Allen, Gibbs & Houlik, L.C.’s Post

Think chess is stressful? Think again! Jimmy, 19, just dominated his town's U-20 Championship and claims "Chess is not a stressful game!". 🧠♟️What about you? Do you find chess to be calming or intense? Drop your thoughts in the comments and let’s spark a discussion! 🔥👇 #ChessLife #ChessMindset #RelaxWithChess

Other countries have long since abandoned the ‘English Victorian Gradgrind model of education’. They have realised especially with the advent of AI that creative thinking problem solving digital and communication skills are the basis of education that equips young people for a fast changing future . England still carries on with its endless consultations and the writing of reports with recommendations that go absolutely nowhere ! Meanwhile children in the UK are deemed to be the unhappiest of twenty one economically advanced countries according to a UNICEF report. Certainly 1.8 million have decided to quit school and countless others are excluded- effectively kicked out of school. Why? As they spend much time out of lessons and miss learning- they are possibly not going to ‘pass their exams’ so risk messing up the school's position in the accountability league tables. The majority of these children have special educational needs - undiagnosed, unmet or both, or are from socio-economic backgrounds ( disadvantaged), so are unable to achieve as well as their peers. How is their achievement measured? Not through valuing the progress that children make from their starting points, or indeed, in subjects that they may excel at- creative technical or vocational, but through an academic suite of subjects that they may struggle in. The EBAcc curriculum is not taught as relevant or meaningful to their lives, or indeed contextualized in 'real world' learning. Some children cannot access the secondary curriculum because their reading age is below their chronological age. Attainment and progress measures are 'normative' and these children are measured against their peers. In truth, is that a fair or equitable education system? Will this normative assessment succeed in closing the gap between those that pass their GCSEs and the one third that do not? A 'pass or fail' education system presents a bleak picture - but then Thomas Gradgrind the notorious school board Superintendent in Dickens's 1854 novel Hard Times ended up with some very unhappy school children, while children in the UK today present as the unhappiest in Europe with a 'particularly British fear of failure partly to blame' according to the Annual Good Childhood Report ( 2023). Is that just a mere coincidence? I fear not. Building in failure into an education system will not result in happy children motivated to achieve their full potential. Its time for a radical change.

Good people do exist

I care deeply about inclusive hiring so I am super happy that some of my thoughts have made it in to this book. Thank you Katrina Collier Cannot wait to read it! This is a really important book giving us all a practical guide to navigating an ever changing landscape in global recruitment. Reboot Hiring 📙 #reboothiring #inclusivehiring #recruitment #talent #globaltalent #talentacquisition

Win win for us

Winning Isn’t For Everyone

Very deep. Must listen

of course

✅ 7 green flags in colleagues: 1. They offer help. 2. They respect you. 3. They support your goals. 4. They listen to you and make you feel heard. 5. They celebrate your wins, whether big or small. 6. They talk positively about you, even when you're not present. 7. They're not threatened by your wins; they see their colleagues' accomplishments as a collective victory.