“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Soren Kierkegaard
Teachers are currently in the thick of report writing. These end of year summaries describe a period in which much will have happened. It is difficult to do justice to the many aspects of a pupil’s development and growth in the space of a box on a screen or in a certain number of characters. Over the years that I have been teaching (and therefore writing reports) the style and approach has changed. There is less caustic wit and more constructive suggestion. Grades are still given, and successes are celebrated. Wise counsel regarding approaches to be taken in the coming year still appear.
Once upon a time a report was given to the pupil to take home in a sealed envelope on which they had been asked to write the recipient’s name. Now they will be collected electronically from Engage and read on screen. Definitely more environmentally friendly, but I’m not always sure that the appearance of the end of year report has quite the same impact as was the case in previous decades. I certainly remember the nervous anticipation that haunted my walk home from school on the day the report was issued. Daft really as I knew what it was likely to say. I’d done well in the subjects that interested me and not quite so well in those I found less stimulating. Overall, I think that what we might have lost in the theatre of the event has been replaced with better content. All reports we are told should have both formative and summative comments, you can use marks and statistics to back up your points and the aim is not simply to point out shortcomings but suggests points for development.
Of course, an end of term report is something of a punctuation mark between school years. Perhaps we should look at them not as punctuation, but as an arrow pointing the way forward, suggesting not only where we have come from but where we could go in the future. To do that more effectively we would, I suspect, be well served by including far more detail regarding development of character as well as academic ability. If we have ways of testing our character then the forthcoming school trips may well be a chance to examine how we perform when asked to live communally, when challenged to confront activities that we might not enjoy, or to step out of our comfort zone. This is more difficult to report upon and requires our young people to have the bravery to question their own behaviour. More importantly such trips challenge us to bring lessons that are learned on expeditions to bear in normal life.
Year 5 have already been to the Auvergne in the rain and mist. The forecast for Years 7, 8 and 9 in the Alps next week is wet and chilly, and Year 6 will once again have their ingenuity and creativity challenged when they go on their residential. Only they will be able to write their report when these experiences are over but, quite possibly this honest appraisal may be useful. “Know thyself” the philosophers have said for centuries. “There is more in you than you think.” said the educational innovator. “Don’t just try hard at the things that you like.” said the Headmaster. In the coming weeks our young people have the chance to write their own report, to challenge themselves to improve, and also to enjoy themselves despite the rain.
Nicholas Hammond
Headmaster
