Writing my blog…

When I started this blog, I took a conscious decision that I would be completely open about who I am.  That is to say that I wouldn’t use a false name to try to be anonymous just because I’m online.

I did that because I believe quite strongly that if something is the right thing to do, or the right thing to say, then you should do it, or say it; whatever the personal consequences may be.

Working as I do in education, youth work and social care, though, this policy can make posting blogs about work a challenge.  I have a committment to the young people I work with, a duty of care which means that I have to be careful that nothing I post could identify or in any way endanger any of them.

And that’s even before my moral (and contractual) duty to my employers and organisations I volunteer with.

Because the internet is not anonymous, we should all use common sense about what we post online.  Personally I use the ‘grandmother test’ – which is to say that I always ask myself if my grandmother would be happy to see something that I post, before I post it.  And if the answer is ‘no’ then it doesn’t get online.

What all of this means is that there are many things I would like to post about, but can’t.  I have to leave a decent amount of time after incidents in work, and find ways to suitably anonymise my posts before I publish them – and that’s not easy!

If you’re really interested in the do’s and don’ts of blogging – then Brain Kellett (one of my favourite bloggers and well worth a read) has an excellent post on “How To Blog And Not Lose Your Job” which I would highly recommend.

And if you’re not interested then you probably shouldn’t be blogging, to be honest.

Getting published (sort of… )

So today is a day that I like to think will stick in my head for a while as it’s the day that my first proper piece of writing has been accepted for publication.  Okay, so it’s a short article and not Harry Potter, and I’m not being paid, but it’s still pretty cool nevertheless.

More important to me though is that I’ve been asked to write it as a regular column… so quite frankly I’m pretty chuffed!

My question, does this mean I can call myself a writer?

St George’s Day? It’s time to move on…

So this is where I get controversial, at least in a Scouting context.  I do not think that it is appropriate – ever – to hold a St George’s Day Parade in Scouting.

Now before some of my colleagues try to have me hung, drawn and quartered I should point out that I do believe that it is perfectly right and proper to celebrate St George’s Day.  For a start, the guy is patron saint of England.  I live in England.  Therefore celebrating the day is fine and dandy.  In fact, we should make a bigger deal of it.  Second, Georgey boy is also patron saint of Scouting – so we in particular should be doing something to mark the occasion.

As a side note, there’s a rather wonderful list of all the Patronages of St George on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronages_of_Saint_George.  It’s worth a read and, quite frankly, a little giggle.

For me, the issue is not the fact that we celebrate St George’s Day, or the fact that we – quite appropriately – choose this occasion to annually renew our Scout Promise.  The issue is how it is done.

Scouting is not about church.  Scouting is not about flags.  Scouting is not about marching (sorry, that is what it is, whatever we call it).

We have spent, and continue to spend, much time and money telling everyone how Scouting is about three things: fun, challenge and adventure.  That’s out brand; it’s what we stand for.  Parades with flags, marching and Christian church services (another issue – I thought we didn’t promote single religions?) are not Scouting.

There are many fantastic examples of outstanding St George’s Day events up and down the UK (http://www.lydiatescouts.org.uk/events/st-georges-day-2012/ to name but one) that are true examples of the fun and adventure of Scouting.  They are still entirely respectful and mark the day appropriately with a Promise renewal and other more formal items, but they stand out because above all they are about young people enjoying Scouting activities.

Far, far too many St George’s Day events are stuck in tradition for traditions sake and expect young people to spend hours being bored rigid parading (marching) around after flags and being even more bored sat in church.

If we are truly a relevant, 21st Century organisation, it’s time to move on.

An inspirational Young Leader

Young Leaders' article from Scouting magazine.

Every so often little success stories come along that make me quite proud of what we do in Scouting.  This month’s internal Scouting magazine features an article about one of our Young Leaders, Jack.

Jack is a real star and despite last year being diagnosed with cancer, and undergoing all of the treatment that comes with that (he’s fine now, thankfully) has carried on his role as a Young Leader in St Helens with all his usual enthusiasm.

So, well done Jack – we’re all very proud of you.

“A Scout is to be trusted… “

Quote from Wayne Bulpitt's blog

I actually find it difficult to believe that anyone would really be this stupid, but apparently I have too much faith in some of my colleagues.  What a muppet.

There are good reasons why we have a rule in Scouting that every activity we do should be risk assessed.  First and foremost, yes, it’s about keeping young people safe.  It’s also about making sure that The Scout Association as a whole, and individual Groups and leaders, are not left open to avoidable situations like the one Wayne describes in his blog this week.

So, another reminder to my team at next week’s planning meeting – I need to see those risk assessments!

“A Scout is to be trusted… “

When you don’t realize quite how tired you are…

For the first time in three years, I’ve just worked a whole term, full-time… and done a residential week into the bargain.  As you might imagine I’ve been quite looking forward to the Easter holidays!

Well, we finished yesterday and I’ve got a week off.  So today, I turned my alarm off at 6am (oops, knew there was something I meant to turn off last night) and went back to sleep.  Woke up again at 12.30pm, went downstairs and had some lunch.  Then fell asleep in front of the TV before finally waking up again at about 5.30pm.

So as I said… I might possibly just have been a mite more tired than I thought I was!

(PS: Since I’ve a week off, a few more posts that I’ve been working on should rear their heads over the next few days – now I’ve woken up!)

“I’m Not Marking This Mess”

Of late, I’ve been spending quite a lot of my time working on Dyslexia, or rather working on ways that we (as education professionals) can better ensure that those young people we teach who have dyslexia-type traits can have the best opportunity to make the most of their time in school.

In searching (for something else, as ever) on Google; I came across this poem by Mark Chivers (age 12):

I’m Not Marking This Mess

I can see his face ready to blow
he shouts so the whole class will know
‘Sir, Sir I’m stuck, I need more time.’
‘I told you what to do, don’t step out of line’.
I find it hard and embarrassing with him yelling
about my reading writing and spelling.
‘Hurry up, get on with it, I’m not marking this mess’
I say, ‘I need more time, I’m doing my best’.
He tells me little kids can do better than me
‘I’ve seen better from my daughter, she’s only three
where’s your full stops and capital letters?
now go and sit down until you do better.’
It’s hard to do my work I find
I never rest, it’s always on my mind
then I get frustrated, rude and angry
because he doesn’t understand me.

http://www.dyslexiaa2z.com/learning_difficulties/dyslexia/dyslexia_poems.html

I will almost certainly be posting more about this over the coming weeks/months.  But I thought this poem went a long way to illustrate a point that I am constantly trying to get across: that if these kids are ‘misbehaving’ the chances are it’s because we’re not teaching them properly. Food for thought.