Whether you are a data advocate or not – there is no hiding from the growing importance of school data. If you are an aspiring school leader, data know-how and data know-why are definitely catalysts for professional recognition. If you have been pushed in at the data deep end, future ASCL Leadership of Data conferences might just be your life saver. Without question, it will be a time saver, sign posting what you need to know and respond to.
I attended my first Leadership of Data Conference last year, just four months into my new role. Before lunch both David Blow (Headteacher – The Ashcombe School) had sunk my data battleship. Duncan Baldwin has summarised what I should have known going into the academic year (most of which I didn’t) and Peter Kent had me driving my data tanks out on the lawn in preparation for an impending Ofsted inspection. I was both inspired and over-whelmed in equal measure and feedback reflected that this “nerdy cocktail” had left me punch drunk and accepting that there was much still to learn.
I can clearly remember feeding back to ASCL that us “data rookies” definitely needed this core information but we also needed a guidance and a good dose of reassurance from our experienced colleagues. To be fair, throughout the academic year ASCL did answer numerous data questions and the ASCL newsletter offered a drip feed of data information and articles.
Ten months on, I was planning to attend the London event and have just made ‘Making sense of data‘ freely available to colleagues, when I was immensely proud and flattered to be invited to address my own feedback?!
What are you doing on 26 September, and would you like to present this to the seminar “New to Managing Data.”
I thought hard about how to offer the guidance and reassurance I had been looking for. It was not an obvious answer; what I did know was, the last thing I needed was another presentation and more charts. I went for a “conversation” with quotes prompting debate. Most quotes prompted debate, some prompted smiles and knowing nods. I do hope delegates felt reassured. At least they were no longer facing this daunting task alone, isolated in their own schools context. How could we help further?
As promised a link to The Art of the probable – from the National Society for Education in Art and Design. A paper that investigate the “mythology and mystery in the setting of targets in art and design.” Second, I have added “Talking Data” – a forum for discussing data leadership, hoping that experienced data leaders will extend their support to “data rookies.” If you build it…
Honest and very helpful session for leaders new to data from @KristianStill at @ASCL_UK leadership of data conf
— Duncan Baldwin (@Duncan_Baldwin) September 26, 2013
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