teacher training | Schools Week

Why pupils must feel connected to their learning

We must close the achievement gap” is a familiar phrase among today’s educators and politicians, reflecting the international focus on how students, schools, and nations perform on standardised tests. To narrow the achievement gap we must first understand the achievement gap is a symptom of a much greater challenge – the participation gap. Students can […]

Teaching is more than delivering the curriculum

Children do not become educated through the learning of facts; they need to absorb and own the value of what they are taught Sorting out my books, yet again, I came across the 2009 Nuffield report on education and training for 14 to 19-year-olds, Education for All. I had a very small hand its production, […]

Have yourself a mellow little Christmas – by not taking marking home

The Christmas break is not a time to catch up on school tasks; leave them all at the school gates and give yourself some free time to relax The one thing that all teachers would agree on is that having to take your holidays to fit with the academic year can be a curse. The […]

There will be 1 million more pupils by 2024 – but here’s why we won’t have enough teachers

As pupil numbers rise, schools say they are perilously short of teachers – Kevin Courtney explains why. Much is made, quite rightly about maintaining a world class education system in this country. Essential to achieving this is a motivated well-paid teaching profession. Yet teacher recruitment and retention are both at dangerously low levels with many […]

The overriding strength of the Cambridge history PGCE

Last week the Cambridge history PGCE almost disappeared in a puff of neo-liberal neglect. Its stay of execution is welcome: teacher training needs such a model of excellence, rigour, curriculum, mentoring and reading lists. he National College for Teaching and Leadership-imposed cap on university PGCE places kicked in before Cambridge had the chance to interview […]

Teacher recruitment could turn from a serious problem into a crisis

The government risks making a bad recruitment situation worse through its reforms to teacher education. Under its “school-led” policy, the infrastructure is becoming increasingly fragmented, undermining long established, and often genuinely schools-led, training partnerships On December 9, the education select committee will take oral evidence as part of its inquiry into teacher supply. The witnesses, […]

Whose knowledge is it anyway

We are entering an era of knowledge-porn. But while children need certain knowledge to take part in the “cultural conversation”, they also must be handed a way in to culture, and the ability to challenge it. This cannot be done with draconian authority, under-skilled teachers and cookie-cutter curriculums The introduction of a core knowledge curriculum […]

Why ‘Tired Teachers’ Might Hold The Clue To The Teacher Shortage

During an event at the RSA, editor Laura McInerney revealed for the first time the paper’s investigations into ‘Tired Teachers’ Over the summer our newsroom had one mission: to find out why everyone in schools said there was a teacher shortage yet government stats didn’t agree. We published our first deep investigations back in […]