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10 essential discussions to have in any teacher team.
Towards the end of last academic year, I wrote a post outlining what might be in a typical school’s development plan: Here’s your school development plan – no, really, don’t thank me. All of those ideas are still relevant for next year. But what about at a departmental level or a year level in primary? Here … Continue reading
The Chartered College of Teaching. Who counts?
I want to explore two issues in this post. Firstly, who and what is the Chartered College of Teaching for? I am reading a lot of commentary on twitter focusing on its role in giving teachers a voice. This then fuels the second issue – who should be on the Council leading the College? It’s … Continue reading
Get Into Teaching. The best job going.
One of the great joys of my current work as a travelling education consultant and teacher trainer is that I get to meet teachers everywhere; all over the UK; all over the world. Everywhere I go I encounter wonderful teams of people doing incredible work, full of energy, enthusiasm, a sense of mission; bursting with … Continue reading
Ofsted Inspection is Deeply Flawed – says a serving inspector.
As someone who has raised multiple concerns about the validity of inspection processes over several years, I often receive messages from people on the receiving end. This year alone, at least 10 different people have shared their bad experiences; their feelings of injustice, insecurity, demoralisation, disillusionment – after an Ofsted inspection that has taken them … Continue reading
The inspirational story of Cardiff’s Eastern High School.
This week I had the pleasure of hearing a presentation from Armando and Innes, Head and Deputy Head at Eastern High School in Cardiff at a Headteachers’ conference run by the school improvement team GwE in North Wales. The story of how they have turned this school around is truly inspirational. Joining the school (Armando … Continue reading
Why @researchEd1 is so brilliant. And necessary.
One of the most exciting elements of the education scene in the last five years…. no, let me start again….. THE most exciting element of the education scene in the last five years as far as I’m concerned, has been the emergence and expansion of the ResearchEd movement started by Tom Bennett in 2013. Supported … Continue reading
Toxic tough talk is still killing us and needs to stop.
Although I’m an optimistic by nature and see lots of wonderful things happening in our system, this is something that still bothers me…. so I’m going to off-load about it. I remember hosting a Headteachers’ event at my school – when I had one – when a well-informed policy thinktank person laid out some home … Continue reading
Art-Science and other positive tensions that fuel great teaching.
One of the key ideas that I’ve tried to capture in this blog and in my book, The Learning Rainforest, is that great teaching can emerge from the numerous tensions and contradictions that surround us. Not by dismissing them or by seeking to resolve them and not by picking a side – but by recognising … Continue reading
Ofsted Grades here to stay. Now what?
A while ago I wrote a blog exploring the reasons why Ofsted Grading is such a terrible idea: Five reasons to ditch Ofsted grades. Here are the reasons: They are a ludicrous over-simplication Inspection is fundamentally too subjective and unreliable The public interest illusion: schools needing the most help are damaged even more. The hideous hubris … Continue reading
How can we measure and report progress meaningfully?
As we continue to develop our system-wide thinking about assessment, it’s important that teachers and leaders understand the underlying concepts we’re dealing with. In order to motivate and challenge all students, it makes good sense to try to distinguish between attainment and progress. This allows us to give value to students making strides with their … Continue reading
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