Optimism: it's all about whether the glass half full or half empty, right? Wrong. It turns out that most people have the wrong idea of optimism. So what exactly is it? How important is it? And, most crucially, can you learn to be optimistic? Let's start with a quick test. You can choose only one answer per question. 1) You get lost driving to a fri...

Student wellbeing is top of the list priority list for many teachers at the moment. Issues, such as stress, anxiety, depression, fear of failure and perfectionism, are having a chilling effect on students of all ages. NHS data shows that there has been a 68% rise in hospital admissions for self-harm among girls under 17 in the last decade. Els...

When it comes to introducing competition into your classroom, opinion is both fierce and divided. Is a little healthy rivalry useful for motivation? Or should students focus solely on their own achievements? Psychologist Bradley Busch and teacher Dave Marsham discuss the science and practicality of this controversial topic. "It can motivate and ins...

Not all revision techniques are equal: one of the most effective methods is retrieval practice, also known as the testing effect. Retrieval practice refers to any activity that forces you to generate an answer to a question. It has consistently been proven to help students improve retention and recall (and subsequently exam performance). So, h...

Why do some people learn at a faster rate than others? Answering this question has been researcher K. Anders Ericsson's life work. He has studied expert performers in various walks of life, including chess, music, sport and business. He found that experts in these very different areas shared one thing in common: they didn't just work hard, they wor...