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.
Every so often the issue of marking and feedback emerges and fractious debates kick off. Teachers with marking ingrained as a daily habit, can view it as essential; whereas, many teachers see it as extraneous to their core work and simply not worth the time and effort. So, if marking
There is lots to know about the brilliantly complex act of teaching and learning. Here is my list of 10 things to know in the plainest terms possible: 1. Pupils knowing stuff helps them to learn more stuff (background knowledge). 2. It is effective and efficient to explicitly teach pupils
As curriculum is complex, we routinely seek out a plethora of handy metaphors and analogies to make sense of it. And so, in recent years curriculum has recently been described with a multitude of metaphors, such as a boxset (more Game of Thrones than the Simpsons), a voyage of exploration,
Everyone has an opinion on the teaching of English, its curriculum, along with our national qualifications. Not just teachers: parents, policy makers, and pupils, all have an argument at the ready. Of course, most of us have stumbled through an analysis of Shakespeare, or grumbled over the peculiarities of grammar
Everyone has their own exam revision story of stress or failure. Whether it was an exhausting all-nighter, or the time you prepared for one exam question, but were asked another. Perhaps these experiences are why we are uniquely keen to understand better how to prepare students for exams (both teachers
The school classroom is an amazing place. It is simultaneously filled with dazzling complexity and profound simplicity. It is at once driven by reassuring routines and constant surprises. As all pupils return to classrooms from the vagaries of the third lockdown this coming week, it will time for teachers to
What if tools commonly used in the classroom threaten to inhibit the learning they were developed to support? Too often, a well-meaning teaching tool can get detached from the thinking which made it useful and so its original ingredients for learning are long lost. Commonly, after a couple of years,
Ch-ch-changes. After the trials and tribulations of the summer of 2020, renewed calls are being made to transform education and change how assessment is enacted in schools. For experienced teachers, it is a familiar refrain. In the Guardian, Melissa Benn has asked teachers and policy makers to “recognise the unique
‘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
“From the teachers’ perspective, the education system is “noisy”: Teachers are surrounded by multiple and conflicting messages about what is most important to do. Furthermore, if they focus too much on any one of these important ideals, they may compromise their effectiveness with another.” Mary Kennedy, ‘How does professional development
“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. Though it has always been in view for teachers and school leaders, there is no doubt the focus
In a couple of weeks, year 6 pupils will be sitting down to SATs examinations and in secondary schools, A Level and GCSE exams will start in earnest. Teachers everywhere are concentrating upon supporting our pupils to do their very best in challenging circumstances. Every teacher knows that the seeds