A real honour to write the introduction to The Poetry World of John Agard from @otterbarrybooks.bsky.social I shared John’s poetry with many of the classes I taught over the years. The book is a beautiful collection of greatest hits, edited by @charliehacking.bsky.social

There was no time for speeches but for me, this work and the awards and recognition for it would not have been possible without the work of two incredible women in particular. Margaret Meek Spencer and Myra Barrs, who led the way on the power of texts and the connections between reading and writing.

About last night… Hugely grateful to The UKLA panels for this recognition of The Balancing Act & the Double Helix of Reading and Writing by Dominic Wyse and I. Being a member of the UKLA is hugely professionally nourishing and to be recognised by them in particular means so much.

"That’s what I want. For a child to hold their breath for a second. To feel something stir." The day after the winner of #CLiPPA2025 is announced, @charliehacking.bsky.social interviews 2020 winner, Zaro Weil about her new book, I HEAR THE TREES #Poetry #KidLitUK booksforkeeps.co.uk/article/the-...

Following the recent headlines from HarperCollins UK and now from the National Literacy Trust, here’s an article I wrote for Books for Keeps about the decline in Reading for Pleasure, the issues involved and what might be done about it: booksforkeeps.co.uk/article/read...

Target-rich environment, this speech. 1/n

If your business model doesn’t work without breaking the law, then you’re not in business. You’re in organized crime.

Looking forward to hearing the inimitable Dominic Wyse on Saturday June 28th 2.30pm at @uklitassociation.bsky.social International Conference in Liverpool! Not too late to buy a ticket! #thisismyukla

“The blame doesn’t sit at the door of parents…  It’s at the heart of the society that has been created with its ever-widening inequality gap.” The brilliant @charliehacking.bsky.social responds to the reading for pleasure decline in @booksforkeeps.bsky.social booksforkeeps.co.uk/article/read...

Long thread alert🧵 I’ve been sitting on thoughts about this, but feel a need to post after the all too predictable parent bashing comments in the underbelly of social media. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

Oof. This makes for grim reading and should be a huge wake up call on the need to rethink education, making it work for today’s children and teachers. Teaching should be one of the best jobs in the world, but too many things aren’t working for long term recruitment and retention.

Great launch @theclpe.bsky.social for new BEYOND THE SECRET GARDEN book. Congrats @darrenchetty.bsky.social & Karen Sands-O'Connor & illus Lucy Farfort. We're proud to publish their columns in #BfK & delighted they're available (+ more) as an @engmediacentre.bsky.social book tinyurl.com/24j7wccf

Brilliant critique of media reporting on literacy - by Dr. Mauren Aukerman, an internationally recognized scholar in the study of literacy education tinyurl.com/3cbvfksf @narscinyeg.bsky.social @charliehacking.bsky.social

👾LAUNCHING TODAY!!👾 “An invaluable resource.” @charliehacking.bsky.social / @theclpe.bsky.social “sparks the conversations we need to be having about the stories we tell and how we tell them” Jeffrey Boakye @darrenchetty.bsky.social @ksandsoconnor.bsky.social @engmediacentre.bsky.social

Really enjoying proof copy of the latest by Matt Goodfellow. Pacy, complex, gets the reader thinking. And it's about transition from primary to secondary - so must have school use! @charliehacking.bsky.social

How exciting this arrived today! I am getting stuck in straight away! Thanks @otterbarrybooks.bsky.social @mattgoodfellow.bsky.social yahoo! Can’t wait ! 😜 @mattcourtney.bsky.social @debrakidd.bsky.social @jonnybid.bsky.social @jonny-walker.bsky.social

Excellent, as always, from Megan Dixon. There are issues in education and they’re also inextricably linked to wider societal issues. It is indeed time to take stock and work out how to fix this. Children are at the centre of this.

🔊 Our 7th annual #ReflectingRealities report is out now! This year’s report shows a significant drop in the presence of racially minoritised characters in books published for children in 2023 in the UK.

New piece by @ksandsoconnor.bsky.social & I for @the-bookseller.bsky.social on today's #ReflectingRealities report by @theclpe.bsky.social

Wow, this is a (pardon the pun) novel approach…

Another day, and another wave of university redundancy news: today's universities shedding jobs are Leeds St Trinity and Loughborough. The wave of job losses is speeding up, and there's nothing left to say now really.

You know what would **really** disrupt the publishing industry? Fair contracts and decent pay for authors. No AI training without the creator’s consent. Artists and translators on the cover. No NDAs for ghostwriters.

This is concerning but sadly, unsurprising. @suttontrust.bsky.social do such vital work. With the economic climate as it has been, of course disadvantaged students stay closer to home, it’s financially crippling for them otherwise. And these subjects can be seen as an unaffordable luxury for many.

I think more and more we are seeing the 'evidence based' narrative used to push a specific ideological position. Ofsted are particularly guilty of this and indeed they have been picked up on for using research to justify things it doesn't actually say. #EduSky

Our CLPE School Membership just got even better 😍 Find out how you can support all teachers in your school to engage children in fantastic books, and improve their reading and writing with our lesson plans, curriculum maps, online CPD and more! 👉 clpe.org.uk/membership

The @theclpe.bsky.social also recently published a handbook for teachers which “teaches us and highlights how engagement with inclusive literature positively impacts school reading cultures and wider teaching and learning”. Deets here: clpe.org.uk/research/rep...

Mary Bousted is great for this, but I hope there’ll be conversation & collaboration with the curriculum & assessment review commission panel as these two things are intrinsically interlinked. Half the problem in education is too many things operating in isolation without looking at the big picture.

My Balancing Act co-writer Dominic Wyse has joined us here on Blue Sky; give him a follow here @domwyse.bsky.social. He’s a fount of knowledge and a thoroughly decent chap too!

Wish this got as much coverage as the landed gentry having to pay some tax ... Child poverty is at its highest ever level - but yeah let's interview whinging millionaire landowners about their 'hardship' ...

This was such a wonderful session. @rogmcdonald.bsky.social’s students are always so enthusiastic, reflective and engaged as we talk about the importance of poetry and walk through a range of poetry activities. Sessions that live in my memory and bring a smile as I think of these students in schools

I’ve been quiet on the subject of Ofsted recently, waiting for details to surface before commenting. So, we can see from TES and The Guardian that details have emerged about the ‘scorecard’ system set to replace the current inspection framework next September….

Here is a little article I wrote on play for BERA. #EarlyYearsSky #Play #PlayMatters #EYFS #EarlyYears

This lies at the heart of what Dominic Wyse and I have explored in a new model of teaching: The Double Helix of Reading and Writing shown here in a peer-reviewed paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... and explored in depth in our book, The Balancing Act: www.routledge.com/The-Balancin...

An excellent thread by my friend & ally in the tech accountability trenches @moonalice.bsky.social. Technology underpins it all.

Just saw this on the day I’m wearing this jumper. Schultz really did write some great letters…

Thank you to @debrakidd.bsky.social for this wonderful endorsement of The Balancing Act, which I had the pleasure of writing alongside Dominic Wyse. Copies available here at a greater discount than Am*zon: www.routledge.com/The-Balancin...

Rereading The Balancing Act by @charliehacking.bsky.social and Dominic Wyse and thinking that if I could only ever recommend one book to this government and then shut up forever, it would be this one. If you teach primary, read it.

An early morning thread about cognitive load! Some people say that the 'biologically primary and secondary' theory explains why young children seem to 'naturally' learn to walk and talk etc. and can manage the load themselves. The claim is that school work creates 'load' because it's not natural. 🧵

Absolutely this, loud and clear from @emmaturner75.bsky.social. This was at the heart of the binned 2009 curriculum review, but hope it will be taken note of in the current review. Thank you for writing this.

Teachers and school leaders, ensure your voices are heard in the curriculum and assessment review at CLPE’s The Future of Literacy half-day Conference on Thursday 14th November. With keynotes from Dominic Wyse, Iram Siraj & Cressida Cowell. Last places available here: clpe.org.uk/training/con...

I have to say, that in the short time I’ve been here on Bluesky, it feels so much better than the bad place… Let’s hope it lasts as am seriously considering getting rid of all social media otherwise.

And Kevan Collins is a man with a wealth of valid and valuable experience to know this. This is a conversation that needs to lie at the heart of a curriculum and assessment review, looking at how we reprofessionalise the profession to know and teach children, not schemes.