Is it fear? Is it a case of ‘we’ll do what we’ve always done and it’ll be fine‘? Perhaps some school leaders aren’t fans of change, or even worse, they are completely oblivious to the negative impact that their approach is potentially having on teachers within their school. I want this blog to be read … Continue reading
Professional development, professional learning, continuous professional development, personalised professional development and so on… I’m pretty sure we’ve all heard, experienced and read about many other successful and unsuccessful reincarnations of what is basically a mechanism to meet the diverse development needs of all teachers, which underpin improved progress for all students. The question I often … Continue reading
Research has suggested that nonverbal teacher behaviors such as smiling, how we express ourselves vocally, our movement around the learning environment and the actual position of our body are extremely important, low‐inference variables of a process which leads to increased cognitive and emotive learning. There has been extensive research, hundreds of blogs written and endless … Continue reading
I Believe it’s time to reclaim marking and make it our own again. It’s time to establish the hard facts, analyse what the research tells us and debunk the myths. Ask any teacher across various educational contexts what is top 3 in terms of their workload burden and I predict this will always include … Continue reading
Recently I reached out via twitter and asked the following question in the form of a poll: How effective is appraisal/PM in developing your practice in your school? Are the targets set: a) A prerequisite – imposed b) Mutually agreed c) Combination of both The purpose of this question was to try to establish a broader picture … Continue reading
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about leading teaching and learning on a holistic level, and a great deal has changed since my initial post Reshaping Teaching and Learning some 18 months ago. Developing an effective teaching and learning model is comparable to that of honing a finely tuned race car (I’m a Formula 1 … Continue reading
I’ve been wanting to write this blog for quite some time, and I realise it could be controversial, but I feel now is the time to do it. Last week I presented at the BETT show in London where I discussed and shared innovative approaches to teaching and learning. The following day I had the … Continue reading
Teaching assistants are in my opinion, without a doubt, the unsung heroes of the teaching profession. It really annoys me if I hear teaching assistants referred to simply as ‘support staff’, they are much, much more than this. Although some may not have a degree nor QTS, they are still highly effective and thoroughly trained (making … Continue reading
It’s that time of the academic year where the hype of Christmas has been and gone, a new year is upon us and we’re all starting to feel refreshed and raring to get back in the classroom! But what mustn’t we lose sight of in order to evolve and deliver quality first teaching and learning in … Continue reading
We are all absent from our classes from time to time, some of these instances are planned and some unfortunately, are out of our control. Either way this will inevitably have an impact on our students and ultimately the progress they make over the duration of an academic year and beyond. But have you ever stopped … Continue reading