beabie

Head of Pedagogy and History. Interestered in teaching excellence. Opinions are my own.

[Katharine Birbalsingh @Miss_Snuffy]

You don’t say. 🙄

[Heather Fearn @HeatherBellaF]

Michaela is not a one-off aberration but the tip of a broad movement that's had huge impact on English education.
TIMSS/Progress 8 are latest results demonstrating positive impact of what can be described as the 'knowledge-rich' (curriculum) and 'direct instruction' movement.

[Katharine Birbalsingh @Miss_Snuffy]

NO this is NOT true.

The schools at the top of Progress 8 are ALL doing all or some of these:

-High levels of discipline supported by consistent systems
-Traditional teaching, believing in adult authority
-Unified culture where kids ‘belong’ to something either via faith or imposed
-Small c conservative values - These happen on a sliding scale. Some schools only do the educationally minded ones, others do more culturally (increasing results accordingly). But they ALL land somewhere on this spectrum
-Where relationships are strong with the kids and each other
-Consistency & predictability

These are bread and butter for excellent classrooms, schools and FAMILIES too!

Stop pretending that ‘anything goes’ and that there are different ways to ‘skin a cat’

There aren’t. Not at the core.

Kids are kids, whatever their race, religion, nationality, socioeconomic status.

At the core.

Yes variety of intake will have some impact and make it easier or harder to do the above, but they are all doing it.

Michaela does particularly well because we do the above really really well.

That’s all.

We got a similar percentage of grade 9s to Eton.

You can insist that we must be covertly selecting (illegal and impossible as the council gives us our intake), but how do you explain that comparison with a school that is HIGHLY selective?

How do explain the hundreds of letters I post on here from guests saying our kids are incredibly kind and well-mannered?

Why not just open your minds to the ideas above?

Why reject what works?

I will never understand the intransigence and the absolute refusal of some (both educationalists and others) to change their minds. 🙄

Reject ideology!

I was once a progressive. Then I changed my mind.

Find the courage to stop following the crowd.

You all claim to love critical thinking. So take part in it! Think outside the box!

It is a great place to be.✊🏾

[beabie @beacartlidge]

@tombennett71 Congratulations!!!

[Tom Bennett OBE @tombennett71]

Good grief. Huge congratulations to the team and students at Michaela for showing what is possible. An *extraordinary* achievement. A P8 of 2.55 is like...a human running at 30mph.

[Jennifer Buckingham @buckingham_j]

High performing schools use evidence-based approaches to always seek learning growth for students. Includes a hat tip for the @NSWEducation CESE series 'What Works Best' and the benefits of explicit teaching.
https://t.co/DmPTlaXakf

[Tom Bennett OBE @tombennett71]

Before Michaela opened: IT WILL NEVER OPEN
Once Michaela opened: IT WILL NEVER WORK
Once Michael posts incredible results: IT WILL NEVER LAST
Once Michaela smashes the barrier of what is humanly possible for several years in a row: THE WAY WE ASSESS SCHOOLS IS INVALID, IT SHOULD BE BASED ON HUGS & VIBES

[Katharine Birbalsingh @Miss_Snuffy]

So that you can see what our Progress for our kids looks like on a graph.

I know some people think my ideas are mad.

But maybe they aren’t so mad after all.

Copy what we do, and your kids will benefit!

[Peter Sherwin @petesherwin]

Thank you for sharing the inspiring Catalyst story ⁦@ellis_patrick⁩ #researchEDNewy ⁦⁦@researchED_Aus⁩

[Jennifer Buckingham @buckingham_j]

Ben Jensen brings us a content-rich presentation on content-rich curriculum. #researchEDNewy

[Jennifer Buckingham @buckingham_j]

Such a useful and enjoyable presentation by @PepsMccrea from @Ambition_Inst at #researchEDnewy

[Jennifer Buckingham @buckingham_j]

Cognitive load theory and explicit instruction are relevant for all students including gifted students. Kate Barton explaining why and how at #researchEDNewy

[Jennifer Buckingham @buckingham_j]

Learning about Load Reduction Instruction from the expert - Andrew Martin - at #researchEDNewy

[Jennifer Buckingham @buckingham_j]

Great presentation by Sonia Louden on the Elevation Secondary College (VIC) approach to teachers’ intellectual preparation (it’s not the same as making slides). #researchEDNewy

[Jennifer Buckingham @buckingham_j]

Cracking @researchEd conference. Well done @DrKateBarton!

[Jeanette Breen @jettybe3]

Difficult concepts, non-adjusted, will overburden working memory. When there’s no sequence or structure - students are overloaded. That’s what teachers need to know.
@researchEdhome @researchED_Aus #researchEDNEWY