Feature Image

Simon Uttley – selected works

Posted on by

PUBLICATIONS

BROADCASTS/BLOGS

  • 2007      Uttley, S.  ‘So, You Want to Be a Head’ (Consultant Head appearing in episodes three and four of a series produced for Teachers TV)
  • 2009-2012 Education ‘expert’ for ‘Alison Fern show, BBC Radio Surrey & Sussex discussing: GTC and professional responsibilities of teachers outside school (Autumn 2009), ‘School Closures and snow!’ (Christmas 2009), ‘School Trips and ‘Rarely Cover’ (March 2010)’ Single Sex education’ (September 2010) ‘Homework – a good thing or not?’ (March 2012)
  • 2010, Consultant to and Guest appearing on ITV ‘Tonight’ programme: ‘Bullies Online’ aired 14th October 2010 (St Paul’s flagship strategy to protect children online)
  • 2012 Consultant to and guest appearance on ‘Gok’s Teens’ – Gok Wan’s landmark programme on cyber bullying which showcased the achievements in this area at St Paul’s.
  • 2019 Opening the Aspergers Unit at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School [June, ITV news]
  • 2020 Mental Health Trailblazer at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School [February,] BBC South 
  • BBC Breakfast – Mass Covid Testing in schools https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/education-55361002
  • Leadership through lockdown’ – Broadcast and blog St Mary’s University [Feb 2021] https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/research/centres/aquinas/school-leaders-and-lockdown.aspx
  • ‘Leadership through lockdown’ – Broadcast to Churches Together in Reading [Feb 2021]
  • 2021 Blueprint for a fairer educational model for England Keynote – St Mary’s University, Institute of Education, Alumni Association 10th November 2022

PRESENTATIONS/LECTURES

  • 2000-2020 annual, inclusive, ongoing. Uttley S ‘Getting In and Getting On’ half-day inset to PGCE students on accelerated promotion: Institute of Education, University College, London
  • 2000-2020 annual, inclusive, ongoing. ‘Preparing for the first teaching job’ half-day inset to PGCE students on accelerated promotion: Institute of Education, University College, London
  • 2000      Uttley S ‘Key Skills for A Level Economics – concrete strategies and exemplars’ one-day inset given to teachers of economics; The Nuffield Foundation
  • 2000      Uttley S ‘Introducing Key Skills in Business and Economics – Economics and Business Education Association, National Conference.’  
  • 2006-2010 annual, inclusive. Uttley S ‘Getting In and Getting On’ half-day inset to PGCE students on accelerated promotion: Kingston University
  •  2009     Uttley S ‘From ‘Informing parents’, through ‘Engaging parents’ to ‘Equipping parents as co-learners and co-educators’ The St Paul’s journey’ Keynote speaker at national conference on Parental Engagement Optimus Education
  • 2010      Uttley S ‘Reducing Absence through Effective Parental Engagement’ Keynote speaker at national conference on Parental Engagement Optimus Education
  • 2010      ‘Leadership of a Catholic School: the best job in the world’ – Presentation to Catholic Primary and Secondary Deputy Headteachers, Diocese of Northampton
  • 2012 Speaker at national Conference: ‘Safeguarding Children in Education’ (organised by Teachology (http://teachology-education.co.uk/safeguarding) 13th & 18th September 2012)
  • 2013 ‘God has created me to do him some definite service’ -Re-Catholicizing the Curriculum Keynote speech to Sixth Form Conference, St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, 10th May 2013
  • 2013 Archives and iconoclasm: recovering the ‘authentic’ from so-called primary research material – ‘Engaging with Methodology’ – University of Brighton 31st May 2013
  • 2014 ‘Integrity is doing the Right Thing when no one is watching’ Talk to Headteachers of Northampton Diocese 27thMarch 2014
  • 2015 ‘Leading the Catholic School’ Training Day to aspirant Catholic school leaders, Diocese of Portsmouth 16thJanuary 2015
  • 2015 ‘The UK education systems: an introduction’ to University of Notre Dame (London Programme) 11th September 2015; 15th September 2016
  • 2016 ‘Schooling in the English Catholic Tradition’ – lecture given to Slovakian Headteachers, Bardejov, Slovakia March 2016
  • 2016 ‘Towards a new Pedagogy for Slovak schools’ – lecture given to Slovakian Headteachers, Bardejov, Slovakia November 2016
  • 2017 ‘Formation of the Whole Person: building mental and emotional resilience in the authentic school’ Briefing to Deputy Minister of Education, Bardejov, Slovakia 3rd November 2017
  • 2017 ‘Authenticity and binary positions: towards a post-Brexit philosophy of education’ Lecture.  Akademia Ignatianum. Krakow, Poland October 2017
  • 2017-20 ongoing Catholic Education and the Common Good University of Notre Dame, London Global Gateway
  • 2018 ‘Catholic education in a world of phony binaries and private morality: lessons and warnings from the greats, the damned and the damned greats’ – Lecture. Dominican University, Chicago 22nd February 2018
  • 2018 ‘Post Truth, Fake News and the degradation of truth –genealogy and implications’ Akademia Ignatianum. Krakow, Poland 13th April 2018
  • 2018 ‘Post Truth, Fake News and the degradation of truth-impact on Catholic schools’ Pastoral Review Congress, St Mary’s University 23rd June 2018
  • 2018 ‘Witness and Gift in the Catholic School – a training day for faculty and staff’ Marymount International School, Rome 30th August 2018
  • 2018 ‘Authenticity and Alienation: The Catholic school at the service of a fragmented and fissured world – from Groome’s epistemic ontology to dynamic temporality’ at ‘Network for Researchers in Catholic Education Annual Conference Newman University, Birmingham, 13th September 2018
  • 2018 ‘The UK education system in history – do we get what we deserve?’ {art 1 of a three-part series ‘Contemporary Perspectives in Education’ Akademia Ignatianum, Krakow 19th October 2018 
  • 2019  ‘When they are cheering you, take care to know for what you are being cheered – the contemporary Catholic Headteacher in an English State-funded Catholic school: caught in, or sustained by, the web of tradition or practice? 13th March 2019 – ACE Conference: Catholic Education in the UK, Ireland and the US. University of Notre Dame, London Global Gateway 
  • 2019 ‘Virtue in Education from the Greeks to the Geeks’ – Lecture. Dominican University, Chicago 20th February 2019
  • 2019 ‘School as a space for human flourishing: virtues, values and versatility’ Ukraine Catholic University, 8th June 2019
  • 2019 ‘People, Place, Virtue’ Retreat and Training Day – Marymount International School – 27th August 2019, Marymount International School, Kingston, London
  • 2019 Who is my neighbour? Catholic school-to-school collaboration in a climate of high-stakes accountability and financial austerity 17th October 2019, Network for Researchers in Catholic Education, Dublin City University.

Leading Schools in Lockdown

Posted on by

Ever since my mum first sewed that 50m swimming badge onto my trunks at age 9, I have been a martyr for a medal – little wonder then that I would make education, and the celebration of achievement, my life, now having led three 11-18 Catholic comprehensive secondary schools over the past 16 years. And loving it.

Though I doubt that 9-year-old me could have ever dreamt that his – ostensibly – grown-up version would, on New Year’s Day in 2021, be found downloading not 1 but 6 certificates, proudly recognising him as a certified Covid tester.

Well of course not because that was not a language my 9-year-old self knew, and for me language – specifically the way language has been put to use throughout this pandemic – offers a lens through which I at least can reflect on my role as a school leader – running a school at a time akin to the old fairground attraction where you had to negotiate a range of obstacles while the ground beneath your feet was constantly moving.

As we passed 100,000 deaths the other week, and Downing Street Briefings continue to try and tell our story in bar charts, it is always the personal experience that cuts home – people we have known and loved –   husbands, wives, grandparents, best friends, – yes and young people, too, on occasion.

What we do know is that the more vulnerable feel the impact greatest. Little wonder that the Archbishops of York and Canterbury recently reminded us that the impact is asymmetric – its rips into the homes of the poor, and disproportionately into the homes of ethnic minority families. Both, communities our Catholic schools have long and proudly served.

Where we are now is messy

Every day we are confronted with new challenges – and it is here, in the raw, with the smell of the suffering sheep, that we are called to go beyond the hubris of national announcements and help parents make sense of it. Many can cope – they have resilience.  But for the parents, or parent, trying to juggle, perhaps, two jobs – or none – while educating their children with a pay-as-you-go phone, the parent doing their best for a child with additional needs, or in the family blighted by domestic violence and constant fear, they are running on empty This is a national struggle, certainly, but it is felt, raw and visceral, at the local level. Seeing my staff make welfare calls to families, day in and day out, leaves me proud – with an aftertaste of existential grief.

Never in my lifetime have I seen more clearly the impact of languages being deployed, blended, and, it must be said, sometimes warped out of shape. the politicians, wishing to model the narrative around ‘we are delivering for you’, the scientists, every cautiously managing the empirical, and the Fourth Estate – the Press -wanting to draw conclusions, create [sometimes too easy] binaries and attribute responsibility from fragments which barely allow this. As Kennedy said of Churchill, we were mobilizing the English language and sending it into battle. Supported by weekly clapping, the tooting of car horns and, I am sure, the intercessions of the much-loved Captain Sir Tom, God rest his soul.

To conclude, schools are at the sharp end of social cohesion – or the lack thereof. It may not be sufficient for families in crisis to feel that, in their child’s school, they have a place, and they are known and not judged unfairly – but it seems to me it is certainly necessary. And in the perennial quest for what is distinctive in our Catholic schools, seeing in this promotion of social cohesion a core – not add on – feature of what makes the school good – let alone outstanding – should never be forgotten. In our quest to hit the State’s metric of success and receive plaudits as ‘Outstanding’ schools, we must be mindful of the need sometimes to subvert these very metrics and replace them with those that come from our belief in Christ walking our corridors. As ‘Alpha’ Heads, we are engaged in an Omega mission.

Mark Twain said ‘Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.’  This for me has been the diamond in the rough so far in my Covid 19 journey.

Cor ad cor loquitur -a report into support and collaboration between maintained English Catholic schools and the role of the Catholic Higher Education Institution: distinctiveness, impact and challenge

Posted on by

From 2018-19 I undertook empirical research into school to school collaboration in the Catholic sector in England. This demonstrates a high degree of trust between schools, a real openness to working with Higher education and the importance of dialogue in securing bespoke solutions

 

cor ad cor loquitor revised version of that submitted 220419

Welcome to A View from the Orangery – a place to think

Posted on by

From a Roman roof-top orangery I could see so much.The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II glistened in that Roman afternoon heat that you can hear, taste and smell. But only so small a part was visible; so much was hidden. Orderliness and confusion. Iconic ambulance sirens. All life as an expression of will? Or the terrible freedom of Sartre’s waiter.

The world isn’t made up of -isms, but of people. People who can find themselves at the bottom of the pile; crushed by ideology, dominant narratives and unthinking utilitarianism. So yes, this site does celebrate philosophers, but actually it invites all thinkers of good will to look afresh at ideas and institutions.So welcome to this new Thinkspace.  The question we are posing here is this:

How does the world – its institutions, grand narratives and easy assumptions –  look when analysed by classical, modern and so-called post-modern thinking, underpinned with a belief in the dignity of the person. If this is meaningful to you, whatever your personal beliefs or non-beliefs, I would love to hear from you!

As the Course Leader for Catholic Education and the Common Good at the London Global Gateway I am passionate about generating debate and intelligent discussion around things that matter to me. Things like:

  • philosophies of education,
  • Christian post-structuralism in culture
  • Space for Hermeneutics, Deconstruction and Phenomenology
  • Continental philosophy in an ecclesial space
  • A contemporary Christian hermeneutic of law [jurisprudence]

But…this list is by no means exhaustive. This site is a place to think – not to set limits, qualifications or rules.  Click below if you want to submit a paper or have a resource reviewed.

Submission of papers

Request for Book Reviews

Flags of Inconvenience

Posted on by

In wishing a happy St George’s Day to all who call England their home – which right now includes my London class – I am reminded of the true value of patriotism. To belong, share a language, a common story, a sense of humour. To take pride in our heroes and seek a coherent national narrative, whether or not one exists or is even desirable. As sociable animals we recognise our best interests lie not in isolation but in the group.

The flag is surely a symbol of welcome, of belonging, of hospitality. It ceases to be this when it is used as a weapon. When it is used as a means to ‘other’ individuals and groups and deny them the absolute hospitality that any flag should symbolise.

In fact, of course, it is, like the humans who design it – both positive and negative. It is an aporia – a conundrum. An inconvenient reminder that we constantly run the risk of excluding ‘the other’ in our thirst for self-identity. Indeed it is, to an extent, inevitable. What is not inevitable is that it should be exploited. No surprise that the malevolent old prey on the innocent young by providing them not with a clear view of appropriate self and group identity but, instead, with a fairground mirror of distortion. First, sketch out your enemy in cartoon form; then demonise the caricature you have produced; then destroy him.

So hang the flag of St George high on the flag post and proclaim ‘this is England’. Drape it out of the bedroom window. Festoon your car with it and fashion tee-shirts with its scarlet cross. But let’s do so proclaiming Englishness as a touchstone for justice, for fairness, for decency and dignity. But most of all, let it be a beacon of welcome for the traveller, whatever passport or nationality the traveller carries. Happy St George’s Day.

Watch your Grammar!

Posted on by

grammarschool

Justine Greening, our still relatively new Secretary of State for Education, is a competent and approachable politician with a track record of working in a collegiate and constructive manner. She will need to be in her task not only of challenging but, crucially, of reinvigorating teachers – in particular, traditionally moderate school leaders- who feel battered by the increased politicisation of their once noble profession and concerned about their ability to guarantee excellence for students in the face of real cuts to education spending on the one hand and, on the other,  a perception of policy novelty on the hoof. But on one of the staples of the educational narrative – Grammar school expansion –  Ms Greening has already expressed an open mindedness which will delight some and worry others.

Grammar schools can be powerful promoters of ‘hard working’ but less well off families whose children work hard and receive the leg up that saw the grammar school ‘cadre’ increasingly taking their place in public life from the 50s to the 70s. However the Grammar school as local ‘winner takes all’ produces negative externalities. We need to accept the fact of the creation over night of many thousands of children who regard themselves as failures.

Wherever one locates oneself in this debate the bigger issue appears to be the fall-out in terms of a lack of strategy around schools which has gone hand in hand with the new frontier (Wild West?) of choice and diversity. Clearly the dismantling of Local Authority involvement is a significant issue, predicated on an apparent need to ‘free up’ schools and ‘remove red tape’ and dispel ‘low ambitions for children’. However dubious the empirical veracity of these various bogeymen, the return to a totally state managed school system is unlikely and by no means obviously desirable. However , the marketisation of free at the point of need education, whether through sponsor academies or grammar school expansion,  can create injustices in children’s opportunities and outcomes in a ‘market’ that ‘clears’, as the economist would say, about as well as the rail industry – in other words not well at all.