This sounds encouraging and I like the 5 principles to hold policymakers to account. Feels like we might be moving in the right direction - listening to young people's voices and understanding their diverse needs.

IMO the key issue is the current obsession on “reading fluency” and the strange linear developmental progression that is being pushed by the DFE and others (phonics, fluency and then RC). This does not have any basis in the research literature. It is quite possible that it is doing harm.

Unfortunately FFT have their new “test”. I imagine they would like it to become a standard test for schools to “prove” proficiency. Just for the record- there is NO causal evidence that teaching fluency helps with anything. Other than decoding words faster. And the correlational evidence is poor

NEW POST: ● Understanding isn't just knowledge (and how we can teach it) → christianmooreanderson.com/understandin...

I found out today that Newcastle will be the home for the new National Centre for Writing. Excellent news for the North East. If you know the city, it's right by the wonderful Lit & Phil building.

The National Literacy Trust’s Report On Engaging Children & Young People In Writing: Our Review And Implications For Teaching Writing 👇 writing4pleasure.com/2026/06/17/t...

Here’s a nice little way of encouraging children to use ‘show don’t tell’. When reading their stories with friends, they can look for opportunities to ‘prove it!’. In the process, they’ll start to use show don’t tell. 👇

Article in the Observer about the National Literacy Trust and my work as part of the Literacy Lab The University of Edinburgh 👇 observer.co.uk/style/featur...

Breaking the mould: A social mobility journey through the arts and humanities. Great article @englishassociation.bsky.social 'However, the opportunity to pursue a humanities postgraduate degree without guilt is invaluable.'

🧵 accent bias, social mobility & activism.

An interesting article for 2 reasons… 1. It does not mention fluency 2. It mentions everything we have been talking about to support comprehension, for years. I hate decodables, so it’s great to hear that they are “ok for a short time” But if you are a teacher, there isn’t really much to help

A mixed picture here for A level English. English Language up about 4% to just under 13,000 (🥳), Lang Lit up about 50 entries (👍🏼) but English Lit down about 6% (😕). Provisional entries for GCSE, AS and A level: summer 2026 exam series - GOV.UK share.google/eTtl8oWesOE2...

This… It would be great to see some large scale studies evaluating these products. The studies conducted in the USA of additional reading schemes, showed no impact on outcomes in reading comprehension. 🙄 bsky.app/profile/clar...

None of my outgoing GCSE English class are taking an academic route post-16 but there was a poignant moment last week when a student realised, with sadness, they'd never ever 'do Eng Lit' again & talk about books in a classroom. This shows the power of studying English Literature:)

While the DfE has done some good work developing CPD infrastructure around supporting teens with reading needs, I'd like to see it QA the costly, online, commercial reading platforms that are the new edufad in many sec schools. The claims made abt improving reading are seductive but not robust.

How does a student learn they have nothing to say? By reading for achievement. By sitting still. By facing the front. By being assessed. By learning that the teacher already knows the answer. By being right in the way you were told to be right. By being wrong in ways that are marked.

How does a student get something to say? By reading and playing and experimenting and talking and imagining and observing and questioning and listening. By being in the world. By feeling. By being wrong. By being right.

Lovely to see my 'Teaching English' article on Oracy in the new National Curriculum up on the @natecommunity.bsky.social website! www.nate.org.uk/2026/06/05/t...

Another incisive blog from @cmooreanderson.bsky.social arguing that 'Shared Principles and Emergent Resources' should underpin a department's approach to lesson prep & delivery, allowing teachers the freedom to be responsive to learning in the classroom.

Really useful publication for Teaching & Learning leaders on socially just oracy.

This! Have a read of our most recent Position Paper, ( they provide brief overviews of key issues in English Studies). This time the focus is on #linguisticjustice #injustice With huge thanks to our esteemed members : @iancushing.bsky.social and @clarefeeneyuk.bsky.social 💫

Have a read! We include 2 case studies of linguistic justice efforts with teachers and students.

Interesting paper which has implications for supporting literacy at secondary, esp around the usefulness of baseline writing assessments to complement reading assessments.

Interesting findings here about DLD and mental health. Bullying is the key factor. #DevLangDis

'Supporting the development of oracy' - Project Evaluation is here & makes for a fascinating read. Oracy strategies have an impact on participation, confidence, teaching & learning post-16 & in UG seminars. Excellent collaboration @voice21oracy.bsky.social ..1 www.ncl.ac.uk/library/in-t...

Lots to think about here. Excellent post from @cmooreanderson.bsky.social

Lovely article about a college that encourages creative writing via the EPQ. We've had some really successful creative projects over the years including film and play scripts. It really is a good opportunity for students who want to write & create.

I've written this piece for @natecommunity.bsky.social about accent prejudice based on some of the work done by @teachertapp.bsky.social last year and from discussions with ace linguists @dramandacole.bsky.social and @robdrummond.bsky.social

I've ordered a copy of this for our T&L library and am looking forward to reading it.

I haven’t written for @tesmagazine.bsky.social for a while, but a few new things are coming along, now… bsky.app/profile/tesm...

A good reminder of all the high quality CPD resources available for schools on how to support reading needs at secondary.

'Comparing the highest ranked area of East Ham (London) to the lowest ranked area of Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West (North East) shows a 30 percentage point gap in achievement of GCSE grade 5 in English and mathematics between FSM pupils in both areas.' V imp recs for action in the article.

Amazon has a global technical issue; my paperback is still stuck. But! The eBook & hardback are available. If you want to read beyond telling and retrieval get a copy: mybook.to/teachingmean... I'd really appreciate the support (and an honest review to help this calamitous launch).

If you are teaching in KS1/2/3 and want to think about supporting your students to understand how units of meaning (morphemes) work for reading and spelling, but are not sure how to do this… These resources, written by expert researchers, are very useful irrc.education.uiowa.edu/morpheme-lab...

IMO, as a nation, we need to value language learning and encourage students to love languages. Languages open doors to other worlds- culturally, socially and intellectually. Languages are an integral part of the world we live in and central to a broad and balanced curriculum.

… As an additional language. They are language super users. We live on an island, and our nearest trading partners speak different languages. English is a language that absorbs other languages. Learning languages can be hard, but amazing.

So, rather than having a broad and balanced educational offer for all students, we have an offer that represents the next accountability dream. In this case, it means a reduction in availability of languages. What an incredible shame. About a quarter of students in English use English….

Excellent 🧵

Talk is vital in the English classroom. Reading thrives on sharing ideas and opinions. Through discussion, we model how readers make meaning, tackle challenges, infer, decode vocabulary and think critically. The latest issue of Teaching English highlights why talk matters.

Again, exam boards are having to recruit ECTs to mark English GCSE papers as there aren't enough examiners (overriding original reqs for markers: a few years experience). This doesn't bode well. I think a marker needs to have taken a class through the course at least once. Here we go again.

Another very insightful blog from @cmooreanderson.bsky.social

Calling all English teachers...Have you made your A Level English students aware of this? They can only win if they know about it & are encouraged to enter! We'd love to see entries from all kinds of schools, and see what students can do under their own steam. Thank you for your help with this!

I have often worked with TAs who are far more knowledgeable and skilled than the teachers they work with. I have trained 1000s of TAs to deliver effective literacy interventions and support children with complex behavioural difficulties. They are the gold dust of the school staff.

Our Headteacher is retiring and we haven't appointed a replacement. Three other local high schools need new HTs for Sept. I don't know yet if they've managed to appoint. Few people seem to want the job. In fact, middle/senior leadership as a whole is not appealing to most. It's a worry.

Student work must not be fed into any gen AI that trains a llm. There are many legitimate reasons why, including the issue of intellectual property.

'In 2024 only 5 per cent of students across England and Wales studied a whole text by a female author at GCSE, while even fewer studied one by an author of colour.' Good article on the constraints around text choice. I'm not expecting the new curric will significantly alter this (p'haps poetry) 😔.

It does seem an unbelievable misjudgement about the role of books & libraries in young people's lives.

Apparently, yes, there is collaboration. Thank you to the person who sent a DM. Here's hoping for a revitalisation of English Language & Literature which will ignite young people's interest - passion? - for our subject.

Worrying.