Archive

Is education a zero-sum game?

Apr 18, 2015 | Category: Featured

Opportunity makes a thief.Francis Bacon A zero-sum game is one in which there is a winner and a loser; if you haven't won, you've lost. The term derives from game theory and economics and describes...

#differentiation #Roger Scruton #zero-sum game

The best case fallacy or, why we balls things up

Apr 16, 2015 | Category: leadership

OPTIMIST, n. A proponent of the doctrine that black is white. A pessimist applied to God for relief. "Ah, you wish me to restore your hope and cheerfulness," said God. "No," replied the petitioner,...

#Robert Conquest #Roger Scruton

Curiosity: the knowledge gap

Apr 13, 2015 | Category: Featured

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect. Samuel Johnson We're all, to some extent, naturally curious - we long to unpick out that which is my...

Does engagement actually matter?

Mar 31, 2015 | Category: learning

Suggesting that student engagement might actually be a bad thing tend to get certain people's dander up. There was a mild spat recently about Rob Coe reiterating that engagement was a 'poor proxy' for...

#motivation #interleaving #engagement #Tom Loveless

Back to school

Mar 28, 2015 | Category: Featured

In December 2013 I left the classroom for a life of swashbuckling and adventure. There were as many push factors as there were pull and I was very nervous about whether I'd be able to make a living -...

#Swindon Academy

NEW BOOK: Foreword by Robert A Bjork

Mar 25, 2015 | Category: Featured

As some readers will no doubt be aware, I've written a new book. I've been fascinated by Robert Bjork's research into learning and memory ever since first encountering it back in February 2013, so of...

#Robert Bjork

Using Threshold Concepts to design a KS4 English curriculum

Mar 24, 2015 | Category: English

The big change a-coming for curriculum design is that the final vestiges of modularity will soon have been licked clean from the assessment spoon; from September it will linearity all the way. Many En...

#gcse english #Threshold concepts #Poetry by Heart

How could we improve accountability?

Mar 23, 2015 | Category: Featured

If accountability is the solution, what's the problem?It's become axiomatic that you can't remove accountability from education and that teachers must always be held to account. Why? Because they're f...

#accountability #performance management

What might be a good proxy for learning?

Mar 22, 2015 | Category: Featured

Professor Rob Coe's speech, From Evidence to Great Teaching, at the ASCL conference last Friday seemed to generate quite a bit of energy on Twitter, as did Carl Hendrick's post on engagement. Coe has...

#performance #Robert Coe #poor proxies

Collective punishment

Mar 02, 2015 | Category: behaviour

Collective punishment is the punishment of a group for the actions of an individual. The logic is that if one terrorist (or freedom fighter) launches some kind of attack on an oppressor, then reprisal...

#collective punishment. #Geneva Convention