Making teachers nervous the key to lifting standards?
Four years ago I wrote a piece for the UK Huffington Post reflecting on the nonsense being espoused by the then head of OFSTED, Sir Michael Wilshaw. Upon his appointment as Chief Inspector of Schools he dispensed this advice to UK headmasters: “A good head would never be loved by his or her staff. If […]
Read MoreThe Revolution Won’t Necessarily Be Televised
Over the past month Australia’s national broadcaster, the ABC, aired a four-part documentary called Revolution School in which it followed the staff and students of Kambrya College in Victoria throughout the course of 2015. The premise of the doco was that Kambrya was a struggling school – in 2008 its Year 12 results put it in the state’s bottom 10% of […]
Read MoreWhy I’m supporting the ILF
First of all, thank you! Thank you to everyone who has already got a copy of my book #SchoolOfThought! I was blown away to wake up on Sunday to find it #2 in ‘Schools & Teaching’ on Kindle in Australia… behind the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Malala! If you get my newsletter you’ll be aware that […]
Read MoreShould You *Reward* Good Behaviour?
I’ve been doing a lot of work around Carol Dweck’s Mindset theory of late. This complements the approach I take to engagement in school (or any environment) which I largely base on Ryan & Deci’s Self Determination Theory. The essence of what I explore is that authentic engagement is achieved when: Relationships have been established […]
Read MoreSnake, Walkmans, Moments & School…
What do these three things have in common, and why on earth would I waste your time asking you that question? If you’re of a certain vintage you’ll be aware of just how amazing Nokia phones were. What’s that? You can’t remember? Check this out. Of course, Sony Walkmans were so popular even competitor’s offerings were referred to as Walkmans, […]
Read More3 things you (probably) didn’t know about Finland
Every couple of years, the OECD publish a report from their Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Their findings are (very helpfully) compiled into league tables, charting the performance of each of the participating countries in maths, literacy and application of scientific knowledge. These tables are then used to fuel media stories like this one, which […]
Read More5 Key Takeaways about Student Wellbeing
A couple of weeks ago the Centre for Education Statistics & Evaluation released their literature review into Student Wellbeing. You can access the entire document here. It clearly and concisely lays out all the considerations important for addressing student wellbeing in your school. It also offers dozens of research papers to explore by way of referencing. Having said that, if […]
Read MoreChatting with John Hattie – Pt. 3
This is the third in a series of posts based around an interview I had with John Hattie earlier this year. Whilst many education conferences around the world issue a call to arms – of sorts – to embrace 21st Century Skills, it’s worth pointing out that the cohort of kids that started Kindy in […]
Read MoreChatting with John Hattie – Pt. 2
This is the second in a series of posts based around an interview with educational researcher and Chair of AITSL, John Hattie. There are many facets to the education debate and one that pushes more buttons than most is the Traditional v Progressive teaching debate. Some read this as the Didactic v Student Centred or sometimes the Knowledge […]
Read MoreChatting with John Hattie – Pt. 1
Late last year I wrote a blog post called, Is John Talking Through His Hattie? The subject of the post was a series of posts and articles I had come across that called into question the validity of the statistical analysis that is the backbone of John Hattie’s Visible Learning work. To save you the […]
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