Читать книгу Moving - Andy Hargreaves - Страница 10

By First Minister Nicola Sturgeon¹

As the first minister of Scotland, I don’t have a lot of time to myself, but when I do, I love to read. I find that reading relaxes me and helps with the stresses and strains of work. As such, I aim to have a pile of books to look forward to, including those that have been recommended to me by friends, colleagues, and, as with this book, the latest publication from authors whose work I admire.

I have had the pleasure of working with Professor Hargreaves since 2016, when I appointed him to my newly formed International Council of Education Advisers (ICEA). Andy is a leading member of the ICEA, and I have greatly valued hearing about, and learning from, his detailed and extensive knowledge and understanding of educational leadership and collaboration. He has spoken passionately about the importance of effective school leadership and how an empowered teaching profession will be the key to delivering excellence and equity in all of Scotland’s schools.

Even before his appointment to the ICEA, Andy Hargreaves had long been recognized in Scotland as a leading educator. He received the Scottish government’s Robert Owen Award in 2016 in recognition of both the significant international impact of his work and his contribution to inspiring educational improvement here in Scotland. In short, we consider ourselves fortunate to have access to the extensive experience and expertise that Andy provides. In our efforts to create a world-class education system, his advice and insight have proven to be an extremely powerful and trusted independent resource.

That is why I was delighted when Andy asked me to write this foreword to his memoir, particularly as he writes so powerfully about a subject close to my heart: the unique ability of education to transform lives and to provide every child and young person with the same opportunity to succeed.

It is still the case that children’s circumstances—where they live and their family background—can have a disproportionate impact on their chances of success. That is why I have made excellence and equity in Scottish education the defining mission of my government.

Andy’s book sets out clearly the difference that a good education has made to his life, taking him from a working-class childhood in Accrington to emeritus professor at Boston College, a period as president of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, and educational adviser to my own government. However, what really makes this book stand out is that Andy can look at education not only from the point of view of someone who benefitted from a first-class education but also as a teacher who worked in a range of schools and saw first-hand the impact that poverty can have on educational attainment. This understanding of the impact of poverty is strongest when speaking about his early teaching experiences in socially disadvantaged areas:

Being a good teacher was no longer a matter of making learning interesting or boring, of succeeding or failing at the job. It was now a matter of making a difference to children who were on the wrong end of class inequality, and this was something I now felt driven to do.

His growing realization that there is more to teaching than enabling children to pass exams, and the importance of educating the whole child, is clearly established in chapter 7, where Andy is “confronting a more deep-rooted approach to teaching and learning and the curriculum in schools that suited students from privileged families more than those whose parents or guardians were economically impoverished or culturally marginalized.”

However, the point at which this book began truly to resonate with me is at the beginning of chapter 3, when Andy begins to discuss his education and says, “Beyond playing outside, though, my biggest memories were of school. Teachers must be careful what they do with their students. The memories of it can last a lifetime.” The absolutely crucial role that good teachers can play in the life of every child is something that I too recognize, as someone who has also experienced the kind of social mobility that Andy describes throughout his book. I believe that young people have the right to a first-class education, and the most fundamental element of that is ensuring that we have an outstanding and empowered teaching profession. That is why Andy’s work as a leading educator and proponent of educational improvement is so important.

The book’s message to me, as a political leader, is that “social mobility is too important to be left to individual effort, ingenuity, luck, or chance. Systems and governments must play their part as well.”

1. The foreword was licensed under the Open Government Licence.