FIXing Hazırlık...(the Postscript)
Some of you might be thunking...a postscript?
What the heck for? 8 That last post gave us so many good best practices to get our teeth into...actually, we've already got / done a few of them.
All we need to do is put all the others in place!
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Afterall, it's that type of advice that 'sells'...yes?8 Certainly sells more than wishy-washy, idealistic, quixotic stuff like:
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...you know, remember...we said something about 'hazırlık' being 'broken'!8 Seriously, go back and take a look at all those suggestions (this is where you CLICK...on the 'red' stuff)... ...put yourself in the shoes of a 'typical' student at your own institution (no, not one of those 'süper-inek', 100% scholarship students that our schools 'love' to cream off the YÖK lists)... 8
...and 'answer' this little question:
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Hey! Maybe, you could even ask a few students...for REAL?8 Or, you could just ask the teachers, too!
Anything else, especially the way I presented those ideas, is a bit like:
Remember...
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Now, you might also (round about this time) be thunking:
...is Tony telling us this?8 Those 'lovely' accreditation folks (and the expense-paid trip)...painted a very different picture! Tony's suggestions (or rather...those of his 'mates') are very similar to those standards they showed us...the action points they suggested we put into our 'self-study audit'...
...all the things we have to put on our 18-24 month 'to-do-list'...8
...again...8 But, in my defence, I did tell you this mini-series was gonna be all about...
...we became:
...rather than EDUcators!
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...just for a couple of hours, mind! We're OK...now.8 We just forgot that many of the people who put accreditation body 'standards' together have actually been in the 'quality game' for years (decades even). They have worked in schools that have built and re-invented their own traditions over time...and made many a mistake along the way!
...for all the wrong reasons!8 They did not fall foul of the 'trap' that many schools have found themselves in:
...they lived 'quality'! ...and they took the time to LEARN how to walk-their-own-talk! 8 These schools and their 'quality' leaders realised that:
...especially if we 'borrow' without 'thunking' - or, at the very least, consider the issue of 'fitness-for-purpose'!8 In a nutshell, they realised that they needed to create 'NEXT Practice' for their OWN Institutions - and this takes TIME, CARE and LEADERSHIP...
...the more, the merrier - when you thunk these over!
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Sevgiyle kalın!