EdBlogs

Stephen Tierney is the executive director of the Blessed Edward Bamber Catholic Multi Academy Trust (or BEBCMAT). The trust, based in Blackpool, comprises of three academies – two primaries Christ the King and St. Cuthbert's, and one secondary St. Mary's. A regular and popular speaker at education conferences, Stephen has a brilliant reputation as ...

What is he known for? Expertise in educational assessment and testing policy. His research focuses on the effects of high-stakes testing, including score inflation, changes to classroom practice, the impact on pupils with special educational needs and international differences in pupil achievement. He is curr...

Research from the National Literacy Trust has found that young people who enjoy writing very much are seven times more likely to write above the level expected for their age, compared with those who do not enjoy writing at all. But enjoying writing isn't merely a matter of ability. The subject matter can makes all the difference – which is where co...

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...

Any discussion among teachers about good practice will get around, at some point, to learning outcomes. Conversation will often turn to Bloom's Taxonomy and the attendant verbs connected to the "lower" and "higher" order "thinking skills". And then someone will raise the idea of SMART targets, which, in conjunction with Bloom's, enable us to develo...