A big (and very welcome) announcement from government today on free school meal eligibilty, widening it to all children on families eligible for UC. A quick thread on these changes, and the remaining challenges 🧵 www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...

These are the kind of policies I want to see from a Labour government. This directly gives families the help they need and tackles child hunger. But will make a big difference in schools. Improving concentration and behaviour - factors which will have a direct impact on outcomes and life chances.

This is key to the debate. Knowledge is deeply disciplinary.

Continually depressing to me how there is no policy area where you don't have to keep litigating the same shit. Essentially every old wealthy country has tried both approaches and we KNOW that having a curriculum that focuses on knowledge, not 'the skills of the future' works better.

Part I of a new series of blogs looking at how we’re putting inclusion at the very heart of our school. This post describes the overall structure. researchschool.org.uk/greenshaw/ne...

'The inspectorate is caught between the political rock of a manifesto commitment and the psychometric hard place of inspection validity'

📊Pupil absence is a key, and growing, driver of the disadvantage gap. If disadvantaged pupils had the same level of absence as their peers, the gap at age 11 would be almost 1 month smaller, and at age 16, over 4 months smaller. In fact, absence fully explains the gap-widening at age 16 since 2019

The science of learning in practice - @carlhendrick.substack.com #ResearchEdBrum

“Teachers are curriculum makers…however, policy dev over the last 30 plus yrs have not necessarily resulted in sufficient focus on practice on this critical aspect of teachers’ professionalism” (Impact) Great wrk happening on curriculum, perhaps more needed to consolidate as key aspect of profession

Great starting point for considering factors in school improvement.

Really interesting thread on potential negative impact OFSTED framework could have on SLT collaboration 👇👇👇

Ofsted struggled to offer a fair, reliable and consistent single-word rating during a 2-day inspection, but seems to think it can judge multiple complex areas in the same timeframe, piling more unnecessary pressure on school leaders and their staff. 🔗 bit.ly/3WJrux4

Interesting read for any school leaders in process on introducing T Levels.

Great day at #PiXL Pleasure to share the work we have done on improving outcomes for high prior attainers. Thanks to everyone who attended the session!

Had discussion this week on the value of History in the curriculum. It is exactly because we are in a period of change that History will be as valuable as ever. Just because we are getting more technologically advanced doesn’t mean STEM is all that matters. And in ‘post-truth’ world it will be key.

This is why you don't design curricula around "jobs of the future". We can't predict the future but we do know what general skills and knowledge will be valuable whatever job you do.

We have written to the SoS Education in support of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We have summarised it here in a letter to The Times and the included in an article.

It’s Wednesday afternoon. So that means staff briefing and our weekly Tips of the Week. This week was all about Brightening the Lines. Some quick and easy tips to implement. 1. Display a countdown timer 2. Narrate timing reminder 3. Use a consistent signal to start. #EduSky

Been thinking a lot about what makes effective subject teams, from a disciplinary perspective. I.e. What is it that makes an effective Science team different from an effective History team? There is obviously subject knowledge. But I think there is more to it. Curious on thoughts from others!

Really enjoying this thread! Lots of good ideas and some good honest discussion about what works and what might not. Imo important for bluesky to be somewhere between "oh isn't that a lovely idea" and "you're literally a nazi for doing that in class"

"Team rituals" are regular activities/practices, eg huddles, team lunches, check-ins, celebrations. New research shows teams with more rituals have more engagement, psychological safety, knowledge & job satisfaction, leading to higher productivity/performance: lnkd.in/eXNNvP-G Art: lnkd.in/e_XmBeg9

Final countdown to GCSE exams. 🚨🚨🚨 Here are some of the key things we will be doing to support Year 11 this term: 🧵

The impact of the “PowerPoint-ification” of teaching is even more notable in subjects like history, geography or psychology. Reading actual texts survives in English, but in many other subjects there are plenty who don’t see point in reading when you could stick a few bullets on a slide.

Learning is fascinating. Our subjects are fascinating. I think people were duped into thinking that wasn't the case, and the balance tipped the wrong way for a bit.

NEW POST: Marginal gains for Year 11 It’s the final push with Year 11. Here are my 8 marginal gains for teachers and school leaders to be doing this term. aleaderslibrary.wordpress.com/2025/01/18/m...

It’s the final stretch to exams. And I know lots of teachers will be thinking about how to get students revising. Here are three practical steps! #EduSky aleaderslibrary.wordpress.com/2024/05/05/d...

1/ 📚 Looking for insights into school leadership? Here’s a thread featuring some of our most popular blogs on HeadteacherChat, packed with advice, guidance, and inspiration for school leaders! 🧵

Taken over line management of Science this term. Been reading @adamboxereducation.bsky.social Teach Secondary Science in preparation. Great book! Full of useful insights, not just for Science teaching.

Great post from @greeborunner.bsky.social on lesson observations. I this this is spot on. “Classrooms can be lonely places and many of our decisions can happen alone. Talking about what we do should not mean an end to teacher autonomy, but build on it.”

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Increasingly schools are codifying how they see great teaching. We did this by designing a Blueprint, allowing us to align teaching practice and sequence professional development like a curriculum. Here is a summary of how we did it: 🧵 #EduSky #EdLeadership

NEW BLOG POST: Designing a blueprint for teaching A teaching framework isn’t just a guide - it’s culture. Our Blueprint aligns teaching, embeds research, and evolves with our school needs. #EduSky #EdLeadership aleaderslibrary.wordpress.com/2025/01/11/d...

Hard disagree with this. I get its sentiment and on a surface level it makes sense, but I feel there are three things that it ignores which are important things in most schools and especially those working in challenging areas. I will try to explain 1/10

Instead, we should make learning purposeful, focused, empowering, challenging, enabling… & by working hard at it discover that it is also fun, that there is joy in a row of ticks, in understanding something difficult, solving a problem that eluded you, creating something new, developing an argument

I don't think this new study will surprise anyone who has any knowledge of research into lesson observation. It provides more evidence that observation frequently fails to clear the reliability hurdle, let alone validity. Ofsted should take note before introducing a discrete grade for teaching.

100%! We have started working with teachers on how clarifying the means of participation can help to increase the thinking and participation ratio.

Very few people have the self-discipline to generate an active enough internal narrative to optimize learning. The teacher has to cause it to happen, and cause it to happen for all students in the classroom. If we don't do that, we're not doing our job.

Why Means of Participation are so important, a tiny 🧵 First what are Means of Participation? They are intentionally installed routines for the common ways students will be expected to answer questions in class. Usually:

For me it comes back to the evidence of the need to change. Until there is a really clear understanding of the 'why', staff are unlikely to be positive and reflective about the chance to change and this could undermine future change in other areas too. Could be seen as 'this is what I want'......

Modelling being critical of ourselves and taking feedback to help to show this is 'safe'. As I've said elsewhere tonight, building on strengths. Collaborative efforts to depersonalise

Great blog: “Candour and honesty are important, and ultimately I am of the belief that teaching is a profession that could do with a bit more honesty – keep it professional and collegiate to be sure – but we owe it to each other and to our students to be honest.”

Hello Bluesky 👋 *New blog post* This one is on school leadership, accountability, and the wider system. Attractive ambiguities: has our system created accountability sinks outside schools? birminghamteacher.wordpress.com/2024/12/01/a...

We discussed ratio this week in our professional development session. Focusing on what high thinking and participation ratio looks like. Created this diagram to illustrate the concept (terms used are borrowed from somewhere else). May be of use to others.

Wow wow Christine carefully explained what is meant by disciplinary knowledge and how experts renew our knowledge of that subject through practice. Thank you @counsellc.bsky.social @haringeyeduc.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.bsky.social #curriculum

Very useful read for school leaders. Particularly useful takeaway: ‘Keep a weekly learning log that pulls the core themes together and then after the first half term, write staff a summary paper that you present in a staff meeting to play back to them their main findings.’

Rding about idea of ATTENTION CONTAGION today. This is the idea that attentive behaviour spread in the classrm. In a 2021 study of undergrads it was observed in experiments that were students sat with inattentive peers they were less attentive themselves and scored worse on their post-lecture quiz.

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Techniques matter. PD sessions where teachers practice using new strategies, with clear modeling and deliberate practice, have had the biggest impact in my school. Teachers need to leave with tools, not just theory.

High prior attainers (HPAs) often underachieve in schools where they’re in the minority. I’ve worked on this challenge in several leadership roles, improving HPA outcomes. Here is what I have learnt: 🧵

Reflecting this week on our professional development program. Motivating staff to change practice requires more than instructions; it’s about setting shared goals, providing credible strategies, and offering regular feedback. Without motivation, even the best ideas fall flat.