Professionals in education shared their hopes for 2017, including: greater diversity in school leadership; researchers better communicating findings to help teaching; unqualified teachers becoming outstanding with proper support; addressing workload and recruitment issues; grassroots support for women leaders; embracing educational research; governance playing a bigger role; and a "maker movement" with technology in classrooms.

1. What are your hopes for
2017 in education?
EdCentral

2. If 2016 has taught us one thing, it's that you can't predict
anything. But what's a new year without a sprinkle of hope,
a pinch of enthusiasm and a dash of resolution?
We asked professionals from across the teaching world to
share their hopes and wishes for education in 2017 with us.
Check out their thoughts below and don't forget to tweet us
yours @EdCentral.

3. "I think (and hope) that in 2017 our recognition of the need for greater diversity in
school leadership will continue to grow.
Diversity will have its day
Initiatives like #WomenEd and #BAMEEd will
raise awareness of potential leaders who will be
strong and committed. Ensuring that we have a
robust pipeline of capable leaders in schools –
through middle and senior leadership, to
headship, executive headship and leaders of
chains and multi-academy trusts (MATs) – is
vital if we are to support students and staff to
achieve all they can in the future."
Jill Berry is a former headteacher who has worked as an associate for the National
College for Teaching and Leadership, carried out a range of educational consultancy
work and completed a part-time doctorate in education. You can follow her on Twitter
@jillberry102

4. "My hope for 2017 is that researchers can
better communicate their findings so that
teachers and senior leaders can develop a
deeper understanding of the psychology of
learning. This will hopefully lead to more
widespread knowledge about how best to
improve memory, motivation and resilience,
as well as the vital role that schools can play
in improving mental wellbeing."
Educational psychology will
go mainstream

5. "I think there will be an increase in schools employing
unqualified teachers in 2017, as a result of the recruitment
shortfall and teachers leaving the profession.
"Although many see this as a negative development, I hope
it can be turned into a positive by innovative and
forward-looking school leaders. As long as schools offer
robust training, mentoring and peer-to-peer support for unqualified teachers, they
can be nurtured into outstanding practitioners. And once they satisfy the entry
requirements, unqualified staff can work with training providers via the salaried
School Direct route to QTS or go through the increasingly popular assessment-
only route."
Andrew Jones is assistant headteacher at The Reach Free School in
Hertfordshire
Unqualified teachers will become
outstanding practitioners

6. "I hope that the government will finally recognise and
begin to address the two most serious issues presently
affecting the teaching profession – workload and
recruitment, with the former directly affecting the latter.
Currently, the profession is haemorrhaging staff at both
ends of the career spectrum and workload is still
increasing. This negative direction of travel is
unsustainable. "Unlike other areas of the public sector,
a profound improvement in education could be
achieved quickly and cheaply with a focus on people
rather than data, inspiration rather than fear and
individuality rather than conformity."
The government will focus on
people, not data

7. "2017 will bring a host of development opportunities for women leaders due to
exciting collaboration between @WomenEd and Department for Education-
funded regional networks and leadership diversity programmes across the
country.
"@WomenEd is a grassroots organisation supporting women leaders to choose
their next career step. I hope this helps school leaders with ongoing recruitment
issues.
Grassroots support for leaders
"This must also be the year that schools draw on
research into effective professional learning and
development and its impact to support and retain the
staff we have."
Vivienne Porritt is the director for school partnerships
at the Institute for Education and a national leader of
#WomenEd. You can follow her on Twitter
@LCLL_director

8. "I also hope that school leadership teams will start to trust their teachers and let them
take ownership of their teaching."
Sara Davidson is head of languages at Oundle School and chair of the Independent
Schools' Modern Languages Association. You can follow her on Twitter @frau98 and
@ismla_uk
Languages will lead understanding
"I hope that in 2017 the number of those taking
languages for GCSE and A-level will increase.
"Following a year of terrorist attacks and Brexit, I
hope young people will realise the importance of learning
languages as the key to better communication and
understanding between nations.
"I hope teachers will embrace the new A-levels and
GCSEs, and see that by raising the bar and teaching
more interesting content, pupil motivation in languages
will increase.

9. "In 2017, I hope more school leaders will embrace educational research and
encourage all their staff to regularly reflect on their teaching practice. Children
deserve to be taught by teachers who are constantly questioning, refining and
improving their practice in the classroom.
"This could be done by building research into staff development programmes or
providing funding for staff to complete master's degrees.The more leaders who
realise the power that research can have, the better."
Caiti Walter is a geography teacher and head of year at a comprehensive co-
educational secondary school in Cambridge. You can follow her on Twitter
@cwaltergeog
A year of best practice

10. “This, along with continued uncertainty over budgets and school structures, means
that governors will need more skill and flexibility in navigating their role to do the very
best for their schools – with appropriate and accessible training as a must."
John Davies is a senior researcher specialising in school governance at The Key.
You can follow The Key on Twitter @TheKeySupport
Robust school governance will be
more important than ever
"2017 will see governance take an even bigger
share of the limelight. As more schools become
academies with increased autonomy, and
more MATs emerge, the pressure on trustees
and local governors to provide robust
and professional oversight will grow.

11. "2017 is going to be the year of the Maker, where
the 'maker movement' starts to take hold in
classrooms. Using technology to solve real life
challenges, and getting students to mix digital and
practical skills together to make, hack and design.
Sharing skills with all generations old and young in
spaces that foster old and new skills."
James Hannam is a self-confessed geek,
obsessive maker and teacher of over 10 years. He
specialises in product design and computing
through community maker spaces. He is a qualified
Apple and Google trainer, as well as a DfE
Specialist Schools advisor. You can follow him on
Twitter @iamJamesHannam.
A new 'Maker Movement' in
classrooms

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