Rather than simply climbing back on the hamster wheel, why not take an opportunity to reflect and consider better ways to move forward – especially in relation to promoting physical and emotional well-being? And what better way to do so than by considering ‘move & learn approaches’?

Give Yourself Time to Think

This time of the year is always a great time to revisit your core values. Ask yourselves:

• What are they?
• Why did you become a teacher?
• Who are your role models?
• How can you emulate these people and build upon their ideas?

Reflect. Schools are incredibly busy places, more so than ever before. It is all too easy to get bogged down in the nitty-gritty of the role. However, give yourself time to think and reflect. Celebrate your successes! Likewise, ask yourself what went well and why or indeed what could have been better. Consider different places and situations in which to reflect, whether they be on your own or with others. Personally speaking, my best ‘Think Times’ incorporate running, biking, and hot pod yoga.

Be resilient. There will always be challenges and you will need to look at ways to overcome barriers to learning. Surround yourself with good people – people within your own school setting and beyond who support and provoke in equal measures. Twitter is a great way to connect and share ideas with like-minded souls.

Be Playful

Try new things. Look at research and take time to see what’s out there – but remember, there’s no silver bullet. Many schools use the Daily Mile, but can you just run with it? Can you improve upon it and adapt it to the needs of our own learners? To find out more, click here.

Ask yourself, “Do we need to sit to learn?” Check out this TEDx Talk, ‘Physically Active Learning (PAL) – Improving Learning’.

On that note, why not try a Standing Desk for your PPA sessions? Or maybe take a walk with your colleagues to discuss new ideas, rather than sitting down all the time? Walking and talking often result in bonkers but wonderful ideas.

Get Your Learners to Move More

Taking the learning outside is a great way to engage and enthuse your children – not just for PE, but for other subjects too. By establishing ground rules and sharing your expectations, any potential behaviour issues are removed. Once outside, you will be saying, “I didn’t know he could do THAT! He’s never shown me that in a Maths lesson or written it in his Maths book.”

Consider ways to involve movement in and around the classroom. This can involve different levels of physical activity. Encourage your learners to simply stand up and move to another part of the classroom whenever they reach the end of a page or a chapter helps stretch the muscles and indeed the mind. At the other end of the scale, consider the Supermovers resources created by the BBC. In addition, check out the Disney & Star Wars resources created by the NHS and Change 4 Life for some Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA).

Be creative and look for opportunities to move and learn. Check out the hall timetable – is it used all the time? Are there gaps when it is not used in the morning? If so, get a timetable going and take your Mathematics and English into the hall on a regular basis. As Dr Andy Daly-Smith from Leeds Beckett University says, in this video, “To do literacy or numeracy in an active way, you remove barriers that some children face in a traditional classroom setting.”

If you would like to find out more about ‘moving & learning’, check out these 2 inspirational podcasts featuring pioneering school leaders:
https://peumbrella.com/living-breathing-a-pe-culture-with-headteacher-chris-willan/
https://peumbrella.com/putting-physical-activity-at-the-heart-of-school-life-with-headteacher-ian-holmes/

If you would like support with Physically Active Learning (PAL) in your school, contact the author of this article.

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As a headteacher I am always looking at recruitment and retention. There is lots of discussion currently around staff health and well-being, including issues of workload. Many leaders are accused of being tokenistic in their well-being initiatives, so how can we truly ensure we are listening to our staff?

Part time and flexible working is an area I believe many schools needs to improve. There are a number of senior leaders who advocate part time and flexible working and a number of organisations such as @WomenEd and #MTPTproject who regular discuss the issue.

If this is the case why do I say many schools need to improve? Attending the 4th @WomenEd unconference in October 2018 was quite an eye opener, listening to many stories from women in workshops, #Leadmeets and regional networking saying that they had been asked to step down from middle management and leadership positions when requesting to go part time, often after returning from maternity leave. So, why am I so passionate about it? Mainly due to also being one of those women who had to take a step back in her career due to planning a family, this was over 10 years ago and I would have sincerely hoped that times had changed.

Question for headteachers and CEOs: Do you really believe a part timer cannot hold a senior position?

Look around – there are schools who make this work. For secondary schools it is a matter of robust and creative timetabling. For primary schools it can be a trickier issue, this is where part time and job shares come into their own – do we always think of a job share as 2.5 days each with a swap over Wednesday lunchtime? Does this always have to be the case? I have an example of a year 2 teacher who reduced her hours by one day thereby teaching 0.8 and another member of staff taught 0.2.

This year was a turning point for us in staffing. In 2017-2018 our year 2 teacher went on maternity leave, to cover our part time SENDCo increased days and we appointed a PT teacher to job share, respectively teaching 0.4 and 0.6 each. The teacher returning requested part time- my immediate response was of course- no questions asked. But I hear you say but these are class teachers not SLT.

Here then, is the next part of our journey: also, in the summer of 2018 my AHT was thinking of applying for DHT posts, all good and I’m happy we are able to ‘grow’ people ensuring they’re ready for the next stage in their career. In this case she didn’t truly want to move on, but thought she needed to broaden her experiences away from a school in which she had taught for many years, build a network and better work-life balance. How could I help her? How could I retain an excellent teacher whilst ensuring I took account of well-being and work life balance? The solution? To reduce her working week to 0.75, in doing so she would continue her role as year 6 class teacher, job-sharing with a UPS member of staff, who also requested to reduce hours – not the traditional 2.5 days each as the AHT teaches 3 days week A and 2.5 days week B with her colleague teaching 2 days week A and 2.5 days week B. For the rest of her time she has leadership responsibilities, these are flexible and completed whenever she wants within the remainder of the working week, sometimes from home and sometimes in school. This also provides her with time for herself and / or to pursue other interests or have the opportunity to work in other schools, tutor or provide consultancy.

You will probably want to ask – but is it working her being part-time as a AHT? My short answer, yes! My KS1/FS lead has stepped up to AHT for 2 days per week – as a senior leadership team we now benefit from more people being able to share the workload and discuss issues, we are a strong team and the two AHTs have clear job descriptions and remits that work for us.

I would therefore urge all HTs and CEOs to consider very carefully the requests from all teachers but particular senior leaders to go part time or have flexible working opportunities.

I would also say to all teachers – be brave, ask for flexibility and part time working in the roles you apply for – it may not mention anything on the advert but you have nothing to lose.

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1. You will need your TEFL

In order to teach English abroad, you are required to have a TEFL qualification, on top of your bachelor’s degree in any subject. The TEFL can take as little as three months to complete, and can be completed online or in class. A TEFL certification is the minimum qualification normally required for a teaching job with language schools around the world and it’s a great way to gain an understanding of what will be required of you when you do land a teaching role in a foreign country.

2. Understand what you’re getting yourself into
Setting off to teach English abroad is not a decision that should be made lightheartedly. It is a big commitment, and you will have to sign a contract of employment. Do go through your teaching contract with a fine tooth comb before signing, as you will be in a different country with different laws, and so it is important to be aware of what you are agreeing to. If you’re unsure, seek advice and it’s always a good idea to have a solicitor or teacher with a similar background to take a look over it just to make sure everything being asked of you is in order. It’s also a good idea to do some research on the country or area you will be living in. Familiarise yourself with the culture, politics and customs of the society so that you can immerse yourself within it as much as possible.

3. Dealing with culture shock
When moving to a country that is new and unfamiliar to live and work in, experiencing a culture shock is inevitable. Preparing for the change should help you to settle in more easily. To do this you should do plenty of research before you leave and, on arrival, try to take some time to yourself to explore the area and to gain a better perspective on the cultural differences. Learning the country’s official language can also set you in good stead. One important thing to keep in mind is that you should teach, but also allow yourself to be taught. This is an opportunity to learn as much as you can about another country and to develop yourself as a person, you might not get a better opportunity for personal growth again in your career.

4. Patience is necessary
Patience is key when teaching anywhere in the world, no matter who your students are. You will inevitably have a range of students who will each have their own specific needs, wants and preferred style of learning. Remain calm at all times and remind yourself of why you are doing this. If it is for the right reasons, your struggles will soon seem miniscule when weighed up against the value of the knowledge you are imparting and the relationships you will develop with your class.

5. Leaving home won’t be easy
Regardless of how long you wish to spend working abroad, when the time comes for you to leave your homeland, it certainly won’t be easy. There’s no sugarcoating it. However, do keep in mind that you can easily keep in touch with your loved ones back home via Skype and Facetime, and that you will create new, long-lasting relationships with like-minded people during your time abroad. Homesickness is something that most of us experience at some time during our lives but it’s all a matter of perspective, remember to be grateful everyday to have the opportunity to live and teach in another country as that’s something that is only a dream for many.

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Encyclopaedia Britannica has introduced Space Next 50, an engaging interactive look at space exploration in its many dimensions, with historical perspectives, biographies of major figures, quizzes, videos, statistics and some philosophical reflections on humanity’s enduring quest to transcend the boundaries of our planet. Comprehensive and multifaceted, the program which is free of charge to use, captures all the drama of the 1960s race between the United States and the Soviet Union to be the first to land on the Moon It’s ideal for students, teachers, space buffs anyone who’s curious about space exploration. Features include:

• A complete timeline of the events that led up to the 1969 Moon landing, beginning with pioneering rocket scientist Robert Goddard’s suggestion in 1920 that it could and should be done.
• Riveting facts and statistics, such as: there are 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe. (How many people, do you think, have orbited the Earth since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first to do so in 1961? The answer may surprise you.)
• Videos, including actual footage of the Moon taken on the Apollo 11 and other missions, and President John F. Kennedy’s famous 1961 speech at Rice University kicking the race against the Soviet Union into high gear and resolving to put an American on the Moon “before this decade is out.”
• In-depth articles covering Apollo 11 and subsequent missions, the history of the space program, and biographies of key people, from astronauts such as Neil Armstrong, John Glenn and Sally Ride to Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three notable African-American women who were vital to the space program working behind the scenes.
• The site even tackles the conspiracy theory, popular in some esoteric circles, that the Moon landing never happened, that it was somehow faked.

The launch of the website marks the beginning of what the company says will be “a yearlong journey to examine our past, present, and future in space.” More content will be added, and they invite readers to participate and be part of it. Britannica’s Space Next 50 is available at https://www.britannica.com/explore/space/.

We informally met as a design teacher team to discuss our anecdotal observation notes, and analyze our videos per student team to assess the student progress in the design process. We looked for patterns and trends in our notes/discussions and used them to determine intentional teaching that needed to be addressed as a large group.

As the year continued staff learned how to effectively use and organize the Makerpace and design worthy challenges to help the students grow their 21st-century skills. The students became hungry for this type of work. In December instead of a Christmas concert the grade 3-5 classes crossgraded new design teams to showcase an “elf factory”. It was important to work with different peers and learn from a wide variety of people to apply what they had learned about collaboration and the design process from previous design work. 

This time the design task was to design a form of entertainment,(made in the Elf factory), for a target group that could be sold in stores as a gift. We wanted the students to show off evidence of their 21st-century skills as they interacted with the various types of entertainment when their guests arrived. We wanted the other students in the school to come into the Makerpace to try out each type of entertainment and give feedback so the grade 3-5 students could contemplate the feedback and modify their work. We wanted to start spreading the excitement of this type of learning to the rest of the school and the community.

Students used robotics, circuits, and recyclables to create a form of entertainment and then held a STEAM fair in the gym to showcase their work. The community was invited. The pride and commitment the students displayed had never been seen before. The support they showed each other was admirable. When the students saw the guest responses to their work they grew even hungrier to learn as they saw their thinking and learning mattered. Again no pre-teaching happened, the teaching happened on the spot when needed. Each design team needed different support to learn the required skills. The 21st-century learning skills were learned authentically instead of in isolation.

Below is an example of students learning how to connect with experts around the world such as Jane Goodall so they can be supported in their habitat work to become part of a global solution. This led to various solutions through collaborative brainstorming such as planting a bee and butterfly garden, writing letters to Premier Ford about changes to the Endangered Species Act, learning how to compost, and starting a garbageless lunch campaign in the school.

So as you can “C”- ( see what I did here…)- intentional teaching of 21st century learning skills through purposeful design challenges in a school-wide Makerspace is one way to shift students out of ‘summer mode’ and support them in changing their mindsets and seeing school as a place where they can learn how to become creators, collaborators, and critical thinkers. School is a place where students can learn how to THINK. Becoming a STEAM school has certainly been a step in the right direction.

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