Talking Heads
We have interviewed a number of Headteachers and asked them about their beliefs, thoughts and experiences with regard to ICT and the use of technology.
Tim Davies
Headteacher, Addington High School, New Addington, Croydon
Tim Davies was born in Cardiff, hailing from a mining family. When small, his father moved the family to Kenya to further his career. Tim then returned to finish his schooling in the UK, initially at a school in Amersham and then Christ’s College, Cambridge where he read History. With a PhD place lined up he took a PGCE to fill in the time, and has never looked back.
Headteacher at Addington High School in New Addington(*) since 2001, Tim has clear views on the role that technology has to play in a school serving a highly disadvantaged community. ICT was just a subject before Tim came to the school, at which point it changed to be a tool used across the entire curriculum.
The e-Learning Foundation’s relationship with the school began in 2005 when it was asked to support their e-learning programme with a grant. The programme has run from that point onwards, being made available to every new Year 7 cohort in September. It has proved so successful that parents are asking to sign up ahead of the new school year, despite the expectation that most will donate about £10 a month to help the school maintain the programme. Over 400 pupils currently take part.
When asked about his hopes from the new Government Tim puts narrowing the gap in educational achievement for disadvantaged pupils at the top of his list. He is clear that the gap is created by the lack of learning that takes place outside school and that technology can play an important role in closing that gap. He points out that the international comparisons made with our educational system almost always come
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About the school
Addington High School has had a Visual & Media Arts specialism since 2007 and is co-located with a special unit for pupils with autism. The Free School Meals figure is very high at 43%, as is the number of pupils with Special Educational Needs, also at 43%.
The new Addington Estate was referred to as “Little Siberia” due to its isolation on the outskirts of Croydon until the arrival of the new Tramlink in 2000. It has suffered from a bad reputation because of a spate of anti-social behaviour involving youths on the estate from the 1970s to the present.
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from countries like Sweden and the Pacific Rim countries who are very heavy users of modern technologies.
Providing learning resources for home use through the programme has encouraged rising aspirations in local families. In recent years the community have been doing his job for him in telling new parents about the programme before their children arrive at the school.
Tim’s top priority is the effective use of ICT in teaching and learning, using the technology to engage pupils with a curriculum that engages them, is relevant to them and prepares them for a future of lifelong learning and working in a digital economy. The pupils live technology-rich lives at home so he believes that educators must tap into that for their learning. And there is compelling evidence that his approach is working – for example the schools achievement levels are well above the national average for the Free School Meal figure at the school. 2010 results saw a rise to 76% 5+ A*-C.
Sally Coates
Headteacher, Burlington Danes Academy White City, London
(a member of the ARK group)
From an early age, growing up in Maidstone, Kent , Sally Coates always wanted to be a teacher, attending teacher training college at the earliest opportunity and gaining a University degree at a later date. A common theme of her career has been teaching in disadvantaged areas; from Peckham initially as an English teacher, then on to Southwark in 1989, where she won her first Headship at Sacred Heart School, and from 2008 at Burlington Danes Academy, one of the ARK schools, in White City.
The school, on the doorstep of the BBC’s White City complex, serves a disadvantaged area with 51% of the pupils on free school meals. An over-subscribed school, it solely serves children who live near the school. However, Sally does not believe in “dumbing down” the educational opportunities for her pupils because of the area the school serves. The pupils are streamed according to ability and the qualifications that pupils study for are what we would all recognise as a rigorous curriculum; for example the school offers Latin. No “mickey mouse qualifications” at this school that will fail to impress employers in future years.
In Sally’s opinion, the position of ICT as a teaching and learning tool comes “pretty high” in her list of priorities, in her words “an invaluable set of resources that are hard to replicate using alternatives. It opens up the entire world in terms of knowledge, alongside the role that books
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About the school
Burlington Danes Academy was opened in 1999 and is situated close to the BBC in White City and is one of the ARK Group. However, the school traces its roots to two separate schools, Burlington School for Girls, founded in 1699 and St Clement Danes School, founded in 1862, both originally situated in Westminster.
70% of BDA students gained at least 5 A*-C grades, including English and Maths, in the 2010 GCSE exams. This marks an improvement of 20% on last year’s figure, and consolidates Burlington Danes’ status as one of the most successful academies in the country. It is also approximately 20 percentage points above the national average, which last year was 49.9%.
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and other resources also play”. So while ICT is not a panacea for failing schools, she feels that it is vital that all schools make the most of it, and that schools with less demanding parents must help their families ensure the children have the resources at home they need to ensure continuity with their education
Many pupils in years 7 – 9 were able to benefit from the Home Access grants in 2010 and the Year 10 group benefitted from a grant from the e-Learning Foundation.
Most of her parents were pleased to make regular contributions towards this programme because they felt it offered great value, despite the high FSM figure. Sally did not feel that this was a major issue as the programme provided families with an affordable solution, and also gave the adults opportunities to access the job market and write CVs using the technology.
When asked about the future, Sally is clear that she would like to roll out the Year 10 e-learning programme to a new year group every year - if only she had the funds to do so. She believe it is “100% important that pupils have home access, if we are to have the 24/7 curriculum, and support pupils who are off school for a variety of reasons.”
Mike Butler
Chief Executive, Djanogly City Academy Nottingham
From working class roots, through an English degree at Cambridge, and onto leading one of the best known and respected Academies, Mike Butler is a pioneer through and through.
Like many notable educators, Mike fell into teaching as a career. But, like so many accidents, his history suggests that it was inevitable he should make his name in education. Grammar School and Cambridge educated, but from a working class background, Mike has always been sharply aware of the very different life opportunities children have depending on their family circumstances.
And alongside equality of opportunity sits Mike’s other passion - technology. He was involved in the very early years of 1:1 “Anytime Anywhere” provision at King Edward VII School in Melton Mowbray where another pioneer presided as Head, Ken Walsh. KE7 was the first Secondary School to set up its own e-Learning Foundation, and one of the first Technology Colleges created. Here Mike was at the heart of a level of provision and degree of integration into the curriculum that was ground-breaking at the time.
He must have been a natural choice therefore to take over the reins at one of the country’s first City Academies, Djanogly, in Nottingham. And because he was involved from the start, he was able to take the opportunity to build ICT into the building, the pedagogy and the culture of the new school. Opened in 2003, the Academy’s new building was completed in 2005 and offered wireless access throughout. Djanogly leapfrogged the electronic whiteboard as an interim technology and instead utilised the power of a tablet PC for every teacher and digital projector connected over a wireless network in every learning space.
Mike’s vision is driven by a moral imperative that many other Heads will share – equality of opportunity for all. Underpinning that is the recognition that home resources and environment have a major influence on a child’s prospects in the divided society present in so many large cities.
An entitlement to 1:1 access was also part of that vision because it enabled so many other important things to happen, including personalisation of learning and increased motivation, without which learning simply cannot happen. Mike had seen at KE7 what impact technology could have on families, with children’s self-esteem boosted by being able to be an “expert” on their computer and helping adults in the family get to grips with IT.
When asked how he ensures all his teachers apply that vision in their own classrooms his advice is to find the biggest sceptic in the school and convert them to be champions for the school and colleagues.
Mike’s vision for the future is clear, but he needs to see Government rhetoric become a reality. Heads need to be given the freedom to exercise their judgement so that they serve their pupils, their teachers and their community in the best possible way, reflecting local circumstances. He also strongly believes that with that freedom