Golden Seeds and Optimism

For teachers, late August is a strange time of year. At the back of our minds, we are still processing exam results, and while squeezing the most out of the end of the holiday, we are beginning to contemplate the epic September to-do list. Edu-twitter is flooded with the over-sharing of anxiety dreams and photos of last-minute additions to classroom displays. Even those of us 18 years into our careers feel those pre-match nerves.

 
We wouldn’t have it any other way.

There is something about the new classes, the new uniforms, the new additions to the staff that give September an air of optimism. It is was in this mood that I stumbled on this wonderful article in The Guardian, which speaks to the enduring power of a good teacher. It was especially poignant for me as a Maths teacher and a timely reminder of why we do it all in the first place. The article is part of the ‘A Moment that Changed Me’ series, in which we learn that the writer was turned on to the satisfaction of mathematical thinking by a gentle and insightful teacher. Having pitched a Geometry homework challenge at the sweet spot of ‘just hard enough’ and nudging the student in advance to persevere with it, she demonstrates that magic that I see in the best of my colleagues on a daily basis. These are the teachers who marry a deep love and knowledge of their subject with a profound understanding of individual students. In completing the challenge, the writer is converted to mathematical thinking for life - a great example of what Charles Handy has called a ‘Golden Seed’ moment.

“In each one of us there exists a seed of
possibility, and when we find this seed and
nurture it, this seed can then lead to our
personal fulfilment.” Charles Handy

The best teachers get that we are educating humans, not machines. They strice for that moment when the penny drops or when the spark is ignited. It might not even be igniting a passion for a subject, just as often the golden seed moment is when a teacher makes the student feel that they *are* clever, capable and full of potential. Which leads me back to the theme of this blog in general: how can we ever capture the impact of such interactions? In the case of the mathematician in the article, the impact was only perceived by the individual in adulthood - how can we possibly hope to measure this at the time or in advance? It is clear that the answer can’t be purely quantitative.

As more experienced classroom teachers will attest, we gain confidence in this more intangible impact of our work over years. It is captured in the unexpected emails from former students, graduating from University with their Firsts or perhaps gaining their first jobs. It is being stopped in Eldon Square by a parent and told what a difference you made - sometimes a small piece of long-forgotten encouragement was given at just the right time for a student to turn things around during a difficult period. Over the summer, I was delighted to receive a message from a Year 9 student who had attended one of the Bright Sparks Maths challenge sessions on modular arithmetic, asking a follow-up question that had been bugging her all summer. This is the gold dust to capture - but how to capture it in such a way to convince a funder that the project has legs in advance?

In my experience, this is where testimonials are so powerful, and the ability to communicate the design decisions and structure of a project clearly. The numbers are vital too - the more golden seeds that are planted, the more chance that some will bear fruit.

The work of David Byrne at Durham University provides a further glimmer of hope: under the paradigm of complexity theory (more to come on this in a future blog post), teachers are encouraged to make peace with the fact that that educational progress is not linear, but rather complex and multi-factored, embedded in a particular time and wider context for the student. Consequently, we can’t always guarantee that an input will have a predictable, quantifiable (or even desirable) outcome. The key, Byrne suggests, is that we look at the whole context of an intervention: as an intertwined, multi-factored process, with many levers for change.

"We can never assign a causal effect to any intervention without assessing the whole context of that intervention."

Moreover,

"We can never establish universal accounts of causality in complex systems by using variable-based methods such as Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs). However, through careful comparison and exploration of complex contingent causation, we can begin to get a handle on what works where (in what context), when (in what temporal context), and in what order."

This kind of longitudinal, nuanced, 'mixed-method' analysis has been undertaken in the area of career and higher ed aspirational programmes. It is well established that students from more disadvantaged backgrounds don't necessarily have knowledge of the routes available to them for careers and further education: as the adage goes, 'you can't be what you can't see'. In the recently published Destination University  paper, practical steps are given to address this: we are encouraged to proceed in a multi-input way - targeting every age group but in different ways, starting as early as possible.

“It is vital to target different styles of outreach at
different stages in order to keep the message fresh. While it might seem absurd to talk to five year olds about university, that is exactly what middle class and professional households do",  Destination University, 2022

One of the projects we run at RGS is ‘Voluntary Service Reading’, where 100+ Sixth Formers support reading through 1-1 weekly sessions. However, the emphasis is not just on the reading, but on the positive effect of a positive young role model on the young readers in KS1 and 2. Furthermore, the ‘Destination University’ publication shows that critical thinking and non-transactional teaching (to the test) can make a real impact at Key Stages 3 and 4 - this is where we consciously build projects around stretch and challenge, under the banner ‘Bright Sparks’. As for Key Stage 5, we offer Oxbridge support, UCAS help and mentoring with a smaller number of young adults, but in more depth: an age-appropriate approach, activating as many levers as possible.

As teachers embarking on the new term, it is a great time to re-affirm that ours is the most humane of professions: our purpose extends beyond exam results, we have capacity to make change in all our interactions: to fill the pail as well as lighting the fire.

Reading: 

- The Exam Question by Sam Freedman writing for the Institute for Government is an excellent comment on the relevance of exams: https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/The-exam-question.pdf

- The Guardian: ‘A Maths Puzzle Taught Me to Use my Brain’: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/aug/24/a-moment-that-changed-me-a-maths-puzzle-taught-me-to-use-my-brain-and-helped-me-cope-with-losing-my-daughter?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Listening:
‘Getting Clarity on Charity’, Reasons to be Cheerful Podcast with Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd was a broad-ranging and interesting listen.