“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…
In my last post I ruminated on what constitutes a great teacher, inspired by talks given at the recent National ResearchED conference by Pritesh Raichura, and Dr Raj Chande & Professor Rob Coe. Pritesh demonstrated all the teaching techniques and teacher qualities required for securing 100% attention in class, and…
Dave Williams was my A level English teacher. He changed my life. If I hadn’t been taught by Dave, I wouldn't have chosen to study English Literature at university. I thought of Dave yesterday, when I was at the researchED National Conference in London. I attended a…
From 9 pm to 10 pm on Thursday 9 April 1992, I was a teller for the Labour Party at our local polling station in Brighton. I had been working hard that week and hadn’t really kept up with what was happening in the polls. I took voters’ numbers,…