EdBlogs

Welcome to EdBlogs, where you'll find education insights, analysis and stories from the frontline. If you've got a story to tell, send it over to ed@edcentral.uk and if we think it's relevant to our network we'll publish it :-)

Teachers, stop using collective punishment – it makes you look weak and lazy

I have given up on collective punishment. Don't get me wrong, I have been that teacher. It was many years ago, but I can still feel the sheer desperation and the feeling of vindictive hatred towards the pupils who had wrecked my well-intended, well-planned lesson. Eventually, I realised it was wrong – or perhaps I got better at managing my classes ...
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Take it from an IT manager, schools are being flogged tech that they don't need

I get an average of 15 people a week phoning me up to sell me something. I'm an IT manager, so in many ways it is no surprise: from salespeople and trainers, to course organisers and seminar sellers – you name it, they have something my school couldn't function without. They often use underhand tactics to get through reception, my favourites being:...
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Schools thrive with order, discipline and the eccentric teachers who do things differently

"Let down your buckets!" Mr Wilkes shouts at window-shaking volume. It's 1993 or 1994 and I am in my earth science class, a subject I think would be called geography today. Mr Wilkes paces the front of the room, red-faced and miming semaphore. "The becalmed ship flagged back its reply. We need fresh water! We need to drink!" We all lean forward, th...
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SATs or autism won't shape my son's life

I have a son who's 11 and has been doing his SATs this week. He's a bright little boy and he also has autism. He's got a sense of logic that would give Mr Spock a run for his money, combined with a social detachment which leaves him unable to understand why he needs to (in his words) "do yet another stupid maths paper, which will be exactly the sam...
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My advice for teachers thinking about moving from secondary to primary? Make sure you like slime

My varied teaching career so far has seen me teach two- and three-year-olds in a bilingual nursery setting, and secondary English and humanities in an international school. This latter placement was what I really enjoyed doing, and where I spent the majority of my career so far. Despite imperfections with the school (and no school is perfect), I re...
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