Can you be too independent?

If the man doesnt believe as we do,

we say he is a crank, and that settles it. I
mean, it does nowadays, because now we
cant burn him.
Today I discovered I had been let
go by Independent Thinking Ltd.
Of course accidents happen, but I
hadnt received this email so it came as something of a shock. This post is in no way intended
to be sour; it is merely an attempt to work through how I feel.
For those those of you who may not be aware, ITL are essentially a employment agency for
education consultants. Here they are in their own words:
More of a network than a company and more of a movement than an organisation, for over twenty
years Independent Thinking has been making a tangible difference in schools worldwide. We help
young people, teachers, school leaders, parents and others involved in education rethink what they
do and why they do it all with the purpose of ensuring education is so much more than the
passing of exams.
Well, I would not have thought this. I always love fresh views on ancient strategies as ESL isn't like
doing something fresh each day. Without a doubt it's not like constructing car seats throughout the
day yet you can always find something to adjust a tad. Although you will not admit the beauty of life
hides in the changes. Let us see how far we'll go.
We arent a speakers bureau although we have some of the worlds leading
educational speakers. We arent a consultancy, although we are more than happy to work
with you to help you become even better. We are not a panel of educational experts because we
dont believe there is such a thing. We are not a publishing company although the
Independent Thinking Press has won awards for its ground-breaking education books. And we
arent a training company because, well, the word training comes from the
Latin to drag.
We dont employ people, own fancy offices or produce glossy magazines and, because we
were set up to make a difference not a profit, we put back as much as possible into our work.
At Independent Thinking, we believe education is about integrity, passion and compassion, creativity
and professionalism. Its about doing the right thing, being healthy, being happy, growing
and serving. Its about living up to our motto to To do things no-one does or to do
things everyone does but in a way no-one does. And its about having a laugh
while youre doing it. After all, education is too important to be taken seriously.
My connections to them began back in 2011 when I first met the founder Ian Gilbert at my school.
He said I had presence and expressed an interest in working with me. Naturally, I
was flattered and having recently read Ians books I had a great deal of respect for him.
When I took the plunge and quit my full time job late last year, ITL were great and found me enough
work to keep the wolf from the door. In return, Ive spoken at 3 of their Big Days
Out for nowt. After the first of these days out in October 2012, I was told I wasnt
on message. This surprised me as I had assumed they were all about independence.
And surprised as well because I too believe education is about integrity, passion and
compassion, creativity and professionalism. And I too am sure that education is
about doing the right thing, being healthy, being happy, growing and serving.
But thats not all either of us believe.
Suffice it to say, although the folk at ITL gave me a leg up and helped give me the confidence to
think independently, Ive never felt part of the establishment there. And as times
gone on its become increasingly clear that our ideological differences have made for a
sometimes abrasive relationship.
Needless to say, I asked if the email I should have been sent on September 10th could be forwarded
to me, and here it is:
Its never nice to hear your colleagues have been complaining about you behind your
back and its a great shame that this wasnt a discussion we were able to have in the
open. Ive no idea who they are and this kind of anonymous whispering can be toxic; it starts
you wondering about who. Was it someone I thought of as a friend? Because there are some really
lovely Associates at ITL. Martin Robinson is one of the most interesting thinkers in education
and a helluva guy; Hywel Roberts is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet; Nina
Jackson is a woman of wonderful warmth and wit; Lisa Ashes is a pocket dynamo who should never
be underestimated, and Phil Beadle is someone I genuinely consider as a friend.
And horrible too to wonder what exactly about my actions and behaviour can have caused so much
consternation. Certainly Ive never publicly said anything disparaging about ITL or any of the
people who work for them, so maybe theyre complaining about my support for things I
hold dear and of which Im proud? Maybe its been the fact that Ive been
holding Ofsted to account and finally succeeded in making my voice heard in the new Inspection
Handbook? Maybe its the work Ive done with a number of schools to improve
pupils literacy? Or maybe its the fact that Ive made it my business to
question assumptions and leave no stone unturned in my desire to work out whether we might be
making mistakes in the way were thinking about education? Might it be that Ive
pointed out that some of the advice teachers are routinely given might be bogus? But
maybe its that Ive publicly changed my mind about some of my
beliefs; people dont always like to have their beliefs questioned?
But could this really have had a negative effect on a company that prides itself on helping
young people, teachers, school leaders, parents and others involved in education rethink
what they do and why they do it all with the purpose of ensuring education is so much more
than the passing of exams?
Here I am talking about my philosophy of education with an ITL logo in the background:
I still get incensed by the lack of WHY in education. (Although Im much less sure about the
last 30 seconds or so.)
The trouble is, as Ive said before, people involved in
education dont agree what eduction is for. We are often unwitting slaves to
our ideologies. We put being right before doing right. As Francis Bacon put it, Man prefers
to believe what he prefers to be true. And because of this, some people involved in
education say or do things which other people vehemently disagree with.
Heres something Schopenhauer (who knew a thing or two) had to say about that:
If human nature were not base, but thoroughly honourable, we should in every debate have no other
aim than the discovery of truth; we should not in the least care whether the truth proved to be in
favour of the opinion which we had begun by expressing, or of the opinion of our adversary. That we
should regard as a matter of no moment, or, at any rate, of very secondary consequence; but, as
things are, it is the main concern. Our innate vanity, which is particularly sensitive in reference to
our intellectual powers, will not suffer us to allow that our first position was wrong and our
adversarys right. The way out of this difficulty would be simply to take the trouble always to
form a correct judgment. For this a man would have to think before he spoke. But, with most men,
innate vanity is accompanied by loquacity and innate dishonesty. They speak before they think; and
even though they may afterwards perceive that they are wrong, and that what they assert is false,
they want it to seem the contrary. The interest in truth, which may be presumed to have been their
only motive when they stated the proposition alleged to be true, now gives way to the interests of
vanity: and so, for the sake of vanity, what is true must seem false, and what is false must seem true.
This is a tendency I regularly examine myself for and at times find myself wanting.
So, in conclusion, I find my public persona doesnt fit with ITLs direction of
travel. Charitably we could infer from this that they would rather forego making money than
working with someone whose beliefs differ. Maybe thats honourable? But I just dont
know whether a different ideological standpoint is grounds for sacking is it just code for
we dont like you? Maybe we could have reached a rapprochement?
As Michael Corleone said in the Godfather, something to be said for keeping your
friends close and your enemies closer? Who can say. But I do admit all this comes as
something of a relief. Its like Ive been holding my breath or clenching my jaw and
can finally relax.
I wish my friends at ITL the very best and if Ive had a negative effect on their livelihoods
by criticising something they hold dear then Im genuinely sorry. Id like to believe
though that Ive only criticised ideas and never those who hold them.
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