If AI is being used extensively in office jobs, then should we be letting students use AI in the classroom? No - here's why. With reference to 3 papers that show what you do in a job isn't the template for what you do in the classroom. substack.nomoremarking.com/p/education-...

The people who think students will find a curriculum based on workplace training more engaging should go into schools and deliver a drop-down day, leading sessions on writing an application, interview skills etc.

*Of course* school prepares children for their futures, but not by being a mini workplace. It’s by giving them a breadth of foundational knowledge and experience across the big, enduring disciplines and human pursuits. The kinds of things they won’t get chance to learn about or experience at work.

After Virtue one of the books that most influenced my thinking on teaching.

Thrilled to be receivin first copies a real team effort by so many great history teachers and educators @victoriacrooks.bsky.social @lauralondo1017.bsky.social @paulalobo.bsky.social @danlyndon.bsky.social @mrmayhew.bsky.social @michaelfordham.bsky.social Dedicated to the great Helen Snelson

Just in case anyone else is looking for recommendations for books to read to young children.

5 different emails from recruitment agencies today, offering me ECTs - PLEASE don’t come via agencies, just come and drop in - we welcome visitors. We aren’t the polished, slick school yet but we’re great to work for, full of heart and keen to get better. I won’t waste public money on finders fees!

New blog! ‘The Teachers’ knowledge that has no name’. What should we call this knowledge? heatherfblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/23/t... With special thanks to @michaelfordham.bsky.social

We are entering a critical 5th year. Our first year of GCSEs for our founding cohort. We are hiring across all depts as we look to scale up and expand our work. Check us out! arksoane.org/jobs/vacancies

"“Leaders continually monitor the progress of their pupil premium strategy and make helpful and proactive adaptations, as appropriate" Define 'continually'. Annually? Monthly? Weekly? Daily? Hourly? Or should we take that literally? "Can you watch the PP strategy for me? I'm busting for a wee!"

I strode confidently into this thinking that I was a well-versed decipherer of edu-mumbo-jumbo but I scored just 2/5. The Ofsted reforms really are comically bad.

Well done to Schools Week for digging in to what might look like a technical issue, but in reality will be what makes this framework fall apart.

These are the examples that Ofsted need to be bombarded with over the consultation. Anyone with half an ounce of sense will see that it is a nonsense that one of these is better than the other.

Which is better? "Teachers have the expertise and knowledge to make well-judged adaptations to overcome barriers to learning" OR "Appropriate and well-judged adaptations help pupils to overcome the most significant barriers to learning"

I recently said that the current Ofsted framework is the most intellectually rigorous one we’ve had and several people disagreed, but looking at what’s come out today I’m all the more convinced that it’s true. You don’t have to like it, but it’s intelligent. The new one? Don’t know where to start.

We're gonna need a Bigger Listen.

Final thought on Ofsted for now: the section on Developing Teaching is predictably a dog's breakfast. I can't even work out what it's about. More importantly, it will have dire consequences in schools.

Already amusing myself with the "guess which of the descriptors is meant to be better" game for the new Ofsted toolkits.

The idea you need more subject knowledge to teach children who find learning easier just isn't true. To prioritise the most important material for those who find it harder teachers usually need to know the content even better.

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.

A few years ago it was pointed out you ‘can’t see learning’, yet now we see videos of performative class teaching as if we can now see learning… it’s still the case that we can’t… so proxies for learning now are…?

Took students this evening to see Jacob Collier with the Britten Sinfonia. Quite a remarkable eclectic performance.

Sure, there's still lots of nonsense out there, but my opinion is that we are living in an education golden age. Exciting and evidence based approaches to T&L, groundbreaking resourcing, innovative approaches to CPD. What more could you want? We are blessed.

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.

"PowerPoint slides have been used to erase more complex reading from textbooks or worksheets in many subjects." Alex is spot on here. @michaeldoron.bsky.social and his team expertly tackle this. PPs images only, pupils read challenging texts

Although I sometimes have a pop at the 16th century, I think it worth pointing out that there is no such thing as a “dull” or “irrelevant” topic on a curriculum. Whether it is seen as such is entirely dependent on its relationship to the rest of the curriculum and how teachers join the dots.

History teachers! The part-time MSc in Learning and Teaching at the University of Oxford offers history-specific strands. Applications are now open for 2025. Scholarships available; apply before March to be eligible. Find out more at bit.ly/OxfordMLT or let me know if you have any questions.

HISTORY TEACHER ROLE! Our pupils love History at Ark Soane – from Year 7 all the way up to our first Year 10 cohort, 80% of whom do History GCSE. We’re expanding and looking for another History teacher to join us next September. Could this be you? Details below! 🙂

The line up for this conference is amazing - get those last remaining tickets before they are gone!

Although it had its downsides, eduTwitter brought the profession together in a remarkable way, particularly to challenge and shape national policy decisions. Ofsted lesson grading is a good example. A lot of nonsense from the 2000s was put to bed because of Twitter. BlueSky needs to serve same role.

A dimension often missed in the discussion around whether children should enjoy lessons is that there are 30 in a class. Not everything appeals to everyone. A lot of top-level education discussions see schooling as individual, but it’s not: it’s collective.

Possibly one of the greatest museum exhibits ever: a full Roman auxiliary cohort in Playmobil

Just re-reading this by Tim Oates and I would encourage others interested in reforming our current system to do the same.

Getting frustrated with all the question begging about changing schools to improve children's mental health and attendance. It isn't at all clear schools are the problem. As people are so fond of pointing out they haven't changed that much. Stop taking the blame for stuff that isn't our fault!

Currently sat on a German train and fully recommend train travel in Europe over flying. I haven’t flown since 2017 and have done numerous trips to south of Germany and France by train, with babies/toddlers/children throughout that time.

Thought for the day... "For every extra minute of screen time, the three-year-olds in the study were hearing seven fewer words, speaking five fewer words themselves and engaging in one less conversation.” jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

This.

Oh yes. bennewmark.wordpress.com/2020/06/22/j...

Sometimes you need just the right prompt to think about things the right way and Michael’s assembly has reminded me of one of mine and has crystallized what I think about making the curriculum more fun. james-handscombe.co.uk/perserveranc...

In all seriousness, the distinction made between Type 1 and Type 2 fun in outdoor pursuits is very relevant to schools. Type 2 fun is much closer to feeling something is “worthwhile” - you look back on it as something fun rather than necessarily experience it as fun in the moment.

If anyone is looking for an assembly on having “fun” then I am more than happy to oblige…

This article is missing the point and we are treading on old ground here #EduSky. This is how we were trained to teach and I feel ashamed every time I think of the lessons and time we wasted patronising them into engagement. Low expectations is not the solution. www.thetimes.com/uk/education...

Agree with Adam. Narrators voice: "Making lessons 'fun' did not in fact make children come to school more and further drove the recruitment and retention crisis."

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.

In an attempt to Keep Hope Alive during the last week, I'm going to post some highlights from this term. HIGHLIGHT #1 Teaching @paulalobo.bsky.social's incredible Nur Jahan enquiry to our Year 8s for the first time...

Changing Histories really is a game changer in history textbook design. Proper prose, narrative-driven, with tasks that then unpack the narrative. Far more intellectually rigorous than most textbooks which are (not always) nicely illustrated information sheets.

Hunting around in my training materials on sources, I recently dug up this old thing. It was developed with Cambridge ITT mentors on a history mentor training day (2013?), Just a routine bit of fun, we were capturing and sharing our regular collective efforts to protect trainees from devilish ways.

Excellent analysis here of the use of the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’ over the last 1400 years.

Do you teach OCR African Kingdoms Alevel or African Kingdoms at KS3? Would you like to start? On Friday 25 April 2025, the Bristol Historical Association are hosting an afternoon of lectures on Early Modern African Kingdoms from an amazing group of academics. Free for Sixth Formers and Teachers!

Yup. And another sign of this weird collective amnesia is that ITT & whole 'golden thread' doubled-down on generic attributes of "teaching", without anywhere near adequate treatment of curricular assumptions & decision-making (the micro-crafting of substance taught) implicated in any pedagogic move.