3b. A Professional Autobiography

I knew about the MLE when I was appointed as the ICT coordinator last summer but nobody at my school seemed to know what it was about. As an ICT coordinator I knew I would play an important role so last December I approached my Head teacher and asked if I could do my dissertation on MLE. His reply was if this research could inform my school stakeholders about virtual school and online learning, he would support my application.
In short, my school needs my research and I need to do it for professional development as an ICT middle manager and also for personal development to complete my MA education degree.
• What beliefs and values are revealed by these stories?
My perception of leadership is shaped by school-based action research that I have read and did last few years. I hope this action research can help me to find out ‘How I can develop further as a leader through implementing, leading and managing an online virtual school to bring about school improvement, and raising achievement and attainment standards on targeted low achievers.I am ready to use my acquired skills and understanding to face the MLE transition and challenge at my school.
I support and believe in parental involvement(child-teacher-parent: 3 ways cycle), pupil inclusion, collaboration, every child matters agenda, e-equality, extending learning opportunites, personalised learning, better use of teaching time and resources, sharing good practices and innovation,student voice and so on.

Then these are the ideas that you want to develop through using ICT. They form areas of "success" for you and measures of what counts . You need to express this clearly.

Last year a student joined our setting and after the initial settling in period his behaviour was discussed amongst the staff. There was a concern that the student was displaying some behaviour associated with autistic spectrum disorder. Further investigation and professional guidance resulted in the student being diagnosed as having Attachment Disorder.

I believe that my research into Attachment Disorder will equip teachers, giving them the necessary information and tools to be able to successfully ensure that a student with AD has every opportunity to fully integrate socially and academically into the school setting.

Is there any experience that you have that leads you to believe that a condition called AD actually exists in reality? Or is this condition socially constructed?

You seem to beleive that all pupils can be "integrated". Why should that be so? Square pegs? Why do you wnat it to be so? Whats wrong with not fitting into a socially consructed "norm"?

I am researching co-headship/ advantages & disadvantagees; as one model to be considered for the recruitment crisis of head teachers. I am interested in creative solutions to issues that arise and this is a current problem reported at present. Coheadship seems to be a little explored as it seems there are so few parnerships in existence, however there has been a change in law to create more family friendly practices for working mothers and in primary education it is largely a female workforce, therefore one would expect to see more opportunites like this availalbe to retain exisiting staff at senior level. As my personal circumstances have changed since becoming a head teacher I have had to look at alternative ways of balancing my career with my family life and commitments, therefore as I reseached the possibiliites available to me, I discovered a gap in knowledge in this area for heads and govenors so thought this would be a good project to investtigate using myself as a case study. Obvoiusly my beliefs and values are going to influence the findings as it is based upon my expereince of coheadship which is likely to be different to that of another person as leadership in schools tends to be unique to that setting. However, I am sure that I will discover some common ground in setting up this type of partnership and aspects that will contribute to its ongoing success by learning through my expereince and that of others through interviews where I should be able to compare and contrast the different experiences.

Having trained originally as a Primary Teacher then moving onto Further Education having trained as a Dyslexia Specialist, and having almost completed a year of cover as Additional Learning Support Manager, I have become very aware that there are students who do not receive the support they need partly because of funding issues, but there is a lack of teaching staff awareness and knowledge of specific learning difficulties in particular. This has been picked up too in the Strategic Plan for 2009 -2010. So if there isn't enough funding, another way to attack the problem of students who need support is to look at how lessons are delivered, are there strategies that could be used? Is there assistive technology in place? Does the tutor need some ideas on how to adapt the curriculum for a student who is struggling with then content?

It's hard to get together a sample group within a Curriculum Area, so I thought I would work with a group of teachers who are undergoing training to get their QTLS status. They have some teaching experience and would be a good target group.

Jackie Andrews

My first time as an educator started in my younger years at the age of 11 when I was coming home from high school to help primary school children; however, my professional status as a secondary school classroom practitioner started in 2006, when I completed my Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) in modern foreign languages at the University of Middlesex.

My broad interests in teaching and learning foreign languages developed from a range of mixed European and South American cultures from which I originate. Having grown up speaking two languages at home made me realise of the importance of using the target language in all environments and whenever possible. It is mainly this factor, alongside students' feedback on the target language and its importance to acquire language skill 2 or Speaking skill, which has provided me with the will and determination to address the different issues concerning the use of the target language in the classroom and beyond. As a fluent speaker of four languages: Spanish, Italian, English and French, I believe I no longer have a defined nationality but I regularly introduce myself as a global citizen respectful of all cultures and societies.

My Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) in foreign languages served me as a springboard to encrust my passion for languages within my career as a language teacher. This have also presented me with further opportunities to help other professionals in developing their oral foreign language skills either for personal or professional development within their own field of work. Observing the multicultural society in which we live is the richest source of information from which I have extracted the utopian idea of living in a place, where we could all understand each other at linguistic level. From my own perspective and through my own linguistic experiences I have deduced that having the ability to communicate in other languages has always created positive impacts in people’s lives and it has enriched mine as well as theirs. Having the opportunity to review and develop my thinking critically in all areas of my professional life has been an important factor in carefully helping me to select the field on which I wish to concentrate and pursue. I believe much can be gained from learning about other cultures especially when the main barrier to communication, namely the target language, has been crossed.