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What does it mean to be ‘evidence-informed’ in teaching?
With the publication of the Education Endowment Foundation report on Cognitive Science Approaches in the Classroom, there’s been a flurry of discussion about what it says and what the implications are for teachers. This is great to see – (once you filter the inevitable over-simplifications and weird misplaced triumphalism. You see – I told you). … Continue reading
Poor Proxies for Learning. Powerful insights from Prof Coe:
One of the very best pieces of work in communicating education research is the What Makes Great Teaching report from 2014. Around this time Professor Rob Coe (@ProfCoe), one of the report’s central authors, was doing fabulous work sharing the key ideas from the report in various presentations. Here is one example: As I shared … Continue reading
What is the purpose of assessment in education?
This post is one taken from a webinar I took part in with Century Learning as featured here. I’ve pasted the text below. If there were no public exams and no accountability system, teachers would still assess students and they would still want to assess themselves. Why? Because assessment isn’t really for other people, it’s … Continue reading
Curriculum Masterclasses – Inspirational thinkers; common themes.
Over the last year, the Curriculum Masterclasses concept that I developed with Mary Myatt and John Tomsett has expanded and I have to say – it’s been something of a triumph. We’re thrilled with the response we’ve had from speakers and the size of the online audiences that have gathered for each event. The appetite … Continue reading
Curriculum Notes #3: The Case for A Broad Orientation (Feat. Stormzy* vs Mozart)
Every so often the Stormzy* vs Mozart debate returns via one media outlet or another. Here is one example: Instead?! It’s ludicrous isn’t it. Funny really. You’d imagine your average teenager was crying out in despair – please, I beg you, for God’s sake, enough with the Mozart, can’t we, just for once, listen to … Continue reading
Applying the CogSci – examples from across the curriculum. #EdFest
As I engage with more teachers and hear more presentations from people exploring ideas from cognitive science, I find more and more coherence emerging around the central ideas about learning and memory; I also find wider resonance across curriculum areas as people explore the all-important question: how does this apply to my context? This was … Continue reading
The genius of DT Willingham and WDSLS.
This week I received a delivery of Dan Willingham’s Why Don’t Students Like School 2nd Edition from the bookshop and I’ve been reading through it, taking it in, refreshing my connection with the key ideas. It’s not a ‘Book 2’ but very much an updated version of the orginal. There’s an additional chapter on technology … Continue reading
CPD Models. 8 different ways teachers can engage in professional learning
As my work with various schools and colleges progresses, I’m increasingly aware of a wide range of approaches to professional development across the system. In certain contexts, each of these delivers positive outcomes and I feel it’s important not to be to absolute or purist about CPD structures given that so many models can deliver. … Continue reading
10 Years on Twitter…
Evidently I first joined twitter exactly 10 years ago. Gosh – where has all that time gone! 80.4K tweets and 115k followers later, it continues to play a fairly major role in how I engage with the world and I owe it a great deal. In truth, June 2011 was a just a brief flirtation; … Continue reading
My favourite CPD question for weaving teaching concepts and strategies together.
During a CPD session I often involve participants in a simulated classroom situation in order to model and explore a range technique and learning issues. My favourite question is this, posed in this slide: In theory I could ask any question but I love this one because I’ve found it works so well in demonstrating … Continue reading
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