The education system appears to be utterly fixated on accountability. The problem with accountability is that if you make someone accountable you no longer need to understand the complexity of the problem they face. If the accountable person has failed to deliver, you remove them and replace them with someone else. This is pragmatic and seems mostly fair.
It is why in many situations markets work. By substituting knowledge with self-interest, you can save money. In commercial markets this is the 'Greed is Good' mantra espoused by neo-liberals. Allowing people to keep the gains they have acquired through taking risks is to the benefit of all in society, goes the argument. People don't need to know everything they just need to know what it is in their interest to do and get on and do it [1]. This can lead to reasonably efficient systems where many benefit.
However, this approach does not suit all situations and when rolling it into new spaces needs significantly more thought that appears to have occurred thus far in education. One of the many errors it throws up is an over-focus on the hero leader. Just because a leader has been successful in money terms does not mean that they understand or necessarily deserve the benefits that have accrued to them. There are multiple examples of unworthy individuals who appear to possess little more than a Nietzschian 'will to power' and have simply ridden to power on the backs of other people's misfortune. People who have simply to be confident, greedy and lucky... you can insert your own exemplars.
If those are the two extremes of the philosophical problem, "Can the private sector deliver a public good", how does this play out at the delivery end?
Well, the thing that was annoying me was the overfocus on the leadership qualities of successful MAT CEOs, not least because it panders to their already inflated egos. Mostly, however, because it is WAY TOO EARLY TO SAY what actually works.
I have written elsewhere that I heard an academic at the DfE explain the job of a MAT CEO being to "find what works and make it scalable", which is insufferably glib and mostly wrong because most of what goes on in schools is unscalable (there are no discounts for volume in recruiting teachers). So you have given an insoluble problem to a bunch of naive fools (including me) with the knowledge that you will fire them when they fail and thus be able to claim you are improving outcomes for children when you have simply shuffled the deck.
Likewise a recent piece on the key qualities required of CEOs suggested that we should focus on:
- Shaping strategy
- Training our people
- Improving outcomes for all children
This is a significant oversimplification and lacking in any reflection or consideration of whether what is being done is actually working. It smacks of General Patton's line, "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week".
I would suggest a lot more enquiry needs to be added to the mix but without falling into the analysis paralysis at which Patton was taking aim. On the whole I would recommend the following as part of a self-improving approach.
- Know where you are and what state you are in - ANALYSIS
- Formulate options - SYNTHESIS
- Select strategic direction(s) - DECISION MAKING
- Tell people - COMMUNICATION
- Train your people so they can do it - DEVELOPS
- Make sure it happens - JFDI
- Stop to think, is it working? - REFLECTION & ADAPTATION
Footnote
[1] This psychological contract between the citizen and society, play by our rules and you will be looked after, is currently more vulnerable than it has been for a very long time. Why would young people follow our rules when they can see that they are very unlikely to benefit?
No comments:
Post a Comment