#Vamoose and #Skedaddle by @TeacherToolkit

Preamble

Whilst it is a Saturday evening I’m happily sat at my laptop posting my first ever Guest Blog Post.  The #Vamoose story has been of interest to me ever since it was published by @TeacherToolkit.  The world of blogging, to which I am a rather late entrant, is changing at a rapid pace.  

#Vamoose & # Skedaddle may just be the start of teachers being able to create, post and sell for a small fee the resources they produce.  There is no such thing as a “free resource”, there is a teacher out there who has spent time and effort putting it together.  I’m delighted to say that I have purchased Ross McGill’s new book and I have every intention of buying Alex Quigley’s and Tom Sherrington’s books, when they are published, as well.  They may not be able to retire on the proceeds but I’d rather keep my money circulating in the profession then to big corporations.  You may agree or disagree.

Main Post

For those of you who have been hiding under your duvet for the past 4 weeks, you may have missed my #Vamoose I’m off! story, regarding teacher content uploading to The TES Resources website.

#Vamoose and #Skedaddle

In this anticipated post, we hope to highlight the concerns that have been raised by the teaching community; allow others to catch up with what 
has been taking place; and of late, report back to everyone, regarding the outcomes at TSL headquarters today.

There are two parts to this post…

1. The background to #Vamoose prior to today's publication, to which the first half of this article has been premeditated. 
2. And, the second half of the article, which has been updated today, following a meeting at TSL headquarters in London at 2.30pm on 
Saturday 5th October 2013.

The teachers representing this article are:

1. @IanMcDaid
2. @Ideas_Factory
3. @LeadingLearner
4. @LGolton
5. @MrLockyer
6. and @TeacherToolkit

The problem?

In the original post, we highlighted that the resources that you upload to The TES website, no longer belong to you and that the TES’s Terms and Conditions are not clear enough. This was compounded by examples shared below.

TES Terms and Conditions: ‘You hereby waive any moral rights you have in the content‘.

As a consequence, the TES can continue to use the resources you upload and share, for free. However, one that has needed clarification for everyone, is charging customers to use TESPro in order to access resources. I will clarify this for everyone below on behalf of Michael Shaw who is director of TES Pro and former deputy editor of the TES magazine.

Our first objection:

… to the TES parent company, is the “harvesting” of resources for their other partner websites that may charge for access to these resources. This includes sharing your resources on other sister-sites in the USA (Share My Lesson) and Australia (TES Australia) – without your knowledge and perhaps, even after you have removed them from the TES in the UK.

We (the teacher), freely share resources with everyone and anyone in education. The TES resources page offers:

All uploaded by you and I …

This means that we could assume that no-one would make any financial gain from them.  So, therefore the issue of Copyright and IP ownership should be irrelevant.  However, since the online exposure of the current TES’s Terms and Conditions, this is now a huge issue for the online community of teachers here in the UK.

The image below by Julia speaks for itself… but will be clarified.

In a nutshell, (we) lose (our) rights once (we) upload a resource to their website!

(For example) “As time has moved on over the past 18 months, I have shared a total of 33 resources on the TES; all of them generating over 496,000 views across the globe and hopefully making an impact on hundreds of teachers and thousands and thousands of students in schools. Great!

These statistics in itself, are powerful.

Using the potential of social-media and blogging, I and a few others, have come to discover the ‘power of the people’, for making your own resources available to thousands and thousands of other teachers, for free. But what other business sectors would accept this? And also doing this for free?”

TES response:

The TES did have the courtesy to reply to my original post and you can read the full story here. Hopefully, you will also be aware of the following (current) contractual agreement on The TES…

Rights in posted content:

“With respect to all Content you post on the Websites, you grant TSL Education a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sub-licensable right and licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such Content (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. With respect to all Content you post to the Websites, you hereby waive any moral rights you have in the Content. You agree to perform all further acts necessary to perfect any of the above rights granted by you to TSL Education, including the execution of deeds and documents, at our request.

You will… immediately remove and notify us of any Content that does not does not comply with these Terms and Conditions or may infringe the rights of third parties. You agree to … Terms and Conditions.”

It says quite clearly above: "that content uploaded by the user always remains the property of that user".

So, why do they have the statement in their Terms and Conditions about The TES owning any uploaded content, if that’s not the case. This is completely contradictory!

What sparked #Vamoose?

… was that a small number of us and publicly shared resources with The TES and have also started to promote the sales of our own work on our own websites. In my case, a first book on a mere teacher-blog with little or no commercial potency. Furthermore, that some of the links we have shared on The TES resources page, redirect the user downloading the TES resources, from The TES website, back to our own websites for reading-references; not for financial gain.

Our second objection:

… is the double standards that exist with regards to links to external resources within resources; resource pages and teacher-profiles within the TES website.  There are many, many resources that link to websites where products are offered for sale, or where products are advertised.  There seem to be some very cosy relationships between TES, some contributors (although raised today, not intentional), and their own websites offering products for sale.

Shifting sands:

We (have always been) happy to share freely amongst ourselves; helping the schools we work in and local networks. However, this is gradually changing speed with the introduction of Teaching Schools. Schools are funded to be leading providers for a ‘hub’ area and in return, either use these sums of cash to design and sustain CPD courses, yet quote other schools in return for a service level agreement (fee).

In terms of teacher-produced resources, the online landscape is changing and is yet a further example of grass-roots taking back control of the profession. (similar to #TeachMeets; #SLTchat). It would not take a genius to state, that the profession may bedivided by some the following options …

What are our options?

• stop sharing any further resources with the TES.
• remove any links on personal websites that promote the purchasing of any resources you may have for sale.
• or, continue to upload resources to TES Resources, but do not include any links that re-direct the viewer back to a website (that is selling a product).
• start uploading resources to your own websites for your own audiences to download. No login required. No terms and conditions violated!
• move you resources to another forum, such as Teachers Pay Teachers in the USA; and keep sharing and ‘consider’ offering resources for free with other popular files via a pay-per-download resource page on your own website.

There are all sorts of further options to consider …

You will be aware that we were invited to attend a meeting with Lord Knight at TES HQ on Saturday 5th October 2013. As of here, the content below is updated based on the meeting today.

———————-

Key points for discussion at TSL HQ:

• The underlying principle of “not for profit” sharing.
• New Terms and Conditions that protect the rights of the author.
• Payment to authors when resources are ‘sold’.
• Use of resources on other partner websites must have the authors permission.
• Links to external content being out of the control of the author, if the host (TES) places advertising out of their control.

So, what happened at TSL HQ?

So, in true pop-star fashion; all of the team sent their apologies and I (@TeacherToolkit) turned up alone and late to an empty reception. Inside the meeting room, TSL had clearly gone out of their way to meet with us and discuss the teacher-community concerns.

A true David vs. Goliath scenario set the scene with some premeditated cartoon tweets I had posted before I arrived. As I entered the room, Lord Knight was browsing through my Twitter page and had just viewed this cartoon …

Related articles

• #Vamoose! I’m off… (teachertoolkit.me)
• #Vamoose! I’m off… to a meeting with TES Resources (teachertoolkit.me)
• #Vamoose (sleramblings.wordpress.com)
• #vamoose update (sleramblings.wordpress.com)

Targets, Learning Gaps and Flight Paths

For many of us #SLTChat on a Sunday evening has become an addictive part of the weekend.  It is often an action packed and adrenaline fuelled outpouring of tweets and ideas with some of the most rapid sharing of practice you will ever find.  Continue reading →

#5MinCallPlan by @LeadingLearner and @TeacherToolkit

It’s just after midday, the phone rings and your sixth sense twitches.  You’ve guessed right; an inspector calls. 

Hopefully you are already well organised with the #5MinOfstedPlan by @LeadingLearner and @TeacherToolkit but the next few hours, whilst not determining the actual outcome of the inspection, will be critical in ensuring a smooth inspection.

We hope the #5MinCallPlan may just help edge things to a more favourable outcome for the school.

Core Team

A successful inspection is a team approach.  Decide in advance which members of staff need to form part of the core team with responsibility for co-ordinating arrangements for the inspection.  Think about where and when they will meet.  For example, you may want a meeting as soon as possible after the call is received – the call from the inspector often seems to come just after midday Monday to Wednesday – so this could be at lunchtime, followed by a meeting after school and also at the end of the first day to gather information and possibly the morning of the second day.  The Core Team are responsible for pulling together and implementing your #5MinCallPlan.

Notifications

Some thought needs giving to the best way to inform staff and students.  For example it might be most efficient to send an e-mail to all staff, however, this may also come as quite a shock to them.  If staff know in advance that an e-mail will be sent then this could help reduce the impact.  Alternatively, calling staff together in the staff room to notify them at lunch time is a more personal way to receive the news and staff will be able to give each other a bit of support.

Briefing students so they know what to expect and be at their best is really useful.  Many students have a real affinity for their school and will want to raise their game for the inspection days.  In a small school an individual class briefing by a senior leader is possible, alternatively, holding an Ofsted Assembly for the last twenty minutes of the school day may be more convenient.  Decision must be made in advance so staff and students know what procedures will be put into place.

Letters need to be handed out to parents about the inspection including information about the Parent View website and these can also be put onto the website.

There are a number of people who need contacting about the inspection including: Chair of Governors/Directors, local authority or Diocese (or other trustees possibly).  This is a simple administrative task that can be sorted quickly by an efficient PA or secretary who can have an e-mail group or list of telephone numbers to call as soon as the call has come in.  Don’t forget some of these people will also be required to meet inspectors.

Diary & Events

This will be an important decision about what you will allow to go ahead in terms of activities, whether there are training courses that will have to be cancelled and possibly appointments that can be rearranged.  It’s going to be a pretty stressful couple of days and managing staff and students carefully will help ease the pressures.  A good question might be, “Will this activity or event help support a positive inspection outcome or not”.  A lot of lessons being covered, given the focus on observing lessons during an inspection, may be counter-productive.  Make decisions and record them along with the name of person who will be auctioning them.

Key Meetings

Inspectors will want to meet, in the next few days, with:

• Governors, including the chair of governors,
• Middle leaders (Heads/Co-ordinators of English, Maths & Science are a pretty obvious group),
• The Special Education Needs Co-ordinator and
• Senior leaders – one of the senior leaders – in a primary school the expectation may be that it should be the headteacher – will need to be able to pull together data requests very rapidly.  Use your #5MinOfstedPlan to ensure your self-evaluation form is rich with data including outcomes for students in receipt of pupil premium.

Think about what meetings might be requested, who will be in them, where they can be held and any last minute briefings.  Remember to give this responsibility to a named person.

Staff Well-Being

The stress levels almost inevitably start rising and can sometimes go through the roof as the inspection process starts and then escalates.  Our experience of Ofsted Inspections is that it can bring a staff together against the “common enemy” and staff teams are often at their best in the face of adversity.

There are two dimensions to think about:

• Emotional support for staff who may just need someone to chat to, ask a question of or have what they think or has actually been a bad moment.  Who is available and where should they go?
• Energy boosts with some cakes, additional breakfast or fruit can all help keep the engine room of the school running.  Be aware that many staff will want to get things just right and irrespective of what you say will use breaks and lunches to prepare for their next lessons.  Equally a member of staff could be in conversations with inspectors for part of their break or lunch.  The option of a quick refuelling station may be necessary and very well received.

Ofsted Hymn Sheet & Staff Meeting

Some schools will prepare a last minute briefing sheet for staff – keep it concise and only include key issues to focus on.  For example, “make sure you know the data for your classes”  – targets, current attainment, G&T, SEN, Pupil Premium students etc.  A few bullet points related to the great work you have been doing on pedagogy can be prepared in advance – nothing new or glitzy it’s too late for that.

Staff might want to come together at the end of the day for a short briefing, to ask some questions and support each other.  So a meeting time and place should be arranged.  Be sensitive to staff who already have other commitments and can’t make it.  Keep the briefing brief – the main focus now is on getting the lessons and learning right and trying to get a bit of sleep.

Document Preparation

In #5MinOfstedPlan by @LeadingLearner and @TeacherToolkit there are a number of key documents that need to already be collated in readiness to send to the lead inspector.  There are some that will need to be at hand the following day for scrutiny, these include:

• The Single Central Record – always worth one last check that it is up to date and complete.
• Log of exclusions, pupils recently taken off role, racist incidents, incidents of bullying including homophobic bullying.  Make sure that these are regularly collected and analysed for trends including looking at sub-groups.
• Up to date attendance information including the days of inspection as they become available
• Documents evidencing the work of governors, including how they have challenged the school where outcomes are below expectation, are required.  It maybe useful to record “challenges” in meetings so these can be easily evidenced later if you don’t already routinely do so.

 Domestic Arrangements for Inspectors

Whilst some inspection teams make easy guests and others are less welcomed or badly behaved it is important to have a professional approach to these visitors to your school.  Car parking arranged for them can be helpful as well as WiFi access.  There will need to be a room organised and cleaned with arrangements made for tea, coffee and meals.  You might want to think about a meet and greet team – be warned inspectors tend to arrive early.  A lead inspector wandering into and all over the school first thing doesn’t do your safeguarding rating a great deal of good.  Equally you might consider it an appropriate way to welcome visitors to your school.

Feedback including Staff & Students

Senior staff, governors or trustees, the local authority and Diocese, if you are a faith school, will all be invited to the feedback by the inspectors.  Who will communicate these arrangement?  At the feedback often two different senior leaders are tasked with making notes on each section and one given the task of writing them up.  This will be a useful aide memoir in the days ahead.

However, the staff and the students will also be desperate to know how things have gone.  This is a careful balancing act as the outcomes of the inspection will need to be moderated prior to being made public so you will need to think carefully about what is said.  Plan a time to give feedback to the staff pretty soon after the inspection finishes.  Students are often happy to be given a genuine thank you, for all their support and great work during the inspection, and an idea when the inspection report is released.  At St. Mary’s Catholic College all students received a Mars bar along with the last inspection report.  We considered this part of our healthy eating programme as they weren’t deep fried!

Staff Celebrations & Party

At the end of the inspection process many staff will want to come together for support and hopefully to celebrate a good or possibly outstanding couple of days.  This is an important part of being a community.  Give one person the lead for this – it is a job that possibly a support member of staff would happily take the lead on and do exceptionally well.  It may be you celebrate with a cup of tea or coffee and cakes at the end of the day.  You may organise to go out for a drink a bit later on or organise a more formal celebration a week or two later once the report has been released.  Or why not all three – the staff deserve it.

Here’s an early version of the #5MinCallPlan completed in five minutes:

We hope you find the #5MinCallPlan useful if you are preparing for an Ofsted visit.

#5MinCallPlan v1.3 (PDF)

#5MinInspectorCallsPlan v1.3 (PowerPoint)

Don’t be caught out at the last minute, time to plan for success.  Good luck.

Please leave any feedback below as we will adapt and update the plan in the light of your comments.