Description
Book SynopsisThe inherited model of schooling based on same-age tutor groups is not only wrong but anti-learning and unsafe. When examined from a systems perspective, the assumptions are revealed. This explains why schools fail to respond to reform and why reform is the wrong approach. It blames the same-age structure as the direct cause of bullying, poor parent partnership, mental health issues and more, pointing out the system's separation from psychology and child welfare. When schools adopt a mixed-age system (tutor groups / home-groups mixed by age) these adverse effects are resolved. The book calls for wholesale change to the way schools organize relationships and issues of connectivity. The author uses insights and research from his work with hundreds of schools worldwide transitioning from the same-age system to one based on mixed-age. This book rejects the use of pro-social programs (add-ons and fixes) in favor of one able to design in empathy, emotional intelligence, and character.
Trade ReviewSocially Collaborative Schools will be a breath of fresh air for those looking to truly transform their school ethos and embrace the idea of community. Having made the switch to a vertical tutoring system, we can safely say Barnard is correct; we will never go back. Students and staff alike feel liberated by the changes and only now is it possible to see how restrictive the same-age system is. -- Claire Copeland and Gemma Pearse, Trafalgar School, Portsmouth
Socially Collaborative Schools is a fascinating account of the author's passion and vast experience of this 'second system'. -- Karen Wespieser, director, Centre for Education Economics
Table of ContentsForeword Acknowledgments Introduction Section One: The School as a Living System 1.Systems, Purposes, and Problems –A First Look 2.Reacting to Disturbances 3.From Collaborative Professionalism to Social Collaboration 4.The Pusher, the Puller and Thinking Differently 5.The School as a Living System: Disturbance and Fast Fixes 6.More Disturbance –Bullying 7.Mental Health and Systems 8.The School as a Viable System 9.Wicked problems and Parent Partnership 10.Distributed Leadership, Psychology and Collective Teacher Efficacy Section Two: The Long and Winding Road to the Socially Collaborative School 11.A First Management Trawl 12.From New Public Management (NPM) to Public Value Management (PVM) 13.The Problem of Deliverology 14.Talent Management and a First Look at Teams 15.Google and Emerging Thinking 16.School Culture 17.Learning from the Public Sector 18.Learning Organizations and the Color Teal 19.The Buurtzorg School 20.Moving from Complicated to Complex: the Strange Case of the Effect List 21.Concluding Remarks: Two Management Models and Systems Thinking Chapter Summaries Appendices Bibliography About the Author
