Scottish Learning Festival (#slf12) and TeachMeet (#tmslf12)
by Doug Belshaw • September 20, 2012 • Conferences • 10 Comments
(click above for more images)
This week I attended my fourth Scottish Learning Festival (SLF) in a row. Within that time I’ve had three different jobs in various areas of education: schools, further/higher education, and now… well lifelong learning, I suppose. Those different lenses have been coupled with a change in the landscape on many levels. Not least, during that time the constituent parts of Scottish education have come under the roof of Education Scotland.
As is the case in England, it’s increasingly difficult for Scottish teachers to get out of school for external CPD such as conferences. By the numbers I saw at SLF 2012 it would appear that the majority of those fortunate enough to find someone to cover their lessons for the first day of the festival weren’t able to for the second. That’s a shame; getting out of the stream is important to reflect on your professional practice.
I have great respect for the Scottish education system. Whilst I can’t comment on the subtleties and nuance of how it plays out on an everyday basis, as someone who lives around 50 miles south of the border the post-SLF temptation to move from England to Scotland is always immense. Politics and disconnects are evident – of course there are – but at least Education Scotland employees come across as wanting feedback and (on the whole) seem to see teachers as a force for good. I wish the same could be said of their English cousins.
That being said, as I write this on the train back home from Glasgow, I perhaps came away from SLF slightly less inspired than in previous years. That may be because I have less of a defined role within formal education. It may also be because I attend many more conferences and events than I used to. But I’ve also a nagging feeling that this year demonstrated less of an emphasis on what made Scottish education distinctive and different: evidence of grassroots innovation.
The funny thing about innovation is that you don’t necessarily know where it’s going to come from. And whilst it might appear on paper that getting enough good people at the centre means innovation can be delivered, that certainly hasn’t been my experience. Innovation comes from the edges, from the margins, from unexpected places. To allow grassroots innovation to flourish those people with power and authority have to let go of the reins a little bit. And that’s a difficult thing to do in times of economic uncertainty and reorganisation.
The edges are still there at SLF if you look hard enough. TeachMeet SLF, for example, has been recognised over the past few years as a place where grassroots innovation flourishes. This year it enjoyed a huge (almost officially-sanctioned) increase in status by being by being hosted at the headquarters of the SQA. It’s a delicate balance: in the current economic climate such events need sponsors and support to even exist – but by doing so they risk morphing into something else. Thankfully, I think David Noble and the rest of the organisers did a good job at making sure this TeachMeet stayed on the right side of that equation.
I’ve scheduled a post on my main blog for tomorrow riffing off Seth Godin’s insight that when we talk to other people they want to put our ideas into categories. I think there’s a warning here for staff at Education Scotland and, indeed, for all of us. Sometimes we need to sit back and listen - really listen – to what’s happening. We need to hold off putting people and ideas into our pre-defined categories. At the same time, we need to make sure that we’re listening to everyone who’s involved and has an interest (all of the ‘stakeholders’) in national education systems.
I’m really looking forward to SLF 2013. I hope that attendance by those in the classroom will be back up to the levels of previous years, and that there’ll be a return to focusing upon grassroots innovation by those at the edges.
Long live SLF. 
I’ve attended SLF for many years…I found last year’s event a disappointment too, so declined to go this year.
I thought it was too corporate, with not enough ICT or real classroom teacher stuff. I felt it was about people selling me stuff rather than celebrating the innovative work going on in schools.
Hopefully they’ll get the message and see that this was the appeal of SLF…not a mini BETT or Education Show.
That’s the problem, though, when numbers are down it’s the *teachers* who aren’t there – because the schools haven’t got the budgets. This then leads to exhibitors not thinking it’s worthwhile.
Let’s hope there’s an SLF13!
I have been to each SLF (maybe even SETT???) for the last 8 or 9 years; sometimes one day, sometimes both. Sometimes involved in presenting, sometimes just lurking. I always felt that it was mostly non-classroom teacher education types who were there before. (Whilst the following is a bit of a generalisation and obviously there were notable exceptions, I do stand by what I am about to say!) It always seemed to be regarded as a must-attend for HMIe, LTS and Local Authority staff, even if there seemed to be little rationale for their attendance. Similarly, if someone from a school was ‘getting to go’ it tended to be a member of SMT. Nothing wrong with these individuals getting to attend, but I always felt it was a wasted opportunity. Similarly, when teachers did get to go they seemed to spend their time roaming the stalls looking for the best freebies they could find, including a bag or two to keep everything in. Another wasted opportunity, as few of them seemed to regard the seminar programme as anything but a way to keep the ‘High Heid Yins’ out of their hair. Nevertheless, the Festival must have been regarded as a success, as it kept growing. And growing. And growing.
Until last year. Mirroring what was happening in the wider world, suddenly everything changed, SLF I assume falling victim to the by-now widespread spending cuts and efficiency savings. The Festival was smaller – much, much smaller. Fewer companies were exhibiting. Many seconded staff had been sent back to their own jobs. Many of the ‘enthusiasts’, those who provided the real buzz about the place, were absent, and the energy they helped bring was diminished as a result. The seminar programme also seemed to have become somewhat sanitised, and looked rather watered down as a result. With the notable exception of the John Jones keynote, there seemed to be very little that anyone was getting really excited about.
But the crux of the matter was footfall. I don’t know what the official figures were like, nor how they go about measuring them, but I can tell you that I was there for a day and a half out of the two days and that the place was like a ghost town compared to previous years. This despite the Festival floor space being significantly reduced. The exhibitors I spoke to all said the same thing, and it was notable that many of them were not exhibiting this year.
The reaction to this from the usual attendees seemed to be that the bar’ was burst and the gemme was a bogie. When scheduling their diaries for this year, attending SLF 2012 did not quite have the same appeal. It had lost a bit of its gloss.
I was expecting these trends to continue at SLF 2012 much more of the same at
Oops. Muckle fingers there I’m afraid.
Was trying to delete the last few words and pressed post by mistake. Let’s take it from SLF 2012 again….
Fewer exhibitors, less energy, fewer delegates. That’s what I was expecting. I had even suggested that last year could have seen the beginning of the end of SLF as an annual event. And at first my pessimistic predictions seemed to be spot on. As mentioned previously, many exhibitors – including some who had been at every SLF I have attended – just didn’t bother this year. Others came along, but without a stand. The consensus seemed to be that it just wasn’t worth it any more. At Wednesday’s TeachMeet, anyone who had been along was commenting on how quiet it had been, and how small it had become.
Then came Thursday. I had been lucky enough to get some time out of school, and had a wish list of admittedly “Fully Booked” seminars I wanted to see. In the end up, I managed to get into all of them despite having a ticket for none (a lesson to myself – in the past I would have booked up for a ‘second choice’). Whilst it was quiet very early on, after I came out of my 0930 Glow event, suddenly the place was mobbed. And with what appeared to be teachers too. Loads of them. Whether it was a cheap inservice option for some schools or what I don’t know but I for one found it very refreshing. And with the smaller exhibition space, less time was spent freebie hunting and more in seminars that people wanted to get into or else in the Local Authority village networking and stealing ideas (I mean sharing practice, of course!).
And then there’s the students. When I first went along to SLF (might even have been SETT) as a student with a couple of cronies we were looked on as a bit of a rarity. Not any more. I spotted loads of student teachers (and probationers). Their chat was all about how great the things they were going along to were, and the best thing was that they had got to choose themselves.
Unlike last year, I left this year’s SLF feeling optimistic. Yes, the Festival was far smaller. Yes, there were fewer exhibitors and yes (no?), many of the ‘administrators’ had decided not to come. But from what I saw on Thursday there did seem to be a new direction, a new appetite and a new audience. A success, but by different criteria I would say.
Maybe, just maybe, this was the year that teachers began to claim the Learning Festival as their own?
Wow, thanks for the monster comment, Iain! Let’s hope it *was* teachers beginning to claim SLF as their own.
I think it’s fair to say that schools are struggling to justify the cost of sending teachers. I wonder if CPD has fallen off the priority lists of both schools and teachers themselves, particularly with the huge task of preparing for the wrong-footed introduction of National courses which are well under way in schools (oh, yes they are!)? With Donaldson, however, the involvement of teachers in their own CPD will begin to loom larger, if only because your CPD portfolio had better be up to snuff if you want to keep your GTCS registration. The SLF still represents to me one of the best trade events: not only for the trade show but also the seminars and networking opportunities.
For the future, I hope the seminar committee will try to put on as many sessions as they can from practitioners from Scottish schools. My spies seemed to have experienced some really naff stuff from teachers south of the border who thought they were presenting “cutting edge” practice which in fact schools in Scotland had been using for years.
For what it’s worth, Moray House send four coachloads of student teachers to the SLF and would have sent more if many hadn’t been out in schools.
It was great to catch-up at SLF, Nick.
I certainly wasn’t inspired by most of the sessions I attended – although the best one *was* by someone south of the border – the RSA’s Matthew Taylor!
…of course, and I enjoyed his talk immensely. I was referring more to the practitioner sessions. There’s some really good stuff going on in this climate of anxiety brought on by the upheaval of the curriculum in Scotland: the creativity under stress is frankly amazing. I’d love to have seen more of it presented.
I have attended for last 8 or 9 years. I am a class teacher and have been very inspired over the years. My first few times I was funded by masterclass then glow. Apart from one year when I presented I have funded my own hotel and transport , being lucky enough to have a headteacher who covered my class. Last year I was disappointed and uninspired for the first time and thought carefully about attending this year. I’m so glad I did. It was smaller but had a great buzz. I came back feeling refreshed and full of ideas. Teachmeet was great too. Well worth it and I live in hope that I’ll be lucky enough to return next year.
Oh good, I’m glad you were inspired this year. I suppose everyone has different experiences depending on their context!