In the eye

Sleeping in and days off and a whole lot of other twinkly inducements to keep the workforce in and interested, and perhaps more than anything else, simply capable of carrying on. All very well, I suppose (and who will actually say no?) but I fear that treats and tricks won’t be enough, because a lack of them is not the real problem.

A good use of our time

For me, it’s always been about what we do with the time we spend together. About the powerful forces that bring us into orbit around something undeniable, irrefutable, irresistible; something life-sustaining. But we waste our time fretting over the wrong things, leaving no space for learning to flourish. Put a seed in the soil, and even if it’s the wrong way up it’ll germinate. Despite appearing weak and frail, it somehow has the strength to push up through the soil, break the surface and reach up and out. And its destiny is a beauty that no one can deny. Everything the seed needs is already in there, ready to go. It even knows by some ancient and wordless impulse when the time is right. And it alone knows this. Set the basic conditions - warmth, water, light - and just try and stop it. You wouldn’t stand a chance. While it can happen because of us, let’s not kid ourselves: it will happen perfectly well despite us, away from us, without us, long after us. If we respect this conclusion then let’s start fretting about optimal conditions and let what’s naturally in there punch through and reach us. That would be a good use of our time.

Dangerous stuff

If I’m honest, I was worried about leading on the treehouse today. The boys were really keen, but then they would be because we were going to be using power tools. And we were working off the ground - approximately 6 feet off the ground - and as our first job was to lay the floor, it goes without saying that we’d be working at height balanced on struts and joists, our feet dangling like those of the men in the famous ‘Lunch atop a Skyscraper’ photograph from 1932. Despite all my worrying, I had no option but to pass on the dynamic risk assessment to the boys in a way more akin to being a father than a teacher, though that distinction now seems spurious. What impressed me (and would have impressed you) was how safely and carefully they worked. They quickly picked up and accurately deployed the new language, and with each rotation of the geared key chuck worked swiftly and precisely. And they helped each other kindly, each observing carefully the performance of the other and freely sharing their new learning. The importance of the bit’s angle of entry; how and where to increase pressure, speed and weight; tips and tricks - homo faber. While they scampered through the wooden structure like monkeys, they came to no harm, and the visible wincing and the sharp intakes of breath through gritted teeth were mine and mine alone. The photograph at the end of the afternoon - our own version of the navvies on the steel girder - captured pride and smiles. We’d survived dangerous stuff.

A certain ratio

Let them not join you if they don’t want to and just watch them come and join you. Just make sure you are doing something that really matters to you - something you’d do whether they joined you or not - and watch them come over and share in your matter-making. And this is where things get interesting. This kind of work is not schooling at scale. It rejects the now-desiccated husks of the Victorian education imaginary and its failed industrial efficiencies. And it rejects them because it’s a derelict paradigm. This way demands something smaller in scale; more intimate, more proximate, more relational. And when I tell you that I worked with two boys on the treehouse floor for 90 minutes straight, you will appreciate that it just demands a certain ratio.

Patience and faith

Like the seed, let’s be assured that it’s all in there ready to go. Let’s set the conditions and know that as soon as everything’s ready and the time is right, things will start to happen. I really don’t think they’ll delay a moment longer. Our job is to be ready.

Water, light, nourishment

patience and faith.