Speaking at my first TDaPE conf on March 28th, with a talk on maximising the potential of staff meetings 🧠 If you're a primary teacher or leader in the north west I highly recommend coming along! 🗾 Sutton Manor Community Primary, St Helens ⌚ 08:30-14:00 Tckts: www.eventbrite.com/e/the-thinki...

🧠 ResearchEd National this Saturday! My session is straight after lunch in Room M07: 🎓 14.00-14.40 | Session 5: Consistency Is Killing Us: Reclaiming teacher professionalism and agency through PD at scale Leaders, teacher educators, professional development leads and mentors - see you there!

🧠 ResearchEd National this Saturday! My session is straight after lunch in Room M07: 🎓 14.00-14.40 | Session 5: Consistency Is Killing Us: Reclaiming teacher professionalism and agency through PD at scale Leaders, teacher educators, professional development leads and mentors - see you there!

Am I the only one who's looked back at the title for their upcoming ResearchEd National talk and thought "oh cool, that session sounds interesting... I wonder what it's going to be about!" 😅

EdFest Session 4: Professional learning and teacher agency to improve recruitment and retention panel NFER’s @jackworth.bsky.social: - UK teachers rate CPD experiences as area they have lowest degree of influence over. - PD experiences are v.closely associated with teacher retention (or lack of)…!

EdFest Session 3: Formative Action with René Kneyber @rkneyber.bsky.social and Valentina Devid @valentinadevid.bsky.social Intro - formative action is another way of talking about formative assessment! #EducationFestival

EdFest Session 2: Sarah McAneny-Vincent and Scott Doyle from Spencer Academies Trust on inclusion-by-design. Starting off by setting out their aspiration - to live the slogan of “Once Derby Moor, always Derby Moor” for all children in the care of the school. #EducationFestival

EdFest Session 1: @bradleybusch.bsky.social introducing Hick’s Law, where the greater the number of options we have, the longer it takes us to make a decision. Conclusion? Too much freedom and autonomy can be overwhelming - particularly when we need to make choices that are a) quick and b) complex

This an important read 👇 Bold yet balanced pushes to challenge government to lead this work, with a real emphasis on a) increasing the choice schools have in PD providers, but also b) emphasising the role of capacity building for schools and trusts to develop their own, well-contextualised PD offer.

If you haven't got a water meter definitely check if it could be cheaper. This calc is free: www.ccw.org.uk/save-money-a... - for me (single occ) I'll save 100s vs. rateable charge. Plus they should offer you a year trial to compare. ☑️ Penny-pinching with Pointer (could usurp Martin, who knows...)

Question: do many UK state schools still use performance related pay? Or have most rolled this back to automatic ladder upgrades?

Our next #InspiringSW conference is on 17 May - will you be joining us in Cornwall to learn more about AI in education?

Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau must the most spine-tingling national anthem, no? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

I've just discovered that vets tell you to brush your cat's (or cats'...) teeth. This is bonkers, no?? I now feel I need to hear how this actually goes down in practice from some pet owners 😅

We want to say a huge thanks to everyone who joined us for #InspiringSW today, to the amazing CELT team who organised the conference and to our inspirational speakers @jonhutchinson.bsky.social, @nickpointer.bsky.social, @moremorrow.bsky.social, @lucygambier.bsky.social & @dougobrien.bsky.social 🙏

Stunning day in Cornwall for Inspiring the South West curriculum conference! Thanks to @celtacademies.bsky.social and @moremorrow.bsky.social for having me - this is such an exciting time for schools in the SW - really pleased to be here to talk about the curriculum and CPD. #InspiringSW

Such a pleasure to co-facilitate "Implementing CPD so it Sticks" with @singhamarbeerg.bsky.social. A great group who had some fab discussions about teacher professional development that's both impactful and sustainable. My first time working with @innerdrive.bsky.social - thanks for having me! 🤓

We're excited to announce that @nickpointer.bsky.social will be speaking at the Inspiring the South West conference on 1 March. Nick is leading 'Professional development and the curriculum', drawing on his expertise of school improvement and the power of PD Tickets: https://buff.ly/49KBjjJ #EduSky

It was a pleasure to deliver a session on "Implementing CPD so it sticks" for @innerdrive.bsky.social alongside @nickpointer.bsky.social. Great reflections and feedback from attendees, grappling with the knotty challenge of what effective and sustainable CPD looks like and how can we implement it.

Right. Back on socials. Looked at the other place (reluctantly) - increasingly unsure about the Musk-machine anymore, I have to say... and Linkedin is a weird place. So it feels like this is the new place for edu-discourse - right or wrong??

Great piece by my colleague Steve in @schoolsweek.bsky.social about our recent exploration of the evidence base for how we might foster pupils' sense of belonging, motivation and engagement in schooling - definitely worth a read!

Big day 🎉 Pleased to finally share "Achieve and thrive: a research-based guide to pupil motivation and engagement". It explores how teachers & leaders might apply the latest research into pupil motivation and engagement in practice - let us know what you think! www.ambition.org.uk/pupil-engage...

In some areas of education I completely agree with the risks & downsides of a deficit mindset (SEND provision, for instance). In other areas (e.g. school improvement/teacher development), I think in some quarters there is an allergy to admitting that we might be able to improve on what we’re doing.

Brooding post-Darragh sunset in the south-west. Not a bad view to be marking assignments to…

Pupil engagement and belonging in schools – a thread and exciting opportunity... Do you feel like something is missing from your pupils' experience of school? You're not alone. 🧵

Pupil engagement and belonging in schools – a thread and exciting opportunity... Do you feel like something is missing from your pupils' experience of school? You're not alone. 🧵

New post just out: "Kemi Badenoch's Misdiagnosis" Why her take on autism is wrong and why it really matters in fixing one of the biggest policy problems around: the crisis in special educational needs. (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/k...

Devastated. On one of the best train journeys on the south coast (Paddington to Penzance) and have failed to sit on the correct side of the carriage - next to the window by the water, so close it feels like the train is skimming over it. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

Ok. Blooming excited. After months of planning I'm pleased to say we are recruiting for a pilot cohort for a *very cool* new PD course for school leaders. The focus? Building pupil engagement and sense of belonging. Full info on the link below/DM me for a chat! www.ambition.org.uk/programmes/b...

A brief thread on something that happened today that reinforced why I’m so bearish about AI (though it seems even being tentative/moderate in your outlook is bearish 🙄) From a list of day & time slot availabilities that 20+ people sent me, my task was to organise them into groups. 🧵

The problem with using plans you made before is they were planned for different classes and by a different person.

As one who puts a fair bit of emphasis on google reviews for places to eat and drink (perhaps too much?), I don’t love it when companies try to manipulate or pressure customers into giving 5-star reviews… This particular angle is a new one to me - adding a guilt trip into the mix! Dislike.

Massively looking forward to speaking alongside this absolutely amazing line-up next month - tickets till available!! eventbrite.com/e/researched...

Cannae wait for the big return of ResearchEd Surrey - and my first time speaking at the event! This is going to be a brilliant day… having seen the people lined-up to speak it will also be absolutely rammed full of both high quality thinking and practical tips! See you there 🤓 #rEDSurrey24

After a stellar rED National, Sarah Cottinghatt & @neilgilbride.bsky.social - plus @head-teach.bsky.social’s recent blogs - have got me thinking… We want to maximise teacher professionalism- but how? Are calls for increased teacher autonomy misplaced; should we instead be focusing on their agency 🤔