Thanks to the inspiration from @mrwmhistory my students looked at British Empire interpretations. Nothing like year 8s talking about ‘racial paternalism’ when reading @DavidOlusoga#historyteacher#ukedchat
@MrBishopGeog@geoteachrach@SeanDunnGeog@kate_stockings And live marking. Doing as much marking in lesson as possible. Best time saver ever. Would also tick those off my list of kids so wouldn't need to take their books in.
@MrBishopGeog@geoteachrach@SeanDunnGeog@kate_stockings That works best when its lessons before break/lunch. Would take me 5 mins to read over their work and work out what that specific kid needed next lesson. Our marking policy is super generous, so this was easy to do. Tick the kids off the list when marked.
I will never get over the kindness of other people - just have a lovely long phonecall with @SPBeale as he talked me through the new A level I am teaching! (Have taught A level Hist before, but not this side...). Thanks SPB!
Wow.
If you are to watch one video this morning, watch this.
Pete Buttigieg perfectly explains why Billionaires in Silicon Valley now support Trump and why J.D. Vance has flip flopped to liking Trump.
Edu Twitter is once again kicking off on an idea, this time cold calling and I despair for lack of decorum & professionalism in exchanges shown by fringes
Once again the reality is somewhere in middle, cold calling is a method used to check for understanding. It is one of many
The 2024 Parliament Will Have...
264 Female MPs (41%) compared to 51% in the wider population.
89 Ethnic Minority MPs (14%) compared to 18% in the wider population.
63 Openly LGBTQ+ MPs (10%) compared to 3% in the wider population.
All I'm saying is that if *I* was trying to pull off the biggest jailbreak in history, I'd establish myself as the world's most beloved keycutter, and then get appointed Prisons Minister.
Really cool move here. Will make an interesting second mega example of Cabinet ministers not being elected, but using the Lords to get them into government. (I am aware this has happened more than twice!)
James Timpson OBE @JamesTCobbler has been appointed Minister of State (Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation) in the Ministry of Justice @MoJGovUK.
James Timpson OBE @JamesTCobbler has been appointed Minister of State (Minister for Prisons, Parole and Probation) in the Ministry of Justice @MoJGovUK.
The last question to the panel was "what would you like the new government to do on curriculum and assessment?"
My answer:
If we are talking about curriculum and assessment, the biggest thing for me is a reduction. There's too much content across the board, and we need to strip back. We also need to stop assessment backwash, where exam mark schemes become a part of the curriculum and determine what students do and don't learn.
But that's if we're talking curriculum and assessment. If we're talking education in general - if @bphillipsonMP picked up the phone to me and said "what's the biggest thing in education" I would say something else:
Broadly, the education system itself in this country is working. Training is getting better, standards are improving, professionalism and professional knowledge is increasing and slowly, slowly, outcomes across the board are heading in the right direction. Curriculum and assessment need some changes, fixes, and tweaks, but in a broad sense they work.
What isn't working is everything else: we can't access CAMHS and we don't get hold of social workers. We have a two child limit and a benefits cap that keeps children hungry and in poverty. We have income cliff-edges that mean children whose parents can't afford meals are also not eligible for free school meals. We don't have Sure Start, we don't have youth centres. The SEND infrastructure is byzantine, underfunded and on the verge of collapse. The very fabric of the social security net is tattered and frayed, and vulnerable young children are falling through the gaps. Parents have lost faith in the system, and are losing their trust in schools and teachers.
Despite this, schools are heroically battling the odds to provide students with a high-quality, robust and meaningful education. But when everything outside our gates is in such disrepair there's a limit to what we can do.
So yes, there are things within education that need fixing. But the main thing - the biggest thing - is everything else. The best thing you can do for us is to fix that.