I taught every year for 33 years, 18 of those years as headteacher of large state secondary schools. So what? Well, on Thursday Claire Stoneman’s tweet made me reflect upon what I do now, as an educational consultant, since I stepped down from headship. One thing I learned whilst…
Our dad died 40 years ago today. All my family were there the night before he passed away except me. I returned to university in the January. I don’t know why I did that now. It's something I still regret. The night he died, family myth has…
Once you notice sports commentators’ insistence that this game, or that moment is “massive” or “huge” for the team/player involved, you cannot stop noticing it. Their assertions become comic. “That was a massive putt to make for McIlroy.” “This is a huge moment for Liverpool in the title race.…
“Pedagogy trumps curriculum (content).” So said Dylan Wiliam in his seminal text, Principled Curriculum Design. It is an important point. Whether a pupil learns what they are taught depends largely on the teacher’s ability to create the conditions in the classroom where pupils pay attention, think hard about what…
I love January. The whole year is ready to unfurl before us. Almost imperceptibly, the days are getting longer. The daffodils have appeared in the florists. And while the weather is cold, there are odd moments on a bright day when you can enjoy apricity – the warmth of the sun…
For the last eight months I have been supporting Gary Swabel and Tejas Gorla as they have developed an AI teacher coach, called Aristotal. Apparently, I was a good choice as the educational consultant on this project, as I wasn't enamoured with tech; indeed, I was renowned as…
On New Years Eve, The Times newspaper published an article entitled, “Make lessons fun to keep children in school, ministers told.” In the article, Pepe Di’Iasio, the general secretary of ASCL, reportedly talked about “subjects, such as art, which provide an outlet for less academic students.” My experience of…
I have been thinking a great deal about teacher quality, inspired by the London researchED conference earlier this month. Since then, I have been planning my next book; here is the plan: This Much I Know About Truly Great Teachers (and what we can learn from them) The book begins…