We all know the power that our words can have on our students and colleagues but how often do we stop to think about the power of our words upon ourselves? Take the title of this article and the word, “problem”. Where did that take you? Did you picture your worst class? You pile of marking, your failing departments, your demanding parents or that one child that you cannot get through to? Did your …

The best teachers recognise and embrace their potential to have a transformative impact on the wider future of the nation, and beyond. By promoting positive values, including tolerance, understanding and inclusion, this sense of moral purpose is the engine that drives the best teachers. It is a privilege to be a teacher, to have the opportunity to impact positively on the lives of so many young pe…

There is a growing concern and an increase with Mental and Emotional health issues in our schools. We need to stand together, work as one, and support each other to be emotional and physically healthy. Develop resilience, seek to …

“But... I don’t know how to revise...” Sound familiar? Of course it does. It’s a common phrase we hear from our students when it comes to exam prep. It can also serve as a reminder that it is vital we consider not just the content…

Building teacher morale, especially in the winter months and after a school holiday, is vital to creating schools and classrooms where teachers and students feel positive and excel. Here are a few easy to use morale boosters to he…

Teaching has always been demanding.

When I first entered the profession in 2002, I remember thinking that my own teachers surely couldn’t have worked this hard, or spent so long marking my tests. Clearly they had because I did quite well, and as we know, students don’t get good results without the hard work of effective, passionate teachers. Yet it’s t…

This year has again seen a wide variety of reports and case reviews published both in the UK and internationally all identifying the missed opportunities to keep children safe and therefore putting them at risk of abuse or neglect. The children’s commissioner (UK) issued a recent report (July 2017) stating that there are currently about 11 million chi…

One of the greatest influences on student outcomes is by improving both teaching and learning through effective teacher CPD. Yet few schools evaluate its impact adequately, or even at all. Unless you do so, it is difficult to know to what extent a CPD programme has benefited a school or offered value for money.

The following initial framework will help…

Building teacher morale, especially in the winter months and in the build-up to exams, is vital to creating schools and classrooms where teachers and children are happy and excel. Here are a few easy to use morale boosters to help you this term:

Hand out a teaching and learning resource box.

Arrange regular ‘Feel Good Fridays’ in the staffroom at break time (even some biscuits or donuts with a mug o…

Effective teacher CPD improves teaching and learning and has one of the largest impact on student outcomes (Hargreaves, 1994 and Craft, 2000). This means that getting it right is crucial. But, when it comes to CPD, how do we know we are getting it right? It’s a topic I regularly raise in my initial consultation meetings with schools and other educational institutions and it’s often the case that t…

Education in England is undergoing huge structural upheaval. With local authorities side-lined as more schools become academies, and parent governors increasingly disenfranchised (White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, Department of Education, 2016), the fragmentation of the system is already having a chaotic impact on school placement planning.

On top of this, the crisis in teacher recrui…

As you welcome back your staff and students you are probably thinking of ways to keep morale high as senior leadership teams know only too well that happier teachers often means happier children.

To spur this forward, adopting our ten morale boosters will help boost staff performance creating even better working opportunities and providing a platform that nurtures skills and talent every day!

Prepar…

Whether it be individual lessons, schemes of work or curriculums, it’s very easy to focus on what is being taught in a school. But how often do you stop to consider effective ways to ensure that students actually remember the content and are able to recall and utilise it at a later date? What strategies can be used to ensure that the teaching going on in their establishment really ‘sticks’ and in …

Like many, I was pushed to work hard from a young age to make sure I passed those exams. Looking back, I realise instead of being praised for the effort I put in, my success was entirely measured by the grades I achieved. My experience of rewarding achievement is typical, both as a student and as an educator. This stems from a system where many schools are driven by results-orientated approaches t…

We need to embrace change in order to develop and grow — successful organisations regularly take the time to reflect on their goals, make adjustments and set new targets. Over the last few years, schools across the country have undergone significant programmes of change and development as a result of government initiatives — all of which have had to be implemented and managed by each school’s lead…

As you are welcoming back your staff and students you are probably thinking of ways to keep morale high. With lots of imminent changes in education, many of which are taking place this September, there is no better time than now to think about how to achieve this over the next ten months. After all, creating supportive workplaces that encourage staff to reflect, grow and develop in a positive way …

It probably only feels like yesterday that you were sitting in September’s INSET listening to your head teacher talk about the year ahead or clearing out your cupboard and recycling old Year 11 exercise books. Ten months later, it’s June. GCSE, AS and A-level exams are well under way and you’re starting to anticipate the start of the long holiday that heralds the end of yet another memorable acade…

As a teacher there is nothing more frustrating and disheartening when marking your students’ work than realising that their understanding doesn’t match your expectation. How best to address this issue to ensure your students continue to progress in your classroom?

Effective marking can raise standards in schools

I am pleased to see that we have moved on from the days of the simple ‘tick and flick’ o…