MTPT Events

The MaternityTeacher PaternityTeacher Project really has gained momentum in these last few weeks, and with momentum comes events. I've tweeted about all of these, but wouldn't it be useful to have all the information about upcoming events all in one place? Well, your wish, MTPT community, is my command...

The WomenEd Unconference: 'Making the Most of Maternity Leave'

Please note: this is a ticketed event and is now sold out. However, if you have a ticket and are attending, here are all the details. If you don't have a ticket, please see below for ways to access the event remotely, or for other very similar forums, including other WomenEd events. 

Date: 8th October

Time: 10:30-11:15am

Location: Microsoft UK Headquarters, Reading

Blurb: this workshop will tell the story of The MTPT Project and outline its intentions. We'd really like to hear feedback from all interested parties - parent-teachers, SLT, CPD providers, future parent-teachers, whoever! - to support the development of the project.

Remote access: a very thoughtful man named Leon Cych has written an entire blog post dedicated to teaching me how to Live Stream. I'm on the hunt for equipment and will tweet the link if I get it up and running. If you haven't got tickets, please do still contribute to the discussion with the hashtag #MTPTproject and #WomenEd. The official MTPT Twitter handle is @maternityCPD. 

If I can't upskill in time, I will video the event and upload it somewhere convenient. 

Childcare: WomenEd are happy to provide childcare but have apparently not had any requests for it so you'll have to get in touch with them if you'd like some last-minute arrangements. They are very welcoming of families so don't hesitate at all about getting in touch. My 3 month old will be in a sling or a bouncer for the whole session so if you'd like to bring your children and any of their infrastructure, please do so. I am very excited at the prospect of a very loud and dribble-filled event!

Teach First London Conference 1: Discussion: Teaching, Parenting and CPD

These conferences are mostly attended by first and second year Teach First participants, but all the sessions are open to Teach First ambassadors and anyone working in a Teach First school so if this is you, come and take advantage of a whole day's worth of free CPD. As an ambassador, all you have to do is sign up to sessions on the community website. If you're not an ambassador, either use the Teach First channels in your school to get signed up, or get into contact with me (e-sheppard@hotmail.co.uk). 

The MTPT Project forum is open to anyone who's interested, whether you have affiliations with Teach First or not, but you'll have to let me know in advance so that I can create a guest list for fire safety and probably insurance reasons. Use the email address above, or the Twitter handle, @maternityCPD.  

Date: 24th October

Time: 3-4:30pm

Location: Lilian Baylis School, Vauxhall, London

Blurb: I'm anticipating a different audience for this event so the forum will repeat the structure of the WomenEd workshop.

Remote access: hopefully I will have figured out and organised equipment to live stream by this time, so will tweet the link.

Childcare: because the majority of Teach First's attendees at these conferences do not require childcare, it is not offered - something that might start to change as the ambassador community (quite literally) grows.  Again, my son will be with me during the workshop, so please feel free to bring your little ones and any equipment they might need.

Teach First London Conference 2

Date: 12th November

Time: 13:45-15:15

Location: Regent High School, Kings Cross, London

Blurb: this will be the first session focusing specifically on empowering and inspiring MaternityTeachers and PaternityTeachers, directing them towards the support that will help them to achieve their CPD goals.  If you are thinking of starting a family, if you or your partner is currently pregnant or on parental leave, then this workshop is aimed at you.  

We would still like to hear stories from former MaternityTeachers and PaternityTeachers and any input from SLT, CPD Providers and interested parties who have not been able to attend previous events.

Remote access and childcare as above.

Q&A + Baby

This is white noise in the corridor calming him down.

Today, baby and I faced our biggest professional challenge yet: appearing as panellists at the Teach First annual offsite conference for Teach First employees and partners. This meant two 60 minute Q&A sessions in Nottingham (I live in London) exploring the ideas behind The #maternityteacher Project and achievements to date.  This required a lot of energy, and our smartest pair of shoes, but I found that repeating motivational mantras to myself gave me the encouragement to get up and go. 

"I am the change I want to see in the world," I said to myself when I got into the shower at 6am. Baby farted in his sleep and sighed in a satisfied way. 

"Be 10% braver," I said to myself whilst getting baby up and changed. Baby pooped all over the changing mat three times. Clearly very excited, maybe a bit nervous about his guest appearance. 

"Coffee is always a good idea," I said to myself as I left the house with a Baby Bjorn bouncer frame over my shoulder like Huckleberry Finn's mum, to join the 7am commuters. Baby stuck his tongue out to suck up the tube breeze and dribbled. 

"I am a super woman," I said when my train was cancelled and I approached station staff to request to be re-routed. Baby chewed his whole fist and sicked a little down his chin. 

"Thank fuck I don't have to do this every morning anymore," I said as I put the bouncer frame in the luggage rack and released baby from the sling. Baby pooped loudly and smiled. Achievements come in many varied forms. 

Note: professional shoes.

When we finally got to Nottingham, the panel itself was very exciting, if a bit overwhelming. In true #maternityteacher style, we arrived a million hours early, reconnaissanced the room, set up the bouncer, had a feed and a cup of tea and finished the last chapter of 'Jungly Tales' by gumming it aggressively before the first audience members arrived and baby became an instant sensation.  

Now, here's a tip if you're considering doing a similar event with your baby: your baby is the most beautiful little person in the whole world; he is making an appearance at an event where babies do not usually appear; everybody loves an adorable, smiling baby, and everybody wants to touch said baby.  I'm normally very happy and proud to hand my baby over to other people for cuddles - often I take pictures of him with various professional celebrities - but I was surprised at how worried I was that he would be overwhelmed by all of this attention, and yet at the same time I would have been offended if he had been ignored!  This was probably a projection on my behalf, but something to think about if other people touching your baby is not your favourite thing.

Yes, my baby is PERFECT.

Once I'd calmed down my inner control-mother, I delivered my introduction, realising that I was the only one who had brought notes.  Part of me felt like a school girl rather than a serious, professional person; the other half of me got flustered and distracted when the baby screamed about his wind so was very grateful to have a set of bullet points to follow whilst most of my brain was actually worrying about him.  Use whatever personalised strategies allow you to multi-task in this way, even if they do make you feel like you're laying out your shiny new pencil case on your desk on the first day of school.

After all three panellists had spoken on different aspects of women in leadership, there was an explosion of responses that I am going to have to take a whole day in my pyjamas to process.

Amongst the ideas that stood out was the importance of choice. Whenever anyone starts talking about parenting, discussions become very personal, very charged and very defensive. Am I doing enough? Am I doing it right? Have I met expectations? Am I a good mother? Am I a strong woman? One thing I maybe didn't emphasise enough today was that the inception of The #maternityteacher Project was motivated by fear: I am bad at doing nothing; boredom scares me; I have to build structured relaxation time into my day so that I don't feel guilty; I was deathly afraid of getting post natal depression because of such a dramatic shift in my pace of life. I couldn't find any examples of parental leave that didn't include Baby Jazz or baking, and these things don't float my boat half as much as improving my understanding of 19th century literature or facilitating a session on EAL for trainee teachers.  

Note: engaged speakers, vacantly staring mother.

It was really interesting to see and hear how the idea of The MaternityTeacher PaternityTeacher Project was received by a whole range of parents - from those who had told their Mums that they were going to complete PhDs whilst on maternity leave, but had ended up happily lying on a beach for nine months, to those who thought that the responsibility for bridging the gap of parental leave lay in changes to organisational structures, not programmes of 'catch up' like this one.

This raised the question of revolution vs. evolution. Do we need a social revolution that completely changes the way that we perceive parental leave, women and men's roles, and childcare? That makes certain gender-focused events obligatory for men or maternity leave coaching a legal requirement for all organisations? Or will the only effective change be a result of a trickle down effect whereby this #maternityteacher supports and inspires three other #maternityteachers and #paternityteachers who go on to inspire nine more... until eventually there is no need for a revolution because organically, there will be a more even balance in the education system (and who knows - the whole country) between the sharing of parenting and leadership roles?

My personal, and very self-centered response to the evolution vs. revolution question is one of time: I have three months left of my maternity leave and if I wait for a revolution, I'll end up sitting in a classroom three days a week at 52, sipping my bitter coffee, reflecting on the career opportunities I sacrificed in order to raise three boys who were now contributing to the hateful patriarchy.  As it is, I am bored now. I am acting now. I hope to inspire and support now. I'll leave all this talk of revolution to my French husband. 

Another interesting suggestion was that schools are awarded with a sort of 'Gender Equality' award, a bit like an Arts Smart or an Eco Schools Award that recognises the efforts made to ensure gender equality amongst staff and to teach these values to students in schools.  I'd have to get my head around this one and the dangers of positive discrimination and tokenism vs. meritocracy, but I thought it was a creative idea to suggest, which could have some potential. 

A final resounding comment came from the only man in the first session: it had been intimidating and uncomfortable to attend the event as the only man in the room but it had been important, relevant to him and very interesting. At lunch time, he and others who had been at the first session actively sought out other men and said, 'You should go to this Q&A panel after lunch. This crazy woman has brought her baby.'  After lunch, there were at least ten - maybe more - men in the room. They were all interested, they were all engaged.  One of them sadly reflected that he had missed the opportunity for a cuddle, now that the baby was asleep in the sling.

It was so exciting to hear from Team Dad and have my suspicions confirmed: we are all on the same page here. Time away from the office/ classroom to spend with your child: good. Flexible CPD to develop your skills in areas of interest or reflect on career pathways: good. Shared childcare responsibilities that means everyone gets to enjoy magical smiles and dribble: good. Greater equality in educational leadership: good. None of this is exclusive to one or other gender. So encouraged am I by this that I'm changing the name of this Thing to The MaternityTeacher PaternityTeacher Project.  It's longer, but The ParentalTeacher Project sounds weird.  I'm also going to keep asking for someone to put me in contact with a male teacher who has completed CPD whilst on parental leave to be my @paternityteacher partner in crime. Are you out there? Do you have Twitter?

Please zoom in to his facial expression here.

Amongst all of this excitement and intense chat, baby was mostly an absolute legend and at all other times he was a baby and did all the normal things that babies do. He got grizzly and needed to be bounced in the sling to fall asleep. He made noises (delightful) as if he were in the Houses of Parliament  during the other panellists' anecdotes. When he got wind and screamed, he had to be taken outside. I think it was too cold and we are not used to cold as it has basically been sweltering since he was born and he has spent most of his life in just a nappy, and he got clingy and didn't want to stay in the bouncer and chew on 'Jungly Tales' by himself. I've since realised that he is in the middle of an angry rain cloud on my Wonder Weeks app, but the only person who seemed remotely bothered by all of this was me. 

I had one brief moment of wondering whether it was all a bit too much and I was a terrible, selfish mother but then the baby massage elicited an enormous fart and suddenly baby was fascinated by his audience again (and then he fell asleep). 

We ended the day a little overwhelmed by all the potential and opportunity and relevance of the project and basically got home and collapsed and made vowel sounds to each other and smiled and dribbled some more. Nottingham is quite a long way for a small baby. Tomorrow we will do a lot of lying on the carpet and we might try to look for Spot the Dog again. We keep losing him. 

Live Stream

Today, this #maternityteacher made a joyful discovery.  Please keep in mind during this anecdotal blog that despite my incessant Tweeting and blogging, watching me try to navigate social media and many forms of technology is a little like watching your grandmother trying to use a computer mouse for the first time.  ("Right click, Nanny.  Click.  On the right.  With your ring finger.  Right click.")

Imagine me, if you will, doing a mix between ballet, dry ice-skating and aerobics in my living room at 11am this morning, in my pyjamas, to a soundtrack of Paolo Nutini, with a baby attached to me in a sling.  Why would I do such a thing, you might be wondering.  Well, the baby had just had a significant poop explosion whilst seated in the bouncer - that genius piece of equipment that allows me to get on with blogging and Tweeting and researching during the day - and it was now out of action.  Baby refuses to sleep during the day without some form of intense lunging involved, so it was rather resentfully that I swapped my morning coffee with accompanying bouncer for a sling fit work out.

Eventually, exhausted, I sat down to Twitter only to find that the whole world apart from me was talking about ResearchEd. "Oh gawd!" I thought, with severe feelings of FOMO, "The whole world is progressing apart from me.  Interesting learning discussions are happening and I'm sweaty and still in my pyjamas at 11am and the baby has begun to dribble in my cleavage!  Maternity leave sucks!"

But oh how wrong I was.  When I clicked on the @ResearchED1 handle, I saw this magical Tweet:

"What is a 'Livestreamed'?" you may be wondering.  Well, #maternityteachers, I asked myself the same question, and curious beyond measure about what kind of Narnia this digital wardrobe door might lead me to, I clicked on the link and was greeted by this:

This is @daisychristo talking, in real time, about the Ark Academy's research into comparative moderation, and here I was, with a baby, in my living room, with dirty hair and sleep-face, listening as if I were in the Theatre of the Capital City Academy with all the other gazillion CPD-ing teachers. Amazing!

I obviously then had a fantastic morning with the live stream playing on my laptop in the background, a bit like Wimbledon or the Olympics whilst I went about breastfeeding, burping, playing, tummy time, laundry, Tweeting, Googling, drinking cups of tea and performing baby massage on a very disgruntled and windy baby.  "Being on maternity leave is fantastic!" I thought, "You can come in late to presentations without offending anyone; I don't have any marking or planning to do that's keeping me from concentrating on what @PhillippaCcuree is saying, and I'm not sickened by the idea of anything to do with education on a Saturday because I've lost track of what day it is today!  Plus, I have time to really think about lots of big ideas and put them into action.  How, for example, could research bodies mobilise the teachers on maternity leave out there who are not drowning under the weight of their teaching load to contribute to their projects?"

Life got even better at 2:05pm when this chap turned up:

What Teach First ambassador doesn't love a bit of Brett quoting familiar statistics?  Way to reconnect with the mission!

The best thing about Live Stream, I discovered, was that it doesn't just exist for ResearchEd; this chap Leon Cych at least, films loads of education-related events and Teach Meets so that they can be accessed from any remote location with Wifi.  Can you think of anything more compatible with the #maternityteacher lifestyle?

So, here's what I think we should all do:

• Explore further opportunities for live streaming.  If there is a conference you want to attend, but can't, what infrastructure do the facilitators have for creating a live streaming link?
• Learn how to do live streaming with @periscopetv - apparently you can do this with your own smartphone!
• We should all make friends with Leon Cych (@eyebeams) and ask him to partner with The #maternityteacher Project to make all of our live streaming dreams come true.
• If you attend an event through live streaming, you've attended that CPD event! (You just didn't get lunch).  Make sure you include it in your CPD record or on your CV so that you can use it to impress your Principal on your return to work.
• Use social media to record and maximise upon your attendance: blog about your reflections; network through Twitter; follow up on introductions and ideas.

Even better, I have just discovered that ResearchEd is family-friendly, so you have two options for their next event in Washington (!?): get a ticket and put your baby on a plane, or grab a cup of tea and a muslin and access through live streaming!