EdBlogs

It's well-known that there's a timebomb in teaching right now – the sector is struggling with both recruitment and retention, while the population of pupils keeps increasing. And yet, many experienced older teachers, particularly women, feel that they are being performance managed out of their jobs, to be replaced by younger, cheaper staff. Those w...

We were delivering a CPD session for teachers recently, and a storm started as we were leaving. While we were waiting for the rain to pass, one of the teachers commented that her students had a curious relationship with umbrellas. She noted that Year 7 students used them, as did sixth-form students, but those in the inbetween years often refused. W...

"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...

"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...

Common sense suggests, scientific research tells you, and Pisa proves it; what makes the biggest difference to student outcomes is the teacher in front of the class. That means if you really want to improve the school system, you need to focus on teacher training and professional development. Teachers need the core knowledge to plan, deve...