Picture this: a lesson with a bottom set year 8 class. I’m teaching Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and we’re…
Limiting the English Curriculum in the name of ‘Rigour’
At the end of this school year English students will sit the new GCSEs in Language and Literature. The revised…
I Will Work Harder: Knackered Teachers
Workload is pushing teachers out of UK schools. In a 2014 NUT survey 97% of teachers said that excessive workload…
We are Jeopardising the Mental Health of Future Generations (Part 2)
The first part of this post addressed the growing crisis in the mental health of young people in the UK. This post…
We are Jeopardising the Mental Health of Future Generations (Part 1)
Today is World Mental Health Day. As a teacher I am aware of some of the challenges that many young people…
Educational Inequality: What Should We Be Talking About?
Grammar schools have dominated the education debate over the past few days. The argument goes that they improve social mobility…
Why Isn’t the Grammar School Debate Dead?
The fact that grammar schools do not help students from poorer backgrounds has always been as clear to me as…
Weaponised Evidence: Using Research in Education
Hands up if you’ve ever quoted research that you haven’t read. Keep them up if you’ve used the phrase ‘the research…
The State of Education in Tanzania: Uwezo Report
Today I attended the launch of the fifth Uwezo Annual Learning Report in Dar es Salaam. Uwezo is an initiative supported by the…
Marking: What’s the point?
I hate marking. It’s time-consuming, repetitive and no sooner than you attain the grim satisfaction of completing a set of books, another pile…
Half Educated 