Opinion

Here I comment on a wide range of issues from education to politics, the arts and more. I welcome lively and opinionated debate, so please leave your comments.

  • Shakespeare as cultural capital

    This article, in a slightly different form was initially published on the Teachit website. Shakespeare as Cultural Capital by Francis Gilbert on Scribd

  • How can we help secondary school students read for pleasure and improve their reading skills? #GdnBLReading

    Yesterday I spoke at the Guardian Education Centre for a conference on Reading for Pleasure in the secondary classroom. The Guardian’s literary editor, Claire Armistead, kicked off the day by explaining that we need our young people to enjoy reading and to read whole texts which are not part of the curriculum; she pointed out […]

  • Reciprocal Teaching and the Time Devil

    I’ve been working hard at helping Key Stage 3 students in Deptford Green school, a London comprehensive, to develop their reading skills. To that end, I have written a book, The Time Devil, which is set partly in Deptford Green and partly in the National Maritime Museum, whom we are also working with.  I have […]

  • Summer Solstice Readings for National Writing Day at the Word Bookshop, New Cross

    I had a very enjoyable day at Goldsmiths on the summer solstice to celebrate National Writing Day. The summer solstice is: “the time at which the sun is at its northernmost point in the sky (southernmost point in the South hemisphere), appearing at noon at its highest altitude above the horizon.” It is midsummer; the […]

  • Are academies the way forward? Appearance on Channel 5 News

  • The perks and perils of competition #lessonswecanlearnfromteachers

    This article is an extract from a forthcoming book, The Long Game: The Lessons We Can Learn From Long-Serving Teachers. The aim was to interview long-serving teachers, listen to their stories and see if I could draw out any lessons from their experiences. Constructive comments are welcome; they will help me make it a better book. […]

  • A headteacher confesses: Naughtiness is sometimes a sign of being clever #lessonswecanlearnfromteachers

    This article is an extract from a forthcoming book, The Long Game: The Lessons We Can Learn From Long-Serving Teachers. The aim was to interview long-serving teachers, listen to their stories and see if I could draw out any lessons from their experiences. Constructive comments are welcome; they will help me make it a better book. […]

  • Spare the rod and save the child? #lessonswecanlearnfromteachers

    This article is an extract from a forthcoming book, The Long Game: The Lessons We Can Learn From Long-Serving Teachers, which will be published in the near future. The aim was to interview long-serving teachers, listen to their stories and see if I could draw out any lessons from their experiences. Constructive comments are welcome; they will […]

  • What my footballing father taught me: get a good education #lessonswecanlearnfromteachers

    This article is an extract from a forthcoming book, The Long Game: The Lessons We Can Learn From Long-Serving Teachers. The aim was to interview long-serving teachers, listen to their stories and see if I could draw out any lessons from their experiences. Constructive comments are welcome; they will help me make it a better book. […]

  • An important lesson from a war-time childhood: It’s your friends who make you #lessonswecanlearnfromteachers

    This article is an extract from a forthcoming book, The Long Game: The Lessons We Can Learn From Long-Serving Teachers. Constructive comments are welcome; they will help me make it a better book. Doris Peate was not doing badly for an 87-year-old when I interviewed her in June 2015: she was remarkably alert and energetic, […]

  • Why self-publish? My talk to Goldsmiths’ MA in Creative Writing students

  • Why Michele Robert’s keynote speech on ‘The Erotic Imagination’ marks a new epoch in the way we talk about sex

    Michele Roberts’ keynote speech at the ‘Beyond the Sheets’ conference marked, for me, a new epoch in the way we talk about sex. Here was an established literary figure seeking to change the discourse about sex, addressing at the conference pre-dominantly young writers and emerging academics; the new “intelligentsia” if you like. It was an […]

  • What is education for and how can school libraries contribute?

    Last weekend, I spoke at the School Libraries Group conference in Derby. I was asked to talk about what education is for and how school libraries can contribute towards the aims and purposes of education. If you watch the YouTube video of my talk (above) you’ll see that I look at a number of key […]

  • A video musical poem: psycho bike

    I was moved to make this random video musical poem about my journey to Goldsmiths College on the bike:

  • Can evidence-based pedagogy raise levels of achievement?

    Last weekend, I spoke on a panel for the Standing Committee for the Education and Training of Teachers (SCETT), talking about whether “evidence-based pedagogy” will lead to a re-birth of the teaching profession. I argued that it could. The Education Endowment Fund (EEF) now are examining what really works in the classroom based on significant evidence. This approach, to […]

  • The Turn of the Screw — A Study Guide

    Lively and engaging, this study guide is written by an experienced teacher who understands what needs to be covered. An excellent resource for GCSE and A Level students, or anyone studying the book at school or university.

  • Proof that GCSE are more rigorous than O Levels?

    I spent an interesting morning at Television Centre today, appearing on Broadcasting House, the Sunday morning magazine show hosted by the affable Paddy O’Connell. Taking a light-hearted look at the current O Level and GCSE debate, he sat an English O Level question and a GCSE one; they were both ‘writing’ or composition questions. As a […]

  • Gove plots to scrap GCSEs and bring back the old ‘elitist’ O Level

    The breaking news tonight, splashed all over the Daily Mail’s website, is that Michael Gove is aiming to scrap the GCSE qualification over the next few years and bring back the old O Level. The Mail claims: GCSEs will ‘disappear’ from schools within the next few years The National Curriculum in secondary schools will be abolished […]

  • My YouTube videos which explain Wilfred Owen’s Exposure and Spring Offensive

    A blog post containing various videos I made some time ago explaining Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Exposure’ to my pupils in secondary school, studying it for GCSE.

  • Structuring GCSE writing

    Learning how to structure writing on Prezi