Effective Papers For learning

Having written a couple of posts focused on the language of leadership, I thought I'd go for the trilogy with a post on perhaps the most contentious phrase currently knocking around in education - the dreaded 'Requires Improvement'. In some ways, I can see what OFSTED were trying to achieve by bringing this wording into their approach. I was no fan of 'Satisfactory', on the basis that it really meant that only some children made progress in the lesson; the truth is that those children tended to be the higher-attaining, literate students from more advantaged homes, who were best able to deal with weak teaching whilst still making progress. I'm happy to accept that this is not, in fact, satisfactory. I'm also attracted to the idea of fostering greater openness and pragmatism in the discussions we have, formally and informally, on the genuine effectiveness of our lessons. If you are a (non-superhuman) practicing teacher, the likelihood is lessons which don'...

So - my attempt at a blog prior to SLTcamp. It's probably the English teacher in me, but on given the theme of 'igniting change', I'm immediately drawn to the language we use, as teachers and as leaders. I remember, for example, talking with one colleague who would repeatedly refer to efforts to improve learning and teaching as a 'crusade', 'a battle' or 'a campaign', with the vaguely sinister militaristic language revealing much about their fundamental conception of what leadership in schools is all about. Other typical examples of the language of leadership include such gems as 'driving change', 'driving up standards' and 'accelerating progress', all of which sound a bit Top Gear for my liking. 'Igniting' change - I'm not sure. Makes me think of... burns, maybe arson. It's a little bit explodey, a bit space-rockety for my liking. It seems to suggest a vision of the leader being the agent which brings ligh...

The penny has dropped for me that it's possible and preferable to discuss the theory and practical implementation of Assessment for Learning without ever using the term itself. Whilst this is, for reasons I'll explain, a step forward, I can't help feeling slightly bereft, carrying as I do a strong sense of gratitude to AFL for helping me improve my own practice . Dumping the jargon seems somehow disloyal; I've been going about it for years, and the idea of never referring to Success Criteria again seems like saying goodbye to an old friend, albeit a friend who seems to confuse everyone and is a bit of a mouthful to keep referencing in training sessions. I must confess to a history of being something of a jargon-apologist (jargologist?), on the basis that we do need names to call stuff, and having a professional lexicon is not necessarily such a bad thing. I recall an entertaining exchange with a colleague who reacted strongly against the use of the word 'coaching...

I loved this TeachMeet. Like a funny and inspiring version of Ronnie Corbett, it was short, funny and inspiring; the emphasis on failure-first was refreshing, lending a sense of honesty and openness to proceedings as we happily nodded along in recognition of the mistakes and disasters that were explored.  We kicked off with a quote from the standard bearer of failure leading to success, Andy Murray, who spoke in his post-Wimbledon press conference of how his coach Ivan Lendl had made such a difference. Murray expressed the view that ' He's made me learn more from my losses than maybe I did in the past' . This set the theme for the event - learning from our losses, squeezing all the value and learning we can from dwelling on what goes wrong in our classrooms, even though that can be hard to do. Then, after a quick plug for  Tim Harford's highly-recommended  Adapt: why Success always starts with Failure, the   book which inspired the event, we let the failing comm...

Lots of recent blogs have expressed a general sense of dissatisfaction with the impact of CPD / INSET in schools - Joe Kirby brings the main themes together in his characteristically incisive and clear post here so I won't add to the stupendous recent edu-blog word count by discussing it here. Instead, here's a summary of an attempt we made recently to run an INSET session on using the principles of deliberate practice in order to develop questioning skills. To give some context, we have been focused for a while on developing questioning as one of the 'things that make the most difference' in the classroom, and had previously undertaken some conventional training on this, through presenting to the whole staff. This was then followed up by doing smaller group work on structuring questioning for engagement, in which teachers had a go at experiencing some of the structures. Questioning for engagement from Cherwelllearning However, after reading Practice Perfect  (th...

Schools are complex organisations, and the job of a teacher is far from simple. There is, frankly, a lot to do, and significant good judgement and skill is required to perform the constant decision-making, management of interactions and relationships, time management, lesson organisation and so on which make up the daily life of teacher. The systems and processes in which we work don't always seem to help; often, those responsible for devising said systems seem to me to get it the wrong way round. There are measures in place to simplify things which are in fact highly complex and should be recognised as such - accountability measures and judgements for individual schools for example. At the same time, there is a trend to over-complicate those things which could be made simple, or at least considerably simpler: the twenty strands which the APP materials suggest are a pre-requisite in order to understand a child's capacity in English, the complexity and abstractions of the variou...

Interesting stuff on creativity in lessons knocking around twitter this morning, following an incisive post from Alex Quigley on trying to make practical use of the thinking of Sir Ken Robinson. Before I start going on, I would point out that all of the below is only how it seems to me, as an English teacher, and, well, as me... In the early years of my own teaching, I tended to feel troubled with a sense that my lessons were a little bit lacking when it came to creativity, that my planning missed the creative spark with which I could ignite the fires of learning in the kindling minds bobbing expectantly in front of me (ahem). I suffered from a sort of 'creativity-envy'; an abiding belief that I just wasn't creative enough myself to devise the sort of imaginative and engaging activities which would (in that mildly-alarming edu-phrase) 'grab them' and, through sheer fun and adventure, ensure that they loved to learn. This nagging anxiety prodded me to action at times...