Why ‘grammar schools for all’ won’t work
A better, but overlong, title for this would be "Why grammar schools don't work for all and why 'grammar schools for all' (probably) won't work". At the birth of the comprehensive school movement, prime minster Harold Wilson made his well-known rallying cry, "Grammar schools for all'! Every child, no matter their background, or academic potential could go to a school which would share the values of the selective Grammar schools. [...]
Are you fooling yourself? Education and epidemiology
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. - Richard Feynman Epidemiology is the science of trying to find out what makes people healthier. Epidemiologists look at data to identify causal links between improved health and other factors. It is a correlational science which means that it can never really prove [...]
The promise and danger of neuroscience
With the advent of increasingly inexpensive access to brain imaging technology, neuroscience has entered a fascinating period of rapid advancement. The ability to generate images of what’s going on in our brains is hugely exciting, and the enthusiasm for trying to apply this science to education should come as no surprise. However, neuroscience is probably the ‘wrong level of description’ to provide meaningful insight into classroom practice: observing the actions [...]
What do teachers think differentiation is?
In Why Knowledge Matters, ED Hirsch Jr sets out the case against differentiated instruction, saying, "the attempt to individualize the content of the language arts curriculum has been a quixotic idea that has put teachers under enormous pressure to achieve the impossible." He explains further: When a teacher is attending to the individual needs of one student in a class of twenty, nineteen are not receiving the teacher's attention. all sorts [...]
Is “our knowledge” different from theirs?
We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive. C. S. Lewis Over on the Progressive Teacher blog, my case against 'neo-progressivism' has been critiqued. This is much to be welcomed and, as the anonymous author embraces rather than tries to deny that [...]
A summary of my arguments about education
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, that one small head could carry all he knew. Oliver Goldsmith A tradition without intelligence is not worth having. T. S. Eliot Debating ideas in education - and anywhere else - is essential if we want to improve the lot of children and society. Over the past 6 years of so I've learned huge amounts from taking part in this back [...]
The Great Education Debate
Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate. Hubert H. Humphrey With increasing frequency, someone will pop up on social media to announce to the world that debating the best way to approach the project of education is a waste of time. These are the reasons I'm typically presented with when I demur: 1. It's boringly repetitive and nothing new is ever contributed. 2. It's just [...]
The consequences of freedom Part 2
Last month I wrote about RD Laing and how his conception of freedom has had a lasting and negative impact on education as well as wider society. In this post I want to consider the role of Isiah Berlin in shaping how we have come to think about freedom. Berlin was a Russian born, British educated philosopher and political theorist. At the heart of his thinking was a concern with how [...]
Neo-progressivism
Like most people involved in education, I believe in social justice. I want all children, no matter their backgrounds or starting points, to have the best chance of achieving well. I want young people to be creative. I want them to be skilled at collaborating with others to solve problems. I want them to be able to clearly and critically communicate their thoughts. I want them to take on challenges [...]
Why do we forget stuff? Familiarity vs recall
Now and then, I've taught whet seemed to be a successful lesson. I'd explain challenging content, check for understanding, get some great responses to consolidation activities and, at the end of the lesson, students would troop out happy, confident and certain they'd grasped what ever it was I'd taught only for them to have seemingly forgotten it all by next lesson. Sound familiar? How is it that children can appear [...]
Are ‘closed book’ examinations a bad idea?
Changes to the GCSE English Literature specifications are, apparently, starting to bite. As well as abandoning the modular approach to assessment in which students sat 2 separate modular exams and completed an extended piece of controlled assessment, students are now expected to sit two terminal exams. One change to these exams which has upset lots of English teachers is the move from 'open book' to 'closed book' exams. What this [...]
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