Yesterday I was reminded of ‘Any Dream Will Do’ from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. It’s a wonderful feel-good song, but I’ve never been too sure of what it means. Joseph had dreams about his future that came true… It’s good to have dreams, hopes, ideals, high expectations, plans for the future – but any dream?
And what’s the point of any dream, if it doesn’t happen, if it doesn’t affect the dreamer’s life?
Yesterday reading… Early in Leroy Logan’s career with the Metropolitan Police he was working for the Divisional Intelligence Unit at Kings Cross, researching the types of crime being reported, the rate of crimes being solved, the number and type of complaints…
Peter Imbert, the Commissioner of the Met, visited the Unit and asked, ‘If all you officers are in the office gathering all this information, how many of you are on the street to act on it?’
Data may be helpful, but if there aren’t officers acting on that information there’s no point in obtaining it.
When I was a teacher I went on courses where ‘experts’ told me how to teach better, how to manage my school budget, how to ensure that the children were better cared for. Inspectors came into school, observed how the school was run, how well the children learnt, how they behaved, They then informed us of their judgements.
Experts and inspectors may be helpful, but what’s most important is how their advice affects the quality of the teachers in the classroom.
On Sunday minister-Lou talked about the importance of the Bible. I’ve spent all of my life living alongside folks who call themselves Christians, many of whom are Bible-reading, Bible-knowing, Bible-believing. They can tell the stories, quote verses, know the theory and theology, but the real question is about how it affects their lives.
There may be Joseph’s dreams, data and information, experts and inspectors, but the challenge to those who call themselves Christians is, ‘Are you acting on it?’
malcolmsmusings.org 
Ahhh yes Malcolm. I remember, with pleasure, the enthusiastic way you always embraced that erudite information you gained from our pedagogic superiors.
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It was certainly a mixed blessing, Alan. There was always the issue of how much you respect those giving the advice, and whether changes they were suggesting would actually give the pupils or the staff a better deal!
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I have to admit that when I first came out of private education I was a hopeless teacher. It was only by observing others that I realised what was good teaching.
At Saxmundham I observed a lesson where the pupils were just talking amongst themselves and ignoring the teacher. I made my mind up then that I would not allow that. I also observed teaching where the teacher never got cross but expected the pupils to behave and they did.
It took me some years before I was satisfied with my practice. I must also admit that after past awful experiences with OfSted I realised you have to play the game.
I used to tell the kids that we might have some visitors and when they come in I shall ask them all to stop work and they will do a “Peer Group Evaluation”. Each pupil had a sheet in front of their work and they all circulated and marked their peer’s work from 1-10. But, they must say exactly why they were knocking marks off. I couldn’t believe how much the inspectors and pupils loved it. It seemed the biggest cope out possible to me. It still amuses me thinking about it. I did, of course, realise the good it did though.
Another time I got excellent but the inspector picked me up on the pupils, a year 8 group, not wearing aprons although they had ties on. I told him that the high school didn’t insist on aprons so I was more relaxed with year 8. And that the ties couldn’t be seen as they all had high necked tops on. I said that I always did a CLEAPPS risk assessment. He didn’t know what CLEAPPS was. As the school was closing in less than a year I just smiled and thought unchristian thoughts.
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