Substantive and disciplinary knowledge have become the words around which curriculum is being organised in some schools. Pro forma’s are filled in enthusiastically, or not so, to justify curriculum choices to line-managers. And whilst these terms seem to work well in some subjects I’m not so sure the distinction works so well in the arts. … More Curriculum, Assessment and the Arts
The Sutton Trust report ‘Life Lessons, Improving essential life skills for young people’ (Oct 2017) makes interesting reading. There is much to discuss within its pages. One of the things that stood out for me is the need to teach written and spoken communication ‘skills’* including debate, argument, speech and the art of conversation. When asked … More If Teachers Want Confident Pupils They Should Teach Them to Communicate Well
Ron Berger’s famous ‘Austin’s Butterfly’ is a great lesson about how redrafting and feedback can help a child create a more accurate ‘scientific’ drawing of a butterfly. In the context of the task picture six is clearly the ‘best’ depiction of the butterfly. If one removes the context and no longer looks for accuracy … More The Problem With Austin’s Butterfly
Here are the slides in PDF format from my talk at the Telegraph Festival of Education at Wellington College on 22nd June 2017: You Can’t Teach The Best That Has Been Thought and Said
Here are the slides in PDF format from my talk at ResearchEd Rugby on July 1st 2017: The Conversational Classroom #rEDRugby
37 years ago today, or thereabouts I received my results for O levels and CSEs. I collected my envelopes and went away on my own, knowing that I wouldn’t have done very well. One of the worst things about failing is being around success, good to escape it. I looked at my results, I’d achieved an … More Results Day Failure
What’s in a number? In the old days it was all As, Bs, Cs, Ds… Now we have the 1 to 9 but it really doesn’t matter what you call it the idea that an A is an A or a 9 is a 9 is sacrosanct. A** or 9 or turn it up to … More Two is Good, Four is Better: On Inter-Subject Comparability.
‘In some ways I don’t feel like a teacher at all anymore. I prepare children for tests. They’ve not enjoyed it, I’ve not enjoyed it, but we’ve done it : and one thing my children know how to do is answer test questions’ Zoë Brown Zoe and her fiancé Tim Paramour have both made a … More Don’t Panic About Tests
Over a hundred years ago, the German poet Heine warned the French not to underestimate the power of ideas: philosophical concepts nurtured in the stillness of a professor’s study could destroy a civilisation. Isaiah Berlin Yesterday I read a post by @teachertoolkit about a measure he employs in his school called ‘book look’. In his … More When Things Go Mad: The Destructive Power of Ideas
“Discrimination: The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex: victims of racial discrimination; Recognition and understanding of the difference between one thing and another: discrimination between right and wrong; The ability to judge what is of high quality; good judgement or taste: those who could afford to buy … More Discrimination, Assessment and the Making of the Classroom Culture
Trivium 21c 