NEW blog post: on the anatomy of great #classroom_explanations and the importance of #relationship jamesdurran.blog/2026/03/03/e...

NEW blog post: on the anatomy of great #classroom_explanations and the importance of #relationship jamesdurran.blog/2026/03/03/e...

How important is #relationship to teacher explanations? NEW blog post on the anatomy of great #classroom_explanations. jamesdurran.blog/2026/03/03/e...

How important is #relationship to teacher explanations? NEW blog post on the anatomy of great #classroom_explanations. jamesdurran.blog/2026/03/03/e...

This is an absolute banger. Sharing with mentors and trainees today! THANK YOU.

This is why children need phones on the way to and from school.

On #teaching_talk Developing pupils' talk doesn't have to be about special activities - it can (and should) be organic to everyday classroom teaching. As schools and teachers turn their attention to #oracy, I thought I'd repost this old blog post. jamesdurran.blog/2019/08/14/t...

On #teaching_talk Developing pupils' talk doesn't have to be about special activities - it can (and should) be organic to everyday classroom teaching. As schools and teachers turn their attention to #oracy, I thought I'd repost this old blog post. jamesdurran.blog/2019/08/14/t...

All my life, I've heard that first-past-the-post voting prevents giving influence to dangerous extremists. And now it seems like it might actually put them into actual power.

Thread.

Fascinating! This historical perspective should be part of the English curriculum. I was fine back to 1300. (At university, I had to read and translate much earlier, but it's faded!)

Supporting children’s early word writing writing4pleasure.com/2026/01/19/s...

NEW POST on teaching #writing and on planning for a 'dynamic' #writing_sequence. For #primary teachers (and secondary #English teachers too) reviewing how they teach writing, this graphic may (or may not!) be helpful. jamesdurran.blog/2026/02/18/t...

If a teacher (or a department, or a MAT) discovers that by getting all pupils to write, polish and remember by heart a single piece of creative writing and then practise adjusting it to fit any given title, they can get great results in English GCSE, are they 'teaching well'?

Whe I did GCSEs my media coursework was on the party political broadcasts of the BNP and the word ‘chav’ I learned loads about racism and class and it was closely aligned with A View FRom the Bridge- our modern text and Seamus Heaney’s poetry

NEW POST on teaching #writing and on planning for a 'dynamic' #writing_sequence. For #primary teachers (and secondary #English teachers too) reviewing how they teach writing, this graphic may (or may not!) be helpful. jamesdurran.blog/2026/02/18/t...

What an utter nightmare.

Please vaccinate. Measles kills. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

"You can't argue with those outcomes!" No, but I will definitely argue with the practice-distorting, discipline-eroding mode of assessment by which they're measured.

A great thread on learning and curriculum and SO, SO relevant to English too. Curriculum is about thinking and doing in the subject, growing through connections, and 'knowledge made, not given' (Harold Rosen).

Great thread. 👍

We have published some @engmediacentre.bsky.social linked think pieces on the new curriculum here: www.englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/emc-thi...

These are, of course, legitimate concerns for any teacher, regarding any development.

It feels ironic that those who, over the last decade, have pushed a single model of teaching and learning, often mandating it in all classrooms, are now worried that #oracy will be "imposed" on them, or will be "wrong for their subject".

So not really, then.

My view is it's causing substantial harm across the whole of society and, though it will always be easier to be inhuman from behind a keyboard than in person, fixing the bots and the algorithms is a much better long-term strategy than an age ban.

"An age ban for social medis is just like an age ban for smoking," say lots of people who don't smoke but do use social media. #A_bit_more_complicated

To many young users of social media, rhetorical comparisons with cigarettes are instantly ridiculous. They know that SM is about far, far more than addictive pleasure. Making the analogy therefore weakens the argument for age controls.

Interesting thread. Coincidentally, I just came across this advice for trainees/NQTs on 'managing defiance', which I wrote about 25 years ago. I think a lot of it still holds up. www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pcyeo...

I completely agree with this blog- this is unethical and very poor teaching. It is also encouraged by the Writing Framework (DFE, 2025) and schemes that schools buy into. It is just storing up trouble for children as they move through school. bsky.app/profile/writ...

The rise of ‘elaborate dictation’ and ‘writing-related simulations’ in English schools: Unethical writing teaching writing4pleasure.com/2025/07/16/t...

The early results from the one question we ask Primary School teachers here are absolutely fascinating. Comparing KS2 and KS3 teachers' responses is going to be such a BRILLIANT addition to our report! Please share the link below with Primary colleagues!

Thank you to all those primary teachers filling this in for us! If you are involved with KS2, we'd love to hear from you! Please share @ruthswailes.bsky.social @uklitassociation.bsky.social @teresacremin.bsky.social @writingrocks.bsky.social

Are you a KS2 teacher? We're adding an extra dimension to our survey of poetry at KS3 by asking some KS2 teachers to respond to one question. Please could you take 2 mins to click this link & answer the question? Huge thanks! www.surveymonkey.com/r/MapKS2Coll...

You know how annoying it is to be told "You're just sat there on your phone", when actually you're reading, replying to someone, looking something up, or something otherwise worthwhile? To many teenagers, the whole discourse around their phone & social media use feels like a big version of that.

Interestingly, in Australia, WhatsApp is one of the platforms NOT banned... 🤔

You know how annoying it is to be told "You're just sat there on your phone", when actually you're reading, replying to someone, looking something up, or something otherwise worthwhile? To many teenagers, the whole discourse around their phone & social media use feels like a big version of that.

This is correct. Also noted that the chosen curriculum drafters have been long-term DFE favourites, closely involved in the prior curriculum/ school developments, that have not been entirely successful. This was the opportunity for fresh thinking. bsky.app/profile/scho...

If you ask a group of teachers most will usually say they read for pleasure. Very few will say they write for pleasure. If teachers don’t perceive writing as something that might be done in leisure time, they will not assume children might do it. (This is more about KS2).

We talk a LOT about children's #reading at home and the school-parent partnership around it. Much less so #writing...

Yesterday, I talked with a mixed group of 6 boys from Yrs 3 and 4 about #writing. All write at home, for pleasure: adventure, action & murder-mystery stories, comics and 'transport poetry'. They all identified as writers. 5/6 had never told their teachers. 🤔

Teaching is about conveying knowledge. That's simple. But it is also about bringing pupils into a particular relationship with that knowledge. That's not so simple.

There are 3 ways we can improve provision at Key Stage 3. First, stop treating KS3 as a warm-up for 'serious' work at KS4. When we do that, we lower the intellectual bar, often without realising it. /1

Calling all English teachers. Do these two things. 1. Go to www.nate.org.uk. 2. Tap to share and add to home screen. You can now explore some of the best long-form writing about English teaching, optimised for seamless reading on your phone. #NATE

You heard them - do this!

My eldest had a slight language delay, and an immense love of Pingu, and at one point he invented a language that sounded a LOT like what happens in the show. To the delight of the speech and language therapist he was working with. (She once said “you can hear the verbs! just from his tone!”)

Some of the trending negativity re. accommodating #neurodivergence comes from an assumption that ND symptoms are an extension of what everyone experiences. They're not. The wiring is different. So what helps you to focus/regulate/be quiet/cope may just not work. Ditto 'high classroom expectations'!