Never knowingly exceed expectations
As I trudge through the induction (NQT) programme I am repeatedly reminded of a sign that hung over a former colleague’s workbench.
“Never knowingly exceed expectations”
The induction programme embraces this ethos fully. The expectation is that after one year, NQT’s will meet the Professional standards for teaching and leadership. There are no rewards for going above and beyond, the letter not the spirit of the law must be followed. If an NQT engages in:
“The active seeking of support from colleagues when meeting a new challenge…”
They will gain no benefit (regarding the induction programme) from actually attaining or applying the sought support. Sure, that support may lead to improved outcomes for learners, but no-one is actually assessing that. Induction reduces the complexities of NQTs and their competence to a series of binary passes or fails.
The Professional standards for teaching and leadership has distilled teaching into 32 discrete elements. Induction devalues the skills, knowledge, and experiences that make each of us unique and embeds an unquestioning devotion to extrinsic targets delivered from above. The programme incentivises doing and being the bare minimum to scrape a pass.
I don’t know why this is the case, I have some cynical ideas, but it’s an attitude that flows through the entirety of education.
When Estyn (Welsh Ofsted) inspect a school, the very best outcome that school can hope for is “not in follow-up”. Currently, 116 of the 120 maintained primary and secondary schools in Cardiff are “not in follow-up”. So is “not in follow-up” the badge of a school doing and being the bare minimum to scrape a pass?
Sometimes, yeah.
A school can simultaneously be “not in follow-up” while also being criticised because:
“… teachers do not plan systematically enough for the development of pupils’ numeracy skills and their mathematical understanding.”
At what point does the limited development of pupils’ numeracy skills become an issue that requires “significant improvement”?
When a system avoids valuing and rewarding excellence it becomes very difficult for it to punish and deter failure.