent Teachers Create Excellent Memories Webinar on Thursday 11 July 2024 from 0830 – 0900 and also at our Summer Conference on Thursday 13 June 2024. 

Educatering have been busy showcasing their food and bespoke menu service at conferences across the South West and bring more enticing foodie delights that are enjoyed by many children, young people and staff in school across the South West - and beyond. You will also meet them at the Summer Conference and feast on their food.

Exeter Supply Partnership provides some super-helpful-positive guidance on how to be a Supply Friendly School. It makes sense. See how many your school can tick off.

As always, we wish you a rewarding final half term and thank you for working with us.   

In 1949, George Orwell’s dystopian novel introduced the world to the grim spectre of being under constant surveillance by the authorities. The story has since inspired various interpretations of ‘Big Brother,’ which in schooling can be most apparent when considering teacher observations. 

Lesson observations and their current equivalents share the same difficulties of synchronicity, validity, and disruption and increasingly schools seek alternatives to gaining insight into what it is like learning in that classroom. As schools increasingly turn to technology to enhance insights into classroom experiences, one method stands out: introducing cameras for the classroom.  
 
But does the introduction of cameras into classrooms really mean that Big Brother is going to be watching teachers? 

What Breeds the Fear Factor?
In schools, it is likely that the ‘Big Brother’ concern stems from: 

• an unrealistic sense of being the centre of attention i.e. someone wants to watch you;  
• an irrational belief that the school’s leaders have the time or inclination to secretly watch the footage;
• a lack of trust in leaders not to do the above and a perceived lack of trust from leaders in them as teaching professionals; 

• concerns about the misuse of platform that is not designed to safeguard privacy and respect the well-being of its users. 

None of those sources of concern are unreasonable per se, but they can create unreasonable barriers to teacher-centric self-improvement.  

Is This Just a School’s Thing? 
For too long been schools have driven by a desire to prove something that is inherently difficult to prove: causality between teaching and learning (particularly on an individual basis). As such, it is not entirely surprising that some teachers and leaders might make the link between their lived experience and an authoritarian with time on their hands to watch footage.  
 
So much of what we talk about when discussing ONVU Learning with school leaders and teachers boils down to how much trust and confidence exists in and around the school(s). Does the headteacher make it their business to encourage or to interfere? Do teachers get provided the tools to be amazing or simply to do more? Is teacher continuous professional development (CPD), which ONVU Learning is designed to underpin, valued across the board as the most sustainable means to improving students’ outcomes and so encouraged, not just viewed as a tick box exercise? 
 
The challenge is how to balance accountability with the professional autonomy of teachers without fostering a culture of perceived or real mistrust. This issue is particularly in the spotlight when discussing cameras in the classroom because it raises questions about the extent and purpose of them.
 
A New Way to Solve Old Problems? 
In Sam Sims’ recent blog: A proposal for saving five million hours per year (one day per teacher) of workload, without harming pupil achievement he suggests that the sector could save a lot of hours by not performing data drops unnecessarily and so makes a compelling case for leaders to better question how they direct their teachers’ time. 

At ONVU Learning, we echo that call and encourage school leaders to invest that saved time into more meaningful teacher personal professional development and enabling teachers to become more able to influence their own destiny. By giving teachers agency over their CPD and control over how they measure the impact of what they choose to practice, teachers will then adopt into their practice the things that really work for them.  

What Can you Gain from Classroom Video Capture? 
Video lesson capture has been around for a while now – mostly involving teachers setting up ad hoc specific video recording devices (like a smartphone or tablet) for the purpose of recording a specific and pre-planned learning activity or lesson.  
​
At ONVU Learning, we propose and offer the opportunity for teachers to review classroom video recordings made using our fixed-position 360-degree cameras. The specific cameras we use are discreet but not hidden. We promote this style of video classroom capture because it removes the hassle of setting up equipment, makes the learning activity being recorded more natural, and enables a (re)view of teaching and learning rather than focusing in on what you hoped to see all along or only the teacher at whom the camera is pointed. The nature of the technology captures the entire classroom wherever the teacher or students may be. 

Are They Worth It? 
The question remains: does the benefit of using video capture technology in classrooms justify the concerns about surveillance? Whilst the shadow of Orwell’s 1984 looms large, it is crucial to distinguish between using technology for support versus surveillance. Or through a teacher’s eyes, is this a tool that will help or harm me? 

The difficulty is that when a teacher or school leader asks me about whether using ONVU Learning is ‘a bit Big Brother,’ my first thought goes to who is ‘Big Brother’ in that scenario. Is it me? Is it them, their colleagues or their Headteacher sat in their office watching screen upon screen? Is it someone unnamed and unknown?

No, to all the above.
My immediate second thought is more focused in that whoever ‘they’ maybe, our technology does not enable this kind of Orwellian system.

“Our first thought goes to who ‘Big Brother is. Our second thought is whoever ‘they’ maybe, our technology does not enable this kind of Orwellian system.”  

ONVU Learning puts teachers in the driver's seat by giving them control over the video footage they choose to share. It is mostly used for self-reflection, so when it comes to things like coaching or lesson observations, teachers get to pick which parts of their lessons they want to show. This approach helps in making them feel comfortable in the whole observation process and trusted as professionals.  

In the UK and many places around the world we face a shortage of teachers to work in our schools. This has many causes that we will not explore now but amongst the solutions to poor teacher recruitment (as a sector) and retention (again) must involve genuinely empowering teachers to be the best version of themselves. This means encouraging personal professional growth through curiosity from an established, valid base (i.e. teachers are professionally trained university graduates). It also means providing teachers with reliable and trustworthy tools to enable them to do better on their terms, in their context and given the available support that exists to guide (not direct) them.  

ONVU Learning believes that if teachers were treated more like the professional, vocationally-driven experts that they start out as and provided with tools to help them play, practise, self- and co-reflect, and perform, then we like to think that the teacher workforce would be happier, stay longer and become ever more effective at delivering for students the outcomes that they deserve.    

A New Hope? 
I hope that I will have dispelled any 'Big Brother' fears about how ONVU Learning camera technology is introduced and used in classrooms. Teachers are the backbone of our educational systems, and they deserve access to tools that respect their professionalism and genuinely empower them without compromising their privacy or autonomy. 

We at ONVU Learning believe that Leaders need to understand change from their teachers’ perspective to enable sustainable improvements to take root.  

Engage with ONVU Learning at Upcoming Events
Excellent Teachers Create Excellent Memories Webinar | Thursday 11 July 2024 from 0830 - 0900

As we aim to enhance educational experiences, the principles discussed mirror the themes of the upcoming webinar, "Excellent Teachers Create Excellent Memories."

This FREE webinar will delve into how empowering educators through innovative CPD can create enriching and memorable learning experiences. It is an essential session for educators committed to elevating their teaching and fostering impactful educational journeys.

Join us to explore how embracing teacher autonomy can revolutionise educational practices.
​You can also meet the ONVU Learning Team at the SWIFT Summer Conference on Thursday 13 June 2024.

Who could not agree and aspire to a well and happy workforce who are even more engaged, and perform their roles contentedly and commendably?
 
Our conscientious and dedicated SWIFT Central Team believe in wellbeing in their working practices in our support and work with our partnership and in our professional development offer to schools.
 
Recently, to further this practical awareness, the Team engaged in a Wellbeing in the Workplace training session led by ACAS. You will certainly have your own wellbeing ways, but as positive reinforcement, we would like to share some of our insights with you now.

To start with the well – wellbeing bit, we considered some of the plus points across our team:

• Our interesting roles
• Scope for autonomy
• Scope for role development
• Supportive/responsive working environment
• Positive praise
• Value of coming together for team days
• Caring team

 
In those super-busy, super over-loaded times when our wellbeing equilibrium becomes imbalanced and stress starts to take over – be it from a lack of clarity of instructions, a lack of support, or perhaps other blockages, it is important to find tangible solutions.
 
Wellbeing needs to be a cyclical conversation to reaffirm the good intentions with a shared goal across teams and organisations.
 
Stress is a state, not a condition and be aware it manifests itself in cortisol, biological and physiological reactions. Stress to a point can be a driving force when deployed reasonably and practicably. However, prolonged over-stretched long-term stress can lead to low morale, illness and poor output. 

So how do we assess what is going well and what could be better, and ultimately boost our wellbeing in the workplace?
 
In a workplace situation, your team can attune to spying some of the stressful warning signs. Benefit from knowing your colleagues and how they communicate. Be it changes in their body language and/or voice. Remember colleagues have private lives as well as their working life that might be impacting on their daily working life.
 
In an enlightened effort to understand how to mitigate stress (rather than seek unrealistically to eliminate it entirely) as a Team we considered the following as some helpful starters to:
 

• Understand our role.
• Consider a timely response rate to managing emails (judge if an immediate response is required).
• Use your diary to plan time for pieces of work.
• Clarify when a piece of work needs to be completed (genuinely).
• Take screen breaks.
• Go for a lunchtime walk.
• Say no to extras or request (reasonably!)
• Consider how you praise team members – be specific and purposeful.
• Write down three positives every day.
• Evolve your coping mechanisms.
• Keep motivated and remember why you enjoy your role!

Managing workload is one of the essentials to managing stressful situations.

Rationalise rather than catastrophise and understand any underlying issues that might be causing stress. 
Change internal and external expectations.

Think about what can be controlled, avoid duplication and unnecessary work, learn how to prioritise and be pragmatic with your diary.
 
Foster trusting relationships - so that whether you are the Team Leader or the employee, you can engage in honest and open conversations, if and when, things do not go quite right on occasion.
Control, influence and understand.
 
This is all well and good you might be thinking, but how can you measure the success of wellbeing strategies?

Obviously, this is where instincts can come into play. From knowing your team and their work output, attendance at work and attitude to work.
 
But you could also engage in a quarterly “Pulse” Survey - as the name suggests to measure the rhythm of the team.
Many schools already undertake their own regular Wellbeing Surveys
Build on your wellbeing work in your workplace, by assigning a Wellbeing Champion /First Aider and create your own Wellbeing Charter as your statement of intent. 

We wish you well in keeping wellbeing a focus in your team /organisation.
Report by Jude Owens, SWIFT Executive Assistant 

For our June interview, we spoke to Krisha Gandhi and Tom Pether, joint Chairs of our SWIFT DEI Partnership Group formed this academic year to support SWIFT’s ongoing commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). The group meet each half term and will be presenting at the Summer Conference on Thursday 13 June 2024.

Krisha Kay Gandhi is Primary Headteacher and Senior Deputy Head of Campus at Cranbrook Education Campus, Exeter; having previously served as Director of Education and Primary Headteacher at Bishkek International IB World School in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia whilst also supporting overseas school inspections in the Middle East. Krisha is a proud linguist having studied Mandarin Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies and she also learned Spanish and Russian to support the communities with whom she has worked. With an MA in Educational Leadership and Policy and a Master's in Business Administration, Krisha is keen to grow leaders who understand the bigger picture of school leadership and the transformational impact this can have. 
 
Tom has been Headteacher of Allington Primary School for the past eight years and as well as teaching all subjects, Tom is the Curriculum Design Lead for History for Multi Academy Trust, Education South West. Tom began his teaching career as a teacher before his role as Headteacher at Blackawton Primary until his current position at Allington. Tom’s love of History has led to his involvement with SWIFT Teacher Training as History Lead and he previously undertook a research project for the former NCSL and in the wider community, is supporting visitor attraction, Box Plymouth. At the end of this term, Tom is working with Sarah Frame to host a conference on sustainability and climate change.

1. What number one action/support for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion would you like to see across Schools and Trusts?
Tom: I think the first thing is an acknowledgement that it is more nuanced, complex and involved than ticking a box and saying we are diverse and I think people need to see that there is more action that needs to be taken in terms of actually making change.
It is not something that is going to happen by an external organisation giving you some suggestions. Nor is it going to be done by Government. It needs to be done by organisations who scrutinise very closely and question their own behaviours to make some changes.
 
So, I think the first action would be for people to say, this is complicated, we are not good enough and then they will hopefully take some more actions because I do not think we are always good enough down in the South West, but we need to be in that place first so that we can move forward. 
 
Krisha: I love how Tom uses 'we' to discuss action in this area. I think this is one of the important nuances of effective Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) work. Since this is an area, we are all working to improve, there is a great opportunity for collaboration. I would like to see leaders collectively set the tone for the importance of DEI in our learning and working environments across all schools, trusts, and organisations in the region. By having a group of Trustees, Directors, Heads, or Governors commit to reflecting on our biases, examining our language, and evaluating the inclusiveness of our practices, we can create more considerate schools and workplaces. From my experience, as a British South Asian school leader, my sense of belonging definitely increases when I know I am working with a team who are not only willing to, but keen to, hear all voices in their community. 
 
2. Have you experienced any barriers to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in your professional lives as leaders and teachers? If so, how have you overcome this/these barrier (s)?
Tom: Well, for a start I am a white middle class male and I am the most privileged person on the planet in that context, so I have not experienced any barriers. But I think the thing that I have learned over time is to be able to see my white middle class male privilege and to see it for what it is and to take note that it is part of an unfair system, and I should not have it.
 
Krisha: Having come from a working-class background, and being a female, person of colour who is also gay; discrimination has been a constant feature of my lived experience - as a teacher, leader and in my day-to-day life too. Rather than discussing the barriers in specific, it is important to share the support mechanisms and tools that allow me to better cope. I think it is important to acknowledge that the barriers do not often feel overcome, but rather, there has been a resilient persistence to survive within them.
 
The tools that have helped me are: 

• my own voice and using it to challenge systems and, at times, leaders who influence these systems.

• friends and family who are willing to listen after a tough day when discrimination has felt strife. 

• a supportive line manager who asks, 'how can I help' without thinking they can completely and independently solve the problem.

• seeing successful and diverse representation even if in other sectors - for example, I think British Film and TV has come a long way in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and is a sector Education can learn from. 

• the vision and belief that our world can be more just and fair; as leaders, we should see ourselves as agents of positive change, and this purpose in itself can keep us moving forward despite the difficulties. 

3. What do you hope to gain personally from your involvement with the SWIFT DEI Partnership Group?
Tom: Once again, I think for me personally, it is, challenging, as I said before, my white middle class, male preconceptions of the world; which I think is healthy for me. It is also getting me to look at myself closer and to question my ethics, beliefs and actions. It is really fascinating working with different intelligent people in the Group who have wonderful ideas about how to change things and I find the idea of change, especially in terms of equity and justice, very energising. Plus, I believe that if we are going to leave this world a better place, we need to be active in that change process.
 
Krisha: I agree with Tom! I would summarise the ideal goal or gain to be supportive connections and a sense of belonging. 
 
4. What do you believe will be the most beneficial role of the SWIFT DEI Partnership Group?
Tom: I think if the Group could guide and inform educators on all levels to a greater awareness of the ideas behind inclusion to which we subscribe and provide information, evidence and actions, then this would be very helpful to guide people to look at themselves and to say, not in a pejorative way, but in a constructive, supportive and collaborative way, because nobody likes someone who is going to browbeat them and tell them off. But rather in a collaborative and informative way.
 
Krisha: I think it is important we are a group that listens. This is something not everyone will experience, yet among their own colleagues in order to hear diverse viewpoints across our region will be essential. Secondly, I would say we need to be a convening power i.e. looking at how we can support the provision of high-quality training to different pockets of our region or considering how we can share best practice across our schools and communities. 
 
5. How do you envisage the evolution of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion generally in education over the next ten years?
Tom: I would see it hopefully as something, particularly in the South West, where we are actively taking steps to catch up with the demographic of this country in teacher training, in the way that we approach our curriculum, and work with children ultimately to support them to grow up in a world that is more inclusive, less binary, less divisive and less vulnerable to the kinds of people who seem to be getting into power all over the world.

Krisha: In reality, our work in DEI will not be complete in 10 years, so we have to think about what is achievable in that time which is not happening now, which would be a step in the right direction. For me, this - especially in the South West - would be a developed and critical understanding of the intersectional experiences between and across all protected characteristics whilst also bringing class, and a focus on working class experiences, into the conversation.
 
If done well, I believe this could result in increased representation in leadership roles, earlier identification and understanding of the core issues affecting vulnerable children, young people and families, and a positive trajectory from saying the right things to doing the right things. Finally, I do believe that, in 10 years, we have the power to create an environment in which people from diverse and vulnerable backgrounds can demonstrably see and access aspirational choice and opportunity. 
 
We thank Krisha and Tom for their thoughtful interview and continued leadership of the SWIFT DEI Partnership Group.

Interview by Jude Owens, SWIFT Executive Assistant