Personalising relationships

Schools have to deal with more complex and serious challenges than they did 50 years ago. Adults maintain that children are harder to control. The development of new technologies enables quicker and faster communications, but also the problems of cyber bullying. There are fewer traditional family units and many youngsters have serious personal and social problems to deal with.

Schools cannot provide the solutions to all of society’s problems, but nor can they ignore these issues. Schools have had to review their structures, the curriculum and the relationships within their community. Schools work much more with external agencies to provide a better service and support for students.

Schools have revised their curriculum offer as they need to teach students to be good citizens. Students learn about money management, sex education and drug education, and take part in team building and leadership activities. These aspects of the curriculum have historically been delivered separately from the academic curriculum, and sometimes by teachers who do not feel equipped to be effective deliverers. In England, the personal, health and social programme is normally delivered in one of two ways – by a tutor or by a number of specialist teachers, with the tutor being responsible for administrative aspects of the work.

As schools are dealing with children who have more complex problems and are often without a supportive family unit, school leaders have had to radically change their thinking about the structures needed for deep support. In England, the comprehensive school has traditionally been organised around the twin pillars of the academic aspect (subject departments or facilities) and the pastoral aspect (usually the year group).

The need for greater support and knowledge of every child has led to some schools to rethink the academic/pastoral divide. This division in schools throughout the mid to late 20th century had leadership posts being identified as deputy head (curriculum) and deputy head (pastoral). For many teachers, the role of form tutor is a difficult one as they feel ill-prepared; unlike the role of subject teacher. Tutor group time can often be spent on administrative matters, such as taking the register and giving out notices. The head of year role is often about fire fighting and issues have to be dealt with in a non-contact time and out-of-lesson time, rather than immediately. Very rarely are form tutors available at the same time, so they are often not involved in discussions or the decision-making process. Pastoral meetings often focus on the problem children, or those children with special educational needs, rather than on those who fall into other categories.

Many schools have introduced vertical tutoring to try and resolve these issues. Vertical tutoring does create time for a tutor to work with tutees. It also helps to develop the expertise of the tutor, who becomes involved in the students’ full learning journey and can provide opportunities for students to act as role models, mentors and leaders.

The move from year groups to vertical tutoring is a radical reconfiguration of schooling. Twenty reconfigurations are described in the pamphlet written by Professor David Hargreaves, System Redesign 1. Schools that have moved to vertical tutoring have often introduced a second reconfiguration – created smaller units within the school – in order to create stronger relationships between teachers and students.

The introduction of vertical tutor groups affects school design and organisation in the following ways:

• flexible and permeable age cohorts: for at least part of the school day students are not working in year groups.
• academic/pastoral division: the pastoral aspect is designed to become an explicit source for learning
• smaller units within schools: these might be enhanced house systems designed to create more intimate units within the school, where stronger relationships between teachers and students, and among the students, can be forged.

In System Redesign 4 - Personalising Relationships, there are four school case studies highlighting how schools have personalised relationships based on vertical tutoring, developed smaller units within schools and removing the academic/pastoral division. The reconfigurations are working for these schools and many schools are considering a move to vertical tutoring. However, there is not one correct answer to personalising relationships.

The move from a traditional year system to a vertical tutoring system is a radical innovation in a school. Such a move will provoke considerable discussion within and outside the school. I would argue that the headteachers have exercised deep leadership (see Deep Leadership 1, Professor David Hargreaves). Professor David Hargreaves argues that school leaders can learn lessons from the business world.  I believe that the move to vertical tutoring and small, units within schools helps schools to do the following.

• Focus more strongly on their core business: schools can have a strong focus on learning for every child by providing an environment in which no child is lost. Children feel safer, there is less bullying, they can make a positive contribution, and they are encouraged to enjoy and achieve.
• Outsource some activities: greater involvement of external agencies and individuals in supporting students.
• Redefine relationships with customers: parents are happier and have one named contact within the school. Students are now teachers, as well as learners, and are working with staff to co-construct tutorials and other learning relationships.
• Redefine the units into which they are divided internally: this creates a family and community atmosphere within the whole school.
• Start to tap the knowledge of their staffs more fully: schools are utilising the experience and expertise of all staff, not just teachers.
• Increase horizontal relationships and reduce vertical ones: the small units within the schools have considerable autonomy, and staff is empowered to lead.
• Redesign jobs and the nature of work: the traditional role of head of year has largely been replaced and tutors are supported by multi-disciplinary teams. Heads of house may not be teachers.
• Improve performance: early indicators are that vertical tutoring reduces the number of fixed term and permanent exclusions, plus incidents of bullying have gone down while attendance has improved. The next test is to measure the improvement in terms of achievement.

Schools that operate vertical tutoring systems, and small schools within schools, maintain that all students are well known by at least one adult and learn within a supportive environment. For some students, this is the closest thing to family that they experience. By providing students with this environment, and the opportunities to be role models and leaders, the headteachers are convinced that the performance of students of all abilities will improve.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ms Sue Williamson is Director, Leadership and Innovation Networks, at the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, in England, United Kingdom.

 

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