Tag Archives: social contract

Unwarranted Optimism

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    For there is always light,

    If only we’re brave enough to see it.

    If only we’re brave enough to be it.

    (Amanda Gorman)

    When everything around appears dark and it is hard to see the light, we need to be brave enough to have unwarranted optimism. It is unwarranted because of the number of challenges faced by colleagues working in education that push us into hopelessness and toward helplessness. And, perhaps worse, there is a real danger that this helplessness is increasingly learnt, mutually reinforced and influencing the stories we tell each other about our profession.

    “Do you have the resilience to show unwarranted optimism, and to regard crisis as the norm and complexity as fun, while maintaining a bottomless well of intellectual curiosity?” (Tim Brighouse)

    To work in our profession requires unwarranted optimism. It always has, but it feels harder than ever to view the future with hope. Optimism (particularly unwarranted) is the life blood of our sector, the fuel that drives good people to do good and change lives. We must not sink our profession by peddling pessimism, even if it is warranted.

    “The problem is that people mistake optimism for ‘blind optimism’.” (Hannah Ritchie)

    However, this is no time for ‘blind optimism’, a naive faith or passive hope that things will turn out well. We need a ‘conditional’, ‘urgent’ optimism that empowers us to act, to step forward and build together a future for all children. Even if optimism, at this time, is unwarranted, it is a far better basis for offering colleagues and children a sense of possibility.

    Warranted Optimism | Everyday acts of heroism.

    “Optimism is seeing challenges as opportunities to make progress; it’s having the confidence that there are things we can do to make a difference. We can shape the future, and we can build a great one if we want to.” (Hannah Ritchie)

    Our schools may well be performing better than ever, providing provision that is meeting the steepest of challenges, post pandemic, and in the face of the fracturing social contract. In all schools, heroic acts are changing lives, exemplifying the power of human connection, offering real hope and optimism for the future; a powerful force for good.

    Warranted Pessimism | poor choice for children and colleagues.

    Warranted pessimism is not an option. Despite the oppressive background music and the darkening light, if we choose to be pessimistic, we may well extinguish the fading light. Too much pessimism, warranted or unwarranted disturbs us deeply, encourages retreat and pushes us to become victims of circumstance. And whilst we can individually decide to retreat, it comes at a cost for all and our profession, as well as the children who need optimism, not pessimism, from the adults they trust.

    “There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children.” (Kofi Annan)

    Skin in the game | our influence lives beyond us

    We all have an opportunity to be and bring the light to others. We cannot choose to sit outside the lives of others or be silent in the narratives that we tell each other; we have skin in other people’s lives. How we choose to move through life, reinforces or erodes the narrative and norms that set the stage far beyond ourselves, in schools, classrooms, and more broadly in life.  How we choose to live in this world, matters.

    “How to live in a world where profound uncertainty is not a bug, but a feature?” (Yuval Noah Harari)

    We are also hugely influenced by the need to fit in. It is coded deep in us that to be outside of a group hurts, is unsafe and a danger. So, we often take opportunities to align ourselves with the beliefs, attitudes, norms and behaviours of those closest to us. Often choosing against our independent beliefs to follow trend and fit in; a trend that is too often pessimistic. It matters, therefore, whether we choose unwarranted optimism or not, it radiates and infects beyond ourselves to other beings and happenings, all of the time.

    “Your response has to be to reject cynicism and reject pessimism and push forward, with a certain infectious and relentless optimism. Not blind optimism, not one that ignores the scale and scope of our challenges, but that hard-earned optimism, that’s rooted in the stories of very real progress.” (Barack Obama)

    Fairy Lights over Spotlights | a marvellous victory

    “What we choose to emphasise … will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something… and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. …to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvellous victory.” (Howard Zinn)

    To live with unwarranted optimism is to seek the joy of fairy lights over spotlights. A focus on fairy lights enables us to see the joy woven through life, to value the happenings and humans around us. Shifting our focus to the normal, everyday, magic that happens in schools, reveals the power of human relationships and places value on what really matters.

    “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.” (Howard Zinn)

    The future then is built on an accumulation of small acts, a bottom-up movement, where change becomes possible and we have the chance to send this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

    meaningful movements start bottom-up.

    Seeking spotlights on the other hand is like waiting for big things or changes, often viewing them as a salvation that will save the day. It is the hope that kills, the waiting for the next station that stops us from living now and enjoying the journey.

    “I’ve very deliberately chosen to notice the smaller things, the joys I might have otherwise missed had I looked too broad, too big. The thousands of joys that lattice and join and thread into and around our daily school life.” (Claire Stoneman)

    Uncommon Opportunity | striving for what is worth having.

    There might just be an uncommon opportunity to re-evaluate what really matters in education. Some of the most courageous and heroic work is happening in unfavoured areas of our sector; areas where the challenge is steepest and recognition the lowest.

    “This is Vanity Fair a world where everyone is striving for what is not worth having.” (William Thackeray)

    The narrowness of what is valued in education belies the vibrance and range of opportunity that exists in our world and the eclectic abilities of human beings. It is this narrowness that disenfranchises the many. We must throw more light on what is worth having, what children need for their future; a system more geared towards those it serves.

    “I deal my own deck, sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces.” (Gloria Gaynor)

    When we are pushed by powers beyond our control we should strive to go in the opposite direction and enable others to take more control, to step forward and make a difference to their part of the world. We should continue to deal our own cards, and empower others, to deal from their decks, optimistically, regardless of what is dealt; because we have collective power and we are the system.

    Too many feel unremarkable | in a remarkable world.

    In a darkening world children, particularly under-resourced children, need us to have unwarranted optimism, to offer more light and a greater sense of possibility. Creating the conditions for children to adventure down rabbit holes of curiosity and to feel the wonder of our remarkable world. We seek this wonder, so that children have the chance to walk a step or two with genius and because childhoods last a lifetime.

    “Do you believe with a passion that brooks no denial that all pupils, whatever their background, can walk a step or two with genius and that your staff will embrace the aim that all students will grow up to think for themselves and act for others?” (Tim Brighouse)

    We must not allow a pervading pessimism to extinguish the light for children and create a self-fulfilling narrative that damages our profession. We must encourage more to serve in education to reveal the magic that exist in ordinary lives and to bring more light.

    “…treading the intriguing line between the everyday and the otherworldly, revealing the magic that exists in our ordinary lives.” (The Lost Bookshop)

    Not our story to finish | true but useless.

    We should not pretend to know the future or how this story plays out. We must tread carefully on the dreams of children and seek to create provision that is more born out of optimism than pessimism. It is the difference between setting the stage for children to stumble forward in the dark, steeped in pessimism, and stepping with confidence into a future that is full of optimism and possibility. Children need to grow up in a world where they feel remarkable, opportunity is unbound, and where children do not feel separate from the world.

    “…although her childhood, had left her feeling separate from the world.” (Steven Rogers)

    Lest we forget that children are vulnerable to the beliefs and narratives of the adults in their lives. The challenges we face are true but useless for the children we educate. They do not choose the conditions, location, or time that they inhabit, and they are largely unaware of pressures, turmoil, and upset of colleagues in our sector. They profit nothing from a sector that fights, argues, gives-up, or fails to work optimistically with the hand that they are dealt.

    Unwarranted optimism | An invitation to dance

    We choose our approach to life and to work. It is too easy to see the challenges that surround us and retreat into the security of pessimism, into narratives that reduce agency and reinforce helplessness. But, when we do, it is not an individual choice, the impact of this stance reverberates through other beings and happenings. It denies a sense of possibility.

    Conversely, to bravely choose optimism, conditional optimism, we offer a greater sense of possibility, to reassess what is valued and to see the magic and the light in the everyday. This is a stronger basis for the future, more generous and a greater investment in colleagues and children.

    “Ignore those who say that we are doomed. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone.” (Hannah Ritchie)

    So, to choose individually, collectively, and organisationally to pursue unwarranted optimism is to contribute to a growing narrative that encourages us not just to see the light, but to be the light. To step forward rather than shy away from the future and collectively build it.

    And in this optimistic light perhaps all children and colleagues will accept an invitation to dance.

    Dan Nicholls | February 2024

    Be Braver | heroes needed

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    As educators, we choose to educate children, all children, and to make a difference to the lives of others; it is what brought us here. We do this surrounded by good people seeking to use the power of education, in darkening times, against the backcloth of a fracturing social contract and weak social justice, to do good. It is a noble quest, but for those that need us most, at this time, it is a quest that we are not winning, at least not collectively winning. We need to show greater courage, to be braver, to do more to close the gaps that tarnish our system; heroes needed.

    Being Braver

    Educators definitely do care, really care, about closing the disadvantage gap, we deeply do, and yet this care is not enough, because gaps are growing and our system is not working for too many children; far too many are becoming invisible. We are all involved, we all have skin in this game and we are all implicated in our inability to close the gap.

    We could choose the comfort of an external locus of control, and say too big, too ingrained, too difficult and seek comfort in our personal insignificance, against the magnitude of the prevailing system; a resigned acceptance of how life is. Or we could choose to become braver, recognising that small (and big), deliberate strategies, the application of equity, advocacy and action, challenging norms, attitudes and behaviours can tip the system. Adjoined effort of collective strength to change and transform provision that privileges all children. To call out, build provision and influence a system so that it disproportionately advantages disadvantaged children; levelling the playing field, viewing our world through the disadvantage lens.

    Whilst the forces that perpetuate the gaps, are insidious and part of the accepted fabric of schools and society, we have the power and agency to challenge our cultural norms, accepted truths, and attitudes that prevail in our system. We must be braver and bolder to build schools, provision and a system (including our accountability system) that addresses the chasm between those that have and those that have not; it will need to look and be quite different.

    Being more Ferocious | An active not passive process.  

    We need to be more ferocious, more tenacious in creating the conditions that enable our disadvantaged learners to flourish. This requires educators to be more honest, to ask uncomfortable questions and fiercely educate those that need us the most. To fiercely educate is to replicate the stage-managed, high expectation and sharpened elbows of an advantaged childhood. Being fierce means guarding a child’s education, expecting much, staying alongside, pushing from behind, consistently and persistently championing individual children. A shared endeavour to lift lives, one by one. Creating the conditions for a movement to lift-up a generation; a deeper, more ferocious, expression of care.

    We are being braver and more ferocious in some schools that deliberately act to build cultures and approaches that successfully privilege disadvantage, that exercise equity and create the conditions that close gaps. Cultures that privilege all children and not just those who benefit from an education system “…which has been constructed and is maintained primarily in the interests of those who find learning easy*.” (Ben Newmark)

    *an easiness born out of supported opportunity and experiences over time that present as more able (even talented).

    Apply Equity | to give what an individual actually needs.

    We must be braver and more courageous to apply equity, so that many more children get the care, focus, provision, resources, supported opportunities and experiences they, specifically, need. Adults willing to be braver, to question how things presently work to apply greater equity. This will require us to do different and feel happy to do differently; gaps are widening under the present conditions; equality achieved through equity, hunt don’t fish.

    “Fair doesn’t mean giving every child the same thing, it means giving every child what they need.” (Rick Lavoie)

    Privileging disadvantage | see through the lens, always.

    We need to try harder to really understand what it is to be disadvantaged (in each setting and individual circumstance). Understanding the impact of the system, of attitudes, norms and beliefs that accumulate disadvantage. To privilege disadvantage everywhere and in everything requires us to prioritise disadvantaged learners in all decision making, in provision, in opportunity, a culture of ambition for all children, going beyond just caring. A system that firmly privileges disadvantage in all that it does, such that it becomes the norm; a system perfectly designed to close gaps. How we do anything has an impact, positive or negative, on disadvantaged learners. It is written deep in the ‘cultural fabric‘ of any organisation.

    How we do anything, is how we do everything.

    Measure what matters | attainment mobility.

    “You should measure things you care about. If you’re not measuring, you don’t care and you don’t know.” (Steve Howard)

    How far do we evaluate our provision and performance based on the attendance, attainment, and progress of disadvantaged learners; even over? This is the true test of the quality of provision, as advantaged children bring much of what they need to school, whereas disadvantaged learners rely on schools to close the gaps.

    “…the evidence suggests that national education policy needs to be rebalanced to recognise the job many schools do in countering stark inequalities outside the school gates, while maintaining high expectations for under-resourced students.” (Lee Elliott Major)

    We need systems and the system to motivate, give greater permission and reward provision that chases disadvantage attainment (and attendance); attainment mobility as the truest measure of the quality of provision. Attainment Mobility is the reversing of delayed attainment, linguistic under-privilege and lack of early opportunity,so that children self-select (not self-de-select) and accumulate advantage (not disadvantage) through life.

    Attendance first | every day missed, widens the gap

    “One measure of poverty is how little you have. Another is how difficult you find it to take advantage of what others try to give you.” (Michael Lewis)

    One way to guarantee the gap widening, is to accept poor attendance, everyday a disadvantaged learner is not in school the gap grows, they cannot take advantage of what is offered to them. It takes a whole school to improve attendance, because it is a team sport, with an individual focus. Seeking preventative strategies based on really knowing our individual children and families, as well as our responsive actions, reaching out and building relationships that encourages/expects attendance. We must commit to persistently and insistently working to remove barriers to attendance. So that we, meet them there, apply equity, ensure that they are pushed and pulled to school, resisting the forces that encourage retreat.

    Give Status | it is free.

    Disadvantaged learners are more likely to have an external locus of control, to step back and to opt out of learning. Our sense of status determines how far we belong, connect, and ultimately whether we feel part of the game. If you do not see yourself as part of the game, you will opt out and protect yourself from further status harm by playing a different game or cutting losses to avoid playing and failing.

    As individuals, we have an un-ending well of status and to give status is a fundamental human gift. To give status is to be interested in every child, who they are, what they are doing, smiling, acknowledging, encouraging, noticing, being present. It costs us nothing, is a measure of our shared values and plays out in every interaction. How far are schools places of status how far are all colleagues truly on the side of children?

    I believe in you | An invitation to dance (always)

    Every child needs to have at least one adult who believes in them. Magic happens when all colleagues believe in all children.

    To grow up advantaged is to have adults who deeply believe in you, hold you to high expectations, encouraging (demanding) participation in supported opportunities over time. A childhood that encourages risk taking, whilst holding a safety net and offering commentary, narrating the journey through life, reaffirming and strengthening a child’s internal locus of control incrementally, day by day.

    And in this we see what must be done, to re-design the system to enable disadvantaged to participate, to have supported opportunity and wider social connectivity, with a back stop of someone who believes in them, who creates a safety net and supports them as they interpret life. Get up, go again, you have agency, you are always invited to dance.

    Lost in Transition | mind the gap

    Children navigate many transitions as they move through their education. Advantaged children leap confidently across these transitions, whilst disadvantaged gingerly and uncertainly step across; this is not for me. Whether it is the summer break (any break), moving schools, moving years, options or pathway choices, advantaged families step forward, stage manage, resource and guide readiness and decision making. At the same time disadvantaged learners get lost in transitions and lose connection, disconnected from seizing opportunities. In these transitions they are reminded that this is a world that happens to them, they step back, not forward and the gap widens, on repeat. We need to be braver and apply equity to stage manage and connect children so they find (not lose) themselves in transition.

    Curriculum is the key lever | Quality of teaching the determining factor

    The curriculum, and particularly what we choose to value, how we structure it and how we enact it, is the key lever and our best bet for disadvantaged learners. This long-term investment seeks to secure the key substantive and disciplinary concepts and powerful knowledge required to achieve attainment mobility for all children; placing our chips on curriculum, the golden ticket. Securing the spine of the curriculum (and tight to the spine), the core concepts and powerful knowledge that weaves the warp and weft of children’s schema to accumulate more, later. Really understanding where children are and teaching the next bit, assuming less and adapting teaching to meet need. Measuring and targetting the attainment of disadvantaged learners (and progress) as the true (only) measure of teaching quality.

    Being braver

    Children need us to be braver, to be more ferocious, to use our power and agency to apply equity, to give status, to measure what matters, to build culture and curriculum that closes gaps; attendance first. And if we do so, we just might create the conditions that disproportionately support disadvantaged learners to accumulate advantage and close the gaps that we currently perpetuate.

    Are we brave enough to re-think, to be unswerving in building provision (schools and our system) to apply the equity and give the resource required to those children who are under-resourced, who need us to be braver?     

    A quest worth pursuing. Heroes needed.

    Dan Nicholls | December 2023

    The Social Contract is fracturing

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    “Everyone participates in the social contract every day, and we rarely stop to think about it. Yet social contracts shape every aspect of our lives, including how we raise our children and engage in education.” (Minouche Shafik)

    We live in difficult and darkening times. The growing gloom is becoming oppressive, encouraging retreat and reducing belonging. The social contract that shapes and guides every aspect of our lives is fracturing. For far too many children and families this is fundamentally altering their relationship with society, authority, and how we value and engage in education.

    The “social contract” is a theoretical agreement between individuals and society wherein people relinquish certain freedoms and abide by agreed-upon rules and norms in exchange for social order and mutual benefits.

    These are dark ages, characterised by challenging economics and social inequity, that are presenting both a psychological and material challenge. This is infecting and altering the narratives we tell ourselves and each other about what is important and what our contributions to society should be.

    “We all … listen for an account of who we are and where we stand.” (George Monbiot)

    Increasing numbers of children and adults are opting out from a world that finds multiple ways of challenging their sense of self, place, and agency. Whilst for some the light is not fading, for too many others, often the most vulnerable, the gloom is encouraging retreat from the agreed contract. Schools are at the heart of the maelstrom, open, available, and trusted enough for some families to fight against, because few others are listening, available or there. Schools stretch and respond to the needs that walk into school every day, attempting to fulfil their duty of care, often without the resource or expertise.

    For increasing numbers of pupils and families, school is seen as optional, far from being irresistible or a place of opportunity. The prevailing narrative is replacing long held norms around the value of education, driven by a weakening social contract and the entrenched inequities in society. The disadvantage gap, on any measure, is wide and widening, embarrassingly so. Fundamentally, the social contract is built on trust– when the returns from society diminish or disappear, or where we become increasingly priced out of life, we see the contract weakening and the trust we hold erodes.

    “Trusting others puts us in an inherently vulnerable position… the proof of the importance of trust is the intense emotional pain that accompanies it being broken.” (Owen Eastwood)

    We need a revised and reinforced social contract that seeks greater cohesion, strengthens belonging and places education at the heart of this nation. This needs to secure far greater equity through education and a much stronger architecture of opportunity. An architecture enacted by stronger trust and system leadership, greater connectivity and purposeful collaboration between trusts and schools so that we take collective responsibility and stewardship for our sector. All Trusts working together for all children.

    “It is only through building a connected system that we will be able to address the multiple challenges facing our communities” (Leora Cruddas)

    Building the effectiveness of our trust, civic and system leadership to build an education system that is able to address the multiple challenges, redistribute esteem and enable many more children to live lives of decency and dignity.

    “…we need a redistribution of esteem… to live lives of decency and dignity, winning social esteem. …(to) travel the road to 2045 with purpose, dignity and accomplishment.” (Peter Hennessy)

    Seeking together to build strong trusts with great schools that meet need. Enabling more children and families to belong and benefit from a renewed social contract, gaining a greater sense of agency in their lives and contributing towards the common good.

    “Agency gives us control over our time, and it encourages us to choose what our contribution looks like.” (Seth Godin)

    In the eye of the storm

    The lines between school and society have blurred. Schools are trying to respond to the fracturing of the social contract. Where deprivation bites and societal problems leak into schools, colleagues can become overwhelmed. They take increasing amounts of time to support, resolve, and cope with difficult and widening societal issues of children and families, obligated to fulfil their deeply held duty of care for the communities they serve.

    The present level of attendance, suspensions and disenfranchisement, particularly of those presently disadvantaged, is a national crisis – a social epidemic. As the narrative falters, individuals are making pragmatic decisions around survival and choosing to opt out, to not conform, to challenge authority, avoid commitment and to escape the perceived risk of failing in class.

    If life is a game, too many are deciding not to play.

    Fracturing built on entrenched inequity

    It is not that the social contract has suddenly fractured, it has been creaking over time and is evident in the inequalities that characterise our society. Just as there are triggers for climate change, where it becomes irreversible and the impact is catastrophic, the same is true of the social contract. Multiple factors have triggered descent to this crisis point with our social contract.  

    Strong Trusts, Great Schools, Meeting Need | An architecture of opportunity

    “There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children.” (Kofi Annan)

    The present architecture of opportunity in our sector, exists within a developing Trust landscape. It is timely, urgent and imperative for Trusts and groups of schools to work together within stronger collaborative structures to build strong trusts capable of supporting more great schools that are well placed to meet need. The sector should grasp the opportunity to create a stronger architecture of opportunity that addresses the societal challenges and particularly the widening disadvantage gap. Trusts and schools need to work much more collaboratively to realise the promise of academisation and to secure greater equity through education.

    We are the system

    The development of great schools across the sector that enable all children to lead full, flourishing lives is at that heart of the renewal we seek.

    “We need a broader and more ambitious vision of what a good life is. Human flourishing and dignity for all, requires us to have a wide set of success measures. Placing greater value on things such as contribution, difference, common values, and the process of learning and work itself.” (Ben Newmark, Tom Rees)

    The collaborative structures we need to build within and across the sector are required to secure a greater dividend, one that rises the tide for all children. Schools need to grow good humans through strong culture and inspire young minds through great teaching held within a progressive, sequenced curriculum that liberates agency and meets the needs of children now and for their future. This requires us to develop leaders(hip) that understands how to improve schools within the collaborative structure of Trusts, accelerated by Trusts working closer together. This will demand a move from silos to deliberate collaboration, so that we, together, take greater collective stewardship of our sector.

    The deficit narrative in society is reflected within our sector and in our schools. It is no accident that the current recruitment and retention challenges, the catastrophic decline in ITT applications and weakening working conditions are linked to the deficit narrative around schools and the value that our nation places on education. It is not that there isn’t an appetite to meet and reverse the challenges of the failing social contract, it is that it feels progressively more futile given the available funding, resourcing, staffing, and expertise that is required to meet the ever-increasing demand.

    Stewardship and Longtermism

    The investment in education needs to be long-term and it requires a commitment over generational timescales that inconveniently span timescales longer than political terms of office. We are prone to shortermism and this struggles to keep up with the complex needs of a growing number of children and families.

    “We should shift our energies upstream: personally, organisationally, nationally and globally. We can, and should, stop dealing with the symptoms of problems, again and again, and start fixing them.” (Dan Heath)

    This is urgent; it is not just about now, it is fundamentally about the future and the future health of our society and the standing, place and importance of education. Great schools are the hope, and increasingly the only hope, but they are exposed and creaking under the weight of the failing social contract. Schools and Trusts need to consider deeply their role in society and the educational offer that will better meet the needs of all children, now and into their adulthood.

    The weather is oppressive

    The prevailing climate is increasingly oppressive and characterised by profound uncertainty.

    “How to live in a world where profound uncertainty is not a bug, but a feature?” (Yuval Noah Harari)

    Our response to this uncertainty and the challenges of our time has influenced the national psyche and altered our narratives. So much has shifted in our lived experience…

    The global pandemic, Brexit, standards in public life (Nolan Principles), high inflation, high interest rates, energy costs, mortgage rates, loan rates, cost of living, AI, inaccessible first homes, decline in living standards, shifting employment types and longevity, climate change, political turmoil, social media, conflicts across the world (including Europe), long waiting lists, funding crisis, erosion of local services and multi-agency services, mental health challenges, public service strikes, recruitment, retention…

    … disconcerting, oppressive, challenging; encouraging retreat and a deafening backdrop to life.

    All of which play out unevenly across society. Except that, this is not true for everyone. These oppressive conditions tend to maintain the status quo for those who have means and power.

    The shifting locus of control; retreating from the noise

    “Nations and peoples are largely the stories they feed themselves.” Ben Okri

    Our society has always been divided into those who have and those who have not. Typically, the most disadvantaged in society have an external locus of control, one that encourages retreat, and one that negates a sense of agency. The current challenges are pushing more children into believing and acting as if they have an external locus of control. When this happens, they look to the contract that is meant to hold them, meant to say to them that they belong, and they pragmatically choose retreat and make decisions about their contribution to society; becoming more invisible.  

    Ubuntu: “I am a person through other people; my humanity is tied to yours.” (Zulu proverb)

    We must reinforce, redesign and improve the social contract. It is fractured and faltering. We must not stand-by and in doing so collude with this erosion. We need a society and an education system that builds back the social contract for the common good and creates an architecture of opportunity, so that more are invited to dance.

    Architecture of Opportunity | an invitation to dance

    1. We need to renew the invitation to dance, so that individuals contribute and benefit from the social contract. We need a new national and educational narrative around schools that places education at the heart of social renewal. This should seek to create a greater sense of belonging, status and esteem, a more just society and communities where children and families flourish.

    “Those who imagine the ground beneath their feet is solid are probably managing the present, not leading into the future.” (Tracey Camilleri, et al.)

    2. We are the system. As educators we have an opportunity and responsibility to make a difference, to tell a stronger narrative and to influence the national position of education. We need to review the present paradigm and ensure that we are keeping our side of the contract. We need to ensure that Trusts and schools develop organisational leadership to build a sector that rises the tide. Strong Trusts with Great Schools that Meet Need.

    “You cannot take away someone’s story without giving them a new one. Whether the systems that emerge from this rupture are better or worse than the current dispensation depends on our ability to tell a new story.” (George Monbiot)

    3. We need to invest more in education; an investment that yields a long-term dividend to our society and nation. The pay off will not just boost the economy, but it will improve well-being, mental health, community cohesion and deliver social justice. This investment will support schools to fulfil their duty of care and create an architecture of opportunity where the power of education will secure greater equity. Not for us, for them.

    4. We need to take a longer-term view on the role of education in society, as the moral priority of our time. Taking greater stewardship of the future, building collaborative structures where all educationalist can share responsibility for all children. It is what we owe their future.

    “Longtermism is about taking seriously just how big the future could be and how high the stakes are in shaping it. We need to act wisely.” (William Macaskill)

    5. We need to invest more in the first 1001 days from conception and in readying children for school. This lights the fire, sets the stage and reinforces, at the earliest possible moment, that education and investing in human potential is part of the fabric of our social contract. This includes educating and influencing parenting and the nations understanding of key developmental stages. We need to follow through on that investment into early years to give the best possible start in life, to secure the importance of school, where children belong and where we genuinely work upstream to prevent downstream problems.

    “We have the opportunity to help people become significant… build a culture of affiliation and status.” (Seth Godin)

    6. We need more great schools that meet the needs of all children. Schools that secure strong culture and great teaching to build great humans and bestow the very best curriculum, for our children in these times. Trusts need to work together to develop system leadership and purposeful collaboration that accelerates our impact on the everyday experience of every child. So that together we realise and enhance the collective Trust Dividend on children and society. We should seek to secure greater attainment mobility, to close gaps for those presently disadvantaged, and meet the needs of those with SEND.

    “There should be a national strategy to close the attainment gaps that have opened since the pandemic. Addressing these gaps should be a national priority, with a long-term plan in place, based on evidence.” (Sutton Trust)

    7. We need to urgently address the attendance crisis in this country. Seeking to tackle the entrenched challenges of our time, to strengthen our narrative around the importance of education and build back the social contract. Improving attendance is urgent; the damage and implications for this generation will play out across society and over decades.

    “Culture can change. And it is schools and school systems that have the power to change it.” (Lucy Crehan)

    8. We need to invest in ‘place’, work in strong partnerships and fulfil our civic responsibilities. We need Trusts and schools to collaborate and develop civic leadership to take greater stewardship for the places that we educate. Without these collaborative structures in place, we will not create the architecture of opportunity and the multi-agency working required to serve the communities where children grow up.

    “Civic leadership is about the protection and promotion of public values and addressing issues of place …creat(ing) the conditions for collective impact by addressing complex issues affecting children … that require different actors to work together.” (Leora Cruddas)

    9. We need to invest in wider services, and find ways to effectively work in closer partnerships with others, including social care that sit in and around schools – renewing and reinforcing the broken contract, as an expression of care and duty. Taking greater opportunity to understand and meet the needs of all children and adults. Funding and supporting schools to realise their civic duty, with enough resource and expertise to meet demand and fulfil our duty of care.

    10. We need to be clear on where the boundaries of the social contract sit between schools and society.  This clarity is required to understand where responsibilities sit and to reduce the flow of societal issues into schools. We need to either rebuild the agencies, services and expertise in our communities or significantly invest in schools as community hubs to meet the needs of society.

    Through joint enterprise and shared responsibility we can build a society and an education system that renews the social contract for the common good and create an architecture of opportunity so that more are invited to dance.

    “It is a matter of shared purpose and sustained application.” (Peter Hennessy)

    Dan Nicholls | July 2023