Strange day

Today we had the PSR dress rehearsal. After the briefing yesterday I was feeling fine about it but when it started, the questions were actually really intimidating and a lot of them I would not have been at all confident answering. I had nothing to say.

So I finally answered a question about how research was influencing practice - and talked about work we were doing with industry and bringing back into the classroom. There was kind of stony silence and then it became apparent that they had been wanting an example of academic research so I felt a bit of an idiot. Added to this, Deborah had a follow up question about the validity/usefulness of doing something like that. Sally answered it thankfully but it wrecked my confidence a bit. I didn't say anything else after that.

Also in the PSR dress rehearsal D brought up a perceived issue (he claimed it was bound to come up at the PSR as it had been raised by a student rep) complaining that all the Nile sites looked different and were used for different things. P was dismissive but I read it as an attack on the work I have been doing on Nile. D is well known for throwing grenades at this type of occasion but I was surprised that my project was the target.

I was set an objective in my PDR of encouraging a differentiation policy on the Nile sites. I know that I have been successful in doing this. Practically the only member of staff who has shown no interest in adopting any of the changes was D. I think he probably has his nose out of joint as this may have previously been his perceived area of expertise.

I must consider how to proceed. Having thought about it, my current inclination is to be direct and ask his views and try to find out what he has heard. His ego may be restored if I am suitably deferential. I have no interest in battling with him. I actually think he's really good.

Anyway net net, the PSR dress rehearsal was crap for me for those two reasons and now I'm dreading the real thing.