Sir Michael Wilshaw is concerned about the teacher ‘brain drain’ as teachers are attracted to work abroad in leading private schools that have set up overseas franchises. He is concerned about the staffing crisis in schools and he suggests that policy makers should look into providing ‘golden handcuffs‘ to ensure staff stay in the state sector for … More Sir Michael Wilshaw and his Moans
In the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels describe Capitalism as being a state in which “All that is solid melts into air…” Where new products replace old and new ideas ride on these products backs, a system in which all is replaceable man by machine and machine by man… Fredric Jameson refers to the post-modern … More The Rise of the Stupid Teacher and Blogger
Does your school have a quasi ‘delivery unit’? If you’re not sure what this looks like or might be, a D.U. can be known by its actions. Do you have members of staff setting targets for other members of staff and also pupils to deliver? The delivery unit believes in continual improvement for the school: … More Teachers, ‘Cheating’ and ‘Selling’ Achievement
Originally posted on teacherhead:
600 years of history. Where to start? With the big picture perhaps. Increasingly, I find myself drawn to the issue of chronology; the importance of understanding the scale and sequence of historical eras and the framework for locating every event and every historical figure relative to every other. This is the…
Originally posted on Summer Turner:
I love curriculum. Talking about it, playing with it, designing it, implementing it, enacting it, assessing it. (So much so that I often find myself singing ‘Curricula, Curricular’ to the tune of ‘Spectacular, Spectacular‘.) I spend a good part of my working life looking at, and a large chunk of…
Originally posted on teacherhead:
Click to Download Yesterday we published this document, sending it out to parents. Since working with Martin Robinson on our Trivium-fueled curriculum, Rhetoric has been high on the agenda. We appointed a Director of Spoken Literacy – Andrew Fitch, our 2 i/c in English – and he has produced some superb…
Dichotomy: A division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different OED I keep seeing references from people, too numerous to mention, that traditional and progressive can happily co-exist as, in reality, it is a false dichotomy. There is a problem in this argument and that is tradition … More Tradition vs Progress: a True Dichotomy
The morning briefings seemed to be getting longer and longer, the Nescafé was colder than usual when it crept to a halt, Mr Bolt was not the only one running out of steam. There were three other old lags who had been there ‘in the old days’, their steamier days were also long since past. … More The Data Never Lies
The Ebacc is not a qualification, it is merely a performance measure for schools, therefore it matters not a jot whether a pupil gets it or not, it only matters to the school. The school has a choice, to ride roughshod over some pupils wishes so that it might look good on a measure or … More Is it Time to Ditch the Arts at GCSE for Some Pupils?
Trivium 21c 