Reflections on my first year as a data coach and consultant

A year ago I stepped away from teaching to pursue my dream of becoming a school data coach and consultant. This was a few years in the making, after finishing my doctorate in 2017, starting my consultancy practice in the same year, and doing this work part-time while still in a school full-time. Whilst in hindsight, there were many reasons why 2020 wasn’t the year to give self-employed life a crack, I wouldn't have had it any other way. In 2020 I was able to get into schools that I never would have been able to connect with before, and I have been blown away by what I have seen and been reminded of through this experience.

1. Our schools and teachers consistently go above and beyond. Although I already knew this, it was emphasised during 2020, not only because of the pandemic, but because of the time, care and effort put in by the staff I met, in high performing schools, mainstream schools, flexible learning centres, distance education, hospital schools, and special schools. I regularly saw teachers give up their own time to enhance opportunities and outcomes for their students, and heard them speak about their students and their hopes for their students with love and compassion. Our teachers and school leaders are extraordinary humans who consistently go above and beyond and I saw so many examples of this during 2020.
2. We are more alike than we are different. Despite all the different contexts I worked in throughout 2020, the challenges schools and teachers face are remarkably similar: being in the classroom is the best part of the job, staff dynamics can be challenging, some students and parents can be challenging, and leading change is hard. Similarly, our hopes and goals are similar: teachers want to work in the here and now, they want to be efficient, have practical strategies to trial and implement, and ultimately they want to do whatever they can to benefit young people. Leaders want the best for their school communities, want to build capacity in others, and have high hopes for their staff and students. It really struck me that I saw similar challenges and hopes in every setting I visited, regardless of their context, funding or clientele.
3. People are kind. Through the media we hear stories of protests, unrest, disappointments and heartache, but in 2020 I was overwhelmed by, and reminded of the kindness of the vast majority. I saw kindness in the way that staff looked after one another, not only during the pandemic, but in planning, professional learning sessions, team teaching etc. I saw care and compassion in the way staff worked with students, particularly the most vulnerable in flexible learning centres, distance education settings, special schools, and hospital schools. I was the recipient of kindness from school leaders who looked out for me during the pandemic - one school doubled my consultancy contract, others had me ‘in’ their school via video conferencing, and others flew me back to their school as soon as restrictions allowed. None of these individuals or school communities had a particular responsibility to me, but they all made a difference. 2020 reminded me that in our schools, kindness is the norm, rather than the exception.
4. Face to face is better, but online learning opens up our options. The number of teachers who have been able to access professional learning has increased exponentially. ACEL had thousands of registrations for its online conference, many more than they would normally host at a live event. A conference that I hosted online had people from all over Australia, including regional and remote schools - some in the middle of Northern Territory and remote North Queensland. Many of these participants would never have been able to travel to an in-person event, but were able to attend online, and many other participants learned about challenges unique to these contexts. Hopefully we can offer more mixed-mode professional learning in the future so everyone can access the learning and community, and so that those of use who work predominantly in city schools can be reminded of the challenges faced by those in rural and remote settings.
5. Different horses for different courses. Every school community I’ve been into has offered something uniquely brilliant to its learners, and while some succeed by traditional standards, every school setting is the right fit for someone. A school is not always going to fit the individual (my nephew being kicked out of school in 2020 is a great example!) but there is something out there for everyone. I grew up always thinking I had to go to the school my family attended, but the range of schools I was in throughout 2020 reminded me that people should find the school that fits their son/daughter, not force the alternative.
6. We can be better at formally tracking wellbeing. The importance of student wellbeing really accelerated during 2020, and with it has been a proliferation of wellbeing tracking options for schools and interest in this area. I've seen this both through my work with schools, and in the fact that my two highest viewed posts on LinkedIn in 2020 were about tracking student wellbeing (a blog article and a venn diagram). Just like learning analytics, we can approach student wellbeing in a way that allows us to formally checkin with students on a regular basis, develop support structures around this practice, and use these resources to start conversations and provide individualised care to students.
7. We can be better at incorporating student voice. Incorporating student voice into school and classroom decision making has increased over the last few years, but we heard from students more in 2020 than ever before. Schools have the power to learn from and adapt to feedback from students, classroom learning preferences and assessments can be influenced by student voice, and school communities can benefit from having structured ways of seeking feedback and student perceptions. This seems to be a significant growth area in Australian schools - many schools use student perception surveys, but I believe there's room to move in how this (and other student voice) information is utilised.
8. Data life is here to stay. I might be a little biased, but using data (in all its forms) isn't going to disappear from schools. We are becoming more evidence-informed in every aspect of our lives, and it is not going away from our classrooms. The challenge is to use data to inform practice, to support learners achieve and succeed, but to know and be motivated by the humans behind the numbers. We can continue to be infuriated by media reports compare NAPLAN and ATAR numbers, but at the same time we can also embrace the way data can help improve our individual practice and enhance outcomes for our students.
9. Life is not a competition. Through webinars and conferences, I worked with so many educators in 2020 who shared their practice and experiences generously, supported colleagues in other schools by sharing resources to lighten the load, and genuinely and authentically shared knowledge. None of these educators did so because of the credibility or respect they might gain, but were motivated by care and support of others in the profession. It was a reminder for me that we shouldn't ever compare ourselves to, or compete with others unnecessarily (something I'm still unlearning!), as ultimately we're all just trying our best with the resources we've got available.

I'm so excited to continue my data-filled life in 2021 and to see what unfolds throughout this year. I do know that I'll be working with new schools, going back to many of those that I worked with in 2020, and I'll be aiming to solve more school data challenges and problems than ever before. I've learned so much (from many of you!) throughout the last 12 months, and I look forward to working and learning together some more.