MrM

Dad. Cheese enthusiast.

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@DeputyGrocott @Mr_JP_1 OMG for free? Nothing is free in teaching these days! Thank you, thank you!

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@SteveChalke then school can become ‘boring’. Then curriculum content - despite training about cognitive overload, there is an insistence on more knowledge = better learning. Some teachers feel they are mere deliverers of content, tied to a script. Deliver a love of learning for life instead.

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@SteveChalke For a start, there’s the internet. Being at home is so much more interesting and fun than in the past. Whatever you want to see/do available in an instant. Then, adult attitude to school. If parents had a negative experience, if teachers are disinterested in what they teach…

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@fesshole @akelahall OP - World Book Day is now about dressing up as random characters. Twitter - you’re useless! It’s all your fault kids don’t like reading!

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@Headteacherchat @kennygfrederick A perfect example of ‘You promote what you permit.’ Be brave and deal with issues as soon as they arise, otherwise…

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

I wish I could be as eloquent in expressing this. The children need the whole, not part of it in the vain hope they will go on to read the whole independently.

[Carl Hendrick @C_Hendrick]

Why a generation of kids are learning to read everything except books. Link in reply ⬇️

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.

We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.

I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers:
1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.”
2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”

He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.

He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.

He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.

Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?

I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.

Some were. But not all.

This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together.

Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities
society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.

That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.

We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.

Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.

And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.

I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.

Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.

If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.

And by then, it will be too late.

[Teacher's Manual @UnofficialOA]

Normalise summer holiday boredom for kids.

They need to learn firstly, that from boredom comes creativity, and secondly, that their entertainment/engagement is not entirely someone else’s responsibility.

#edutwitter

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@DeputyGrocott If you go to Northleach, you can visit Kerrie’s house and other settings from This Country.

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

Can we all agree Pulp’s His n Hers album is better than Different Class?

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@Struan_Murray Read the first chapter online to KS2 during the second lockdown at a bedtime stories event. So many children inspired to read more!

[Ashley Booth @MrBoothY6]

It's now June, so I am giving away my monthly class set of a book from my bookshop @ANewChapterBks.

Simply retweet to win, and please bear me in mind when buying books!

[email protected]

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@RogersHistory Except we can’t just shrug and blame kids for growing up. Maybe we can try to do things differently to support our learners to have every chance to succeed. At the moment, attendance data comparing Y6 and Y7 shows work to do.

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@MrARawlings Had Ofsted last week and found out we’re being moderated today. Totally take my hat off to you for coping with it all in one week!

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@DeputyGrocott Obviously agree, though these days I find more and more children struggle to listen to stories. And I do all the voices of the characters and always try to finish on a cliffhanger moment. 🤷‍♂️

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@SashaAguilar69 @MrZachG Don’t forget the phone calls home when things are going well. It’s great to pick up the phone on a Friday to a couple of parents and tell them great stuff about their kid. They get a great start to the weekend and you do too.

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

We all know Die Hard is, but is Die Hard 2 a Christmas film?

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

Was excited about TOTP 1996 tonight but it’s the ropiest lineup ever…

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

@LASTEXITshirts Staff of Ra. ‘Indeeeeeeeeeee!’

[MrM @MarriottAndrew]

Another day, another bot following me. This app is getting ridiculous.