Category Archives: Education
Golden needles in a haystack: Assessment CPD trove #4
School leaders and teachers are strapped for time. What is the best free, fast, flexible CPD out there on assessment? What can we read that has the highest impact in the least time? There are no silver bullets, but here … Continue reading
Implementation as learning: 24 questions to ask
Implementation is everything. Or is it? True, strategy without implementation doesn’t get done. But implementation without good strategy gets the wrong things done. No one could blame the soldiers on the Somme for not implementing their mission. They charged the … Continue reading
The wicked problem of learning
Sometimes we are so deep in an orthodoxy we cannot see it. In their new book, Becky Allen, Matthew Evans and Ben White give us ways to question how we see and think about our schools. They combine a visit … Continue reading
What was asked at ResearchEd Surrey?
ResearchEd is one of the most exciting developments in teaching in the last ten years. Teachers and school leaders are now asking questions that cut to the core of how we can improve education. The sharing, passion, generosity and collegiality … Continue reading
Taking feedback well
As school leaders, we need feedback from staff on how things are going; we can’t be present in that many hotspots, CPD sessions, lessons or conversations. But it’s hard for staff to be fully honest when their jobs, livelihoods and … Continue reading
Honest upward feedback
Staff don’t often tell school leaders what they truly think about what matters most.. Why does seeking honest upward feedback from staff matter? Being ignored is demotivating. We want staff to be able to share their struggles and mistakes without … Continue reading
Knowledge-led strategy
How can we think better about school improvement? Schools are prone to overstretch. We need a way forward that doesn’t overload us as school leaders. But we should also beware of oversimplifying and boxing ourselves in to templates. The history … Continue reading
Strategy: a 2,500 year-old history
In 10 years in schools, I’ve always been prone to frazzling overstretch. I think we as school leaders often are: it’s tough to know what and how to prioritise. I reckon the history of strategy can help us out. I’ll … Continue reading
Teachers lead the scientific revolution in education: 44+ seminal articles
‘The scientific approach to identifying best practices is the best long-term bet.’ Prof Rob Coe The scientific revolution dramatically improved medicine. Doctors applied scientific research evidence to vastly improve healthcare over time. Infant, maternal and preventable mortality fell worldwide; longevity … Continue reading
Articles
I focus on how to improve the culture, curriculum and teaching in schools. What do we most need to know to teach and lead well? Cognitive science crash course Staff culture crash course Student culture crash course Curriculum crash course … Continue reading