EdBlogs

​He was a kid I'd barely noticed. I'd been teaching the class for just a few weeks and, as is always the case, certain heads had raised themselves above the parapet: the defaulters, the jokers, the forgetful and the attention-seekers. But this lad had been quietly going about his own business. He always gets the work done; he rarely forgets to...

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...

I am a big believer in using researched and proven learning strategies to improve retention of classroom material. I have applied strategies in my high school advanced placement psychology classes and have seen notable improvements in test scores, study habits and students' understanding of their learning. Improvement in test scores is importa...

This week I did something that I probably wasn't supposed to: I looked up some of my old students on Facebook. I would never add students or chat with them on social media – despite requests popping up all over the place – but in a moment of procrastination, curiosity got the better of me. So I took a look. I left that school (my first) three years...

Where does he work? Goldacre is currently a senior clinical research fellow at the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine in the Department of Primary Care in the University of Oxford. He is also a bestselling author, broadcaster, campaigner and medical doctor who specialises in unpicking the misuse of science and statistics by journalists, politicians...