EdBlogs

It was finally happening. It took me a while (two years) to get there, but I now had the bit between my teeth and I was determined to get to the bottom of why disadvantaged pupils weren't making as much progress as their more advantaged peers. I also had some say for once – as a new chair of committee, I could finally make sure issues were properly...

Progress in neuroscience is rapidly influencing the way we think about teaching and learning. Cognitive scientists and behavioural psychologists now claim to have a better understanding – based on new empirical evidence – of how our minds and memories work, how and why we make decisions and how we learn. Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary fi...

If there is a holy grail in education, then it is probably to improve the education outcomes of our most disadvantaged pupils and narrow the performance gap between them and their peers. It has certainly been a key objective of successive governments. To tackle the long tail of under-achievement, the Coalition government introduced the Pupil Premiu...

It's the joke answer to that difficult job interview question: "My biggest weakness is that I'm a perfectionist." But the reality of perfectionism isn't funny, with massive stress caused by unrealistic expectations. When you start any new job – but particularly one as all-encompassing as teaching – it is natural to want to hold yourself to a high s...

I was horrified by Donald Trump's claim that pets are being eaten in Ohio. And mighty relieved when this was shown to be untrue. Yes, fact-checking is of great value in identifying statements that are either misleading or downright false, especially when made with such conviction by those in authority. So here are some fact-checks relating to OCR's...