Good Reads: Didau and Tomsett

5/5 for both books: 

What if everything you knew about education was wrong? David Didau

This much I know about love over fear. John Tomsett

                                        

"Arguing with teachers who have a vested interest in being right about a particular ideological view of education is like presenting fundamentalist Christians with the incontrovertible evidence of evolution.  It just bounces off them and makes them even more convinced that they are right and you are wrong.  We desperately scramble to reduce dissonance by justifying beliefs in the face of disconfirming evidence and often dismiss it as the exception that proves the rule." (Didau 2015: 50)

For 14 years I have followed my faith, building a bank of skills and strategies in a constant effort to be a better servant.  I have been lucky to have helped convert many young people to the path of righteousness, confident that the tools at my disposable would stand the test of time.  However, my faith has been recently rocked by the release of another sacred text. One that has declared that much of what we believe is false.  The book: "What if you knew everything about education was wrong" by David Didau,  has challenged some of my strongest convictions, (or should I now say meta-beliefs) regarding education.  But rightly so!

Ok...perhaps I am exaggerating a little, but the book has certainly made me ask serious questions about my own pedagogical views. Particularly my lack of self scrutiny regarding assertions I have always assumed to be true.  Assertions I have actively passed confidently on to my colleagues.  Assertions that I have never attempted to prove, simply because they feel right.  How could I come to doubt some of my views on education so easily you may ask? It's only a book you say.  True, but it is a very intelligent book, especially the first 4 chapters, which are infuriatingly clever.  I almost guarantee that by the end of chapter 4 Didau will have lured you into the uncomfortable realisation that should you dismiss his ideas, then it is most likely due to one of many theories regarding bias you have just read, rather than as a result of any sound evidence.   With these theories anchored to your thinking, it becomes easy to accept that what Didau is preaching about education is potentially true.  In my case, the fear of cognitive dissonance, allowed me to be open to his line of thinking. Extremely annoying, but at the same time, extremely refreshing!

Whilst Didau's book plays with your mind, is calculated and clinical.  Tomsett's book is warm, fuzzy, and tugs at your heart.

What is refreshing about Tomsett's approach is that he presents himself as a fallible headteacher who has made mistakes in his personal and work life.  I hope most readers sees this as a strength rather than a weakness - as I do.  His comments regarding the need for headteachers to avoid losing their emotional intelligence - to always work in adult to adult mode, rather than adult to child mode when talking to staff is a fitting end to a book that provides a strong argument for servant leadership, one that recognises the importance of teachers in schools, rather than as a means to an end.

In writing this post about Tomsett's book I am sending a message to both my present and future self. The message to my future self  - between 8 and 10 years in the future to be exact is advice about parenting:

"Cars are a great places to talk about profound things.  If you have a teenage son who needs to tell you something, pop him in the passenger seat and drive - he'll open up in minutes because he can converse with you whilst you both stare straight ahead." (pg 167)

I have two boys, and judging by their character, I have a feeling I will be driving them both around a lot in the future.  With regards to the present, Tomsett’s book reminds me that my upbringing should not be remembered as a barrier that I had to overcome to be where I am today, but instead a ladder to success.  The qualities and values that my parents instilled in me, and the experiences that came from a working class upbringing is why I have succeeded in the world of education, not despite of it.