Looking at Learning Differently

An outstanding teacher… said Ofsted.

An exceptionally talented educator… said my performance management reviews.

Yet, I couldn’t agree! 

How could I be being outstanding, when I was feeling so broken?

I knew that outstanding meant thinking of innovative ideas and fresh concepts, so that both the children and I could thrive, something that used to come so easy, but not now,  now...

I was too stressed to stop, too demoralised to question, too busy to be creative, too tired to think outside the box.  And I wasn’t alone. The more I looked, the more I found, that educators everywhere were feeling just like me. 

How could I be outstanding when I knew that what I was teaching and the way I was teaching it served a league table instead of the children? 

I couldn’t sleep at night.

Tormented by the thought that children don’t choose to go to school, they are directed to go, for almost the entirety of their childhood! 

So then surely, they deserve nothing less than an education that honours that childhood and prepares them for their future, not one that teaches to timeworn tests and ignores so many of their needs?

In one way or another, I was constantly asking “What if education was happier, more relevant and less stressful for everyone?” 

Recognising what a profoundly positive impact looking at learning differently would have on educators, on children, on parents, on society, I decided it was time to stop wondering and find out...