Whether it is sport, using AI, or school improvement, this challenge to ‘Stop over-optimising everything’ really made me think. thegrowtheq.com/stop-over-op...

Today’s essential read - @beckyfrancis.bsky.social reflects on the curriculum and assessment review ⤵️ www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

👀 New, updated Teachology Masterclass on 'Adaptive teaching' in central London on Friday 21st November. It includes an exclusive short-guide & brand new content. There's also a bonus online twilight on 'Scaffolding to secure success'. Find out more: www.teachology-education.co.uk/adaptive_tea...

Early years attendance sets the stage for lifelong learning and friendships. But the latest EPI data is worrying: absence is rising, espec for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Find out how to make a difference in this new EEF blog: educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/attenda...

💡NEW POST 💡 ‘Scaffolding and PEAL paragraphs’ Have exam boards got it right? PEAL, PEE, PETAL support some students to develop their writing in different subjects, but they may hold back as many students as they help? alexquigley.co.uk/scaffolding-...

“What is it useful for the teacher to know and how much can we expect them to internalise and act upon?” Excellent by @head-teach.bsky.social. Why SEND labels & information from EHCPs are hard to process in useful ways for complex of classrooms: matthewevanseducation.substack.com/p/the-eye-of...

💡NEW POST 💡 ‘Scaffolding and PEAL paragraphs’ Have exam boards got it right? PEAL, PEE, PETAL support some students to develop their writing in different subjects, but they may hold back as many students as they help? alexquigley.co.uk/scaffolding-...

‘Time well spent: How to support effective Teacher and Teaching Assistant partnerships’ Excellent blog by @sendmattersuk.bsky.social for @theeef.bsky.social educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/support...

📚 New blog Molly Devlin and Vickee Twort (@arkschools.bsky.social) share four proven ways to build strong early years attendance — from building family relationships to whole-school strategies. 🔗 Read: https://eef.li/4NBNkU For more support, join this webinar: ow.ly/bLJr50X7Kcp

Excellent @tesmagazine.bsky.social article by @claireheald.bsky.social: ‘Beyond phonics: why England still has a reading problem’ “It’s time to stop thinking of reading as something we sort out in Year 1 and Year 2, or even just in primary.” www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

🚨 NEW POST 🚨 ‘Scaffolding and PEAL paragraphs’ “What should teachers do? Do paragraph plans, PEAL, and similar scaffolds have a place? Should we get rid and do things differently?” alexquigley.co.uk/scaffolding-...

💡NEW @tesmagazine.bsky.social column: ''Inclusion by design': why it matters & how to do it' "high-quality teaching can be a focus for schools without the need for new and expensive resources, regardless of how many more pupils fall under our definition of inclusion." www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

My latest @tesmagazine.bsky.social column: ‘Inclusion by design: why it matters and how to do it’. I explore the changing picture around inclusion (from the OFSTED to the ‘Send crisis’), alongside practical, evidence-informed approaches teachers can address now. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

Excellent to see this article in Tes by Alex Quigley on the ‘Five-a-day’ approach to teaching pupils with #SEND, a framework for inclusive practice that should give hope to a profession working incredibly hard to deliver lessons inclusively. lnkd.in/eT3EqjZr

NEW BLOG: Do it now or do it when you’ve thought about it a bit more? Sorry for taking a blog holiday! learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2025/10/do-i... #engchat #engchatuk

My new one-off Teachology masterclass on 'Supporting Struggling Readers & Writers to Succeed' will be in-person AND online in Manchester (Nov 28th). It will explore impactful, manageable assessment & effective teaching strategies. Find out more here: www.teachology-education.co.uk/struggling_r...

My latest 3Rs newsletter - on reading, writing, & research in education - is live. #70 reviews a brilliant book on reading by @CarolAtherton8, shares a blog on supporting struggling writers, along with research on dyslexia, & more. [Quick free sign-up] alexquigley.co.uk/the-3rs-read...

🚨 NEW POST 🚨 ‘Supporting struggling writers’ 5 key issues: - Troubles with transcription - Struggling with sentence composition - Lost in the writing process - Writing shifts in subjects - Writing requires ample reading. alexquigley.co.uk/supporting-s...

🚨 NEW POST 🚨 'Supporting struggling writers' "Students can spend thousands of hours writing in the classroom, but if they struggle with writing it can still remain unaddressed. Why is writing the poor sibling to reading?" alexquigley.co.uk/supporting-s...

🚨 NEW POST 🚨 'Supporting struggling writers' "Students can spend thousands of hours writing in the classroom, but if they struggle with writing it can still remain unaddressed. Why is writing the poor sibling to reading?" alexquigley.co.uk/supporting-s...

Reforming the SEND system is not a choice at this point: 'Send costs will rise by billions without reforms, minister told' by @TheIFS www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

💡'The 7 Deadly Sins of Exam Revision' Procrastination and cramming... passive approaches... skimping on sleep... poor time management... overconfidence... weapons of mass distraction... failed planning... alexquigley.co.uk/the-7-deadly...

💡 'Write less; Read more' "Are pupils being read to enough in the school week? How much reading are they exposed to, and how do we know? Are we wading through too many comprehension questions that imitate national tests, but inhibit reading volume in English?" alexquigley.co.uk/write-less-r...

Good news re: government reinstating maintenance grants for university students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Tuition fees, interest rates on student loan debt, rising accommodation costs & more, have been making uni once more the sole preserve of the already advantaged middle/upper classes.

My newsletter Early Years High 5 is out now 1 Half of children on FSM aren’t ‘school ready’ 2 Teaching assistants feel undervalued 3 Age matters in EYFS data 4 What can England learn from global SEND policy? 5 Where should the next 400 Family Hubs go? 📩 Read more: www.linkedin.com/newsletters/...

Want to understand the SEND crisis in England? This is an excellent summary of the policy issues from the @theifs.bsky.social ‘England’s SEND crisis: costs, challenges and the case for reform’ ifs.org.uk/articles/eng...

💡’Literacy and inclusion’ “[a]… solution is to address reading skills upstream, as early as possible, in our schools. Schools cannot compensate for society, but when it comes to literacy – reading and writing – schools can make a significant difference.” alexquigley.co.uk/literacy-and...

💡’Supporting shy pupils to talk in class’ “Confidence that their teacher is sensitive to their needs is likely to breed increased engagement, while we can assume similar for reliable friends being present in their classes.” alexquigley.co.uk/supporting-s...

💡’Supporting shy pupils to talk in class’ “Confidence that their teacher is sensitive to their needs is likely to breed increased engagement, while we can assume similar for reliable friends being present in their classes.” alexquigley.co.uk/supporting-s...

Thorough & practical exploration of the role pictures can play in reading by Prof Tim Shanahan. “Pictures may initially compete with the words in comprehension, but they’re essential for helping kids to gain coherent representations of what they read.” www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/what-ro...

“We need classrooms that can move fluidly between modes: collaborative when ideas need to be shared and tested, quiet when concepts need to be grasped and consolidated.” ‘Is a noisy classroom a thinking classroom’ by @carlhendrick.substack.com open.substack.com/pub/carlhend...

💡'Disciplinary talk' "Disciplinary talk is a recognition that mathematicians, scientists, and geographers, communicate in subtly different ways, and that talk routines can be well matched to curriculum content in those different areas." alexquigley.co.uk/disciplinary...

💡 'Adaptive teaching & the power of anticipation' "...adaptive teaching [is seen] as commonly occurring during tricky tasks & in the middle of busy lessons, expert teachers can make vital planning steps to anticipate for adaptive responses before they teach too." alexquigley.co.uk/adaptive-tea...

💡 "The vocabulary is more rare, the sentence structures more complex, the patterns of imagery more elaborately constructed." 'Why teaching academic vocabulary matters' alexquigley.co.uk/why-teaching...

A really interesting blog - and hypothesis - from @DTWillingham on why US education exam scores (NAEP) may have fallen. For problems with so many causes, finding manageable 'best bets' is a helpful starting point. substack.com/home/post/p-...

If you think paracetamol causes autism, then this is the website for you: www.tylervigen.com/spurious-cor...

The Department for Education ‘Areas of Research Interest: 2025 have been released. Just some of the topics include: - SEND - Working with parents and families - Belonging - Using technology for learning - Attendance …and more. The priorities and emphasis are clear. www.gov.uk/government/p...

One of the most important, but perhaps underestimated questions, for teaching and learning: 'Who should be reading aloud in class?' alexquigley.co.uk/who-should-r...

One of the most important, but perhaps underestimated questions for teaching and learning: 'Who should be reading aloud in class?' alexquigley.co.uk/who-should-r...

Important point. Those with the knowledge and resources more likely to push for a re-mark widening the gap. @suttontrust.bsky.social

“Our ability to act was rooted in insider knowledge, access to professional networks, and financial security.” ‘How the GCSE disadvantage gap can widen after results day’ researchschool.org.uk/huntington/n...

Is AI the solution or part of the problem? This contrast was thought-provoking… Link: edition.cnn.com/2025/09/22/t...

💡’Crafting great sentences’ “Too often, in the classroom, sentences are modelled, but pupils don’t have a strong concept of difference sentence level moves, their functions, and how to manipulate them.” alexquigley.co.uk/crafting-gre...

🚨 NEW POST 🚨 ‘Great teaching and targeted academic support’ “High quality teaching should remain top of the agenda. Though it is vital to recognise that for some pupils it will not offer the volume of necessary practice posed by targeted academic support.” alexquigley.co.uk/great-teachi...

The always excellent Professor Tim Shanahan on disciplinary literacy in elementary school [primary school]. Though specific DL practices emerge, lots of non-fiction reading & building of content knowledge in the curriculum with rich reading is key: www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/discipl...

Edition #69 of my 3Rs newsletter has gone live - feat. A review of Neil Mercer’s book on oracy, new policy announcements on SEND, pupil premium resources, and more. [Always free - just a quick sign up] alexquigley.co.uk/the-3rs-read...

Out in November: the comprehensively revised and updated 2nd edition of Putting the EYFS Curriculum into Practice uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/pu...

🚨 NEW POST 🚨 ‘Great teaching and targeted academic support’ “High quality teaching should remain top of the agenda. Though it is vital to recognise that for some pupils it will not offer the volume of necessary practice posed by targeted academic support.” alexquigley.co.uk/great-teachi...

This is a really useful blog from Oracy Cambridge and researchers from the University of Surrey on assessing oral language. This is a real practice gap. 'Speak Up, Measure Up: Building Better Tools for Evaluating Classroom Conversation' oracycambridge.org/speak-up-mea...

💡'The struggle with writing stamina' Are we addressing issues commonly related to writing stamina? - Limited handwriting fluency - Running dry of ideas - Errors increase in pupils extended writing. - Motivation is low to keep going with a writing task alexquigley.co.uk/the-struggle...