In the Zone Summer 2023

The Global Reset

New opportunities for educating girls

How aspects of home learning during lockdown can be used to enhance the ways in which girls study now they are back in the classroom.

Lucy Scovell Head of the Faculty of Humanities, Portsmouth High School GDST

Aswell as turning 150 earlier this year, the GDST became a founder member of the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools (ICGS). The ICGS focuses on educating and empowering girls to become ethical, globally minded changemakers, through collaboration between its 225 girls’ schools and professional associations in 13 different countries.

Their Global Action Research Collaborative (GARC) encourages current classroom teachers to undertake action research on an issue that will help to improve girls’ education and opportunities. I am one of 17 research fellows from the GDST who attended the ICGS conference in Boston in June as part of the GARC programme.

The GARC initiative involves an 18 month training programme which includes regular online meetings about our research projects with the 30 teachers in our cohort from around the world. I also meet up regularly via the internet with my research supervisor, Debbie Hill from Northampton High School for Girls GDST, and a smaller group of teachers based in Bermuda, the USA, Australia and the UK to discuss how our individual projects are going and give each other advice and support. It is really interesting to see how teachers in educational systems in North America and Australia have identified the different challenges that are affecting their students and how they are trying

What are the intervening obstacles they have to overcome?

Think back to Lee’s model...

different research approaches to address these issues.

I am part of the 2022-2023 cohort, whose research theme is ‘The Global Reset: New Opportunities for Educating Girls.’ This theme was a direct response to the COVID pandemic where girls across the globe had their normal learning environment changed and their study programmes altered. Getting to grips with the increased use of technology whilst at home during lockdown was a huge learning curve for the girls and staff (as well as parents). At Portsmouth High School we were all grappling with ‘on the job learning’ of Microsoft Teams plus other applications and packages which could help with the remote learning process. Now we are back in school and have time to reflect on what aspects of using technology for home learning were more successful than others and can contribute to the way in which our girls study.

During lockdown, one application which I used for the first time

was Jamboard, a Google webbased application which acts as an online interactive whiteboard which students can add individual contributions in real time. My area of classroom research focuses around the use of Jamboard as a tool to develop learning and attainment in A Level Geography. I am working with our Year 12 geography students to understand how this type of application can help girls to improve their attainment in the subject. Firstly, I am looking at how it can be used by the girls to learn A Level content more easily, and secondly, how that content can be more effectively manipulated to access higher marks in examination questions. I am currently in the middle of my classroom research and the girls

have taken part in Jamboard based activities, classroom observations, questionnaires and structured interviews.

As part of my action research programme, the girls have just undertaken a task for their AS Geography module on migration. They were each given an international migration stream to study (retirement migration to Spain, economic migration to Qatar, migration from war-torn Syria and the forced migration of the Rohingya in Myanmar). They were given a table with key themes to organise their research. These themes included number of migrants, age, gender, reasons for migration, obstacles, and impacts on the source and destination countries as well as the migrants themselves. The girls then spent two lessons contributing to

The GARC programme has enabled me to explore the use of web based applications, and to think carefully about how technology can be used to improve my professional practice.

the slides within the Jamboard, building up a more detailed picture of the characteristics of these international migration streams. They were then able to compare information for each stream visually in the context of examination style questions. My research will investigate to what extent Jamboard based learning activities like this enables them to develop their use of examples in examination questions, as well as their ability to evaluate, rather than simply describe the information that they put forward.

Whilst working individually, they also have the opportunity to see each other’s contributions ‘live’ and this encourages discussion and debate as they work through the task.

Over the next few months, I will write up my findings from this terms’ research activities into a report which I will then present in front of a global audience at the 2023 ICGS Conference in Cleveland, Ohio in June. The GARC programme has enabled me to explore the use of web based

applications, and to think carefully about how technology can be used to improve my professional practice. Also, I have enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with other teaching professionals from different parts of the world, as well as forging deeper links with other GDST schools. I hope that my findings from the project can add to the increasingly diverse range of strategies that are available to teachers to engage girls in their learning and to improve their attainment levels.

Innovation Theory and Lessons for School Innovation

Mr Rob Smith Assistant Head (Pastoral) Portsmouth High School GDST

Ihavejust completed a Masters in School Leadership, for the dissertation element of the course I was required to complete an action research project. This project has been the implementation of the highly successful ‘well-being ambassador’ programme.

The action research project has required me to evaluate and assess the impact of operational excellence, team culture and innovation on delivering educational change. This brief paper will present and unpack current theories and approaches

to innovation, and the lessons and guide they provide for change leaders in education.

It is important to consider and discuss what is meant by the concept innovation. It can be defined as something that is new

or significantly improved, done by a company (school) to create value either for the company (school) or for its customers (students) (Business Council of Australia, 1993: 3). Schumpeter’s (1934, cited in OECD, 1997: 28) five types of innovation (product, process, model, supply and investment) is a seminal work and further develops our understanding of the concept and resonates within an educational innovation.

Innovation matters in education because it stimulates a school’s improved performance and success (Cohen et al., 2019: 1).

Educational innovation cannot happen in isolation it has to be managed and deliberately planned for. Therefore, well executed change management is key to the successful delivery of innovation. Trust and teamwork must be firmly rooted in this process. Therefore, reinforcing the strong link between team culture and innovation. It is also vital that large-scale educational innovation and change is aligned with vision and values (Heckelman, 2013: 25). A point reinforced by the Found et al. model (2017:246) (Figure 1) and that values must be rooted at the start of a change project. These crucial steps should be led on by school leaders, whose committed and energetic leadership is key to successful innovation (Koch et al., 2015: 513). Hussain et al. (2018: 123) reinforce this point by arguing that ‘transformational leadership’ is vital to successful educational change management and innovation.

The Kubler-Ross ‘Change Curve Model’ (Figure 2) is an important starting point for any discussion of the innovation and change cycle. It prompts a deeper reflection on the importance of people and trust in the innovation process. The model (Figure 2) allows school leaders to better understand and plan for the potential responses of colleagues to change. For instance, in order to reconcile and undermine initial ‘denial’ and ‘frustration’, leaders need to appropriately consult and connect with their colleagues from the outset of any innovation project. Stakeholder support and engagement are crucial to the success of an educational change. This firmly

Figure 1: Strategic Operational Excellence Model (Found et al., 2017: 246)

Figure 2: The Kubler-Ross Change Curve (Kubler-Ross, 1964 Cited in Malone, 2018: 37)

Figure 3: Change Drivers and Resisters – Force Field Analysis (Lewin, 1951: 12)

Figure 5: Two Dimensions: Four Cultures (Goffee and Jones, 1996: 134)

Figure 4: Adapted from Dr John Kotter’s 8 Step Process for leading change http://www. kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps/changesteps

connects with Lencioni’s (2002) ‘five dysfunctions of a team’ and Tuckman and Jensen’s (1977) ‘phases of 8’.

However, measuring the model’s various (Figure 2) stages can be highly subjective and open to interpretation (Sánchez, 2007: 9). A leader’s perception of where their team’s opinions towards changes sit can easily be influenced by their own thoughts and immediate biases.

Lewin’s model (1955:21) (Figure 3) allows further exploration of the importance of trust and teamwork in driving forward educational innovation and change. It values the need to build and align driving forces for innovation, in order to offset and undermine the obstacles to innovation success created by restraining forces. The KublerRoss model (Figure 2) relates to the ‘ancillary aspects’ of Lewin’s model (Figure 3), it links to the implications associated with force field analysis and group dynamics, and their behavioural considerations (Rosenbaum et al. 2018: 294). A common feature in both models is the focus on resistance to change.

However, Lewin’s model (Figure 3) is arguably overly simplistic in that it views innovation and change as linear and static. The need for flexibility and adaptation in education does not relate well to his concept of ‘refreezing’ (Cummings et al., 2016: 34). In addition to this his model supports the idea of top-down management and undermines the contribution of teamwork (Burnes, 2004: 995). Despite the limitations of Lewin’s model (Figure 3) it is a useful tool for planning school innovation. It supports the argument that ‘story telling’ and a commitment to

vision and values must sit within the change project.

Kotter’s (1995) Eight Steps model (Figure 4) provides a much more detailed explanation of the process of change management in developing successful innovation projects. Unlike Lewin’s model (Figure 3) it provides a systematic and precise breakdown of how to lead an educational change project. It allows school leaders to think more strategically and longterm about how change should be managed and developed. This point weakens Sarayreh et al’s. (2013: 626) argument that Kotter’s model (Figure 4) focuses too much on behaviours and overlooks strategy and systems. However, step 4 (Figure 4) features too late, as it assumes team member compliance and overlooks the difficulty of unresolved opinions. Establishing a sense of urgency (1) creating a guiding coalition (2) develop and communicate a clear shared vision (3) and (4) can be seen as components of Letwin’s ‘unfreezing process’ (Rosenbaum et al. 2018: 292). Kotter’s model (Figure 4) provides school change leaders with important learning and reflection points on the innovation process. Steps

3 and 7 of the model (Figure 4) forces leadership teams to consider more closely how they align vision and culture to their innovation project and how they must be built into project formulation and evaluation. Another important reflection is how steps 1 and 2 of the model (Figure 4), if suitably engaged with and planned for, will allow school leaders to facedown potential restraining forces.

And finally, the literature argues that innovation requires teamwork and high levels of motivation and trust (Timperley et al., 2014). This point is further reinforced by Moolenaar and Sleegers (2010) who maintain that innovation only works if everyone within a team is engaged and committed to an idea and that enforced innovation at best provokes indifference and at worst resentment. Social interaction and collaboration should not be overlooked in the innovation process, it develops the trust and the energy needed to implement change and innovation (Moolenaar and Sleegers, 2010: 17). This point resonates with the concepts of sociability and solidarity in the Goffee and Jones (1996: 134) model (Figure 5).

Year 12 well-being ambassadors at Portsmouth High School have been part of the school’s innovation to promote good mental health

Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) encourages students to work outside their comfort zones

Weare extremely proud of all our students who submitted their Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) for early entry in November 2022; 100% of pupils achieved a grade A.

The EPQ forms part of our Sixth Form academic enrichment curriculum and is the equivalent of half an A-Level. EPQs are highly regarded by universities as they enable students to develop their independent learning, research and critical analysis skills, essential tools for undergraduate study. The projects allow students to explore a subject of their choosing that is beyond or different to their A Level subjects. They are required to write a 5000-word essay, as well as keeping a detailed production log of the whole process. We saw a range of impressive essays on varied topics. We are constantly encouraging our students to work outside of their comfort zones and show curiosity - the outstanding results achieved from the November entries show just how adept our students are at this.

Here is a synopsis of some of the entries we had this year.

Mrs Amy Hostler Teacher of Psychology and Sixth Form Enrichment and Innovation Assistant

Juliette Binning, Year 13

Since studying it in Year 9 Geography, I became increasingly concerned by how such a cultural norm – buying cheap clothes regularly –contributes to climate change and perpetuates poverty cycles largely in the global south.

To highlight just some of these effects: estimates suggest that the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global water waste every year, and that the average hourly wage for a garment worker in Bangladesh equates to just 24p. Hence, I wanted to first examine the fast fashion’s business model, and compare it to alternative methods of fashion available.

The Ellen Macarthur Foundation devotes much of their research to the ‘Circular Economy’ and projects that fast fashion alternatives which function upon a circular system – i.e. clothing that is kept in a constant cycle of use, rather than being replaced by brand new materials – will become more popular. For example, the second hand retail platform Depop saw an increase in users of 163% in 2020, similarly designer brands such as Ralph Lauren are adopting rental services whilst others such as Puma are reducing sampling material through Digital Fashion. Therefore, there is some evidence for positive progress.

Although, the rental service poses socio-economic problems, and makes sustainable fashion accessible only to an elite. Moreover, research suggests that unless circularity is at the centre of the business, the environmental offsets are unlikely to make a valuable difference. Furthermore, the fast fashion industry remains popular and more accessible than ever: dominating the fashion market (Shein overtook H&M as the largest fashion giant in 2020). Social media advertising and influencer hauls exacerbate this apparent ‘need’ for constant new clothes, thus equating ‘newness’ to ‘style’.

My concluding thoughts are that a fashion industry without exploitation could be possible and does exist (in a minority) but a larger cultural and personal shift in the value helf to clothing is required. As an individual, making the choice to consume less, wear clothes for longer, or shop second hand can help to reduce your own personal fashion footprint and cultivate an appreciation for your clothes, and who made them. However, at this point in time, a global economic shift towards sustainable, ‘slow’ fashion which would exclude all forms of exploitation does not seem attainable neither under capitalism nor in the near future.

My EPQ question centred on fashion: ‘Is a fast fashion industry possible without exploitation?’

Beatrice Oliver, Year 13

This title stemmed from my passion for sport and geography. This topic was extremely fascinating as the world of sport is changing faster than ever. Technological advances are breaking geographical barriers to sport such as climate change and topography (land) influences. I concluded that all my factors geographical, and non-geographical, it is not certain that one factor can be perceived as being the most significant. I initially found this disappointing, as my expectation was to have a single “result” that would conclusively demonstrate a single separated factor.

After further thought, it is actually the lack of there being a single geographical factor, that is actually the most thought-provoking

part of my whole essay. This has sparked my interest to conduct further research. For example, during the process of this essay it became apparent that the link between technology and elite sport is an area that would warrant further investigation. I was unaware of technological advances in cricket for example (one of my case studies) where historically geographical factors seemed to dominate, but that also now seems to be changing as technology advances.

Overall, my EPQ has been very beneficial as it has provided me with a variety of skills which will be extremely valuable when going to university next year. Myself and my EPQ supervisor (Mrs Price) also built a very valuable relationship which is very important as I spent a lot of time meeting with Mrs Price and asking for advice on certain topics.

My EPQ title was ‘Which geographical factors are the most significant in the performance of elite sport across the globe?’

Annice Riggott, Year 13

My

I investigated food marketing in the UK and assessed its long-term health implications on children who are exposed to it. The essay looked at: digital marketing, marketing within school and its effects on young children, and within shops, debating which of these is the most effective marketing for children, and how it adversely affects their health.

Digital marketing, looked at the influence of social media on children’s food choices. From reading articles and scientific studies, I discovered food marketing via social media encouraged children to consume unhealthy food.

I suggested more protective online policies should be enforced to safeguard children using online platforms, as well as an improvement in removing socially sensitive material, reducing the risk of long-term physical and mental health complications caused by children’s, ever expanding, online presence. Additionally, I investigated Product Placement & Media Promotion. My research suggested this promotion seems highly influential in creating a detrimental impact on children’s long-term health, most notably obesity. Although it has predominantly negative impacts on health, new regulations and further studies hope to reduce the detrimental impacts and use media advertising.

My research into marketing within school and its effects on young children, produced inadequate findings on positive food marketing within schools. However, reliable investigations found UK schools do contribute to children’s poor long-term health due to practices such as, Cola-isation, vending machines, feigned exercise programmes and insufficient school meals. These approaches reinforce harmful habits outside of school, which may continue into adulthood. However, solutions such as policies reducing HFSS foods sold within schools and alternative, healthy, meals provided at lunchtime promote positive change within the school system, reducing longterm health complications for young people.

Marketing within shops was my final section of discussion. Both packaging and marketing offers showed highly influential in children’s eating behavior. Attractive packaging, bold offers and food colourings can tempt children into consuming certain products. A positive food packaging strategy I investigated was Traffic Light labels, introduced by the UK government in 2014. Encouraging UK families to make healthier choices. Marketing offers e.g., Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) offers, mostly contain Processed or Ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which can increase long term health problems due to their lack of nutrition and high proportion of sugar, salt and fat. Attracting parents and children to buy cheaper products but creating long term health issues.

I concluded that food marketing does have a detrimental impact on the long-term health of children in the UK. Digital marketing had the most detrimental impact on children’s health, due to its lack of controllability and widest accessibility. In terms of health implications, obesity and the childhood obesity crisis in the UK was predominately referenced in articles, establishing its prominence as a common long-term health concern.

EPQ title was ‘Does food marketing have a detrimental impact on the long-term health of children in the UK?’.

Developing personal and professional resilience

Teachersinstinctively offer strategies to support students during times of emotional distress. These tools range from visualisation techniques and managing breathing and posture to the simplicity of making a cup of tea or taking a walk in the fresh air.

Arguably the most important tool we suggest is learning to recognise what we can and cannot control: after all, it is estimated that some 70% of worries do not come true.

Teachers find helping others intuitive. We are empathetic and supportive by nature and seek to resolve. In all caring professions, the practitioner puts the needs of those in their care first, and rightly so! However, it is also commonly agreed that to help others effectively, we need to ‘put on our own life jacket first’: so why do teachers find it so difficult to heed their own advice?

On a recent, virtual GDST Heads of Year course, we explored exactly this: ways to develop our own personal and professional resilience when supporting young people. The course was challenging and thoughtprovoking in equal measures, and it took some time to adjust our mindsets from being student-centred.

Self-awareness and self-care are both over-used and under-estimated terms: but the course reminded us as teachers to notice and act on our own patterns of stress and ineffective habits. This heightened awareness can only serve to increase our ability to decompress and to enable teachers to support their students in an effective and sustainable way. ‘Compassion fatigue’ is a real problem in caring professions but acknowledging that if “we want to change the world, we have to change our thinking” (Albert Einstein) is a good place to start.

Mrs Sarah Paget-Tomlinson Head of Year 10 and Teacher of History and English