#HowDoTheyDoIt? by Mark and Zoe Enser is packed full of reflective questions like this one to help you drive school improvement and give your students the brightest future possible. @ensermark.bsky.social & @greeborunner.bsky.social Find out more and order yours today at: buff.ly/TEn9ZXR

What does the curriculum review mean for the sector? @missgoodyear.bsky.social and @samgibbs.bsky.social set out six points for schools to consider as they plan to implement the review's recommendations

Coffee with a view in Knaresborough

Assessment can be a tail that wags the curriculum dog. Here’s how @beckyfrancis.bsky.social Curriculum and Assessment Review + the Geography Subject Report suggest we rethink it. A thread from my final post in the series enserm.substack.com/p/reading-th...

These are the brilliant questions. Kindness and Scholarship in equilibrium. Purposeful understanding as well as Mechanical ability. Leadership is often tightrope walking.

If education is to move beyond slogans about “rigour” or “softness,” we need to define what quality learning really looks like. That’s the work of leadership. #Education #Curriculum #Leadership #Assessment #SchoolImprovement

I explore the evidence, the politics and the opportunities for schools in my new Substack piece 👇 enserm.substack.com/p/is-the-cur...

The bigger questions for leaders: Can we build a system that keeps rigour and wellbeing? That judges learning by understanding, not exhaustion?

Reducing exam hours could free time for richer learning of a better curriculum. The risk isn’t dumbing down — it’s what we do with the time gained.

The report calls for “high standards for all learners” — coherence, inclusion and progression — not for easier content. It argues that rigour should mean depth, not quantity.

Headlines in The Telegraph and The Sun warned that cutting exam time by 10% and scrapping the EBacc means lower standards. But that’s not what the implementation of the review should lead to.

Is the new Curriculum & Assessment Review from @beckyfrancis.bsky.social “dumbing down” education — or redefining what rigour means? enserm.substack.com/p/is-the-cur... 🧵 A short thread for school leaders 👇

How to decide on school improvement priorities: Improvement in #schools is a balancing act & every senior leadership team needs to decide what their priorities are. @ensermark.bsky.social & @greeborunner.bsky.social set out 3 guiding principles for making these decisions:

We recently welcomed HMI Christopher Stevens to present an Ofsted update on music in schools 💡 In this blog we summarise what you need to know, what's new, and your questions answered by Music Mark Schools Manager Abi 📣 🔗Read now: www.musicmark.org.uk/news/reflect...

How to decide on school improvement priorities: Improvement in #schools is a balancing act & every senior leadership team needs to decide what their priorities are. @ensermark.bsky.social & @greeborunner.bsky.social set out 3 guiding principles for making these decisions buff.ly/KP64uTL #edusky

Let’s reflect! What do you think of this question on #parentalengagement from Mark & Zoe Enser’s new book? You can find plenty more useful reflection points, along with encouraging guidance in #HowDoTheyDoit? – out now: buff.ly/TEn9ZXR @ensermark.bsky.social & @greeborunner.bsky.social

What does an email sent in error by Wales' schools inspectorate tell us about how it believes reading should be taught? 👇 www.itv.com/news/2025-11...

Next in the series: assessment and exam volume – how geography can lead the way towards deeper, more meaningful learning. #GeographyTeacher #Curriculum #Fieldwork #Enrichment #Education #GeogChat

In my latest Substack post I explore how Getting Our Bearings and the CAR align, and what this means for departments preparing for curriculum reform. 🔗 enserm.substack.com/p/reading-the-curriculum-review-as-e18

Fieldwork isn’t a trip – it’s the geography curriculum in action. 🌍 Both Ofsted’s Getting Our Bearings and the new Curriculum & Assessment Review led by @beckyfrancis.bsky.social agree. 🧵 A short thread 👇

Does anyone know why Ofsted stopped publishing the subject reports? There are several missing even though the visits were carried out and reports written. I know that those that were published were widely used in the Curriculum and Assessment Review - did they have access to the unpublished ones?

"In trying to prove learning, we’ve sometimes crowded out the space in which learning actually happens." Typically wise words from Mark.

This is a good read and to think about what it means in subjects other than geography!

So, first skim reading of the curriculum and assessment review and despite several mentions of the need not to increase volume... There are plenty of examples of adding new content and I can only find one of removing anything - and that's GPS where the caveat is increasing the stakes of the test

Read more here: open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p... #education #teaching #curriculum #schoolimprovement

Let’s reclaim lesson time for learning itself. Check, yes. But then teach, model and practise. Learning is built in what happens next.

Real progress happens when pupils do something with what they’ve learned: explain it, map it, summarise it or apply it. That’s how recall becomes understanding.

Assessment for learning should be a compass, not the destination. Its purpose is to guide teaching, not replace it.

Retrieval tasks, quizzes and hinge questions are useful tools, but when they dominate a lesson, they take time from the activities that actually build knowledge.

*** NEW POST *** open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p... Too many lessons are filled with checking what pupils know rather than helping them learn something new.

Next in the series: how fieldwork and enrichment can take centre stage in geography’s future curriculum. #Curriculum #GeographyTeacher #PowerfulKnowledge #Education #GeogChat

The Curriculum & Assessment Review from @beckyfrancis.bsky.social sets a new tone: evolution, not revolution. But what does it mean for geography teachers? 🧵 Here’s a quick look at my latest piece: “Shaping a curriculum of powerful knowledge” enserm.substack.com/p/reading-th...

And, as if by magic, a really thoughtful curriculum-focused piece on the considerations for the Curriculum & Assessment Review lands from @ensermark.bsky.social Looking forward to the reflections on fieldwork, GIS - and how we can think carefully about some of the inclusive and "for all" spaces!

A key question...

Having taken a look at the Curriculum and Assessment Review, I’m feeling more reassured than I was with the titbits leaked in advance to the press. I haven’t read every bit of it yet, but here are a few things I’m pleased about and a few things that worry me (definitely not comprehensive)…

'Contrary to some critical commentaries, this is not ‘dumbing down’ – quite the opposite', says Sir Hamid Patel 'The review safeguards core knowledge and achieves the shifts necessary as we hurtle through the 21st century' schoolsweek.co.uk/the-curricul...

Some more big curriculum news Ministers ignore curriculum review's call for no progress 8 changes and set out proposals for big 'breadth' subject shake-up Full story below

The much anticipated final report of the Curriculum + Assessment Review is now available. Significant recommendations for English, particularly at GCSE, which we'll be digesting in the coming days + recommend every English teacher reads www.gov.uk/government/p...

Breaking: The government is proposing sweeping reforms to progress 8, the main league table measure for secondary schools, in a bid to boost arts take-up – and will ditch the EBacc from this academic year https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-ignores-francis-review-and-proposes-sweeping-progress-8-reform/

@barbarableiman.bsky.social have you seem the curriculum review? What are your initial thoughts?

How to decide on school improvement priorities: Improvement in #schools is a balancing act & every senior leadership team needs to decide what their priorities are. @ensermark.bsky.social & @greeborunner.bsky.social set out 3 guiding principles for making these decisions: buff.ly/KP64uTL #edusky

How to decide on school improvement priorities: Improvement in #schools is a balancing act & every senior leadership team needs to decide what their priorities are. @ensermark.bsky.social & @greeborunner.bsky.social set out 3 guiding principles for making these decisions: buff.ly/MmkwSpw

I’ve written more about this in my latest Substack post, The Delicate Art of School Improvement: 👉 substack.com/home/post/p-... It’s a reflection on what I’ve learned over the past year and a reminder that schools deserve support that’s thoughtful, collaborative, and accountable.

When someone comes into a school, it should be to help answer the questions leaders already have - to diagnose what’s really happening and work with the school to move things forward. Improvement done with schools, not to them.

After nearly a year supporting schools with improvement, I’ve been thinking about what good external support really looks like. It’s not about clipboard visits or reports full of bullet points. It’s about curiosity, clarity, and genuine partnership. 🧵👇

What can pupils actually do with powerful knowledge? It’s pedagogy — not just curriculum — that turns entitlement into capability. 📚 New post: enserm.substack.com/p/powerful-f...

Substack is starting to feel like Twitter used to, you know when there was a community of people sharing great ideas, really enjoying @ensermark.bsky.social being back! This is another great article for geographers! open.substack.com/pub/enserm/p...

Well this is a heart warming post that made me smile 👩🏻‍🔬

📖How to design better subject specific CPD by Mark Enser on TES www.tes.com/magazine/tea... 🛠️Anthropic’s AI Benchmarks docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/test... #HEPMondayBriefing

With the curriculum and assessment review expected to deliver its findings in the autumn, Zoe and Mark Enser outline six common curriculum pitfalls, and how effective schools avoid them