The Elephant in the Room
Hello & Welcome To My Guest Blog
When you are writing about yourself there is a danger you will appear self-indulgent, or as I was accused by one of my lecturers whilst studying at Art College: ”disappearing up my own a*se’’, so keeping that in mind, here we go…
The aim of this blog is to bring you on a journey with me through the ups and downs of my PhD (Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Creative Arts, Canterbury) and will include regular updates on what I am currently reading and researching. My PhD is on the school attainment Gap between Boys and Girls, however, my blog will shed light upon a myriad of educational areas as I more deeply research my chosen focus.
Teaching is an Art, not a Science
I started my teaching career in a tough school in South London where I was placed on the Graduate Teaching Programme (GTP), otherwise known as a ‘baptism of fire’. It was "sink or swim" and I was lucky enough to make it to the end of the Michaelmas term alive. However, what really struck me when I first re-entered the teaching sphere was how little it had changed since I had left school, 15 years previously. There was still so much resistance to change and, in some corners, very little future thinking.
When I pushed for change I was seen as being difficult and I made myself very unpopular with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), who did everything in their power not to change. For my self-preservation and sanity, I stopped asking for their help and took control of what I could, and let go of everything else. To quote the educational writer and theorist Stephen Covey: “by focusing on your area of control, your area of influence will grow” and it did. I suppose in my career I have not stopped pushing for change and (often my popularity with Senior Leaders has not risen because of it), but I have made a positive contribution to my schools and my continuous interest in learning has helped to make this happen. Seventeen years after my GTP placement, I am embarking on my Educational PhD. I am at the stage in my career where I have the experience and authority to comment legitimately on Secondary Education, and I want to continue to see positive changes that take Education out of the dark Victorian workhouses and bring it into the light of the 21st Century.
I heard this quote once (can't remember where), but it has stuck with me for a long time: ‘If you took a Doctor out of the Victorian era and put them in a modern hospital with all the science and technology they would not be able to perform an operation, however if you took a Teacher out of the Victorian era and put them in a classroom they would still be able to teach’. If like me you believe this to be true you would probably also agree how little progress Teaching as a profession has changed. This is not an attack on teachers, but on the framework in which we all have to operate within. Schools for the masses were designed in the Victorian era and based around an industrial model... in fact, the late Ken Robinson referred to schools as ‘sausage factories’. There needs to be a paradigm shift away from this Victorian model of education.
The Elephant in the Room
My PHD aim is to address the widening attainment gap between boys and girls at GCSE; my intention is to use multi-level analysis to ascertain the attributes in lessons and departments that have the greatest ‘visible’ effect on boys’ progress. Rather than a backwards looking study that identifies the root causes of underachievement (which have been well documented), I intend my research project to be solution based where I focus my energies on tackling the problem and seeking out best practice that reduces the attainment gap between genders. As far as I know there is no current Department of Education solution based study addressing this "elephant in the room".
At the risk of being seen as not taking this too seriously, I imaginatively came up with the title: ’The Elephant in the Room' for my presentation for my application to study on the PhD. Anyone who works in education (in the classroom) is aware of the educational gap between boys and girls, however no one is really solving it because it's such a large and systemic problem that ‘the elephant’ is now part of the furniture... so much so it’s now been upcycled and has a lampshade on its head. The improvements in GCSE results over time have addressed some of the inequalities that have traditionally existed between ethnicity and class, however there is still an ‘elephant in the room’ in regards to gender. Ben Bradley during a House of Commons debate in 2020 stated: 'Boys perform markedly worse than girls, and among the most deprived children that effect is greatest. Across the board, a girl from a FSM background is now 52% more likely to go to university than her male equivalent.’ The difference between boys and girls is now wider than White and BAME pupils. The Higher Education Policy Institute in 2016 calculated if trends continue, a boy born in 2016 will be 75% less likely to attend university than a girl by the time he is 18. Now that's a big elephant to continue to ignore.
My research will be carried out with practising teachers and other groups associated with schools, to lead on this question of how to bridge the attainment gap between boys and girls in a practical way. I will focus on investigating impact that is geared to change matters, rather than rehashing the overly researched background information that has produced very few tangible outcomes. For me, there is more than just an interest in the research for research sake; my goal is to further develop the teaching and learning process for all those currently working within schools today. After all, “research that produces nothing but books will not suffice” (Lewin).
To learn more about James Kenny's PHD journey check out his regular guest blog.
If you have found this blog or any of its related blogs helpful, please subscribe and give us here at Inspire My Teaching a big thumbs up!
We love feedback so please get in touch at contact@inspiremyteaching.com
Comments