What works is a lot better than what doesn't
Teachers often talk about the vital nature of their work and the fact that for the young people we teach there are no second chances. I've heard teaching compared to air traffic control and the risks in the classroom compared to the risk involved in miscalculating the landing of a plane. These kinds of comparison are made to alert us to the importance of what we do, but clearly they're [...]
Some nice things people have said about my new book
After months of frustrating delay (don't ask!), The Secret of Literacy has finally been printed! It will, I'm assured, be available for 15th May. I hope it's worth the wait. To whet your appetite, here are some of the charming things said by some of the people I admire most in education: David Didau’s book is everything a book about the work of teaching should be: clear-eyed, lively, wise, and [...]
On compromise
The right of thinking freely and acting independently, of using our minds without excessive awe of authority, and shaping our lives without unquestioning obedience to custom, is now a finally accepted principle in some sense or other with every school of thought that has the smallest chance of commanding the future. Under what circumstances does the exercise and vindication of the right, thus conceded in theory, become a positive duty [...]
The AfL debate: does it matter who's right?
If you're not already aware of my critique and Dylan Wiliam's defence of formative assessment I do recommending getting up to speed before reading this post. Dylan's defence rests on the idea that although we can never be sure what's going on in a child's mind, "teaching will be better if the teacher bases their decisions about what to do next on a reasonably accurate model of the students’ thinking." He makes a [...]
Progressively Worse: a summary and a review
I’ve just finished reading Robert Peal’s blistering polemical attack on progressive education in England, Progressively Worse, the burden of bad ideas in British schools, and, while it clearly has an agenda and an axe to grind, it’s a book I hope everyone involved in teaching spares the time to read and absorb. Doubtless, it’s intrinsically biased nature will ensure that many readers will find it easy to dismiss as ‘prog [...]
Do we value pupils' writing?
Why do we ask pupils to write? There may be very many answers to that question but in my experience of working with teachers and observing lessons, overwhelmingly, teachers ask pupils to write in order to check that lesson content has been understood. This is of course a worthy aim, but do we value the actual writing? Leadership guru, John C. Maxwell said, "To add value to others, one must first value others." [...]
Dylan Wiliam's defence of formative assessment
Back in March I wrote a post called Why AfL might be wrong, and what to do about it based, largely, on Dylan Wiliam's book Embedded Formative Assessment (If you haven't already read it, I encourage you to do so as many of the common misconceptions about AfL are specifically addressed). I'm pleased to report that Dylan has taken time out of his hectic schedule to comment on the post and [...]
A simple theory about writing
The first thing to say is this is not in any way supposed to be a complete or unified theory - I'm well aware that there are many other important strands to improving pupils' writing and have written about many of them before. But I do think this theory (which has been bubbling away on my mental back burner for a while now) describes just one of the processes that [...]
The dark art of creativity
I was recently reminded of the 'schools are killing creativity' trope that was so prevalent a few years ago. Tempting as it may be to nod along with Ken Robinson and his cronies, it's worth contemplating the creative power of constraints. Without clear knowledge of forms and ‘rules’, creativity is inevitably stifled. Ideas become a kitchen-sink soup with everything chucked into the pot with little regard for structure or purpose. Children’s imaginations [...]
Getting feedback right
For the sake of convenience I've collated and condensed my recent series of posts on getting feedback right, and they are now available as a single download. It's not intended to be a complete or exhaustive exploration of everything to do with feedback or as a necessarily right; instead I hope it provokes discussion and that it's useful for classroom teachers in considering why and how they might go about providing [...]
Does it do what it's supposed to? Assessing the assessment
In response to a request for constructive criticism of the English assessment model I helped design, Michael Tidd got in touch to query whether it met his 7 questions you should ask about any new ‘post-levels’ assessment scheme. For the record, these questions are: Can it be shared with students? Is it manageable and useful for teachers? Will it identify where students are falling behind soon enough? Will it help shape curriculum [...]
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