Nene Education Trust
Looking back… looking forward: a perspective from the education sector
In what can only be described as the most challenging time that all of us, as a collective global community, have ever known and expe- rienced, I am writing this piece (probably to raise more questions than give solutions at the moment) from the viewpoint of a proud Northamptonian who happens to be in a position of responsibility in the local education sector. Human being and advocate for societal change fi rst, I am proud to
be the Director of Primary Education for the Nene Education Trust in East Northants. My role allows me the privilege to oversee six prima- ry-phase schools in Raunds and surrounding areas. T ere hasn’t been a day that’s passed us by in recent months where something linked to schools hasn’t been towards the top of the BBC News agenda: everybody has an opinion on schools and in particular teachers and this is ok, right? After all, we provide a public service to our wonderful young people and communities, therefore it is right that we are held to account by the very public that pay for this service. Many sectors have felt frustrated, upset and perhaps belittled dur- ing the national ‘response’ to the global pandemic and, in my opinion, the education sector is no diff erent. Indeed, on the evening in mid-March that Boris and Gavin made the announcement that schools were to partially close indefi nitely, aside from off ering in-school education for key worker and vulnerable chil- dren, I cried. I didn’t sob… more of a strange whimper… but I couldn’t control the emotion that I felt. A wave of something - could have been delayed shock, I don’t know – came over me and I felt stinging behind my eyes. Uncontrollable. Of course, we suspected the announcement was coming as the press seem to have these things leaked to them in the lead up to the reveal – although as school leaders we fi nd these things out at the same time as everybody else in the nation. But I knew then… I knew at that very moment… that this was going to change everything and that it would get more and more painful before it got better. But it can get better. It simply must.
An opportunity Change is great and absolutely needed right across the spectrum of education in my opinion. You only have to look at the horrendous, un- fair and ultimately downright despicable debacle around A-level and GCSE results to see that our education system is solely focused as an unethical, postcode-obsessed ‘exam factory’ for our young people and that teachers, as well-qualifi ed professionals, are simply not trusted. T e system continues to fail our young people year after year by de- manding that they conform to what is arguably a backward-looking
26 ALL THINGS BUSINESS
Matt Coleman Director of Primary Education at Nene Education Trust
education structure. Indeed, 80% of young people who are starting their school journey right now (four and fi ve-year-olds) will, when they go into their fi rst job, go into one that doesn’t even cur- rently exist. As well as this, transferable skills are required as our young people will have several jobs in their fi rst few years of employment. We cannot and must not pigeon hole the young people in our society. How is our education system preparing our young people for the life of work? Moreover, how is our system preparing young people for life itself? GavinWilliamson spoke recently about the world- class education system that we are moving towards. In my opinion we are a world away at the moment.
So, what is the opportunity? Lockdown has proved that people, from across all sectors, can and will work together. We have the opportunity to rediscover the true meaning of community, defi ned in the dictionary as ‘the con- dition of sharing or having certain attitudes and interests in common’, or ‘a group of people living in the sameplace or having a particular characteristic in common’.
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