Monthly Archives: November 2022

Ofsted has announced that four-fifths of previously outstanding state schools inspected in 2021/22 lost their outstanding rating. We wrote back in January that inspection had become tougher for primary schools. At that time, only 15 previously outstanding secondary schools had … Continue reading →

“Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world.” Steven Stahl (2005) Developing vocabulary knowledge is so much more than word lists and student-friendly definitions. … Continue reading →

A few months ago I wrote a piece about the size of MATs. Following that post, a reader got in touch asking how many special schools are now part of a MAT. And I thought that was such a good … Continue reading →

Teaching can be a pretty stressful job, particularly if you are at the sharp end of the accountability system. Pressure to increase pupil progress, or provide evidence of increased progress, can lead to long working hours and mounting tension. Yet … Continue reading →

This week marks the launch of the next generation of FFT’s data analytics system – Aspire. Amongst a whole host of improvements and new features, one of the most significant updates is a brand-new Target Setting module incorporating FFT’s well … Continue reading →

This week marks the launch of the next generation of FFT’s data analytics system – Aspire. Amongst a whole host of improvements and new features, one of the most significant updates is a brand-new Target Setting module incorporating FFT’s well … Continue reading →

Just before half-term the Department for Education published Progress 8 scores for secondary schools for the first time since 2019. We’ve written before about the problems with Progress 8 and offered solutions for some of them. We’ll revisit some of … Continue reading →

Keeping up with the acronyms is always a challenge in education. First we had STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), then we had STEMM (science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine) and now we have STEAM (the STEM subjects, plus the … Continue reading →

Should the title be ‘sophisticated vocabulary’, or could it be more simply ‘fancy words’? Small but significant language choices like these occur repeatedly in classrooms – and in pupils’ minds – daily. Teaching pupils to use sophisticated vocabulary can go … Continue reading →

The COVID-19 pandemic led to one of the biggest shocks the world has ever seen. Schools were shut, remote instruction became widespread and government policy seemed to be changing overnight. The working conditions of teachers hence suddenly changed, with significant … Continue reading →