JL Dutaut | Schools Week

Research: What factors affecting retention matter most to teachers?

Research has long shown what factors affect retention but not which matter more to teachers themselves, write Hui Lu and Peter Burge. Until now Maintaining an adequate supply of teachers is a challenge and an area of significant concern. Of the teachers who qualified in 2014, only 67.4 per cent remained in service after five […]

Let’s hear it from the boys

Some of the author’s research claims seem questionable, but Stella Jones finds a book that is both inspiring and practical and has already impacted on her lessons This book did for me what all effective CPD should: it invigorated and motivated me, challenged me, and caused me deep contemplation. Though it speaks mainly from a […]

Penny’s podcasts, 29 March 2021

To mark International Children’s’ Book Day on 2 April, Penny Rabiger selects five podcasts with a focus on children’s literature Talking Race podcast @ResearchCRED This episode examines the absence of race in children’s books This podcast series was co-created by Leeds Beckett University’s Dr Daniel Kilvington and Professor Vini Lander, who hope to inspire […]

Recovery? School leaders need it as much as their students

Leaders have a chance to rest and reflect over Easter. Ministers should do the same and come up with a plan to support them better, writes Ruth Davies Challenging. Exhausting. Stressful. The School Leadership Supply Crisis report published today reveals these are the top three words school leaders use to describe their experience of the […]

Could Accelerated Reader be holding children’s reading back?

The ubiquitous algorithm to improve children’s reading is a blunt tool that could be doing more harm than good, writes Shivan Davis Allow me to lay my cards on the table: I don’t like Accelerated Reader. I don’t trust the accuracy of its Star Reader test. I don’t think their quizzes prove a student has […]

Melissa Jane’s blogs of the week, 22 March 2021

Melissa Jane’s top blogs cover resisting competition, surviving exclusion, improving inclusion for those with autism and supporting colleagues fasting for Ramadan Build Back Bolder: Five Choices All School Leaders Can Make @jonnyuttley This critique gets to the heart of a problem As I write, my timeline is full of reflections on the anniversary of the […]

Action is needed now on school ventilation

We can’t allow complacency to set in as we battle Covid. Ventilation remains a major issue for schools and now is the time to act, writes Azeem Majeed Unless the limitations of current social distancing and infection control measures in schools is properly dealt with, the prime minister’s wish to see schools reopen for good […]

Is the teacher regulator a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

The regulator may be ‘stronger and clearer’, but if it’s leaving teachers feeling like empty husks then the balance is still wrong, writes Andrew Faux Sometime in 2019, James Morley made a mistake. He joked about his sex life on social media. His pupils found the jokes. One referred to a student’s comment during a […]

The policy of MAT expansion needs careful scrutiny

If successive ministers can’t even agree on how to define a large MAT, there should definitely be more debate about their purpose and scope, writes Emma Knights At the beginning of this month, education secretary, Gavin Williamson said he and his department will be encouraging more schools to join multi academy trusts (MATs); this was […]