Friday Mindset #165

Happy Friday!

Been thinking a lot this week about Times journalist James Marriott’s extensively-shared essay, The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society. Man it’s a bleak read - but a very familiar one if you’ve been dipping in and out of our stuff over the last year, since we’ve been covering adjacent ideas.

Anyway, it’s essential reading for every teacher, but not right now, OK? It’s the start of the weekend and we need some feeling of possibility. Thankfully we’ve got you covered - a paper that emphasises the importance of non-cognitive skills, a podcast chat, a VESPA report, and - ahem - an excellent powerpoint and twenty killer coaching questions for subscribers!

Let’s dive in folks.

Something we're reading...

This article explores research produced jointly by Queen Mary and King’s College London, among a load of others, and came out last summer. Don’t know how we missed it but there you go. It looks right up our street, of course, but there’s something else of interest going on in the piece - the researchers suggest there’s a genetic component to non-cognitive skills, just like there is for cognition, and certain students might be pre-disposed towards grit or academic interest, for example.

And these pre-dispositions may create feedback loops that strengthen particular non-cognitive skills. Of course, they’re still malleable - that’s important to bear in mind. "Our education system has traditionally focused on cognitive development," the writer of the study concludes. "It's time to rebalance that focus and give equal importance to nurturing non-cognitive skills. By doing so, we can create a more inclusive and effective learning environment for all students."

If you need to start a conversation, spark some thinking, or you fancy checking out the full paper, it’s an interesting read.

And one more thing while we’re on the subject of reading/listening: Martin and his co-writer Dr Jo Phillips spoke to the Careers Podcast about their new book The Backpacker’s Guide to University. It’s a really interesting half-hour conversation, and gives a flavour of the book’s content and advice. Good for year 13s…

Portal Talk...

We jumped on a Teams call to chat through another VESPA report for you. This one’s interesting…

Steve: Worth sharing a quote from the student’s comment - ‘these past few weeks I’ve been struggling with how to begin my studies’. That might be a place to start here, don’t you think?

Martin: I use the phrase ‘activation energy’ to describe that impetus you need to begin. It can be a sticking point for year 12s, can’t it.

Tony: Yeah, if you’re a perfectionist, you might not want to start at all. Particularly if your grades up to now have been superb - that first piece of work at the next level is a threat to your track record.

Steve: So we’re going to start with the attitude score - that’s what we’re talking about here isn’t it? I’d dig into that, find out what the student’s thinking is.

Something to try...

Another powerpoint for you today. This is an epic one - took us flippin’ ages - about the dangers of excessive social media use. Our guide is, of course, Professor Cal Newport (Computer Science and Digital Ethics, Georgetown University) who always speaks with such clarity and expertise on the subject.

Here he takes us through how and why social media platforms lead to isolation, exposure to conspiracy theories, and the development of extreme views. It’s a very important topic, one that needs properly exploring with students at key stage 4 and 5…

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