People have gone relatively quiet about the ‘c’ word… curriculum. Whilst schools grapple with the challenges of having all pupils safely attend school, then everything has to be considered anew. The careful sequencing of curriculum still matters a great deal, but as schools are recommended to consider lopping great bits off, then new plans and …
When I was growing up I sought out books that mirrored my world. I can name the narratives that walked me through my tortured teens, or those books that helped me attempt proper adulting. From each reading, familiar character became both a reflection and a fragment of myself. When I became a teacher, few books …
‘It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it ‘t ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it ‘t ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it And that’s what gets results’ Ella Fitzgerald The COVID-19 pandemic lockdown has ushered in an independent learning experiment bigger than any in …
The reality of the Covid pandemic has seen millions of pupils thrust into a position remote home learning. A stark truth is that pupils learn most when they are in the classroom. Remote learning, homework and similar, is simply hard work – for both pupils and teachers. Very quickly, and resourcefully, schools have responded to …
When you explore the history and roots of a word – the etymology – you draw upon a rich story that can unlock understanding for our pupils in science, maths, geography, and more. It can add a layer of understanding that helps our novice pupils hook into a tricky academic term that may have remained …
“In education, the only way to improve is to stop people doing good things, to give them time to do even better things.” Dylan Wiliam It appears like a trite piece of advice – ‘stop doing stuff’ – but in practice it is really hard to do in any walk of life. In schools, it …
On the 22nd of May, I had the great pleasure to join the researchEd Home gang to talk ‘Closing the Reading Gap (in the time of Coronavirus)’. A couple of years ago, when I began researching this issue more specifically, I never could have expected that a pandemic would play a significant factor in the …
