Introduction

My task is to explain briefly what GRASP is about and to set the scene for my colleagues from the five Comino Centres. GRASP is an acronym for "Getting Results and Solving Problems". Dimitri Comino initiated it many years ago and we revived its use as a descriptive shorthand for the approach. As the title infers, its emphasis is on getting results, that is to say making those things happen that we wish to make happen. It concentrates on outcomes - what we want to achieve rather than what we want to do. It is a process of achieving. It springs from a belief that each of us has the potential to achieve far more than we do, and that through education and training young people can develop their ability and motivation to learn, to succeed and to make things happen for themselves and others.

We encourage young people to want to succeed and as a result to develop their self esteem. We aim to show them how to succeed and to set themselves ever higher standards and objectives. Each of us makes mistakes and we do not always achieve what we set out to achieve but that does not make us failures. We find it helpful to ask ourselves the following five questions before we start to do anything:

  • What is it that I (or we) really want to achieve? Purpose
  • How will we know when we have achieved it> Criteria
  • What possible ways can we use to get the result? Alternatives
  • Which one best satisfies the criteria? Selection
  • How will we know if we are keeping the process on track and what action to take if we are not? Monitor and control

Then we act, reviewing continually our purpose criteria and progress, finally reviewing the result. Review

It is easier to envisage answers to these questions when the objective is tangible, and that is why some find it simpler to see GRASP being useful in industry or the military than in education. Nevertheless the Foundation decided to concentrate on education because we believe that if we can encourage young people to think in this way, they will develop a habit that will remain with them for life.

We can also express the elements as a series of operations:

  • Identify the purpose or objective (what you want to make happen) focusing clearly on the intended result.
  • Decide the criteria for the successful achievement of that result.
  • Generate different ways of achieving it and select the one that best satisfies the criteria.
  • Put the chosen plan into action and monitor and control the process.
  • Review continually the purpose, criteria and progress.
  • Review the results.

Although this outline of the process is shown in steps, it is not intended to suggest a method or a recipe, like baking a cake. The operations don't necessarily start as shown. Often the process starts with a review of the situation because we are not satisfied with it and wish to change it.

The approach may look simple but it does not come naturally to everyone. Often because of the pressure of time, we react to a situation and meet it by doing something. We don't always reflect on the outcomes of the actions we take and sometimes we are not even aware of them. Also, we live in an adversarial society. Our institutions encourage it, for example parliament with government against opposition, and the judiciary with plaintiff and defendant. The media thrives on controversy especially in education, it rarely praises success and prefers to knock people down rather than lift them up. This environment does not stimulate young people to adopt a positive objective or optimistic attitude to life. GRASP acts as an effective counterbalance.

What outcomes do we seek?

In schools, GRASP encourages young people to be clear about what they want to achieve, and how to set about achieving it. They are encouraged to repeatedly ask themselves and others "why?". They become more aware of the importance of making things happen, rather than simply analysing, debating or discussing habitual use of the procedure. This has an even greater impact. Pupils learn to work as members of a team where that is important and to lead when necessary. When they have been successful in one thing they find it easier to be successful in others. They gain self confidence. They develop a positive outlook on life. They learn that everyone is valued because each person can be successful at something and see opportunities where others see problems. They learn to start with the outcome not the difficulties. They also realise that rarely do we achieve one outcome without causing others which may or may not be desirable, hence the importance of setting criteria. They discover that the moment they achieve a particular objective it ceases to become an objective and becomes a means to further progress. They are thus motivated by the idea of continuous improvement, that whatever they do they can do it better. They also know that when they have applied GRASP diligently they have done their best whatever the outcome and that is a wonderful feeling.

One important lesson they learn is that if you wish to make something happen, rather than complain about the difficulties and say "some one should do something", one can apply GRASP to it and have a go. How often do we hear people grumble about a situation and say that "they" should do something about it by which they mean someone else, usually government, and demand that "they" should put more money into it. At a recent education conference, at which the subject under discussion was contracts or agreements between schools and families, we had some helpful inputs but also a particularly negative contribution by a national figure in education who raised every difficulty, real or imagined, and announced that before we even begin to think of making progress the government would need to put in more money. In sharp contrast this was followed by two teachers, a primary school head and a comprehensive deputy head who explained how they developed agreements and how fruitful the process had been. Neither had called on outside help. I happen to know the primary school. It is a good school. 70% of its pupils are from ethnic minority groups and 60% of parents, many unused to our education system, have Punjabi as their first language. The area is not prosperous with many families having little space cash to help school activities. Following the analysis of the previous speaker the school could not possibly produce and agreement. Yet the head staff proved her wrong. They had developed a series of agreements. The head did not start with the problem, she started with the objective of developing a successful school. She saw the process of generating agreements as a means towards that objective and got on with it. She is the head of a GRASP school and so the process came naturally. There are a number of others here who could tell similar success stories. How refreshing it is to hear from them.

How do we communicate GRASP?

Let me say straight away that it is not easy. The best way is by personal example and that is why Dimitri Comino was so successful in Dexion, because he was there. We operate through seminars, lectures and discussion, but mainly through our network of Comino Centres and in-service training. We found initial difficulties with some teachers who felt that it lacked intellectual rigour. Many had difficulty with he concept of "criteria" and with the use of the word "control". They were happy with "monitor" but not control. The latter has connotations of controlling a person rather than a process. Monitoring however without control does not get a result. Moreover, whilst case studies are often helpful in industry we found these to be far less helpful in education. We have learned to accept that GRASP does not come naturally to everyone and that individuals need to discover its value for themselves. People are not persuaded by logic alone to change attitudes or ways of doing things. They gain a better understanding of the process and internalise it easier if we can help them to apply it to a personal situation which they have selected for themselves. Usually they present this situation as a "problem" and the first thing we do is to turn it into a statement of what they wish to attain.

It is very satisfying to see young people in GRASP schools grow in stature and maturity perhaps especially who are often described as less able - a phrase incidentally we never use! The process however can be challenging and disconcerting to those teachers who share the objective of a lesson with their pupils and are prepared to be asked "why?". There is the example of the young girl who, on moving from a GRASP primary school to a middle school asked her teacher half way through the lesson: "Please Miss, what is the purpose of this lesson?".

Although our work directed towards young people continues to expand, teachers themselves have found that they can apply the process more widely. They have adapted it to help them cope more readily with major changes they face, including a variety of issues involved in school management, teacher training, including mentoring, OFSTED, school development plans, the National Curriculum, GNVQs and links with industry.

Conclusion

Looking ahead, we would like those in other walks of life to take GRASP on board, for example in public service, the health service and other institutions, and I wish we had the resources to help them to do so. The Foundation does not claim to have discovered some new panacea. Throughout the ages there have been men and women who have used elements of the process with striking success. What we seek to do is to codify and display it in simple straightforward terms. Getting things right all the time may not be possible, getting them better is what GRASP is about.