University of Buckingham
More than a decade ago I was the head of Harrow, a good school but an unusual one being 100% boarding and 100% boys – and private. So when I retired I decided to do a few things which might inform me about state schools, the schools which teach the vast majority of children. What... Continue Reading →
Schools Governments can only do so much at any one time. Gove did schools but failed to deal with skills and FE. Filling the skills gap in the British economy should be the number one focus, concentrating on young people aged 16+ eg energy production, infrastructure development, AI and IT, hospital technicians, lab assistants. Review... Continue Reading →
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is the most important international measure of the proficiency of 15-year-olds in maths, reading and science. It is run by the OECD and the last test was in 2022. Comparing the results of 2022 with those of previous years shows how well individual countries are doing compared to... Continue Reading →
Public exam news This summer we return to the same grading standards as were used in 2019. That means awarding the same proportion of students to each grade as in 2019. So if, for example, 10% of students in 2019 got a GCSE grade 9 in Latin, this year roughly that proportion will get a... Continue Reading →
The other day I asked an experienced university tutor whether the nature of undergraduates had changed in the past ten years. Without hesitation she replied ‘Yes, they are much more needy. They ask for, and expect to get, help with simple academic tasks. What is more, half of them feel they have mental health issues and our university... Continue Reading →
For forty years I was a classroom teacher and a head teacher. I recruited hundreds of teachers, observed thousands of lessons and I am confident I know what good teaching looks like. As Jonathan Smith, the former head of English at Tonbridge School, once said, the characteristics of good teaching are pretty obvious, but it... Continue Reading →
March was an easy month for a blog. I had many initial ideas, all essential and linked to a year in teaching. Metacognition, Memory, Mentoring, Mistakes. I decided to write about mentoring and share some of my earlier experiences of mentoring as a trainee teacher. Mentoring is one of the most important elements in teacher... Continue Reading →
The Social Mobility Commission has published (February 2023) an analysis of the types of courses that tend to mean students will earn more in their life than those who did not take such courses and those courses that do not increase or actually lower your chances of earning more. The full article is here. This... Continue Reading →
February is for Feedback. Most of our students, at this point in their learning, would have completed some form of internal testing/exams and would have received some feedback. Feedback is a big part of the teaching profession as much as it is a part of life. In teaching, in addition to lessons, feedback is also... Continue Reading →