Hotseat – 2.00pm – 5.00pm (GMT) Tuesday 5 December 2006

Supporting the learner: how do we provide support for the 'deep learner'?

 

The concepts of deep support and deep learning have emerged from the personalising learning dialogue of Hargreaves and others, but what does the term deep support really mean for schools and for educators in this new century? What are its limits or boundaries and importantly how do schools respond to this emerging new agenda?

Many schools in the UK and globally still structure their schools along traditional pastoral lines which can result in artificially separating the twin agendas of learning and support. Perhaps we should be seeking innovative ways to align the learning and support agenda and via this hotseat perhaps you can help others to reflect more radically on their own practice.

For many years equity of provision and support from traditional pastoral systems has been as elusive as El Dorado with schools struggling to ensure that every child has their share of support and even more schools have not really begun to tackle the agenda of deep support for staff.
This hot seat will focus on some of these questions and will try to focus on realigning our view and our practice on support so that we can begin to deliver tomorrows agenda today. Join me online from 2pm to 5pm on Tuesday 5 December 2006 to discuss these questions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mr Mark Davies has been a headteacher and school leader for over fourteen years at Dene Magna School in Gloucestershire. While there he radically changed the manner in which people responded and worked with each other through reflective practices and gained a reputation for radical and inventive school leadership. Due to the success of the school he was invited to sit on a number of high profile government think tanks.

In December of 2005 he left his school to immerse himself in trying to help others see the value and potential of some of the practices he has introduced at Dene Magna and has established a leadership development company called the Reflective Practitioner Programme. He is committed to remaining involved in schools via his work with a number of national bodies.

Mark is an engaging and challenging trainer and has proved a popular speaker at many Trust events.

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