What might be a good proxy for learning?
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 been referring to the idea that we confuse learning with various 'poor proxies' since the publication of Improving Education. These are the proxies of which he speaks: It's small wonder, perhaps, that so many get so upset [...]
Collective punishment
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 reprisals will be visited on his or her community. The threat of such retaliation is intended to quell civil disobedience before it even occurs through peer pressure: if I know you are planning something the authorities will [...]
Learning is invisible – my slides from #LEF15
For all those who asked for my slides after my presentation of the London Festival of Education at the IOE, here you go: #LFE15 Learning is invisible from David Didau For all those who weren't there, here's a commentary: The idea that learning may not be visible isn't widely accepted and in order to challenge beliefs without annoying people, I began by the perceptual and cognitive illusions to which we all [...]
Landmark: a million thank yous
I began blogging in July 2011. In January 2012 I signed up with Google Analytics and have clocked up over 2 million pageviews since. The story so far... Then in July 2013 I shifted the site over to Wordpress and on Tuesday broke the million views mark according to their figures too. About to clock over... Since I started writing there's been an awful lot of [...]
Should group work be imposed?
I recently posted some thoughts on what group work is and isn't good for. At no point did I say it was good for nothing (although predictably my opinion was caricatured as 'hating' group work) and I have never claimed that it cannot work. Some of the criticisms I received were as follows: - Group work is better than lecturing. I'm not sure I can even be bothered responding to this [...]
Why (the hell) should students work in groups?
In a recent TES article James Mannion and Neil Mercer make the following claim: In not using group work, students are denied the chance to develop skills that can not only help them perform better in schools, but which are also vital for their future employment prospects – not to mention the realisation of a more fully participatory democracy. First, let me state that I see nothing inherently wrong with pupils [...]
What to do about workload?
Work is not a curse, but drudgery is! Henry Ward Beecher To much fanfare in the press, the DfE has released the findings of its Workload Challenge survey. The idea is straightforward: to prevent teachers from getting "bogged down with unnecessary tasks" so that they can instead devote their time to "prepar[ing] young people for life in modern Britain". Apparently, the survey generated more than 44,000 returns. The chief culprits [...]
Should we support the College of Teaching?
I'd love to be able to provide my unequivocal support for the proposed College of Teaching. Obviously I'm fully in favour of professionalising teaching, but while I'm convinced of the good intentions of those spearheading the campaign, I'm sceptical about the substance of the proposals. Today sees the official launch of The profession’s new College of Teaching: A proposal for start-up by the organisations who have formed the Claim Your College coalition. The [...]
The problem with lesson planning
Time brings all things to pass. Aeschylus Because the curriculum is divided up into units - terms and lessons - our thinking about how to teach is constrained. The school year is sectioned into six more-or-less equal terms and so it's become law that each year be split into six self-contained units. Similarly, the school day is divided into units of delivery - lessons - and for the entirety of my years [...]
Undermining teachers is easy
Your views are out of date, David and don't work, just expecting pupils to behave. Paul Garvey, Education consultant There are two schools in every school: the school of the high-status staff member, with the luxury of time and authority to cushion them from the worst classes; and the school of the supply teacher and NQT, who possess neither. Tom Bennett, Two schools bad, one school good: Ideas for improving school [...]
A defence of the fixed mindset
The growth mindset has been so universally heralded as 'a good thing' that it's in danger of becoming one of those memes we think with rather than about. A number of commentators have been critical of the way mindset theory has been uncritical adopted and unthinkingly applied, but what if growth isn't always good? What if sometime we might be better off to be 'fixed' in our attitudes and beliefs? This is [...]
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