Interviews

Change Your DNA to Grow Your School, with Patrick Bassett

Our guest today is Patrick Bassett. You may know him as long time NAIS President, or even as founder of Heads Up Educational Consulting.

The Enrollhand Team

May 23, 2019 • 3 min read

“We have a saying in the independent school world, “Every child is known, loved and challenged”. If we deliver on that, if we stay true to this most essential mantra then children succeed in our schools and our schools succeed.” - Patrick Bassett

Audio version:

Summary:

Our guest today is Patrick Bassett. You may know him as longtime NAIS President, or even as the founder of Heads Up Educational Consulting. You may have come across his thoughtful tweets about the future of education. What is sure is that Pat has a deep, strategic understanding and a strong point of view on the evolving nature of schools.

In this episode, Andrew and Patrick discuss a wide range of topics, from hiring millennials to change your school’s DNA, to how to trigger disruptive change through experimentation. Pat’s experience shines through.

Listen and take note of Patrick’s insights and suggestions on how you can change your school’s DNA.

In our discussion, we cover:

01:30 Andrew asks Patrick how a school can change its DNA.

14:51 Patrick talks about the 5 C’s in education: Critical thinking, Creativity, Communication, Character, and Cross-cultural competency or “Cosmopolitanism”, and about the importance of having skills rather than accumulating and relaying knowledge.

23:11 Andrew asks Patrick how he thinks independent schools are shifting their teaching models in order to adapt to our changing educational environment.

26:36 Patrick highlights that students cite two main reasons for wanting to go to school: to be with friends and to learn how to be successful.

28:08 Andrew and Patrick take the discussion towards how useful apprenticeship is in providing children with the necessary skills and character traits to succeed in life.

30:49 While discussing team building and project-based learning, Patrick points out that introverts shine with project-based learning because they become involved and they have the chance to show what they can do.

35:16 Andrew and Patrick talk about how difficult it is to create change and implement it.

36:20 Patrick provides a roadmap for success; he urges students and teachers alike to be bold and creative, to cultivate followers, and to reward both the leaders and the first followers.

39:00 Andrew and Patrick discuss how creating a college-like environment can benefit students, since they will become accustomed to learning in bigger classes. Moreover, he suggests that teachers provide the students with choice and a culminating project lasting for a whole semester to help them get involved and learn first hand about a topic of their choice.

43:30 Patrick responds to Andrew's question about where the small steps that they have already discussed will take independent schools. He highlights the fact that the physical boundaries of schools are likely to disappear with the potential for online participation increasing.

48:00 Andrew asks Patrick to provide the listeners with some parting thoughts.

Quotes:

11:31 “We have a saying in the independent school world, “Every child is known, loved and challenged”. If we deliver on that, if we stay true to this most essential mantra then children succeed in our schools and our schools succeed.”

13:55 “Teaching is relational, not transactional. Our schools, although they’re purchased because of transactional impulses, are transformational.”

17:02 “We have a saying that school is where creativity goes to die.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

Information on Jim Collins: https://www.jimcollins.com/

Information on Lambda School: https://lambdaschool.com/

Where to learn more about Patrick:

Patrick on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.bassett.1948

Patrick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/patbassett?lang=en

Patrick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-bassett-aa24b743/

Heads Up Educational Consulting: https://headsuped.com/background-fees-2/

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com