Tag: development

Finding Ways to Doubt Myself

ThinkingPublished on1 Comment on Finding Ways to Doubt Myself

Over the last few years I have been shifting the way that I read content to do with education and learning.

The shift has been a subtle but very important one for me. I deliberately recognise the bias I have towards certain bundles of ideas and find ways to explore the opposing views.

Earlier this year I developed some course content for a Masters course on Innovation in Education. One of the subjects was Design Thinking and despite having many years of experience working with this process I decided to doubt everything I thought I knew about it.

Rather than rest on the laurels of my experience I actively doubted my understanding. This forced me to reconsider, question and ponder on what I might be missing and to be a learner again. It also helped me to see my own bias much more clearly.

A recent example is seeing that I have a negative bias towards furniture being organised so learners are sitting in rows in a classroom.

Tom Sherrington nudged me into this direction with his post about The Timeless Wisdom of Sitting in Rows. He points out that:

…in the majority of situations when I am likely to be teaching, explaining, instructing, questioning – or getting my students up to do it – rows work absolutely beautifully. Is this about exerting my authority, sage on the stage, being in control, telling students things, asking them things…? Yes, of course it is. That’s my responsibility. Is this a miserable, oppressive state of affairs for the poor compliant souls at my mercy? No. Not at all. They can see me; look me in the eye, communicate, engage, interact, listen, learn, think… It’s all good. Efficient and effective, yes. And human – always human.

These types of posts and reflections allow me to not just have a counter point to something I might believe, but I begin to see my own bias with more definition.

In the past I might discount such articles simply from the title but now I seek them out and actively doubt what I think I know.

#28daysofwriting

Photo by Stephen Crowley on Unsplash

Will this cause harm?

Mental ModelsPublished on1 Comment on Will this cause harm?

I have been reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s brilliantly tangential book Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder.

A concept and mental model he shares is iatrogenics. This is a medical term that refers to “harmful unintended side effects”.

In Antifragile, he writes:

In the case of tonsillectomies, the harm to the children undergoing unnecessary treatment is coupled with the trumpeted gain for some others. The name for such net loss, the (usually bitten or delayed) damage from treatment in excess of the benefits, is iatrogenics.

Iatro– means “a physician; medicine; healing,” from Greek iatros “healer, physician”. –genic means “producing, pertaining to generation.” So harm caused by a healer.

While some have advocated using ‘iatrogenesis’ to refer to all ‘events caused by the health care delivery team’, whether ‘positive or negative’, consensus limits use of ‘iatrogenesis’ to adverse effects, possibly including, broadly, all adverse unforeseen outcomes resulting from medication or other medical treatment or intervention.

(Iatrogenesis)

Taleb extends this concept beyond medicine and it has helped me think about the total impact of any intervention.

When we intervene without a full appreciation of the potential positive and negative effects, Taleb describes this practice as  “naive interventionism”.

What does this look like in other fields like education?

In schools these interventions might be a simple timetable change from one year to the next. You may be experiencing that now – as the the new academic year in Australia has just started. Perhaps you are only just realising the negative impact of that extended first session or the longer lunchtime.

Perhaps something more significant like streaming in primary maths classes causes obvious missed opportunities for building relationships – perhaps the negative impact outweighs the positive. We are causing more harm than good – this is iatrogenics.

I experienced many primary schools in the UK with complex intervention programmes for students I taught in my classes. I don’t remember ever fully evaluating the negative side effects of those interventions and how they were delivered.

Taleb suggests any intervention will have iatrogenics – the question for leaders is whether we are even aware of them?

It is easy to begin to use the mental model of iatrogenics in your development planning – all we have to do is ask ourselves a few questions:

  • “Will this cause harm?”
  • “How might we understand the negative impact of this idea?”
  • “What can we do to minimise the negative impact?”
  • “How will we know if the negative impact of this outweighs the positive?”
  • “What would happen if we did nothing?”

#28daysofwriting

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

What Is The Purpose of Your School’s Curriculum?

CurriculumPublished on5 Comments on What Is The Purpose of Your School’s Curriculum?

I have enjoyed reading Bill Boyd’s blog recently, indeed my last post about curriculum films began from his own about Charles Leadbeater.

Another piece I came across was his post about the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, titled “Having the Courage in Our Convictions“. He includes a really useful graphic detailing the 4 capacities, or as Bill states the 4 purposes, which underpin the Curriculum for Excellence.

To enable all young people to become:

  • Successful learners
  • Confident individuals
  • Effective contributors
  • Responsible citizens

Much of the detail around these curriculum foundations is applicable to our own school development. We are at the stage of exploring what should underpin the curriculum design, this is very relevant to us. Here is the diagram.

capacitiesdiagram1 tcm4 392948

Following Bill’s original post he refers to the commentary from Dave Cockburn who reflects that these 4 purposes

…will help us see the curriculum in a new light, as long as we remember that we are striving not to create a system which produces a plumber at one end and a surgeon at the other, but produces intelligent, well-informed, inquisitive people who understand the ideas of leadership and teamwork, and the vital role of intellectual enquiry and endeavour.

I certainly agree with him, this is a valuable starting point. Once you throw in the local requirements for a curriculum and wider stake holder perspectives we will be some way to establishing the foundation we need.