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David Litchfield, Head Teacher at Castle View School in Sunderland, gives his personal and professional account of being a MirandaNet Fellow.
At the end of the day...
The end of the first day for pupils and school has been really calm. It has been a very good start and all that is left to do is sort the remaining post and check with the site supervisor that the furniture delivery van did arrive. Only my third official day in the job but for weeks there have been meetings to attend and documents to read. Yet I still know so little about simple procedures in the school; the year 8 pupils are used to routines that no-one has thought to mention because they are just common practice. All new staff have that problem - potentially a little embarrassing when you're supposed to be in charge.
There was a time when I was unsure that I'd ever get to be a senior manger. Although I was happy leading a department and being reasonably successful, I guess there was a lack of clarity for me about where to go and what to do. Also, the principles that seemed so important to me were difficult to match to the jobs that were advertised.
I am sure that my connection with MirandaNet - then it was Project Miranda - was a significant in the changes to my life and career. It has not been the only factor, but it has been an important one. It is just over six years since I was a head of English with a few computers and starting on a scholarship through Miranda (funded by Toshiba), and now I am a head teacher in a school with hundreds of computers and a good deal of other equipment too.
So was it just a scholarship concerned with ICT that made the difference? Not really. The gains from the association with MirandaNet are less about computers and technical know-how than about personal and professional development. I have learnt a lot about the technical side, but I have learned more about people, about thinking and about learning. There have been some opportunities to travel and to meet colleagues from other countries, as well as from across Britain. There have been opportunities to attend conferences and seminars, to see new technologies in action. Most importantly there have been opportunities to talk.
One of the things I value most about MirandaNet is the mix of people. It is not confined to a subject area or phase of education. It is not even confined to the institutions of education, including colleagues from business and industry. With a debating and discussion group that ignores the boundaries, the talk is of learning. This keeps us close to the principles each of us believes to be important. I also value the critical nature of the people. Not a destructive criticism, but an analytical and reasoned approach to argument.
There are some side effects. With such a diverse group there is always someone who knows something. Whether it is technical or personal the chances are that someone has an answer or has tried something or knows someone who has. This is always useful when knowledge is changing so quickly.
The demands of MirandaNet are interesting. Sometimes it is good to be involved intensely in a project for a time. There are other times when it is just fine to watch the emails and view the on-line discussions without commitment.
As much as anything in the last few years I have accepted that not every outcome is a success. When projects fail, the key issues are not what went wrong or who is to blame but what has been learnt. This allows a lot of freedom. So often the evaluation has become a demonstration of success that critical awareness can be tarnished. Being ready to say that this is not the right equipment, this is not the right solution enables the next step to be more properly informed.
I have had the chance to play - and that is the right word - with lots of new machinery. But what endures are the professional and personal relationships that have shaped this recent phase of my life. At the end of this first day with the pupils, my vision for the school does still contain a fair number of computers and does still have ICT as an important part. The technology will take us a long way, but so too will the international exchanges, the development of the arts and the commitment to community health. What started as a focus on ICT has taken me to a broader view and a deeper understanding. From the wide ranging debates and the insights to other situations, has come a clearer focus and greater expectations.
The furniture delivery is important - and if that's the last task for the day it will have been a very satisfying one.
[David Litchfield]
Head Teacher, Castle View School, Sunderland
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