JL Dutaut | Schools Week

Back on track. Fewer things, greater depth by Mary Myatt

Sarah Watkins finds a thought-provoking book that pleasingly follows its own advice, sometimes to its own detriment I’ve always felt like there is just too much stuff involved in the process of teaching and learning. I have always been the person to question it. Is there a point to this? How does this help move […]

Profile: Eleanor Harrison, CEO, Impetus

Schools Week meets Eleanor Harrison, the new CEO of Impetus, whose approach could well model a whole new way to do education policy When you’re working with young people who have different vulnerable circumstances, it’s not okay to be average.” In normal times and from someone else (Imagine Michael Wilshaw saying these words, for example), […]

The Chartered College of Teaching keeps 175 years of tradition alive

In the face of political and social upheavals, the teaching profession needs the Chartered College more than ever, writes Richard Willis Writing in 2019, I was critical of the work the Chartered College of Teaching had set out to pursue. I argued that teachers were wrong to continue to strive for a nebulous professional utopia. […]

Anti-racist dogma shouldn’t replace real curriculum thinking

A perfect storm of competing pressures threatens to shortcut critical thinking about curriculum, writes Alka Sehgal Cuthbert For some, Ofsted’s emphasis on a knowledge-rich curriculum for all students has represented a welcome change from filling in content to fit schemas of generic skills. For many, and especially for leaders tasked with previously unimaginable levels of […]

Catch-up: follow Barrow’s lead on summer provision

It’s possible to deliver summer catch-up without burning out the teaching workforce. We’ve been doing it for years, writes John Woodcock Exhausted teachers could be forgiven for not whooping with joy at the prospect of giving up their summer for the catch-up tuition programme announced by education secretary Gavin Williamson last week. Between adapting to […]

Reopening: Managing teachers’ reasonable objections

Jenny Arrowsmith sets out what school leaders need to know to properly manage staff’s reasonable concerns about returning next week There are many reasons why staff may be reluctant to return to work in the midst of the pandemic, or reluctant to wear a face covering. But for school leaders, taking a hard line in […]

Research: How to ensure more disadvantaged students succeed

Rebecca Wheater looks at a new PISA 2018 analysis that sheds light on the conditions for disadvantaged pupil’s academic success Recent national and international evidence has shown that the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the negative impact of disadvantage on educational success. Understanding how to mitigate this is therefore vital to ensuring an equitable recovery for […]

Making meaning in English by David Didau

Gwen Nelson finds a book with a lot of common sense that will be particularly valuable to early-career English teachers How do you corral English, a core academic subject with a vast knowledge base, into a 350-page guide, or manifesto, for its teachers? If we want to teach “the best which has been thought and […]

Jon Hutchinson’s blogs of the week, 28 February 2021

A masterclass in timelines, asking better questions, coaching novices and experts, online learning and teacher-assessed grades are the themes of this week’s top blogs, chosen by Jon Hutchinson A purposeful timeline display in and across Key Stage 2 @Mr_S_Tiffany Last year I oversaw the primary history curriculum for Oak National Academy. I needed all […]