“The Stars we are given, the Constellations are ours to make…” by Lou Mycroft

#APConnect Northstar

The Stars we are given, the Constellations are ours to make

…Mis-quote by philosopher of hope Rebecca Solnit

#APConnect has always had a trajectory. In classic community development style, we have been shifting the design and delivery slowly towards APs since the programme began in 2018. It might not have been the original intention, but that first year we collectively discovered the power of community: the ‘Constellations’ – communities of practice, or of social learning – stepping up to join us in the work, responding affirmatively to the spaces we created to come together as equal thinkers. It was always important to see those spaces as time-limited, open-bordered, common-purposed spaces of difference. Like-values, rather than the stale circulation of like-minds.

We may not always have been able to articulate this shift, but it’s values-deep, coming from a sincere conviction that we – the design and delivery team at touch Ltd – and APs were together on a journey, equal as thinkers. Our focus in Years 2 and 3 was to ensure the sustainability of AP-led events, by developing the capacity of APs to plan, implement and evaluate their own constellation opportunities (read elsewhere about the #APConnect Skylarks pathway). And in Year 4, we finally got the opportunity to pilot our first ever ‘train the trainers’ project: Northstar.

Northstar is about those APs who are ready to take the programme deep into their organisations, whilst maintaining links with external constellations which keep meaning, purpose and creativity alive. Originally, we’d envisaged that our solid, fit-for-purpose 3 day ‘Developing APs’ training, so successful before social distancing, would be what we’d train our Northstars to implement in their organisations. But time has moved on, and we have profoundly learned that, where FE is concerned, one-size absolutely doesn’t fit all. FE may share priorities around maths and English, vocational skills training and preparing students for life and work, but each organisation has its own culture and context.

In the last four years we have learned much about the power of contextualisation, and that no-one knows their organisation better than APs themselves, who get themselves involved in every corner of it. We have learned, too, about the culture-changing impact of the Thinking Environment; every single evaluation is a testament to it. And we have seen how APs find their meaning, purpose and drive both in community and when spaces to think are opened up for them by a skilled coach.

All of this experience has come together in our Northstar pilot. It has been a delight to work with what is (for #APConnect) a small number of APs in an all-new model for professional development, which of course, we are continuing to evaluate and adjust.

Our emerging thinking around professional development is that it embraces both expert-led CPD (vital, though we don’t need as much of this as we think we do) and professional learning (peer-led, grassroots driven and contextualised) – all together drawing on research and practice evidence. Northstar has given us an opportunity to try out this approach:

 

PD1 – The #APConnect Living Archive

The Living Archive is a research-and-practice evidence-based narrative which pulls together a history of advanced practice, from Subject Learning Coaches back in the day to the cutting-edge, AP-led research of today. Stories matter, and our Archive was inspired by the words of Julia Baird, in her extraordinary book about awe and wonder, Phosphorescence: 

‘Now the rest of us need to insist our stories matter. Today, thanks to social media, we can, but we must also keep records of those stories. And not just the stories of triumph, victory or visibility, but of the liminal moments of our lives, and of the long, grinding nature of reform, the bitter, often boring struggle for freedom.’

Northstar participants are the first to gain access to this archive, this labour of love, and we hope they’ll join with us refining and adding to its pages.

 

PD2 – Deepening the Thinking Environment 

The evidence base for the Thinking Environment, a set of values-driven practices which create conditions for independent thinking, has been gradually building throughout the lifetime of #APConnect. We have written extensively about Thinking Environments elsewhere and the ETF Advanced Practice Guide Creating Spaces to Think is a great place to start if it’s new to you. 

PD2 offered a double depth for Northstar Trainers, which made meeting face-to-face a rich and also efficient use of time:

• Working in a Thinking Environment, to ensure independent thinking
• Training in Thinking Environment practice, to refresh and deepen skills and confidence

By the end of the day, Northstars had drafted their bespoke AP Training Programme and sent it to their Northstar coach for critical friemdship (all coaches are graduates of #APConnect, yet another layer of capacity building).

 

PD3 – Expert-led CPD

Expert-led CPD certainly had its place, to bring cutting-edge knowledge and skills that would not otherwise be present on the programme. The CPD priority for Northstar is the practice of difference. #APConnect still has a long way to go in its own practice of difference, as does FE leadership. We invited Catina Barrett of the Women’s Leadership Network to share her wisdom and knowledge with us around Intersectional Accessibility. It was a genuinely mind-blowing experience which sent both the touch team and Northstars back to the drawing board, to think again. Luckily, we had planned an Ideas Room for the afternoon, which gave us a chance to process and apply our thinking.

 

Future Northstar

Any pilot is a learning experience and no doubt we would do many things differently with Northstar next time. For example, we assumed that Northstar applicants would be #APConnect pros and seasoned Thinking Environment facilitators. The sector’s churn meant that wasn’t the case and hallelujah for that! The freshness and excitement of working with people at different levels across contexts of experience has been utterly refreshing (and it’s always possible to play catch-up where we need to).

There will never again be another ‘first’ Northstar and hopefully not another ‘first time together physically’ moment either. It had a deep richness in every moment. In fact each element of the Professional Development has been humbling, providing – as we’d hoped – learning from all, amongst equals. 

When the Northstar programmes are all completed, we’ll get together, reflect and review, think about the future and write again.