Vision, Values and Virtues Church School Leaders 19 th November 2015

Vision, Values and Virtues

Church School Leaders 19th November 2015

What’s the narrative for education?

Tony Blair: “Best Economic Policy we’ve got:

Education, Education, Education”

www.churchofengland.org/education

What’s the narrative?

● Economic?

● Employability?

● Productivity?

● Potential income?

● Need something broader, richer, deeper


What is our Vision for Education?

● Why? not What?

● Why education and why Church of England education?

● Discuss and feedback


Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham

Joining together in the Transforming Mission of God we seek for Church of England Schools and Academies to be:

• Distinctive

• Inclusive

• Effective

• Rooted


Why are we involved in Education?

Education in whole not in part

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly John 10:10

The flourishing of every child.

Going for Growth:

Every child and young person having a life-enhancing encounter with the Christian faith and the person of Jesus Christ

Spiritual, intellectual, physical & emotional well-being – human flourishing


No such thing as ‘neutral’

• Our ethos not an ‘add on’

• Needs to run through like writing in a stick of rock

• Transparent about the narrative


Faith and Education

• Role of religion in society?

• Role of faith in education?

• Part of the problem, or a vital part of the solution?

• Religious literacy

• Theological enquiry

• The Christianity Project


Identity

• Who am I?

• Why am I here?

• How then shall I live?

How would you answer those questions for

yourself?

How would you want pupils leaving your school to answer them?


Character

• Values?

• Virtues?

• Not a list of character traits but an unfolding

relationship

“When we think about our calling as a church, or as a school, or as an individual responding to Christ, we always have to look at the bigger picture. You can’t just tick one narrow set of boxes and think you’re done. God can see through that kind of thing quite easily.” Archbishop Justin


Character

Needs to be more than ‘character traits’ and become something embedded in a deep vision about the place of human beings in the world, with the ultimate purpose of expressing an unfolding relationship with God. Knowing what it is to love and be loved.

How can you enable this to happen in your

school?

What gets in the way or prevents it?What is the role of collective worship in developing character in this way?

Coffee and Market Place


Character

• Formation

• Flourishing


Why are we involved in Education?

• The formation of people for the transformation of

the world.

• An education that bears the fruit of transformed lives, (children and young people who know what a life lived well really means), has the power to transform society.


Our Vision for Education

• 10 Marks of a High Performing DBE

• A Focus on effectiveness

• Ofsted and SIAMS

• But what is high performance?


What do we mean by effectiveness?

• Danger if focus on effectiveness and performance sees a good education purely in terms of what can be measured by other people’s metrics

• Need vision for education which promotes the social, moral, spiritual, physical, cultiral and emotional development of children as the underpinning essentials on which strong academic performance is built.


What do we mean by effectiveness?

• Combine Christian ethos, character and distinctiveness with high standards of achievement

• Driven by teaching and learning that sees the wider purpose of education as being much more important than those things which can be measured by very limited categories of data.


Promoting the Vision

What’s stopping you?

What gets in the way or side-tracks?

How can you overcome this?


Promoting the Vision

●High stakes accountability system

●Confidence and courage


From Network to Movement

41 4,700 1 million 135,000

75 11 22,500 1 million


Context (challenges)

● Increasing withdrawal and fragmentation of support for schools

● A ‘school-led’ system for professional development

● Inequality of access to professional development

● Tightened school budgets


Context (opportunities)

● Strong relationships built within the diocesan family

● Significant existing capacity (Universities and Teaching Schools)

● Digital Innovation

● Changes to the NCTL

● National appetite for a different kind of education


What we propose

“Whatever your role in education, if you want your students to truly flourish, you turn first to the Church of England for professional development and support.”

What that means in practice:

The Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership:

● A vibrant professional learning community

● A suite of world-class training

● Research and thought-leadership on education for flourishing


The Proposal

● Professional Learning Community:

○ National/Regional Conferences

○ Networking Opportunities

○ Highlighted case studies

○ Online platform

● Comprehensive self-evaluation training framework

● Flagship school leadership training programme


Questions:

● What would you want from such a movement?

● How should such a national movement enable and equip you in your role?

● How might current and future leaders be better equipped to promote the Church’s vision for education?

● How should the Foundation ensure its work both enhances school/diocesan relationships and capitalises on the national network?

Comments and Questions

Documents

Vision, Values and Virtues Church School Leaders 19 th November 2015