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In this section I archive features and articles that have been published elsewhere. I contribute regularly to the national press, including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, and The Daily Mail.

  • 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…

  • Michael Gove offers social justice in reverse. That’s why I back the strikes

    Gove’s conference speech was misleading – his education policies give more power to the privileged and fuel social segregation The main claim made by Michael Gove at the Conservative party conference was that his education policies are focused on “social justice”. It was a lacklustre speech that sounded more like a list of acknowledgements. For a large…

  • Are teachers doing the best for the best pupils?

    The biggest thing holding back bright pupils is the limiting structure of GCSEs, says a comprehensive teacher Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools, depressed me no end when I heard him on the radio yesterday morning. I was getting ready to teach my mixed ability classes in the large comprehensive where I work…

  • Teachers as writers — TES Pro article

     

  • How to use study guides in the classroom — TES Pro article

          Please click on these JPEGs twice in order to see a full size version of this article and then press Ctrl+ if you wish to zoom in further.

  • How to choose a school: by teachers for parents

    Tis the season when schools are trying to woo potential parents at open days. How can you tell what a school is really like behind the facade? Here is our guide by those who know: the teachers. This article first appeared in The Guardian. I know from bitter experience that appearances can be deceptive. I…

  • Free schools are a disaster

    Michael Gove’s flagship policy is a huge waste of money, socially divisive and won’t raise educational standards The free schools policy is the most ideological of all the coalition’s policies. Trumpeted in the Conservative manifesto, it was one of Michael Gove’s first projects as education secretary. His vision was that thousands of schools set up…

  • Academy plan to use untrained teachers is an outrage

    Why is Michael Gove instituting this policy when he has praised countries like Finland where teachers are intensively trained? The news today that the education secretary is to remove the requirement for academies to employ qualified teachers sent a shudder down my spine. For a teacher like me, who has taught for more than 20…

  • The lessons we can learn from 100-year-olds

    Are we living in the age of the “oldie”? Recently, many “old people” seem to be thriving. This is particularly striking in the entertainment world. At 76, film-maker and comedian Woody Allen is enjoying his biggest commercial success, 74-year-old Ridley Scott has just directed one of the summer’s most expensive blockbusters, Prometheus, and, in the…

  • Proof that Gove by-passed his own Expert Panel to push through idiotic curriculum changes

    The British Educational Association has just published the major correspondence about their President’s (Mary James) involvement with the National Curriculum Review. The documentation details in depth exactly what Mary James and her colleague, primary school expert, Andrew Pollard, objected to in the National Curriculum Review. We already had some information about this from Andrew Pollard’s blog on The Institute of…

  • Why there’s never been equality in English schools — Melissa Benn’s speech at the Goldsmiths conference

    I filmed Melissa speaking at the Goldsmiths College Teaching and Learning Conference, Future Tense, last week and have just posted the video on YouTube. Posting it now is particularly timely because it lays to rest the myth that private and grammar schools increase social mobility when, as Melissa points out, they do the opposite. Her…

  • Do schools achieve more when teachers teach less, and children have more free time?

    In this video, Finnish education expert, Pasi Sahlberg, talks about why the best education system encourage children to play by teaching them less, and teachers to improve their practice by having less contact time in the classroom.

  • Why did the top education system in the world get rid of school inspectors?

    Pasi Sahlberg was the last Chief Inspector for schools in Finland. After that the government got rid of these “hanging judges”, turning them into supportive advisers, and leaving schools to inspect themselves. Here, in his talk in the House of Commons this May, he explains the rationale behind the decision. In the talk below, he identifies “GERM”…

  • A powerful warning of the consequences of not listening to children: the Erl-King may snatch them away!

    I was saddened to hear about the death of the baritone singer, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, this week, surely the greatest interpreters of Schubert’s songs there has ever been. My own favourite are his amazing performances of the Erl-King. Here’s the translation from Wikipedia, which is worth reading: German version, the original Goethe poem: Wer reitet so…

  • Would abolishing private schools improve education for all?

    I attended, together with the other founder members of the Local Schools Network, a fascinating talk given by Pasi Sahlberg this Thursday, in the House of Commons. Sahlberg is, as his website tells us, “Director General of CIMO (Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation) in Helsinki, Finland. He has global expertise in educational reforms, training teachers, coaching schools…

  • Is coursework a fair way of assessing pupils?

    A version of this article appeared in the Times, Tuesday 8th May. When a pupil of mine, Gerry, presented me with his English Language A level coursework, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  It was A* with knobs on! “Blimey, Gerry, how did you do that?” I asked, “Your last piece scarcely scraped a D grade.”…

  • The special needs system is open to abuse

    Assessment of educational needs should be overhauled, as parents may be encouraging misdiagnosis to access resources (This article was first published by The Guardian) Plans to change the “special needs” system in schools will have a big impact upon teachers like me, as well as millions of pupils and their parents. That said, the system does need an…

  • Academics and teachers, have you met?

    Reform would be smoother and more effective if you worked together, says Francis Gilbert Earlier this month, education secretary Michael Gove said that top academics should reform our A-level system, implying that only the elite Russell Group universities can stop the chronic “dumbing down” going on in our sixth forms. His announcement was on top…

  • I blame the free market for exam board cheats

    For secondary school teachers like me, training sessions run by the exam boards are invaluable. And I’ve attended plenty of meetings where there have been strong hints about upcoming questions, similar to those exposed by the Telegraph this week. I’ve never heard an examiner being so open about the sorts of topics that the exam…

  • The ‘Yobs’ Are the Problem — Not Our Schools…

    The orgy of violent disorder that has swept like wildfire through our cities during the last few weeks has certainly shocked teachers like me, but having said that, knowing young people as we do, I’m not sure that we’re too surprised. But first, a definition: to understand where I’m coming from, it helps to understand…