Review by Fion Atherton

Headteacher, Wrekin View Primary School

12 Oct 2024, 5:00

Blog

The Conversation – with Fiona Atherton

AI’m feeling good

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new year for me and the longest half-term of the year (and possibly the century!) moves into its final portion. Having taken up a new role in a new local authority this year, I have found myself surrounded by lots of new processes and information.

When looking at how to streamline my own working processes, I started thinking about how to incorporate workload tools to support not just my work but that of my colleagues too.  

After looking at a range of available tools that are available on the market, this blog by Nexus on key questions for schools when considering AI came in really handy.

The government’s project to enhance the use of AI can only be a good thing. While the workload issue rumbles on and school leaders try to find ways to make teaching manageable (and attractive), we do need to be creative and relevant.

I have seen examples of AI used to adapt resources, produce lessons that are specific to given criteria and support SEN learners with accessibility tools that would otherwise take teachers hours to plan.

But balancing this against the possibility of bias and potential GDPR concerns mean hesitation is warranted, which can only delay the march of progress.

Writing wrongs

Meanwhile, I have been getting to grips with my new school’s writing scheme, which is new to me too. I’ve spent time observing teachers delivering its various strands and thinking deeply about the teaching of writing and what children need in order to be able to do it effectively.

In this context, Alex Quigley’s latest blog on writing stamina was a timely piece for me. It came just as I found myself coming back to the question of whether are we asking for too much writing from children throughout the school day.

For some children, this absolutely not the case. Nevertheless, there are growing numbers of children who need more support. As Quigley notes, “a common observation for every teacher is that errors increase as pupils write more”. Additional time spent at the task taxes “pupils’ mental energy and limited working memory capacity”.

We know more about working memory now than ever, so it stands to reason that we reconsider how we support children to become good writers.

I have been in teaching long enough to have worked through both arguments here: the first is that the only way to teach children to write is by expecting them to do it in almost every lesson; the second is that ‘they can’t write it if they can’t say it’.

For me, a combination of both works well. Quigley’s solution of getting pupils to edit and revise their work as they go rather than at the end certainly seems to put that into practice.

All in good time

Finally this week, I went to reread one of my favourite blogs of last academic year and found that Ian Frost had written a new one that resonated with me just as much, this time on being authentic.

When working with new people, it can often be hard to truly be yourself. You find yourself wanting to create the best first impression, or not wanting to let them see the real amount of sass you have behind that professional exterior.

“Authentic leaders,” Frost says, “are often transparent in their thinking”. Sharing their own experience and revealing important parts of themselves helps them provide important context for others about how they lead.

I agree, but it can take time to reveal those parts of yourself. One leader I worked with was confident and extrovert enough to put everything out there right from the outset. But as an introvert, that is not usually where I start in my relationships with colleagues.

Having said that, I aspire to be the kind of leader Frost describes: one who treads lightly on other’s lives and understands “when to share themselves, and when to hold back”.

So here’s to a year of authenticity.

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