Monthly Archives: April 2017

More Light?

Originally posted on Horatio Speaks:
OPHELIA: The king rises! HAMLET: What? Frighted with false fire? CLAUDIUS: Give me some light! Away! – Hamlet  In Act Three of Hamlet, the troubled prince hatches a plan to prove the king’s guilt. He…

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Why group socialisation theory argues against grammar schools – David Didau: The Learning Spy

My last post was written to explain why I thought ‘grammar schools for all’ was probably an unworkable idea. I introduced Judith Rich Harris’s group socialisation theory to support… Continued here http://ift.tt/2puusEW

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Gibberish sprinkled with question marks: in nonsense is strength

Originally posted on Othmar's Trombone:
Early on in Kurt Vonnegut’s 1973 novel Breakfast of Champions, the narration turns to the setting of the story: the United States of America. Vonnegut transcribes the first verse of the national anthem and concludes of America:…

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Education is an end in itself not a preparation for the workplace

Originally posted on chronotope:
It’s a well observed truth that because everyone has had an education, everyone feels well placed to comment on all aspects of education. Often that takes the form of “My experience of education was like this so all…

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Another one bites the dust

Originally posted on teaching personally:
So that’s it. I am told that today is officially my last day of paid employment as a teacher, at least for the time being. Although the paperwork has not come through yet, I must…

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Project-based school improvement

Originally posted on Filling the pail:
Embed from Getty Images To improve a school, it is necessary to focus on one or two things and then relentlessly go after them for about four or five years. That seems to work.…

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Elected governors and removal from office matters

Originally posted on Governing Matters:
Earlier this year the Department for Education (DfE) launched a consultation into the proposal, “Enabling maintained school boards to remove elected governors”. The consultation posed three questions: Do you agree that governing bodies should be…

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Why ‘grammar schools for all’ won’t work – David Didau: The Learning Spy

A better, but overlong, title for this would be “Why grammar schools don’t work for all and why ‘grammar schools for all’ (probably) won’t work”. At the birth of… Continued here http://ift.tt/2pwmehI

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Learning by rote doesn’t mean not understanding

Originally posted on MrHistoire.com:
https://twitter.com/Heatherleatt/status/858198256098181121 Does anyone actually teach decontextualised facts? I’ve made this argument previously, but it seems to be popping up again, with Heather Leatt’s response to an article in the T*S prompting yet more immature thinking on…

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No, don’t forget everything we know about memory

Originally posted on Evidence into Practice:
With a renewed interest in cognitive science within teaching, are we in risk of “conflating hypothetical models with proven neuroscience since accepted facts can quickly become ‘neuro-myths’ when new research contradicts popular theories” as Ellie Mulcahy…

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