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Why might ChatGPT damage learning? Post feature image

Why might ChatGPT damage learning?

This is not another moan about the perils of ChatGPT, or teeth-gnashing about the inexorable takeover of AI. It is a quick expression of a genuine concern about the potential losses to learning that could attend useful tools like ChatGPT if it becomes a classroom mainstay. I suspect that ChatGPT,

Prioritising Writing Progress Post feature image

Prioritising Writing Progress

Do our pupils need support for bolster their writing development? In my last blog, I posed the question about whether there was a hidden problem with the damage wrought by the pandemic on pupils who have joined secondary school. The evidence of a dip in national date at both Key

Is there a hidden writing problem in secondary schools? Post feature image

Is there a hidden writing problem in secondary schools?

Are pupils new to secondary school this year prepared for the challenges of academic writing? After a couple of terms of secondary school, it becomes clearer whether pupils are getting to grips with the academic demands. As they write narratives in English, essays in history, notes in science, or annotate

Literacy and Inclusion Post feature image

Literacy and Inclusion

A vital factor for inclusion in schools is pupils’ literacy skill. Put simply, reading, writing, and communication are the cornerstones of school success and prerequisites for inclusion. Consider the inferences and implications of the following: ‘Only 14% of adults in the prison population have GCSE level or equivalent in English

Translating the School Curriculum Post feature image

Translating the School Curriculum

Read this… ‘Liz Truss culpa de su caída política al ‘establishment’ económico del Reino Unido La ex primera ministra conservadora defiende su rebaja de impuestos y asegura que “nunca se le dio una oportunidad real” de impulsarla El modo más fácil en política de admitir errores sin admitir culpa es

Getting Reading Fluency Right Post feature image

Getting Reading Fluency Right

‘Ro-man soc…i-e-ty… The army tried to con…q…u…er new lands for their v…ast Em-p-i…re.’ It is all-too common to hear arduous attempts at reading aloud in classrooms. Particularly with younger pupils, well-meaning enthusiasm, stretching their hands into the sky, is often followed by dysfluent reading.

10 Tips for Using Revision Guides Post feature image

10 Tips for Using Revision Guides

It is the time of year when well-meaning parents pay for a legion of revision guides and they sit atop all the book charts. The sobering truth is that the purchase is both optimistic and likely lacking in the specific supports and guidance required to use it well. Students are