Posts on Teaching, curriculum, and educational theory
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What is lost with consistency across classrooms?
A trend of “ruthless simplicity” has spread across schools in England, driven by the idea that coordination is a burden. It’s said that “Coordination cost is a killer in schools … When every teacher runs their own behaviour system, their…
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Does “checking for listening” really help learning?
I’ve attended a couple of training sessions as a teacher in which the trainer would ask “check for listening” questions. They’d tell us things and then ask a question to someone chosen at random. “Seriously!?” I’d think, as the question…
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Evidence-based educational movements are actually games
Around 2012ish, a new movement rode into the UK (school) educational scene. It came with the banner of “evidence-based”, to counter the previous movement. I’m not writing to contend whether the movement was right or wrong, but to offer a…
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Decoupling lower & upper secondary curricula
All systems exist in a constant co-adaptation with their environment. The upper secondary sections (KS4) of England’s schools are continually adapting to their communities, the government’s inspection body (e.g. Ofsted), and standardised exams (e.g. GCSEs). The demands of the standardised…