“It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.” Albus Dumbledore, as quoted […]
Imagine the scene. It’s Thursday afternoon, and you’ve skipped lunch because you had to go to one of those life-sapping meetings, the meaningful content of which could have been conveyed in a one-line email with the subject line “Something we have to be seen to do for Ofsted if they ever turn up”. Your stomach […]
Worldwide, parents are waking up to something which will rock them to the core. For those of us in the UK, this is the second seismic political event of 2016. Only a week ago, this article talked of how children are affected by news of world events, and this can be exacerbated by the reactions […]
I was in my friend’s shop recently, choosing between two reasonably priced necklaces and having a chat at the same time, when my friend told me that Hannah, her assistant, was going to start her PGCE course after the summer. “I know I’m mad,” said Hannah, “Everyone tells me it’ll be the worst year of […]
Everybody thinks that they are an expert on education because at some point in their life they spent the best part of at least 11 years in a classroom. It’s an easy trap to fall into – we can all think of education secretaries who have plummeted into it.
As adults, we all have experience of a childhood. This is rooted in the fact that we were all children once. We grew up in the same way as we watch our charges grow up. If we are parents we have a second experience of parenting a child and watching them develop.
“A good teacher, like a good entertainer, first must hold his audience’s attention, then he can teach his lesson.” John Henrik Clarke For quite a long time I was reluctant to include this quotation, as I believe it can easily be misinterpreted to mean that we teachers should be all-singing, all-dancing variety stars, juggling […]
You can tell I’m a proper teacher, can’t you? Apologies, but GCSEs, A levels, year 7 camp, German exchange and myriad activities have taken me away from here. Stand by for a flurry of posts!
Why are we not emulating this system? Are we too hung up on a 1950s style agenda and a rigid, frozen National Curriculum? http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” I was in business for a few years before I came into education, and I have a lot of these little aphorisms to hand. But this one is spot on. Many battles are won and lost in the planning phase, and I’m not just talking here about lesson […]
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