Transformation vs. Improvement - and one proposed example

This is a great post by Derek Wenmoth on the gaping chasm between improvement and transformation:

http://blog.core-ed.org/derek/2013/03/two-agendas.html

Once again, we see that visionary leadership is critical to transforming learning and providing our young people with the skills and attributes they really need to thrive and survive.  It's just not enough to have a handful of hero innovators in each school battling against the odds to change the world.  All they manage to do really is create pockets of excellence.  Only the people at the top can scale this excellence to make it 'normal,' to transform the culture and to say, "this is what we do here."  If they've done a good job then I suspect we wouldn't recognize the place as a school, such is the level of transformation needed.

Here is one example of something we may not recognize in our schools at present, not really tech-related, but I suggest transformational, innovative and with the potential to provide enormous benefits for learners.

This idea came out of a recent project I was working on with my colleague, Mark Stone, who is the Digital Learning Coach at a school in Dubai.  We spent some time in the evenings visiting children in their homes, interviewing them and their parents about digital learning and seeing how learning was organized in the home environment. It started out about digital learning and we were really looking at how the use of digital tools differed in and out school.  What we learned, however, went so much further and was quite unexpected (you could say we were uncovering the curriculum, not covering it - cliche alert).

We found out about extended families, the culture and history of each and every one, what and when the children ate and who the best person in the home was to support each child's learning in different situations.  We were even at one point offered some home made Romanian vodka crafted by Granddad on the shores of the Black Sea.  The warmth of the hospitality was quite overwhelming.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, spending just 1 to 2 hours in each of these homes gave us an insight into the lives and learning preferences of these children that was previously hidden and which was, quite simply, a revelation.  Perhaps the greatest piece of learning for us was that, at home, we saw the children as true individuals, not part of a class that had to be managed.  When we talk about personalised learning, what do we really mean?  Well, we saw it in the homes - children deciding when and where to work - and on what, when to have a snack to keep their energy levels up, when to take a break, which parent or grandparent to ask for help, which device to use and so on... you name it, they were in control of it, always under the careful guidance and with the support of adults passionate about supporting their learning.  In short, it took very little time and effort on our part to gain a much deeper understanding of each of these young people as individuals.
This is important because, when I worked at the school a few years ago and was running a parental engagement workshop, we asked the parents the question: "What makes a great teacher?" The answer was pretty much unanimous in the room: "Your best teachers are the ones who really know and love the children, who see them as so much more than names on the register or numbers on a spreadsheet.  They engage with us and make a huge effort to be a part of our family."  Moreover, they proceeded to name the school's "best teachers" - again, with pretty much unanimous agreement - and on exactly this basis.  No one mentioned test scores.

So what's the innovation to come out of this?  How can we transform learning based on this experience? Well, this is one small suggestion to get going - not aimed at this school in particular, but to try in any school.
This is what I would do:

1. For the first half term every year, I would start school an hour or so late, with teachers having that extra hour to spend as they like - have a lie in, a swim, go to the gym or relax in Starbucks. If there are logistical issues for parents with this, provision could be made with a skeleton staff, a bit like a breakfast club, but a late one!  The Principal could run it.

2. There would be no after school commitments for teachers in the first half term.

3. Instead, teachers would spend an hour or so every weekday after school visiting their children and parents in their homes, getting to know the families and their circumstances.

Of course there would be logistical issues - working parents, etc..  But guess what, if the parents aren't there when the kids get home, who is?  Teachers would benefit greatly from experiencing whatever the children experience when they get home.  The objection will arise: aren't the children losing an hour of schooling? I suggest this would be more than made up over the year by the teacher's enhanced understanding of each child as a learner. 

Would all the parents welcome the teachers into their homes?  Probably not. Would those who do see their children benefit significantly?  In our experience, we suspect so.

This may sound crazy.  That might just mean it's a good idea.  I'd suggest it's more transformation than improvement and that makes me feel confident that it's along the right lines.  And we'll never know if we don't try.