Dan Worker

I’m sure it is a mix of factors. But my observation as a school leader would be that Maths teaching has improved. Much more focus on explicit instruction and mastery. This means students’ confidence is much improved. And have confidence to go into further study.

Taking hunger out of the classroom. - The Sutton Trust Unpacking the Government's decision to widen FSM access to all households on universal credit.

A big (and very welcome) announcement from government today on free school meal eligibilty, widening it to all children on families eligible for UC.

A quick thread on these changes, and the remaining challenges 🧵

www.suttontrust.com/news-opinion...

These are the kind of policies I want to see from a Labour government. This directly gives families the help they need and tackles child hunger. But will make a big difference in schools. Improving concentration and behaviour - factors which will have a direct impact on outcomes and life chances.

This is key to the debate. Knowledge is deeply disciplinary.

Continually depressing to me how there is no policy area where you don't have to keep litigating the same shit. Essentially every old wealthy country has tried both approaches and we KNOW that having a curriculum that focuses on knowledge, not 'the skills of the future' works better.

Same can of course be said of group work in which lack of accountability allows passivity to go unchecked.

The phrase ‘teachers deliver to passive students’ gets me. In what ways are students listening to effective explanation, engaging in Q&A and deliberate practice passive. Of course possible, but not the intention.

Attention to Learning has actually been one of our focus for CPD this year. Looking at ratio, attention contagion and means of participation. I think this is probably one of the most important things we can focus on in the classroom.

I’ve never seen much point in writing a T&L Policy. But certainly there is a need to communicate a school’s vision for T&L in some way. But making that vision lived is surely about implementation. And that requires effective training and follow-up.

Our Graduated Response: A whole school approach Phil Stock talks through moving towards a whole school model of how to support pupils with different levels of need.

Part I of a new series of blogs looking at how we’re putting inclusion at the very heart of our school.

This post describes the overall structure.

researchschool.org.uk/greenshaw/ne...

How many times should Ofsted 'rethink' a bad idea? Its current proposals are ill-conceived - but so is the very idea of more data for school accountability

'The inspectorate is caught between the political rock of a manifesto commitment and the psychometric hard place of inspection validity'

📊Pupil absence is a key, and growing, driver of the disadvantage gap. If disadvantaged pupils had the same level of absence as their peers, the gap at age 11 would be almost 1 month smaller, and at age 16, over 4 months smaller. In fact, absence fully explains the gap-widening at age 16 since 2019

The science of learning in practice - @carlhendrick.substack.com

#ResearchEdBrum

“Teachers are curriculum makers…however, policy dev over the last 30 plus yrs have not necessarily resulted in sufficient focus on practice on this critical aspect of teachers’ professionalism” (Impact) Great wrk happening on curriculum, perhaps more needed to consolidate as key aspect of profession

Great starting point for considering factors in school improvement.

Really interesting thread on potential negative impact OFSTED framework could have on SLT collaboration

👇👇👇

Ofsted struggled to offer a fair, reliable and consistent single-word rating during a 2-day inspection, but seems to think it can judge multiple complex areas in the same timeframe, piling more unnecessary pressure on school leaders and their staff.

🔗 bit.ly/3WJrux4

Interesting read for any school leaders in process on introducing T Levels.

This is a really important part of the discussion which needs to be had around SEND.

FFT published some interesting data on SEND figures and season of birth. Paper on it available here: sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/...

Great day at #PiXL

Pleasure to share the work we have done on improving outcomes for high prior attainers.

Thanks to everyone who attended the session!

Had discussion this week on the value of History in the curriculum. It is exactly because we are in a period of change that History will be as valuable as ever. Just because we are getting more technologically advanced doesn’t mean STEM is all that matters. And in ‘post-truth’ world it will be key.

This is why you don't design curricula around "jobs of the future".

We can't predict the future but we do know what general skills and knowledge will be valuable whatever job you do.

FFT links to interesting paper on this outlining implications of the data.

sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cp/...

So important! We’ve tried to build time in department into our CPD . So after whole-school training teams can discuss and plan their implementation. Giving Heads of Department time in advance to think about it, so they can lead their teams through this. We want fidelity to principles not uniformity.

I find this a really interesting point. I suppose my instinct is that a lot of the TLAC style techniques are really useful in developing a mental model which expert teachers can draw on. But there needs to be deep subject-specific thinking and discussion around how these work in different contexts.

We have written to the SoS Education in support of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. We have summarised it here in a letter to The Times and the included in an article.

It’s Wednesday afternoon. So that means staff briefing and our weekly Tips of the Week.

This week was all about Brightening the Lines.

Some quick and easy tips to implement.

1. Display a countdown timer
2. Narrate timing reminder
3. Use a consistent signal to start.

#EduSky

100% agree with this. And I wonder how variations in PCK change the way teams work together. Does the shared pedagogical approach in a Science team change the way they work together? How do they have to work together differently to the way and an English team has to work together?

Taking this further, perhaps different operational need impacts on the nature of collaboration? History teams often collaborate around shared approach to teaching procedural knowledge (e.g.source analysis). Little need for collaboration on logistics. In practical subject this is needed much more.

Interesting. Can definitely see that. My thinking is a little superficial on this at the moment. But things like practicals in Science, use of technicians in Tech, fieldwork in Geography come to mind. They impact on the way the teams have to operate together. Although examples are operational.