The Big Mac with a Future

I say, I say, I say ….what question do you put to someone with a philosophy degree? Answer: ‘Can I have a Big Mac and fries, please?’




As well as doing the country a service by employing graduates with allegedly useless skill sets, McDonalds are now on the road to offering post-16 students ‘A’ level courses in Shift Management. Let’s just spell check that last adjective.

Should we mind? There have, of course, been lots of jokes and it’s easy to see why. Personally, I can’t see anything wrong with this form of modern apprenticeship. It’s a qualification that presumably will have to meet the standards and have rigour. It definitely fulfils a need so let’s leave others to worry about equivalence with other subjects. If vocational GCSE comparisons are anything to go by, when it appears it will probably be worth four ‘A’ levels at least.

Don’t weep if you’re a struggling ‘A’ level Physicist, thinking this defies the laws of gravity. You know you have to eat, so think of the service quality you’re going to get in your favourite food outlet.

Your subject may be hard but the Government hasn’t forgotten you either. Somewhere in the Children’s Plan is a strategy to increase numbers taking Science post-16 as well. How else will we recruit those Science teachers? We can’t let them all go off to work in McDonalds.


If it brings employers into education and motivates young people, what harm can it do? We need to separate our prejudices, as customers, about the product from the processes being offered by the company to young employees.

The public can choose whether to buy the burgers, taking into account any ethical and food-related issues. As there were 80 million visits to the 1,200 high street restaurants last month, it’s clear that we vote with our stomachs.

But a young person, in what might currently be a dead-end job, has no choices or chances. Until now.

I remember combining my sixth form studies in the sixties with part-time work in a Wimpy Bar. Who remembers them? From the Latin I discovered a love of language; from the History a fascination for political intrigue (that’s why I became a head); from English a life-long passion for literature and the theatre.

And from the Wimpy Bar? I learned about my practical deficiencies in taking multiple food and drink orders - but then I was young and untrained. The prospect of a life time of doing this sort of work in a white de-humanizing jacket, servant of the company and the customer, was the biggest boost to my academic success.

It’s to the credit of McDonalds that they recognise their obligations to a largely transient workforce. We in schools have nothing to offer this group and no right to complain.

For years Marks and Spencer were famous for the quality of their staff training and employee care. It was a virtuous cycle. So we should be encouraging more companies to step out and offer similar accredited courses. Schools, colleges and exam boards have no monopoly of wisdom on ‘A’ level delivery.

I say, I say, I say … what question do you put to someone with a McDonald’s qualification in Shift Management?
Answer: ‘Have you thought about enrolling to study for a degree in Philosophy?’

Five Grades Good: Five Grades Bad

I’ve now met the students in my newly formed Gradewatch group which I supervise for part of the week. Each one is a character, but also a statistical half a percentage point on our results next year, if we get it right. Do the sums- it’s significant. They’ve dropped an option and are concentrating on English and Maths instead.

For like a new currency which has already increased in value, the gold standard for Year 11 leavers has changed. The fabled criteria, any old 5 GCSEs, are forgotten. Now it has to be 5A*-Cs, including those two good for you golden subjects.

It’s no longer possible for a school to gain a high league table position by offering multiple passes in GNVQ subjects- 4 GCSEs in Skateboarding and another high grade equivalent in Fishing to make the five. School leavers have got to be numerate and literate as well.

They are no longer leavers these days, of course, but merely in transit on their way to further education that isn’t really staying on at school. Or is it?

We always suspected that some schools were playing the system. The differences between the old rankings and the new ones tell us that something was definitely going on. We don’t allow cheating in the exams so why did we put up with grade distortion in the lists?

Politicians are also now talking about five good GCSEs rather than five high grade passes. It’s a subtle shift in language. They think we won’t notice. And a bad GCSE isn’t one in Media Studies or Dance either, though, depressingly, that’s the view of the Russell Group of Universities who should know better. They could not be more wrong about these subjects.

Keith Joseph was clear when he introduced the system that all grades were passes. It’s just that some grades are now more equal than others. So unless the opposite of ‘good’ has changed its meaning, why invent the concept of ‘bad’ GCSEs?

Those in Gradewatch hope to convert some Ds to Cs. But in some cases the D grade would still be a real achievement, even one or two grades beyond our estimates. If these are ‘bad’ GCSEs, we’re in the world of Alice in Wonderland, or should that be Harry Potter? Literally ‘D’ motivation. (Sorry).
Perhaps it’s so that politicians can claim the high ground by arguing for the abolition of grades E and F. If these grades are to go, we should be clear that it’s because standards have risen that they are no longer needed. Surely that’s a cause for celebration.

It could even benefit the public figures that make up and then change the rules. But I suspect they’d rather claim they are being tough on standards. Well so are we and at least we understand the system, unlike the Minister who can’t tell the colours of the rainbow from the days of the week.

Joseph himself, as Education Secretary, also made the odd gaff. Once, on a primary school visit, with a bizarre degree of misunderstanding about the career structure in teaching, he inquired how much longer it would be before the head would be able to gain promotion (in his terms), and become the head of a secondary school.

An MP recently revealed similar misconceptions and prejudices, asking: ‘How many years have you been head of this school?’ After informing him that I’d done fifteen years, he confidentially offered me some career advice: ‘So you’re now in a position to apply to be the head of a private school!’ At least that explains why they think state school heads are a vanishing breed.

Politicians have to refrain from talking tough and become masters of their own brief. If grades below a C are no longer regarded as passes or worth having, let them be clear about it. Separating students’ achievements into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ for the sake of a soundbite helps no one. For genuine gold standards will always be our aspiration- even for the skateboarders and those gone fishing, and definitely for our new group of Gradewatchers.

Conversation with Ray Tarleton by Geoff Barton

During the Christmas holidays I had this message from a colleague:

Ray
I've really enjoyed the vibrancy of your school's website and the upbeat nature of your blogs. In fact your and my school feel remarkably similar - focused on young people, on innovation, and on not chasing league table rankings through dubious measures.

I was wondering whebther you might be happy to have an email conversation with me for the TES. Our aim is to showcase the day-to-day work and vision of great school leaders. If you were interested, I'd email a question, you'd answer it, I'd ask another ... and so on for 600 words or so.

Let me know if interested and whether there's a particular angle you'd like to focus on (eg Trust status).
GB

So we emailed each other and below is the edited conversation which will appear in the Times Educational Supplement:


Ray Tarleton is the Principal at South Dartmoor Community School in Devon. It is a specialist sports college, a DCSF training school and one of the first schools in England to take on Trust status. With so much suspicion and controversy surrounding the Government’s promotion of Trust Schools, that was the focus of our conversation.


GB:
Your school has had just over a term of Trust status. What was the thinking behind applying to become a Trust School?

RT:
For me the question was why not rather than why. It was Government policy, supported by the major opposition party so there were no politics. Five other local secondaries were in favour and applied for pathfinder status at the same time. Devon LA took a really supportive and positive line. We also had a year to look at the issues with full public consultation before taking the decision to go for it.

In reality we were already operating to the trust agenda with a range of external partners with whom we had really deep links and were developing materials - Capita Children's Services, Exeter University, TLO and a local quarrying company. Even though we knew them well, I approached each partner tentatively and was delighted by the enthusiastic reactions of each.

GB:
What benefits did you see Trust status as bringing?

RT:
I saw it as another way of raising standards by researching ways in which changing practice can empower the profession. That's long overdue. Our partners wanted to link closely with us to innovate, experiment and give teachers a role in developing new practice. The vision for the Trust was set early and this, in itself, was a great process, forcing us to state clearly and simply what we hoped to achieve.

The Chair of the Trust Board, Professor Debra Myhill, is pushing hard for us to work at the very boundaries disadvantage and under-achievement. After all, this is the group that, in the last 50 years, has flatlined where university applications are concerned. We have identified the really hard to reach cohort in one year group (starting with Year 9). With direct help from Capita, we are aiming to bring the school into the home through widespread use of the Learning Gateway. For me, it's the equivalent of on-line banking, but we've still got a lot of catching up to do in education. We've started a training programme for all parents, using their children as tutors and assisted by Capita staff and our own experts.


GB:
So describe to me how this is working in practice - on a day-to-day level in school

RT:
Two key Departments, Science and Maths, are now in formal research partnerships with Exeter University, with a teacher from each working for part of the week there. In Maths, for example, a subject under the spotlight just now in all schools, as you know, they are developing the children's questioning skills. And this is rigorous research that we all hope will have national implications - academics and teachers working together, not for a qualification, but to raise standards across the system.


GB:
What evidence have you got of how it's helping to raise standards?

RT:
The declared aim of one of our Trust partners, Exeter University, is to: 'broaden the notion of what standards are.' Just hearing that from such a prestigious organisation is refreshing. Put that alongside their statement that they will work with us to 're-professionalise teachers' and 'help them take control of their own practice' and you have a force for genuine standards going way beyond traditional measures.

The Trust Board challenges the school leadership with a rigour and honesty that comes from our shared educational values. It's all very public - plans, notes and aspirations published on our website, communicating with parents and the wider community. It's early days on evidence but developing staff in these ways, having the support of university colleagues, and working with Capita to extend data use and electronic communication with parents, these all support new ways of working without which there would be limited improvements in standards.

GB:
What do you predict longer-term?

RT:
My guess is that there will soon be a national body representing Trust partners from a range of organisations - stakeholders who will be able to speak with the authority that comes from involvement in schools and direct knowledge. And what a powerful group that will be, a real force for raising standards!

GB: Thank you. Your enthusiasm for Trust status is refreshing and the plans really exciting. Good luck with the whole venture and let’s talk again in a year or so to talk about the impact.