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Your views are out of date, David and don't work, just expecting pupils to behave.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 [...]
Does ADHD exist?
One of the few things I remember agreeing with when I heard Ken Robinson talking about changing educational paradigms was his observation that diagnoses of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) fall as you travel across America from West to East. Not the map Ken refers to, but something very similar. He calls this modern epidemic the "plague of ADHD" and claims it is "fictitious". He clarifies this by saying, Don't [...]
A research journal for teachers by teachers
What difference does education research make to teachers? Precious little. Thousands of papers are published every year and very little changes in classrooms. Recent attempts by the Education Endowment Foundation to synthesise and simply research so it can be easily consumed by busy teachers is laudable, but leads to problems. When someone else has does the thinking it relieves of the need to think for ourselves and all too often [...]
The Unit of Education
If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it. Lord Kelvin A lot of education research is an attempt to measure the effects of teaching (or teachers) on learning (or pupils.) But is this actually possible? Let’s first think about measurement in a very practical sense. Schools limit admission based on a sometimes very strict catchment area – if you want to make sure that your children attend a particular [...]
What’s it like being a new teacher?
I've been very fortunate to spend time with a variety of new teachers over the past few years. Whether they're on PGCE placements, NQTs, RQTs or Teach First participants they are all, without exception, impressive, hardworking, compassionate, dedicated and brimming with enthusiasm about the difference they hope to make. There is however one consistently ugly blot on this bright landscape. It's not the workload - they're up for that. They're [...]
Do we really have a growth mindset?
The ladder of life is full of splinters, but they always prick the hardest when we’re sliding down. Samuel Clemens I spoke at a Growth Mindset conference with Olympian and sports journalist Matthew Syed today. Needless to say, he got star billing. I took the view that whilst we may all profess to value a growth mindset in pupils we have a very fixed mindset to teaching and education. Syed [...]
Are children better than adults?
There is no sinner like a young saint. Aphra Behn I just read this post on why Teaching is Wonderful and while teaching is wonderful (if astonishingly gruelling) I take issue with the argument presented that children are better than adults. Now obviously children are ace. (I have two of my own and they are - usually - delightful.) The only thing I really miss about not being a classroom teacher are the often hilarious [...]
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