Think outside the box, by Terry Freedman
My article about a Government initiative – what will Demonstrator schools demonstrate? – caused some consternation for long-time ed tech colleague Tony Parkin. In the article I mentioned the ICT Register set up many moons ago by the then specialist Schools and Academies Trusts. The Register was a scheme whereby member schools that had expertise in a particular area could make that known so that other schools needing that expertise could get in touch.
Tony says it was ahead of its time, which I think it was. It was very much in keeping with the spirit of the times, which for many in the ed tech world were more about sharing than turning a profit. And even though I was an ICT Advisor at the time (and therefore had a vested interest in not recommending others' services to schools), I recommended that the schools I worked with made use of the ICT Register if they could, where appropriate. For example, if a school was thinking of doing a particular thing, why not get in touch with a school that was already doing it? You could ask questions like what would you do/not do now in the light of your experience?
So why the consternation? Because I mentioned in parentheses that I was always a little sceptical of the scheme because schools recommended themselves. (My position can be summed up in two words: caveat emptor.) For that, Tony accuses me – ME! – of "conventional thinking". Conventional thinking? Me?
At this point, I’m tempted to present quite a bit of evidence showing that over the decades my thinking has been anything but conventional. However, that would look like self-aggrandisement, or at least would make this article about me rather than the issue at hand. So I will content myself with saying, for the record, that I hardly think the description "conventional thinking" applies, at least not in a general sense, to yours truly.
However, I will concede that I'm rather cautious in some respects, and self-recommendation is one of them.
Tony points something out which I either did not know, or have since forgotten. Apparently the SSAT checked the schools for credibility, and used benchmarks such as the ICT Mark to help them do so.
I will concede that given the tone of my article about demonstrator schools, my throwaway comment about the ICT Register came across as more dismissive than I'd intended. Also, Tony was on the inside of the Register, and knows a lot mere about it than I do. Therefore, read his excellent article on the subject – just ignore the bit about conventional thinking!