Dan Clinch

Head of Chemistry. Looking out for good (chemistry) teaching, photography, music and outdoors things.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@Ajarncom Left the UK in 2024 and 2 years of price increases are hard enough to digest! 😆

[Dylan Wiliam @dylanwiliam]

@teacherhead Your baby's height and weight are compared with those of babies who formed the norm group used in compiling the norms, which might be years ago. Norm-referencing is not the same as cohort-referencing. The problem with our current exam system is that it is more cohort-referenced.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

Not doubting chemguide but need to know for sure..

[Adam Boxer @adamboxer1]

Chem A Level help needed!

First ionisation energy down a group: chemguide says shielding is irrelevant as effective nuclear charge remains constant. I.e. higher nuclear charge and greater shielding cancel. Only variable is therefore distance from nucleus.

Two OUP and the CGP textbooks disagree.

Which is correct?

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@PastoralPeteInt Nice! Was there a couple of years ago - this was really nice for a scramble and cooling swim https://t.co/j3zHfS7qKJ
Should still be in full flow at the end of the rainy season.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@professor_dave @adamboxer1 I found OCR had the potential to develop conceptual understanding but the burden of reagants+conditions factual content often got in the way (+ added to the perceived difficulty of the topic)

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@professor_dave @adamboxer1 Could be wrong but I've always understood the need for parity in AOs across different A-levels means that Chem needs to incorporate quite a lot of factual content and it seems organic is where it predominantly comes from.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

Fascinating.. unfortunately not going to make them much easier to remember though!

[Kevin Fei Sun 孙愷文 @KEBuHCAH]

I honestly never bothered to remember the order of all the western(/Babylonian/Hindu) zodiac signs before... until I learned the Thai month names 👀

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@adamboxer1 I'm always wary that an aspiration of a curriculum 'prized by employers' and the pressure from an interminable recruitment crisis will lead to an offering that suits and thus attracts generalist teachers. Throw in AI/online academy hype into the mix and it could get very weird.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@timleunig Really interesting. What is the likely government view on the prospect of TPS contributions being eroded? Assuming bad, how much power do they currently have to prevent it happening?

[Kevin Courtney @cyclingkev]

ULT’s attack on the Teachers Pension Scheme - a 🧵

The United Learning Trust says that it will offer starting salaries of £45,000 in London to teachers who leave the teacher pension scheme.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@PastoralPeteInt Son and I looking forward to adopting these guys as our local team (also already have a Buriram link so got some interest in the final whatever happens!)

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@LondonU Well nearly 3 months, 3 enquiry forms, half a dozen unanswered emails and a formal complaint later, I was finally sent my letter of certification (A4 approx 30 words) this afternoon. The transcript was not possible. What a truly dreadful service for former students.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@Gilesyb @jburnmurdoch But no consistency in the selection of origins for each country. Would like to compare how each origin fares in different European countries. Is different origins' motivations/cultural value for destination's educational opportunities worth discussing?

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@PastoralPeteInt Looking forward to it!

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@Ajarncom How many lowly places can England/UK be found? On its knees in the first account, (retail) on its arse in the third. I feel sure people weren't describing it this negatively even a few years ago.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@PastoralPeteInt @LondonU Thanks Pete, yes indeed. Hoping it arrives before school out there returns to life next week :)

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@DanielBundred I recently heard a head of MAT talking at a conference salivating over the prospect of AI supporting non-specialists' planning and delivery to open up the recruitment pool to presumably ever less-qualified applicants. Whether or not it's feasible, their objectives were clear.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@LondonU Thanks! 6-8 weeks though?! Who doesn't get frustrated by that kind of turnaround for very straightforward proforma documents usually needed with some urgency? Should be clearer on the application.

[Dan Clinch @DanClinch]

@LondonU Thank you. I've raised an enquiry - #001447130