“Curriculum development must rest on teacher development” Lawrence Stenhouse, ‘An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development’ Paying attention to the careful, skilled development of your curriculum is essential business for every school. …
What do we mean by ‘knowledge rich’ anyway?
Recently, I published a blog on the EEF website on a ‘knowledge rich’ curriculum – you can find it here. I have republished it on my website for regular readers. A New Year’s Prediction: 2019 will be The Year of Curriculum. …
When Incoherence and Compliance Trump Curriculum
How do children learn best? It is a complex question isn’t it. It is striking that as teachers we may be knee-deep in our pupils learning for most of the working week …
The Problem with Judging Teacher Performance
We don’t grade lessons anymore, right? That would be foolish, wouldn’t it. Back in 2013, Professor Rob Coe made a challenge to the teaching profession and OFSTED. He proved that judging …
Regrets? I’ve had a few…
The only guarantee you get from the job of teaching is that you will learn and fail. The trick – well, doing a little more learning than failing, whilst trying to learn …
The Feedback ‘Collection’
Since 2012, I have written numerous posts about feedback and marking. This is no surprise given our school system has been seemingly addicted to making ‘progress’ visible, with feedback becoming a quick …
The Teacher Workload ‘Collection’
This last month, the Department for Education, the teaching unions and OFSTED united. Yes, you heard me right. The topic that saw this unique collaboration: teacher workload. The recruitment and retention issue …
OFSTED: Signs of Improvement
The news about education this week has been filled with the reemergence of Grammar Schools and the rightful concern about the stresses and strains of school budgets. Flat cash is proving more …
The OFSTED Marking Myth
Some habits are hard to shift and some myths are difficult to bust. Arguably, over the last five years or so, excessive marking has become the biggest workload burden on teachers. The kernel …
Going Beyond Gifted and Talented
(Image via Geniussis) I can picture the scene. I arrive home from work to be greeted by my young daughter. The end of the summer holidays hasn’t dimmed her enthusiasm; she has been …