TheParagon-Education

Is An Academy A Way To Change A Culture?

One needs to accept, to change a culture, one cannot change just the system, that will incorporating staff and attitudes, one needs to also change the environment. This may mean demolishing the old to build the new. By creating an academy, one can create a new establishment, creating a new mindset, with imagination, starting with a 'fresh, new page' and this will mean staff redundancies in an ever increasing low teacher employment.

What do I mean by this? I can use the analogy of a racetrack start line. Everyone starts from the same point, a new beginning and exploration, without established old mindsets of individual's services, 'grandfather rights' and/or privileges. I can reflect on the culture of British Leyland, Longbridge, Birmingham in the 1970's the attempt to change culture from the negativity from within; by changing company name, company buy-outs, sacking of workers, staff and management, only to see the established mindsets re-emerge from the foundations, like the “Phoenix emerging from the flames”! The only way to eradicate an existing negative culture is to close down and demolish the factory.

There is an established culture and mindset within the whole of the Education structure within this country and one needs to look at central/local government, teaching authorities, curriculum, staffing, environment, teachers, parents, pupils; and not forgetting business, services, industry and targeted markets. Very difficult and like changing the NHS, however; difficult, but not impossible.

One of the first tasks is for everyone in the education profession to work towards the same goals. Unfortunately, all the above have their own agenda and their established mindsets, hence the failures of meeting the needs of the pupil or student and employer working from top down.
Some of the key tasks for change are: communication, departmentalisation, universal vision, infrastucture development and fair promotion, evaluation and correction without the political badging and equality rhetoric, that works against the 'best person for the job' or in general the use of common sense.

Behaviours from pupils are inherent from their peers and are most likely from their parents too, failed in previous decades of government interference, polices, funding, world and trade developments, environmental changes, job prospects or just employment, educational opportunities and individual/personal motivational issues. A juggling act whereby; the 'balls have obviously dropped and everyone is continuing to go through the motions, miming the functions, where there is no substance however; ignoring the reality. This is where we are at, currently! We as a nation need to look at the 'Education worth' in this country. There are Post Graduates out of work, the unqualified, failed, so much for praising the failure! There are also the late developing pupils/students, those that just don't fit into the right boxes and are now considered failure and are out of work, this brings a new question to the front, “What are the values or worth of an education and qualifications in the United Kingdom? What is the prestage of qualifications to the rest of the world?” Are they a ticket to getting appropriate job skills? A good job, or any job appropriate to a chosen course of study?

This is an interesting point and we should look deeper.... I will make a note to myself further on....

My teaching career in schools, colleges, university and with private training providers has called me to take on many roles over a thirty-five year period. My specialty roles have been working within inner city secondary schools, full-time and supply, with the long term unemployed, managing and developing open learning, IT departments, teaching general curriculum, NVQ Programme and so on.

My work within private training organisations includes business start-up, co-coordinating and managing training centres. The development work includes resources into HR, training and development, teacher training to name a few.

The purpose to this site is to compliment the Paragon Publications UK on the parent site; http://paragon.myvnc.com; mainly looking at specialised areas of research and development.

From a teaching perspective, this site explores every day teaching and problems faced within the teaching profession, one person’s perspective . The "what you see, is not what you always get, especially when inspectors are due to visit the school or training establishment. What one gets" based on personal experience and observation is sometimes a 'cover-up’! With league tables playing an important role, and can be seen as a form of 'blackmail' to these establishments to perform well, or inevitably be merged or closed to make way for an "academy"!