Our school was recently inspected. The result of this has been a lot of time and effort spent thinking about how we can reimagine a lot of what we do. In terms of school improvement, it is impossible not to consider the work of John Hattie. But who is he, why is he so important, […]
Did you know about John Hattie’s Research? Read More »
To err is human Alexander Pope Making mistakes is an inevitable part of life. We’re all wrong about something at some point. Obviously contending with failure, learning to drag ourselves up by the bootstraps when we fall down and persist in the face of setbacks is part and parcel of human existence. But is making
What’s so great about making mistakes? Read More »
It’s very easy to present a false dichotomy to make our own beliefs and choices seem more desirable than the alternatives. Consider this infographic from the Hewlett Foundation which has been doing the rounds: What’s being implied is that the ‘deeper learning’ classroom somehow better prepares children for being scientists in the ‘science lab’ than ‘traditional’
Do we want ‘deeper learning’ classrooms? Read More »
What does it mean to get better at history? One of the problems we have in answering this question is that history is an incredibly diverse discipline: there are thousands of possible things that one might legitimately study at school. In one school pupils might be learning 18th-century French history, but in the next town
The curriculum as progression model Read More »