"Computer Says No"

For years, my kids have just got on with school.? They’ve never really questioned it, and I honestly think they quite enjoy it.? But if I left them in bed one morning, they would just thank me.?

“Why can’t we start the day a bit later?” they grumbled this week.?

It’s the end of the term.? We are all a bit done…

“It’s not that simple”, I say.

“But you are the principal”, they retort.

“Yeah, but…”

I attempt to explain why we start at the time we do (early) and all the consequences of starting later - including things like the availability of school buses, staff contracts, and the knock-on impact of finishing later in the day.?

Then, somewhere along the way, I thought it would be a good idea to explain how much computer processing is required to create our incredibly complex timetables.

They looked at me in disbelief.?

“So, a computer decides when we start our day?” they scoffed.

“That’s not what I was saying…” I say.??

But it’s too late.

They agree with a growing body of research that will not surprise anyone living with young people - early starts don’t jive!??

I don’t like to upset my kids (and the research is compelling), so I want to keep advocating for them.? How hard would it be to move the school day a bit later?? Lots of other schools have done it, after all.

There are always lots of great ideas in schools.? The problem is that evaluating such ideas is incredibly difficult, as potential benefits can often be overshadowed by potential detriments.? We also know that each school has a unique context - what works in one school will not necessarily translate to another.

Another idea I recently heard from a couple of students was BYOT (Build Your Own Timetable).? This would mean that once a week, students would be invited to build their own timetable and attend the classes they want, with the teachers they want, and perhaps at the time they want.?

Of course, some readers will think this idea is barking mad, and others will think, why only one day a week?? That’s how it goes these days. Me? I thanked the students, but deep down, I thought how impossible this would be to achieve.? How on Earth would we be able to schedule BYOT, even if it's something I would love to do?

The timetable is the graveyard of great ideas!

Forrest Gump once said:

“My mama always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where they going, where they been”.???

Likewise, a timetable can tell a lot about that school. Look closely, and you can see where it is going and where it has been.?

Is student mentoring important?? Are academics more important than activities?? Are the sciences more important than the arts?? The length of lessons might signal a particular approach to teaching and learning; the number of subjects available might signal whether breadth or depth of learning is more valued; the name of lessons might signal whether the school wishes to be ‘progressive’ or ‘traditional’ or perhaps something else altogether.??

What gets included on the timetable, well…it just matters.

So, I have come to view the timetable as the spectacular culmination of compromises between the school’s educational philosophy and priorities, parental expectations, and the need to achieve efficiency.??

Many aspects of a school timetable can signpost a school’s educational philosophy – and the school priorities that reflect it.? Many schools espouse a holistic educational mission but cannot show how this translates into their timetable.? Vicariously is the most likely answer.??

However, going up against a school’s philosophy will often be the hard edge of reality.?

The perfect timetable needs to be perfectly resourced and, by definition, would offer very little efficiency.??

Even the most affluent schools in the world are accountable to their stakeholders for their cost efficiency, particularly if money can be reinvested in additional resources, new facilities, or other improvements in teaching and learning.? So, if there were a choice between adding an additional student to a class or employing another teacher to avoid that, most schools would make the same decision.?

In the same way, a school may feel that food technology lessons are valuable, yet be unable to prioritise this when set against the significant investment in the specialist teachers and facilities when that money could be invested elsewhere.? Likewise, I have also worked in a school which removed physical education from the timetable to make room for other curriculum priorities, a decision I can still not get my head around.??

Parents, too, play a significant part in timetable considerations, particularly after it has been established.??

Firstly, they (we) build our lives around the timings of the school day. ? Pick-ups, drop-offs, meal preparations, shopping, work…everything….revolves around the times.? They are inter-connected.?

Secondly, parents have certain expectations from schools, particularly when they can choose where they send their children. These choices were often made based on what was on offer at the time. So if a school changes what is offered, parents will likely (and should) have something to say about it.?

The longer a timetable has been fixed, the more difficult it is to change it. Systems, structures, and processes that become increasingly complex and efficient lock it into place over time.??

I have mentioned the impact on parents, but school buses (local transport), catering, employment contracts, budgets, and a hundred other considerations also come to mind. If a school is well run, it will iteratively create more and more efficient ways of delivering the same outcomes each year.?

So, when it comes to deciding to change things, it will either carry an above-the-line cost or require so many other people to agree to the change that the idea may not be worth the pain after all.? Sometimes, we might not even bother waiting to hear what the computer will say.

How do we beat the computer?

We need to think AROUND the timetable.??

Here are four ideas for school leaders:

1. Timing.? Some ideas will gain more traction if presented at the right time.? Presenting a new hybrid model for blended learning might land better now than before COVID.
2. Plan ahead.? The planning that goes into the timetable is significant, even with the latest software to help make it both elegant and efficient.? If you want to propose a change, it might take more than a year to model what it might look like.? Dropping a great new idea in the final few weeks of the school year and expecting a positive response is naive.? This happens a lot, by the way.
3. Impact.? If the change proposed to the timetable will only affect a small number of students, then it will unlikely be supported.? A better idea would be to cluster proposals together so that there might be a cumulative impact.?
4. Consultation.? Your idea will be better if it is not presented as your idea.? Share it and see who will champion it if it is a good idea.? Effective consultation will also give you a stronger research base to make a more compelling case for change.

Much of this blog might sound a bit defeatist. However, education reformers need to know what they are up against if they are to have any chance of changing the status quo.

And the truth is that my kids will just not let it go. So I can't either!

*20 years ago, Little Britain’s Carol Beer (aka David Williams) was a particularly unhelpful receptionist who answered customer queries by tapping data into her computer before abruptly announcing to them that the “computer says no”.

Customers would politely ask her to check again as the computer must be mistaken, but when Carol’s “computer says no”, it meant “computer says no”.

Part of the relatable and awkward fun of watching Carol at work is that we have all, probably more than once, received ridiculous responses from a computer that just don’t make sense. ?