EdBlogs

In schools we assume a lot we probably shouldn't. One of the most damaging of these assumptions is that disadvantaged children want the sort of lives their teachers have but just don't know how to get them. When children make it clear, through bad behaviour or lack of work, they don't want to get qualifications and have professional careers we attr...

​Getting 'the call' from Ofsted is rarely met with joy (to put it mildly), but it doesn't have to be a moment of panic for school governors. Last week we hosted #ukgovchat and asked the great school governor minds of Twitter for their advice and wisdom on how to (or whether to) prepare for an inspection. What Ofsted says: @EdCentral @HarfordSean wh...

Every year at BETT I play a little game: I go up to stalls and ask how they know whether their product makes a difference to what or how well children learn. In the past, I have been met with blank stares or told that "children just love it". This year was different, though: I was impressed by the number of companies that could talk about how resea...

In this week's EdExpert blog, Patrick Watson, director of the think tank The Centre for the Study of Market Reform of Education asks a straightforward question, but one without a straightforward answer: academies are here to stay, but have they genuinely succeeded in improving student outcomes? Patrick Watson, director of the think tank The Centre ...

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...