EdBlogs

If there's one thing that schools have plenty of, it's people. There aren't many jobs that require you to interact with so many people every day; in addition your pupils, there are parents, members of staff in your department, those in other subject areas and the wider school community. It can be tempting to stay in your classroom and soldier on wh...

"Frankly, I question your sanity going into teaching," a former boss said, in response to my request for a reference for my part-time PGCE application. I can't say I blame him. On my first day as teaching assistant (TA) at a local primary school (a job I have taken to complement my PGCE and bring in a little cash) I encountered two news reports abo...

In the current education debate, I believe assessment is unfairly judged. It is easy fodder for persecution because it is misunderstood and often carries negative connotations with students, teachers, parents and the administration. Part of the problem – and I'm not sure how it happened – is that many people have come to think of assessment and tes...

Spurred by perceived inefficiencies in centralised education systems, school choice has in the past decades gone from a mostly fringe academic theory to a mainstream policy option worldwide. The idea is that the expansion of choice – through, for example, open enrolment and private-school vouchers – will increase market incentives in the school sys...

Talking at a number of conferences recently I've suggested that we've got to stop reinventing the wheel and use research wisely. Research provides signposts towards what might work for us, based on what has worked elsewhere and to what extent. The following suggestion, improving attendance by using simple letters home with key information,&nbs...