Reconnect, Reimagine and Rebuild

In this, my third and final in a series of ‘pandemic experience’ insights my intention is to bring some coherence to our experience of the pandemic and how we can move forward.  I don’t have a magic wand or a crystal ball but I can craft a narrative using your responses to the survey, what I am observing in the world around us and what I know about leading in uncertain times. 

In sharing this narrative with you I hope that it might offer a perspective that offers you a few beacons as you navigate your way through. I will revisit some of the key challenges educators have and continue to face and use these as anchors for how we might reconnect, reimagine and rebuild in the weeks and months to come.

Disruption

COVID19 has disrupted every aspect of life, learning and work. We can’t underestimate the effect of this and the wide reaching impact it has had and will have for some time yet.  As I write, we are currently in the transition phase.  We are planning for a return to school buildings and the opening of some shops and eateries.  There is still a high level of uncertainty, a lack of clarity and a lot of stress and anxiety.  The guidance seems to change and if not change, be strongly questioned and challenged daily at the moment.

The key challenges for educators

In my first post I shared the challenges you, as educators shared with me:

Connection – teachers miss the connection of face to face learning, the feedback from pupils.  Their biggest joy is when pupils engage in and share their learning. 

Technology – using the technology, having appropriate technology and effective connectivity. 

Am I doing enough? - the familiar COVID19 challenge of working from home, home schooling and the juggle of how to meet the needs of all involved.

Transition

At the time I circulated the survey we were still very much in the disruption phase.  Responses as a whole reflected this, they were focused on the short term needs and issues.  I observed that shortly after I closed the survey there was a period in which things seemed more settled, routines had formed and a period of learning emerged.  In this period school leaders in particular were able to move beyond the reactive responses that had been required and engage in more strategic and reflective processes.  

The announcement that school buildings will re-open on 11th August signalled the move into the transition phase.  We are right in the middle of this as I write, I am very aware of this.  I am conscious of not adding to the noise in the system at the, I want to offer value and I know I can but the intensity of this period is overwhelming for so many at the moment.  In fact, since I drafted my first version of this post it seems the focus on education has intensified even more.

What will help?

Back in May I asked educators what would help them in their role at that point in time and in the future.  The responses fit well within the framework offered by Michael Fullan and colleagues in their Education Reimagined Paper (June 2020): safety and operations, wellbeing and learning.  The table below shows the themes that emerged from my survey and how they sit within the framework.  

What will help you in your role now and in the future?

While themes emerged about future needs it is also important to recognise that there was also a degree of uncertainty.  I think this is significant because as we move forward we are going to keep coming across uncertainty, questions we don’t have the answer to and questions we haven’t yet thought of.  Each time the Government guidance changes and hopefully eases this will cause some degree of disruption to the equilibrium we have created.  School leaders are working hard to create this equilibrium for pupils, families and staff. 

An overwhelming number of responses talked about the need and desire for communication and clarity.  There was something quite visceral about these responses. 

Communication is not just about information it’s about the contextualisation of the information.  It seems there is a lot of information coming out from Government, Local Authorities and partners, there is no shortage of information but there is a very real challenge of being able to manage the information and associated communication.  This contextualisation of information is going to be important both within schools and with school communities but it is also worth considering at system level (local authority to schools).  One of the most common complaints in any organisation, crisis or situation is communication, it seems no matter what we do, communication is so often the source of dissatisfaction. Often the problem does not lie in the communication but in the amount of noise which acts as a distractor coupled with the busyness of people and life.

Alongside this need for communication was a request for understanding.  This request came from both teachers and leaders.  As I write this we are in the midst of petitions on social media, PMQs this week focused a lot on blended learning and time in school.  Teachers and leaders are seeking understanding from each other and from the wider community that in this time of uncertainty they have flipped the system, upskilled themselves (and pupils) and are desperate to be back in school and learning with their pupils. 

Three Beacons of Light

As we navigate our way back into school buildings and an interim period of blended learning I want to offer three beacons of light to help guide the way.  I hope that we can use these to refocus the narrative by reconnecting, reimagining and rebuilding better than before.

Tell the story

We have all experienced the pandemic differently and we can’t assume how it will affect people (adults, learners and families).  Our capacity for self-awareness varies and we will therefore react and feel things at different stages.  Be aware that this is not a linear process and with each new phase of the recovery plan there will be challenges.  We need to recognise and honour individual experiences and know that there is no one solution to wellbeing. When thinking about adult wellbeing we need to be mindful of the individual and the collective responsibility.  We have a collective responsibility to support wellbeing and as individuals we also need to recognise the inner work we might need to do. 

Technology and connection

We have upskilled ourselves and our learners in the use of technology.  Now is the time to as ‘what has worked well?’ How can you use this to support both connection and engagement in the new period of blended learning?  Connections for pupils, families and educators.  How can we be creative with technology to enable teachers to collaborate and learn together and for pupils to collaborate in their learning, assessment and feedback.  If we use technology as more than a vehicle for delivery might we also nurture engagement?

Don’t lose sight of the learning

It goes without saying that wellbeing needs to be the first priority and wellbeing is the foundation for learning and engagement.  As we return to the buildings and rooms we are familiar with we will experience a gravitational pull back to what we knew, our routines and the way we did things. 

We need to learn together – teachers, leaders, pupils, families and partners.  We need to learn about what worked and why?  What worked for pupils and why?  What did we learn about our pupils, ourselves, our families, our systems?  We can use this information to grow, we have shown ourselves that change is possible in a short period of time when the reason is clear. 

The leadership challenge

We flipped the system overnight because the reason was clear.  The reason is still clear, the world continues to be different, we need to harness this learning to grow more than we thought possible.  I believe we need to re-evaluate our core assumptions. We should not return to ‘normal’. The dramatic shift to our understanding of what is possible requires that we re-evaluate our underlying assumptions about how we learn, teach and relate to one another.

Our focus must be on bringing schools building back to life in a safe and nurturing way, restoring connection while adding value to what learning and education is and what it offers our children and young people.  Understanding what has worked and the key principles of how this has worked will allow leaders to use this to grow and improve. The challenge leaders are currently experiencing is how to bring clarity and focus as the context becomes increasingly complex and noisy.  This clarity will engage teachers and bring strength to collaboration. 

To be able to do this, school leaders need to be able to step back.  They need time to think, they need conversations that go beyond the surface allowing them to see the wood and the trees and to activate the right knowledge and people to rebuild and to rebuild better than before. 

If you would like to discuss any of the ideas I have shared please do get in touch. If you think I can help you build back better by creating some headspace so you can see the wood and the trees I would love to work with you.