Archive

Can observation pro formas be used well?

Feb 09, 2020 | Category: leadership

Should observers waltz into lessons armed with a clipboard full of hoops they hope to see teachers jump through? No, probably not. Some years ago I wrote about my preference for how lessons should be...

This is what I do

Jan 31, 2020 | Category: Featured

For the past seven years I've been working as a freelance training provider and consultant. Most of the work I get comes either from word-of-mouth recommendations, or because someone has seen me speak...

Are things so good that normal seems bad?

Jan 24, 2020 | Category: Featured

Former Irish president Mary Robinson has been doing the rounds warning the world it needs to wake up as the hands of the Doomsday Clock are moved to 100 seconds to midnight. Apparently things are so b...

#David Levari #Doomsday Clock #Hans Rosling #trauma informed

Why can't we agree about internal isolation?

Jan 19, 2020 | Category: behaviour

The debate about whether schools should be allowed to internally exclude children from lessons is a hot topic at the moment, with all sorts of people weighing in at both ends of the spectrum of opinio...

Does the new inspection framework trade off reliability against validity?

Jan 15, 2020 | Category: leadership

Yesterday I saw a thread on Twitter from headteacher Stuart Lock on the pros and cons of the new inspection framework:https://twitter.com/StuartLock/status/1216475275514523648?s=20In it he discusses t...

#Ofsted #reliability #validity #Amy Finch #Stuart Lock

Are Ofsted punishing disadvantaged children by penalising three-year GCSE courses?

Jan 14, 2020 | Category: curriculum

Is a broad and balanced curriculum "middle class"?According to an article published in The Times, Sir Daniel Moynihan, CEO of the Harris Federation, has described Ofsted's new inspection framework as...

#Ofsted #Sean Harford #Sir Daniel Moynihan

My most viewed posts of 2019

Dec 31, 2019 | Category: Featured

For those of you who are interested, here are the top 10 most viewed posts on my blog during 2019 Closing the language gap: Building vocabulary (16th November 2014) It's a bit of a puzzler why a po...

What do teachers need to know about Cognitive Load Theory?

Dec 17, 2019 | Category: psychology

I've come to the conclusion Sweller's Cognitive Load Theory is the single most important thing for teachers to know https://t.co/MkJJLruR8g — Dylan Wiliam (@dylanwiliam) January 26, 2017 What do teac...

#cognitive load theory #Working Memory Model

Where we're getting curriculum wrong Part 2: Powerful knowledge

Dec 12, 2019 | Category: curriculum

In part 1 of this blog series I discussed the importance of cultural capital, where we might be getting it wrong, what it consists of, and how to resolve the problem of 'dead white men'. Where we're...

#curriculum #Michael Young #powerful knowledge

Where we're getting curriculum wrong Part 1: Cultural capital

Dec 11, 2019 | Category: curriculum

Where we're getting 'cultural capital' wrong The concept of 'cultural capital' is increasingly on the agenda in the schools I visit. No doubt this is in large part down to Ofsted. The latest inspectio...

#cultural capital #ED Hirsch Jr #cultural literacy