A few weeks ago, my wife of twenty-something-odd years and I were running late and debating what to eat. I suggested what I often suggest in these moments: Baked beans on toast. She hesitated. Then said, almost apologetically, “You know what, I’ve never really liked baked beans.” After twenty years together, I couldn’t count the […]
“If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck”. So said my dad, often (1947-2016) Today I’m writing about the proposed changes to the school curriculum and assessment in England from 2027. Obviously, it helps if you read the review itself, but I […]
Whilst helping my daughter with her maths homework this week, I heard myself say, “Show working” I immediately kicked myself. First, because it was clear I was just repeating something I’d been told as a child — and there’s nothing more annoying than that. Second, because only now, years later, do I fully understand why […]
Princess Leia Organa, arguably the greatest rebel of them all In search of a perfectly average teacher Driving to the airport on the way to an overseas recruitment trip last week, I made a fairly innocuous comment in a conversation I was having with my kids about a teacher who had recently left our school. […]
If I’m hearing correctly, educational standards are worse than ever. Teachers are saying that kids don’t just dislike reading more than a few words; they can’t. They don’t just hate writing more than a few words; they can’t. And even when they do write, you either can’t read it, or the grammar and spelling are […]
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