👀OPEN ACCESS👀
Read our 🔥🔥2024 peer reviewed paper: Retrieval Practice 'in the Wild': Teachers' Reported Use of Retrieval Practice in the Classroom.
Dr Gareth Bates and Dr James Shea
SLT. It’s Friday today. Please don’t email someone today and ask them if you can 'have a chat with them on Monday'. You will ruin their weekend, harm their well being and reduce next week's energy levels.
Learned a new one today. A school has no art department. No art at all. The subject known as art is not taught in the school. Anyone else heard of this level of removal? In other subjects? Music? Drama?
Genuinely shocked.
Someone read a book in one day. And got shade from social media trolls. As someone who also does this from time to time I’d like to put my head above the parapet and say I also do this. Kudos to the heavy book readers!
@BBCBreakfast
this is the pricelist for my daughter's school. The trousers have to have a school badge on and the uniform colour means this is the only shop we can use. Obviously on top of this they need shoes and trainers!! A big expense for any parent!!
@BBCNaga
Personally, I think the gov is playing with fire in messing with 1265 hours of directed time. If they starting counting actual hours they could end up paying for everything a teacher does where currently they enjoy unpaid overtime.
I am currently discussing with someone on whether yellow stitching on a black Dr Martens shoe would contradict school uniform rules.
How have we got to here?
When asked why challenging Year 11s behaved so well for me I would say:
🧒 Because I had been teaching them and their peers since they were tiny Yr7s
👦 That I likely taught their older brother or sister
👩 👨 That I'd met their parents about ten times
And all that led to
You wouldn’t get this method past an ethics panel. The risk to children is too high and the data gathered would be likely to have serious limitations (see my blog on threat anxiety and working memory).
I happened to mention to my daughter a few days ago, that at primary school (70s) we had to come our books in wallpaper.
My stationery obsessed daughter has fully embraced the idea, and we've made some. More to follow! (The wallpaper was VERY dull in those days!)
Our thoughts with those departing teachers who, tomorrow, will have to endure departing presents and speeches, and, even worse, be called upon to make a speech, when all they really want to is discreetly leave at the end of the day.
You know who you are. We have sympathy.
Teachers over the age of 50 have left the profession in increasing numbers says the TES.
Younger teachers are leaving the profession in increasing numbers.
Could it be they are leaving to save their well-being from being shredded?
Are autistic girls being overlooked?
Great guest blog on why there is so much late diagnosis of autistic girls and masking.
RT and ❤️ makes the tweets go round 🙏
They will find the portrait in the attic one day, but in the meantime can I introduce my third grandchild, Tristan Shea, born earlier this week. He will still end up a teacher despite his name!
I was discussing the well being questions a lead ofsted inspector should ask at the start of an on-site inspection.
How poor was your sleep last night?
Have you had extreme anxiety since the phone call?
Have you or others been in tears or quite emotional already?
Any others?
🔥 teachers out of the profession
The cost is HUGE. What is driving this? Perhaps the language of ‘relentless, rigorous, uncompromising high expectations’?
Sent an AHT job to one of my old student teachers who could easily step into the role and she said, I can’t do this because I have young children and so can’t give the hours and commitment they would require.
Things need to change!
#womened
@WomenEd
English Association slams GCSE as "not fit for purpose" in scathing report which outlines how the current specifications are "narrow in content" and "let down students".
It's no secret that English teachers and university English departments point the finger at the controversial
For those who say there’s more to it than this. Absolutely. I’d be here all day on Twitter trying to do that. For those who say that’s not helpful advice to some people - quite agree. I am making a more general point about the unspoken benefits of having high quality and long
*Breaking News*
One word Ofsted judgements to be scrapped - to be announced on Thursday.
But how will that work? Removed from all past reports? Future reports?
Please, please, please stop describing classes as high or low ability. Every time I see a teacher post this a little bit of me, as a teacher educator, dies. I know it’s in the teachers’ standards but that doesn’t make it right.
Why does the huge status of reading in primary schools not translate into secondary schools?
Go to a primary school & it’s a joy to see the books everywhere. By year 10, fiction is on life support & non-fiction for the secondary subjects doesn’t feature anywhere.
#SundayMorning
I’m a little worried that no political party yet seems to have an idea of how to solve the shortage of teachers crisis in the UK. What ideas would you like to see a political party embrace?
This is clearly an individual incident by an individual member of staff who will recognise themselves in this unexpected inadequate Ofsted report of an outstanding 0-3 nursery provision.
I thought they were going to be considerate of mental health?
I’ve been told I have to stop shouting 'safeguarding' during key moments in films. Latest one was Sound of Metal and the teacher allows him in the class without any DBS checking then allows him to go off with a pupil unaccompanied.
SAFEGUARDING!
Does this affect others?
SATS: In a recent
@educationgovuk
notice to parents, they claimed that 'The results will help their new school determine in which areas your child needs the most support' SECONDARY teachers, can you please indicate whether for your school, this is...
There is nothing I can do in teacher education to prepare teachers for this. Kudos to the teacher for not losing their cool, but teachers do not need to be door stepped like this.
I’m sorry, I don’t care what political persuasion you are, but civil servants 'monitoring' very qualified people making academic criticism goes against everything we know about making robust policy.
Put this tweet in my spreadsheet.
The ITE sector pumped 43,500 new teachers into the profession. However, schools burnt 40,000 teachers out of the profession.
There's an easy fix for teaching. Stop burning teachers out of the profession.
9 hrs of exams for science
7.5 hrs for English
4.5hr for maths
Why such discrepancies between subjects who probably have relatively similar teaching time?
(I know they have more GCSEs, but shouldn’t that equate to more teaching time?)
Ofsted accepts that its inspection framework is a problem for small primary schools:
“we’re developing training for all inspectors to help them understand some of the complexities that small schools face in delivering a broad, well-sequenced curriculum.”
I used to do this with my sixth formers and the first pages of novels. It’s an excellent exercise.
Using just your knowledge of history and cultural capital, date this and place this.
Teachers calling for the reinstatement of basic IT lessons - where kids learn how to use a mouse, email, attach files , click 'file open', reset their own passwords and generally do all the things that are needed to function. Love it. Absolutely! 'How to learn online' lessons. 😀
AI detective time. Is this picture AI or not?
I spend a lot of time at work playing AI detective on essays. It's hard to explain, but I think this picture is a good explanation. So, if you think this picture is AI, explain why.
I’m usually good at these but this one took me about ten minutes to crack. Obvious if you know, but otherwise it just looks like an ordinary aerial photo.
If you can see it, just type yes so folks can’t cheat by reading the comments.
@DeputyGrocott
There is a site called Did Teach with a lot of information on this sort of thing. Civil Service is hoovering up ex-teachers like you’ve never seen.
Experienced teachers - what do wish you knew when you were a less experienced teacher?
For me it was to have all the knowledge in your head rather than try to capture it all in the resources.
Senior leaders in schools are one of the toughest and most resilient of subgroups I ever met. A unique group of people who habitually face tough and emotional challenges day in and day out.
To make one cry isn’t easy. To make most of them cry…
Ruth Perry Inquest Day 2
Today has already been so much harder. Quote of the day from OI Gareth Evans; during inspections "we more often see people crying than not", so somebody upset is just par for the course, in an OFSTED inspection, apparently. More later...
Can we sum up this morning’s feelings about the exams using just Macbeth quotations?
I’m sure students and Johnson are alike in thinking...
“I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on't again I dare not.”
I’d like to say that A level media studies where students write essays on media legislation, the representation of race and gender as well as perceiving bias and fake news is a fantastic subject which grounds young people for life.
87y old Mum (who has dementia) has had her best day in years. Talked about news, asked me to order Harry’s book, picked out a new sweater & was buzzing all day.
All because she spent 10m with my brother’s new born granddaughter. Something in that for those with dementia really.
UK school trust to offer blend of virtual (academic) and face to face (PE and hands on creative) all the way to sixth form.
How long before every MAT has this built into their offer for school avoidance, sporting elite and other children that need it?
An invigilator spoke to me today. Year 11 walks in, no tie, barely in uniform. Writes their name on the paper then settles down to sleep for the entire exam. Nothing has changed since I invigilated 20 years ago.
But now, I call it self-harm (though it also harms the teacher and
Delighted to receive a book in the post this morning with my chapter in it! Nothing beats collaboration and helping to write a new book on bringing the curriculum to life.
Ignore the PISA stuff. Have a read of this education system. Early years with play until they are 7. Autonomy for teachers. No ofsted. Digitisation.
A really really fascinating educational read.
Can I have a shout for my 86 year old mum with mixed dementia. The carers leave her with terrible hair so I put it up for her today and she looks really good (I think). I’m inheriting this slow aging skin and full head of hair so I’m pleased to see mum still looking good.
Right.. Our SLT get up in the morning at half-past-ten at night. Eat a lump of freezing cold ofsted report, work 28 hours a day at MAT, and pay MAT owner to let us work there.
Yah, you try an tell the young people of today that, and they won't believe you...
‘Son’. I’m so worried! You’ve forgotten how to use both possessive and contraction apostrophes as well as basic sentence structure. Are you ok?
(English teachers: keeping the world safe from spammers every day 💪)
@Peston
@theresa_may
Her deal would be voted through with a majority if she would attach a confirmatory vote to it and whip it. The only reason she doesn’t is because she believes the public would reject it. And if that is the case, how is it representative of the public?
New EEF study is very clear. Cog sci approaches might have application in the classroom, but top down implementation across all subjects, ages, learners is bad application. Teachers need autonomy to explore them with a class, not be told to/how to do them
I don’t agree with stripping out expensively trained teachers from other countries’ economies. We can supply enough teachers in the UK. It will ‘only’ take investment into UG and PG courses, a diversification of the curriculum and a reduction in the off-rolling of UPS teachers.
One third of teachers in the
@TeacherTapp
survey have taken a pay cut to improve their well being. That’s a staggering amount. It reinforces my survey where a third of teachers described their school as toxic. That’s an area we all should be focused on - toxic schools.
Heidi Connor senior coroner says she can see very clearly in this matter the family would have been at a disadvantage without lawyers - they crowd funded raising all the money within a week after legal aid turned down
I really do think the teachers coming into the profession in England are truly astonishing in their quality. I am so proud of them. But why doesn’t the DFE think this? Either world beating ITE produces world beating teachers or not. And if we are, why then don’t they say this?
*LAUNCHED TODAY* Please share 🙏
For the first time ever, we have a KS3 National Curriculum for Drama!
As part of a national round table, a group of people got together to create a National Curriculum for Drama document - for Key Stage 3. Up to now, there
***New Blog***
You’ve heard of cultural capital, but have you also heard of habitus? It’s all very well making someone learn something, but if they don’t value that learning - then it becomes 'disposable knowledge'. And then what for their future?
At some point in the near future I’m going to campaign for the BBC to start running educational stuff during the day.
Purely for the children off school you understand. 😉
Let’s have some suggestions.
Macbeth at the Globe.
The recent BBC version of AIC
Original Handmaid's Tale
16 minute junior parkrun, 40 minutes of tennis coaching, 40 minutes of swimming, she’s now onto soft play and the four year old is still going at 100mph.
How do people do this with a roomful of them? All early years teachers should be awarded OBEs as well as QTS. 👏
PM at PMQs today: now is not the right time to hold an inquiry in the middle of a third wave.
#ITTMarketReview
last night: it’s a good time to restructure teacher education now we are coming out of the pandemic.
Ofsted to crack down on zero tolerance schools is quite the headline!
Also, schools will have to show they are not soft-off rolling SEND pupils or repeatedly suspending them.
Giving trainee teachers an intensive experience to prepare them for a teaching career with an intensive workload isn’t the right solution to the problem of excess workload for teachers. The solution is less work for teachers.
This is what happens when you cherry pick research. The idea that working memory has limited 'slots' available which can be filled by lined paper or bins shows we need a better discussion around working memory and how these ideas are applied to education.
Our School of Teacher Education is being awarded the
#VCSEA2020
award for 'Academic School or Department of the Year'.
Congratulations
@UoB_TE
for excelling in teaching our future teachers! 🎉🎉🎉
So many questions I don’t know where to start. But let's start with teeth, King's Evil and planet. Any ideas? Oh, and I just saw cut of the stone. 🤷♂️
When you have a regular 50 hour working week & someone drops a 10hr job on you, due in a week or two, the only place you can find time to do it is in the personal time that you set aside for family & so forth, such as weekends & late evenings. We need a better system for mocks.
Mock season is upon on again soon, here’s a question: Should English teachers be given a longer turn around window to mark their papers in considering the sheer length & amount of answers? What do we think?
@HughesHaili
If a school's staff is made up of more long serving teachers then the culture can be more readily consistent. Rapid turnover and poor retention as well as an influx of new teachers could be removing the impact of longstanding and well embedded legacy relationships. My point is
More than one in five teachers have been put on an informal support plan. 💀
Two thirds of those then go on to leave the school or the profession 🏃♀️ 🏃♂️
Many cite personal toxic trauma🫠
It’s not just Ofsted that need to review the emotional harm being done to teachers 😢
Informal ‘Support’ Plan
😕
Might be one for
@TeacherTapp
but I was reading a Reddit about teachers and the question is:
Have you ever been on some kind of informal support/plan to ‘improve’ your teaching?
I’d just like to say thanks to
@CatScutt
and
@AlisonMPeacock
for tonight’s Chartered College led webinar on the
#ITTMarketReview
. It felt like the profession coming together, ITE and schools, in a vehement rejection of a hostile takeover for our profession's ITE provision.
@hannahrosewoods
@ed_podesta
Definitely subtweeting the space shuttle, railways, road ruts to Romans misinformation thread.
Televisions used to be 24” big until a Roman excavation revealed that Romans liked to watch 50” mosaics and the industry responded by resizing all the televisions.
@Headteacherchat
How many collective hours of learning nationally were spent over the last 20 years making kids write down LOs at the start of lessons?
What will be the next thing we finally realize is a 20 year waste of time?