About

In this episode, Claire talks over the internet to Deputy Headteachers Steve Eastes and Russell Pearson who, online on social media and with their own podcast, are known as the Dynamic Deputies. Steve and Russell talk about how, although now both deputy headteachers at different schools, they met at the same school in Kent and remained good friends after Russell moved to take up another post in Devon. Although they kept in contact, they felt that they had begun to lose some of the valuable professional dialogue they had both maintained while working together. Following this realisation, they started a Facebook group and developed an online community to promote educational discussion and collaborative working amongst teachers. Now, in their separate schools, both Steve and Russell are heavily involved with leading their staff and pupils through the current coronavirus situation. They share the approaches they have taken in their schools, how the virus outbreak has unfolded for them and how they and their staff are doing their best to work in challenging times while planning for an uncertain future. KEY TAKEAWAYS Leadership can unexpectedly throw you in at the deep end The current coronavirus situation is something that everybody, not just school leaders, has had no real equivalent experience of. It has meant that everyone has had to adapt quickly and, in many cases, continue adapting to daily despite having had no meaningful training which can be drawn upon to help. All establishments, but in particular schools, are having to handle the crisis in their own unique ways – and adapt and evolve to what is happening quite differently – given the very different make-ups of their communities and staff Often, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ course of action As has been made even more apparent with the coronavirus events, leaders have to make quick decisions and take courses of action which, at the time, are based on the evidence to hand and where there is no clear correct or incorrect choice. An example discussed here are the decisions senior leaders had to make around when to inform parents of what will likely happen with schools and, within that, what to say or speculate on. Just before the announcements of school closures, there was very little concrete information to go on, so contacting parents or waiting for more details to emerge was neither the right nor wrong thing to do. Trust in staff, but offer support where needed During times of major news events which can be potentially upsetting for children, deciding what information to discuss can be very tricky. Managing anxiety amongst children who are exposed to information via the news and, in some cases, disinformation on social media can be tricky. Although being on-hand with support for staff where needed, this can be a good time to trust in the class teachers who know the children best and allow them to tailor the correct information to their groups in the best way. Be realistic about remote-learning expectations The current situation has prompted a lot of very speedy possible ‘solutions’ to children learning at home. While there is a lot of useful software and online content, it can be wise to keep in mind what options you can provide for families with little or no technology at home or who have no internet access. Also what can seem as though it is easy to administer at first can turn out to be quite time consuming. Along with this, many schools have tried to make sure that there is enough for children to work on at home, but what has become increasingly apparent is that a lot of families won’t have enough time in the days and weeks to get through all of the tasks. Revisiting your plans and liaising with parents can be a good way to get feedback and find out what’s working and what isn’t and what help or support parents might be looking for. Be as consistent as you can be To try and reduce anxiety and uncertainty, wherever possible continue doing what your children are familiar with in terms of the work and tasks. A lot of things sent home for children to do will of course, in terms of the types of work, be quite different to what would normally happen in school. However, if you use particular schemes or resource banks, sending these home or using a familiar format could help the children as they will already be used to working with that. Although we have no clear ideas about what the future will hold, there are some important questions that will need to be considered There are so many uncertainties about what the future will hold and trying to be fully prepared for all eventualities will be impossible. However, when the time comes, schools will need to consider a huge range of challenges. For example, what will staffing and recruitment look like for the next academic year given that a lot of staff will already have secured new jobs for September? If schools do not reopen until September (or possibly later) what will happen with the curriculum and missed learning? Some children will have done over and above the work sent home whereas others will have done much less. Collaboration and the online educational community are both great for ideas and professional development. A notable ‘positive’ to come out of the current crisis is that it has brought together a lot of people from all aspects of education. A lot of new online groups have sprung up and existing groups such as the Dynamic Deputies own group have been much more active in sharing ideas and collaborating to try and do the best for children and their parents at home. If you’re stuck for ideas or just need to discuss a particular issue, there are a lot of places you can now turn to for support. BEST MOMENTS “I feel like that’s an enormous burden. You are being thrown into a position in leadership where you are having to make decisions about something you have never had training in and never had any practice in.” “I feel like I am learning every day about what I should and shouldn’t be doing.” “In terms of the staff, I’m really proud of everyone involved. I’ve really seen a coming togetherness.” “One of the decisions me made early on was that we weren’t going to get everyone into a big assembly and talk about it because that would just heighten anxiety and make it feel really big and really huge. We said have conversations in your own classes where it feels quite calm and it feels very normal. But, at the same time, we’re dealing with something that’s really not normal.” “I think we very much trusted that our staff knew the kids and knew how to tailor the message to them.” “One thing that’s really good is to be using your parents as a bit of sounding board and sending e-mails out just saying, ‘Look, can you give us a bit of feedback? What’s working, what isn’t?’” “We’ve asked an awful lot of parents to become teachers overnight.” “We’ve all got through the short term. And then it’s like we need some headspace to go, ‘Gosh, what do we want for the long-term?’” “We’ll be starting a year in September, potentially, where we have not finished the previous year.” “We’re like a cog in this giant machine right now. We need to be doing our bit for the children’s welfare.” “Children are resilient. They do adapt easily. Being safe at school and having that routine at school will be essential to making sure that we can go back to normality as quickly as possible.” “I think it’s a time more than ever to treat people with some decency and not expect crazy extras of them. Don’t ask for timesheets… Just trust people a bit because everyone’s trying their best and be aware of the emotional burden of all this.” VALUABLE RESOURCES Don’t shoot the deputies podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dont-shoot-the-deputies/id1449384975 Make an impact education: https://www.facebook.com/dynamicdeps/ Dynamic Deps on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DynamicDeps The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ Classroom Secrets Kids: https://kids.classroomsecrets.co.uk/ LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/ ABOUT THE HOST Claire Riley Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide. Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff. Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend. The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.