Immerse yourself in the art and science of teaching and learning with a comprehensive range of blogs. Explore dynamic topics such as effective feedback strategies, impactful explanations, the art of questioning, and more. Gain valuable insights into pedagogical techniques informed by research evidence, along with an array of practical tips. These blogs are useful for teachers, leaders and everyone interested in education.
Adaptive teaching can prove tricky to pin down. Most teachers welcome it. The phrase is now familiar in staff rooms and inspection reports alike, but I’m repeatedly experiencing a different understanding from school to school, and in some cases, from teacher to teacher. A shared and sound understanding of
Engagement matters to learning. Without it, students are unlikely to focus and invest in their learning. If teenage students in England are increasingly disengaged, we should want to know the causes and what can be done about it. In a recent large scale survey entitled, 'Mind the Engagement Gap:
There is a lot of warnings and worries when it comes to using AI in education. Teachers understandably worry that if ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar AI chatbots, do all the hard work and thinking, then students will opt out and learn less. The idea of 'cognitive offloading' each
There appears to be a problem with a lack of belonging from children in education. It makes sense then for schools and settings to prioritise belonging in their work. Belonging may be a valuable and important concept, and something schools want to improve, but it also hard to pin down.
Every teacher can recite awkward experiences from their teacher professional development past. Pleasing all the teachers all the time, with various approaches, is simply hard work! Years later, I can still remember my left/right brain training (twice - by the same trainer!), as well as undertaking coaching approaches, and a
Metacognition is a well known term but perhaps less well understood for some busy teachers. Education Endowment Foundation guidance on the topic of 'Metacognition and Self-regulation' has always proven popular and now it is new and updated so it is well worth returning to explore. It is
Approaches to feedback, such as written marking or 'whole class feedback', are popular classroom strategies that are undertaken daily with students of all ages and stages. But do they truly land with students in the ways we intend? Or is it like a message in a bottle, cast
"They can because they think they can." ('Possunt quia posse videntur') Virgil's 'Aeneid' High expectations can be a mysterious thing. Something ineffable. You can understand them when you experience it. You may be able to tell a tale about when someone had
"Scaffolds are not intended to be permanent. If everyone has a scaffold all of the time, it's not a scaffold, it's just your lesson plan." 'The Scaffolding Effect', by Rachel Ball and Alex Fairlamb Teachers understand that scaffolds can be vital supports
High quality teaching - each day and each hour - is likely to prove the greatest lever for securing success in education. Not only that, but it is likely to be disproportionately beneficial to pupils who struggle and have additional learning needs. So far, so obvious. In the new OFSTED Toolkit, its
"A precocious child," Miss Honey said, "is one that shows amazing intelligence early on. You are an unbelievably precocious child.” "Am I really?" Matilda asked. Adaptive teaching is usually discussed as a responsive approach to teaching students who routinely struggle. It describes how teachers can
Barak Rosenshine is most famous for his principles of instruction, but what did he have to say about building knowledge? In his writing on ‘Advances in research on instruction’, he put forward the important – and familiar notion – of ‘knowledge structures’. Put simply, this is how information is organised and stored